I’m thrilled you are exploring Society Hill Synagogue and have found your way to the page of Divrei Torah, words of Torah, which are part of a generations-long Jewish practice of refracting sacred Jewish teachings through the light of our own day and age.
For me, Judaism is an opportunity to nourish ourselves, grounded in the Jewish story: a story that has unfolded throughout the generations, with twists and turns, tragedy and triumph, serving as a source of life to those who engage with it.
The Jewish People are known as B’nei Yisrael: the people who wrestle with the Divine. The name comes from that moment in our tradition in which it is understood that our ancestor Jacob “wrestled with a figure,” a figure understood to be a manifestation of that very Divine Being (see Genesis 32).
That moment produced a legacy of sacred wrestling; grappling; seeking to make meaning of, and find purpose in, our time on earth.
These Divrei Torah are my efforts, in conversation with the community of Society Hill Synagogue, to make meaning and to find purpose, seeking to serve this community, our broader world, and the Divine.
I hope you find meaning in them yourself, and I encourage you to reach out to me if you would like to discuss their contents or to discuss becoming a part of the Society Hill Synagogue community. Welcome!
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Count Me In – the Half-Shekel Legacy
There is so much coming up at Society Hill Synagogue! We’ve got a Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat this weekend that I am really looking forward to, with Rabbi Michael Cohen from the Arava Institute; we’ve got all of our Purim festivities March 1, 2, and 3, and
Rain, Dew, and the Nourishment We Need
For obvious reasons, I’ve been thinking a lot about the weather over these last couple of weeks. Perhaps it started when I spent an hour and a half shoveling snow to get our car dislodged, finally understanding the Philly practice of sticking a lawn chair
Expressing the Inexpressible
This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song. That is because, in celebration of becoming Bat Mitzvah, Yaeli Zhang will lead us in the chanting of a very special song, Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea. We’ve already gotten a taste
Hardened Hearts, Open Doors
Three stories sit heavily on my heart this week. First, the return to Israel on Monday of the remains of the last hostage in the Gaza Strip, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili z”l, taken captive by Palestinian Islamic Jihad some 842 days before his return. These
On Struggle, Relationship, and Responsibility
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Two rabbinic leadership organizations of which I am a part, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, joined together in a cross-denominational statement, along with all other major institutions in the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements,
A Reverberation Between Soul and Source
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It’s been a head-spinning time in world events. Last week we witnessed the capture of Venezuela’s President in a US military raid and his subsequent arraignment on drugs and weapons charges, as well as the killing of a U.S. Citizen, Renee
There is Nothing More Whole Than a Broken Heart
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’ve found myself wrestling recently with the question of whether or not there is such a thing as a prototypical “Jewish sensibility.” The answer is: probably not. If, as the old joke goes, two Jews means three opinions, and since, if
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,
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
The Systematic Elimination of Daydreaming
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar A phrase I encountered this week that momentarily stopped me in my tracks is that one of the biggest challenges we face as a society is the systematic elimination of daydreaming. I don’t know if all generations experience this, or if it
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
Believing in Ourselves, at Every Age
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar One of the opportunities we have when celebrating a young person in our community becoming Bar Mitzvah is to reflect on: what are the core lessons one is tasked with learning when making the transition, when traveling through the passageway, from
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
#ItTakesAVillage
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’d like to share with you the teaching I delivered in honor of our Hatan Torah and Kallat Bereshit this past Friday night, honoring two great annually-selected service leaders in our community, this year, Michael Hafter and Susan Berman: I’m as familiar as anybody else
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