The True Origin Story of Hanukkah
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar What a heavy week this has been. During this season in which we are so conscientious about fostering light in the midst of the cold, dark winter, there was the shooting at Brown University, resulting in the deaths of two students, with a suspect still at large; the apparent murder of […]
Tikkun Olam and Kabbalah
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’d like to share with you the D’var Torah that I delivered at a recent Friday night TGIShabbat service, services which we hold every Friday from 6:00-7:15 pm, preceded by our 5:30 pm Shabbat Schmooze and followed by dinner at 7:15 pm — which you are always welcome and encouraged to […]
2AM, and the Rabbinical Students Stand in Their Bathrobes
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’ve never considered myself a poetry guy, which is strange, because: I love music — a well-written song lyric can stick with me for years; Jewish tradition is filled with poetry, from the ancient psalms to the piyutim, the hymns in our prayer books; and even sermons, when done well, are meant […]
Hazzan Jessi: Lessons from My Elders — and from Noah
by Hazzan Jessi Roemer I’d like to tell you about three of my elders: My dad, Dr. Peter Roemer, who died at age 86 this past May; Rabbi Dr. Arthur Waskow, who died at age 92 this week; and my mom, Cantor Susan Roemer, who died in May 2010, almost fifteen and a […]
Hope and Healing
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It’s hard to put to words the experience of relief many of us are feeling in response to the release of the living Israeli hostages this week, and an apparent end to the war — an experience, which, to state the obvious, must be but a shade of the experience […]