From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Latest Episodes:

Shabbat Sermon: Laugh and Cry with the Same Eyes with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Mar 20, 2021

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This week a member of our community told me something that was so interesting, so unexpected, so profound, and so previously unknown to me, that I have been thinking about it pretty much non-stop ever since.

Talmud Class: Piano Man and the Seder Mar 20, 2021

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From March 20, 2021

Shabbat Sermon: Happily Ever After with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Mar 13, 2021

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From our earliest childhood days, we read a story – told through multiple characters in multiple ways – which always follows the same orderly and optimistic script: a young girl falls in love with a doting prince, who whisks her off to a gleaming castle where she lives in luxury and attendant joy all the days of her life. The princess lives “happily ever after.”.....Except when she doesn’t.

Shabbat Sermon: Listen, Really Listen with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Mar 06, 2021

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One fine afternoon I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR, and the interview totally drew me in. Terri Gross was interviewing a woman who did something out of her ideals and idealism. It was self-sacrificing. It took her time, a lot of it. It exposed her to danger, a lot of it. What was so compelling to me about the interview was that she had to explain that her mother, herself a person of high ideals and idealism, objected to what her daughter did, for reasons of her own principle. In fact, the mother loathed what her daughter did, and told her so.

Talmud Class: Has the Pandemic Shaken Up the Three Bs? Mar 06, 2021

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From March 6th, 2021.

Talmud Class: How Do I Deal With My Low-Grade Depression From a Year of Pandemic Life? Feb 27, 2021

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From February 27th, 2021.

Shabbat Sermon: AQ with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Feb 27, 2021

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We have heard about IQ, the Intelligence Quotient, a measure of our intellectual capability – our book smarts. More recently, we came to understand the critical complementary role of EQ – Emotional Quotient, or people skills. Now there is a new Q on the block – AQ, Adaptability Quotient, our ability to adapt to unanticipated changes in the landscape of our lives. Boy, do we all need a hefty helping of AQ right now.

There is a lively tradition of debate as to how much of our IQ, EQ, and AQ are innate, and how much we can grow along any of these tracks.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-michelle-robinson/aq/

Talmud Class: Mixed Motive Mitzvah--Taking a 75-Year Old To Get a Vaccine so that I Get One Too Feb 20, 2021

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From February 20th, 2021.

Shabbat Sermon: Laughter Really is the Best Medicine with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Feb 13, 2021

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Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-aliza-berger/laughter-really-is-the-best-medicine/

Talmud Class: Now We Get to Be Egyptians! Feb 13, 2021

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From February 13th, 2021.