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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Hazzan Jessi: Artemis, Torah, and the Exact Middle of Everything
by Hazzan Jessi Roemer I hope you are faring well this week in the warmer weather. Following is the d’var Torah I offered last Friday night at our TGIShabbat service: Shabbat Shalom. In roughly one hour, the astronauts from Artemis II will, we hope, splash
Remembering the Exodus, By Day and By Night
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar We arrive at a much-needed Pesah/Passover holiday, with the Exodus experience ever-present in our hearts, ever resounding in our collective memories. That’s because tradition teaches that we are to recall the Exodus — yetzi’at mitzrayim, the moment of our collective liberation
God Called — Are We Listening?
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar What follows is the d’var Torah I delivered last Friday night. We always love for you to join us at either or both of our Shabbat services, Friday night with music, a d’var Torah, and dinner; Saturday morning with prayer, Torah
An Announcement, a Thank-You, and the Offering of the Heart
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar We have an important announcement: Society Hill Synagogue is hiring a new Manager of Community Engagement & Communications, and we hope you’ll share this posting far and wide by forwarding this email. A couple of years ago, as part of our previous Strategic Plan coming out of the
The Golden Calf and the Red Cow walk into Shabbat…
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Our staff has been monitoring news coverage of the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Temple Israel community. We have been notified by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Community Security
What It Means to Remember Right Now
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It is distressing to witness a significant part of the world at war. At the center of the current conflict is the clerical regime governing the Islamic Republic of Iran — a regime that has fomented death and destruction throughout the
A Still, Small Voice
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Here is the D’var Torah (teaching of Torah) I offered this past Friday night, as a prelude to a gorgeous teaching from our semi-annual Scholar in Residence series, this time with Rabbi Michael Cohen on Overcoming the Asymmetry of the Sensational:
Count Me In – the Half-Shekel Legacy
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar 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,
Rain, Dew, and the Nourishment We Need
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar 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
Expressing the Inexpressible
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar 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
Hardened Hearts, Open Doors
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar 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
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,