The State of the Synagogue 5787
Yom Kippur 5787 by Neil Cohen, Synagogue President Rabbi, Hazzan, dear members and guests, on behalf of the lay leadership of Society Hill Synagogue, I wish you Shanah Tovah and G’mar Tov. It is an honor and a pleasure to address you today. For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to formally […]
God Already Knows, Because God Has Regrets, Too
Yom Kippur 5787 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar There is perhaps no verse more centrally cited in all of Torah than a verse that shows up in its very first chapter. וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it — creating us — in the image of God. […]
They Have Not Come. They Might Never Come. But They Must Come.
Kol Nidrei 5787 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar To be a Jew, tradition says, is to have a story. For generations, a singular story tied the Jewish people together. Maybe not always believed literally — religion and literalism rarely go hand in hand — but there was a shared story. This story, observes scholar Elliot Ginsburg, we […]
What I Didn’t See About Antisemitism
Rosh Hashanah 5787 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I did some basic math, and over the course of my career, I have delivered at least a couple hundred sermons. And yet, none of them prepared me for this one, which is of a different tone and covers different content than any I’ve delivered before. This is a […]
Finding God in a World We Cannot Explain
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5787 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar The beloved Rebbe Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev once called upon all the people in his shtetl to assemble in the town square the next day at noon. He had, he said, an announcement of the greatest importance to make. He called upon the merchants to close their shops, […]