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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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
Finding Wholeness in Brokenness
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 Mishpatim, the Torah portion known as Mishpatim which means rules or enactments—a fitting title because this is the point in our Torah where the
What Happened at Sinai and How It Impacts Us
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week on Shabbat we encountered that sacred moment in our Torah when the Israelites find themselves at the base of Mt. Sinai, about to enter the eternal covenant with the Source of All Existence. Every imaginable sensation takes place
What Crossing the Sea Really Means
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we reviewed the parashah (Torah portion) featuring that ever-climactic moment in our sacred history: the crossing of the sea in culmination of our exodus from Egypt. And I say “our” very deliberately here. The crossing of the sea happened not
Tu BiShvat—the New Year for Trees—is Here!
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Tu BiShvat higia; hag ha’ilanot! These popular song lyrics translate to, “Tu BiShvat is here! The festival of trees!” Festival of trees? What could this even mean? Well, it derives from the mishnah, that Jewish sacred text that served, in a sense, as the
Inauguration Day: Teachings from Our Sages
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I write this weekly d’var torah message on an historic day. For the 46th time in our nation’s nearly 245-year history, we have inaugurated a new leader of our republic, one duly elected by our citizens through millions of sacred acts of democracy. Many
Leadership Transitions in Our Sacred Texts
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar What a time to be revisiting our Torah discussion from this past Shabbat, as we do each week. And yet in some ways I think turning to the eternal rhythms of our weekly torah portion, that anchor in our week that
Wrestling with… the Messiah?
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Happy 2021! May it be a year that lifts our spirits and brings us together. We are returning, after a brief hiatus, to our weekly emailed Divrei Torah (words of Torah) derived from the conversations we hold each week during our Shabbat morning
The Past Hurts
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied that ever-troublesome parashah (Torah portion) called Toldot that includes the moment when our ancestor Rebecca overhears that her ailing husband Isaac is preparing to give his final, all-important blessing to the barely-older twin Esau rather than her beloved barely-younger twin