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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Israel’s Democracy on Pause: A Victory for Popular Protest and Judicial Balance
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, What a week it’s been in Israel. We are in the midst of marking the 75th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, and never before has the country seen popular protests of this magnitude. Just today,
Our Calendar is Our Catechism
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This Shabbat is the final Shabbat of arbah parshiyot, the four special Torah readings that supplement our weekly march through the Torah from beginning to end. These special Torah readings are part of the Jewish liturgical cycle, so that not only do
Let All Who Are Hungry Come and Eat
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Passover is the holiday where, among the opening words of the seder, lifting up the matzah, we chant the Aramaic words as follows, הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא דִּי אֲכָלוּ אַבְהָתָנָא בְאַרְעָא דְמִצְרָיִם. כָּל דִכְפִין יֵיתֵי וְיֵיכֹל… “This is the bread of destitution
The Meaningfulness of Meaningless Rituals
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar We are in the midst of a series of special shabbatot. Yes, all shabbats are special—a chance to feel rested at the end of a week of putting pressure on ourselves—but we have a few special shabbatot over the course of the year, concentrated
The Golden Calf: From What Are We Distracting Ourselves?
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, This past week at our Shabbat morning Torah discussion, which falls midway through the service for about half an hour each week at approximately 10:30 am, we discussed that it was Shabbat Parah—the special Shabbat in advance of Pesach (Passover),
Moses’ Stammering Voice: A Jewish Paradigm for Disability
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I wanted to begin by offering the D’var Torah I shared this past Friday night—something I offer every week at our musical Friday night Shabbat services from 6-7:15 followed by dinner in our social hall. This past week it was in
Building the Mishkan: Ongoing Efforts to Strengthen and Grow Our Community
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Continuing the theme of my past Kesher articles, our ongoing efforts, as this headline says, to strengthen and grow this community, I wanted to share updates on our latests priorities and efforts to address them: *** As I’ve suggested in the
Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembrance: Reflections on a Challenging New Year in Israel
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This Shabbat is a special Shabbat known as Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of memory. Now, that can encompass many features of Jewish, and human, existence, but Shabbat Zachor, at least on the face of it, refers to a very specific, and somewhat challenging,
Solace for the Eagles Fans
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar With all the challenges in the world it may seem frivolous to open up my weekly D’var Torah with a missive about the Philadelphia Eagles, but, if the Inquirer’s front page headlines are any indication, that is where our community members’
What Covenant Can Mean To Us • Boundaries, People!
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to share the D’var Torah I delivered this past Friday night on the week’s parashah, on the eve of our student Alex Howe’s Bar mitzvah: I was drawn to a very specific part of this week’s parashah, this week’s
Earthquake Response
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar What a devastating week it’s been around the world. The numbers of dead and missing coming out of Turkey and Syria as a result of the earthquakes there are overwhelming. At the time of this writing the death toll has surpassed
Refugee Shabbat • Song of the Sea
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I know I say this to all the B’nei Mitzvah students, Yul, but you really have a special parashah. So much so that your shabbat has a special name—Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song. Named, of course, after Shirat Hayam, the
What Can the Plague of Darkness Teach Us?
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This week, during Shabbat morning’s Torah discussion, we studied the ten plagues, and in particular the plague of darkness. The conversation centered around how to understand what took place during the plague of darkness and what the Torah is trying to
Rest as a Form of Sacred Offering
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar There is a phrase that comes from the silent amidah, the silent standing prayer at the core of our worship service on Shabbat that has become something of a mantra for me as I seek to navigate Shabbat each week. That
The Four Types of Freedom
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar When the Israelites are down, God says to Moses, “Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am יהוה. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I