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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Being Gentle with Our Inner Rebels
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Korach, the Torah portion known as Korach, the eponymous Israelite who features prominently in the parshah’s opening narrative. Korach is notorious in Jewish tradition, standing in for every impertinent demagogue to follow. The parshah begins with
Summing Up the Torah of Our B’nei Mitzvah
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Each of the past two weeks we held meaningful, dynamic Bar Mitzvah services, first, two weeks ago on May 29, led by Jared Eizen, and then, last week on June 4, led by Ezra Goldenberg. Jared’s parashah was called Beha’alotekha, from the
Note About Israel and Sunday’s Town Hall
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar What a tragic and disconcerting week it’s been in Israel, a place so deeply held in so many of our hearts. Not only are bombs and rockets flying back and forth, an all-too-familiar experience for residents of Israel and Gaza, but neighborhoods
A Powerful Teaching on the Earth from Our Bat Mitzvah
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of Stella Wolson. Stella’s parashah (portion) was a double portion called Behar-Behukotai, the culminating portion of the third book of Torah, the Book of Vaykira, or, Leviticus. Stella’s parashah begins with, from our contemporary perspective,
The Sacredness of Communal Cohesion
This past Shabbat, our weekly Torah reading landed us in the penultimate parashah (portion) of the book of Vayikra (Leviticus) where we encounter a priestly articulation of the rhythms of the Jewish year: each biblical Jewish holiday—from Passover, to Shavuot, to the High Holidays and Sukkot—is spelled out, along
A Teaching on Loving Thy Neighbor as Thyself from Our Bat Mitzvah
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat, in the first Shabbat service held in our sanctuary in over a year, we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah ceremony of Sam G. It was the first of seven B’nei Mitzvah ceremonies we are celebrating at SHS over the
Is This A Beginning?
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This week, a Minneapolis jury reached a verdict of guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd—a father, son, brother, and human being. This verdict was momentous for a number of reasons. As the murder was captured on video
Technology, Judaism, and SHS
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar If there is any constant to the last two millennia of Jewish peoplehood, one would have to say it is resilience. Many times over the last year we have invoked the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. as, in some
Reimagining Hebrew School as an Immersive Shabbat Experience
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This week, in lieu of a D’var Torah informed by this past Shabbat’s Torah discussion (though this past Shabbat featured an engaging conversation about one of the most challenging, tantalizing texts in our canon: Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, love
God’s Vulnerability and Bringing Forth Sparks of Light from Egypt
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past weekend we held two Shacharit (morning prayer) services accompanied by Torah study sessions, one for Shabbat, as we do every week, and one on Sunday, which was the first day of Passover. (Recall that in Judaism “days” start in the evening;
Preparing for Passover: Symbolically and Literally
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Pesah is almost upon us. My wife Caroline and I hunkered down in earnest today, seeking to do our best to rid our home of hametz—the leavening agent from which we free ourselves during the Passover holiday. Freeing ourselves is, I suppose, a
A Bat Mitzvah Teaching On Persecution—And Its Tragic Resonance Today
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we celebrated another sacred rite of passage in our community. Margot Englander, like Samuel Marion before her, had her Bat Mitzvah celebration scheduled for just a couple of weeks after the whole world changed in March of 2020.
A Bar Mitzvah Scheduled for the Week It All Went Down
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week we celebrated the Bar Mitzvah of Sam Marion. Similar to the many retrospectives circulating in the news this week about one year ago when everything changed, Sam’s Bar Mitzvah was originally scheduled exactly one year ago this past
Pride in Our Capacity for Holiness
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week in studying Parashat Tetzaveh, the Torah portion which means “you shall instruct”, we encounter God telling Moses to instruct the Israelites how to put the finishing touches on the construction of the tabernacle, that portable sanctuary in the wilderness that
Withdrawal as a Form of Love
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week during Shabbat services (10 am prayer and song; 10:45 Torah study, every week at this link) we studied Parashat Terumah, the Torah portion known as Terumah which means gifts—Adonai, the Source of All Existence, invites the Israelites to bring gifts, “And let them