From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

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**From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life**

Bringing weekly Jewish insights into your life. Join Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz, Rabbi Michelle Robinson and Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger of Temple Emanuel in Newton, MA as they share modern ancient wisdom.

Latest Episodes:

Talmud Class: Are We Sometimes Our Own Worst Enemy? Nov 27, 2021

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November 27, 2021

Shabbat Sermon: Unjudge with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Nov 20, 2021

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Enjoy our Shabbat Sermon from November 20th, 2021 with Rabbi Michelle Robinson

Talmud Class: Of Sand and Pearls Nov 20, 2021

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November 20, 2021

Shabbat Sermon: Liminal Nov 13, 2021

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The story is told of a woman who feels that something is missing in her life. She has heard that there is a wise yogi, a spiritual virtuoso, who lives and radiates holiness on the top of a mountain in a remote part of India. She is told that this yogi holds court, and that people from all over the world make a pilgrimage to see him. It’s not easy. You fly to India. Then you take a three-day drive on crowded and unpaved roads. Then you climb the mountain, and it is steep. When you get to the top of the mountain, you wait your turn. There is a long line of seekers ahead of you. And here is the catch. The yogi is so in demand, there are so many people to see him, and he is reputed to be so smart, he just intuits things from a few words, that you can only say eight words to him. This woman, in search of something, desperate to find it, flies to India; takes the three-day drive on crowded and unpaved roads; climbs to the top of the mountain; waits her turn among the many seekers who have come to sit at the feet of the great yogi. At long last, after all that, she faces the wise yogi and says her eight words: Come home, Sheldon, it’s time to come home.

Talmud Class: Business Ethics and Jacob's Spotted and Speckled Sheep and Goats Nov 13, 2021

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November 13, 2021

Shabbat Sermon: The Final Frontier with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Nov 06, 2021

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Enjoy our Shabbat Sermon from November 6th, 2021 with Rabbi Michelle Robinson

Shabbat Sermon: People Remember Those Who are Present with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Oct 30, 2021

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It was a hot summer day in 2008. Rick Mangnall was driving from his rural trailer home in Three Rivers to work at the Community College in Visalia. Living out in the wilds of California, Rick was used to encounters with wildlife. He was used to scorpions hiding out in his clothing drawers and popping out suddenly to attack. He was quite adept at smashing them. But that day, he didn’t see the scorpion that must have hidden away in his clothes. He didn’t notice it until he was driving down a granite-lined street and suddenly felt the scorpion sting his back. In shock, he jerked the wheel and his car veered off the road, straight into the granite wall, and then went airborne. He landed upside-down, suspended by his seat belt.

Rick remembers that scorpion sting and the accident, but he also remembers a moment which changed his life forever. As he hung from his seatbelt, he saw an old white Ford truck stop across the way. An immigrant man got out of the car and came over to him. He put his hand on Rick’s shoulder and just stood there with him. Rick was worried the guy might get in trouble, he knew the ambulance and police were coming. He tried to tell the guy he could go, but the man clearly couldn’t understand him. He didn’t speak any English. But what he did understand, didn’t require language. He understood that Rick was in a tough spot, and stood there with him, quietly offering support. This year, when Hidden Brain put out a call for unsung heroes, Rick shared this story. A full 13 years after his accident, the moment he still thinks about the most is that man who stood by his side. As he shared on air, “I wish I had thanked him…”

Talmud Class: On Second Acts--What if They Are Better Than Our First Acts? Oct 29, 2021

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Talmud from 10/29/21

Talmud Class: What Will the First Line of My Obituary Be? - Healthy Question, or Morbid Neurosis? Oct 24, 2021

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Is a complicated first line an inevitable part of living a human and therefore imperfect life?

Is worrying about the complicated first line, and how to avoid it, a healthy practice or a morbid neurosis?

Shabbat Sermon: Momentum That Comes and Goes vs. Momentum That Grows and Grows with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Oct 23, 2021

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It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.

It is the best of times: David Rosemberg’s Bar Mitzvah. David radiates joy, and that joy fills our congregation.

It is the worst of Times. The Red Sox. The Red Sox’s utter collapse. We win games 2 and 3 in historic fashion, and then lose the next three games. What is that?

These two events, the joy of David’s Bar Mitzvah, and the anguish of the Red Sox collapse, have something very important in common, and it is something that we don’t talk about enough: momentum. Momentum is the strength or force that gathers and grows when something is moving in the right direction.