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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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
Relief, Joy, and Peace
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It is with great relief that I write reflecting on an agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the United States, that seeks to bring an end to this two-year war launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The
We Need Each Other
Yom Kippur 5786 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar We need each other. That’s the premise of this sermon. And yet as nice as that sounds, and as easy as that is to affirm, I can promise you it can take a lot longer to learn than one
Sacred Touchstones
Kol Nidrei 5786 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar As I stand here on Erev Yom Kippur, the eve of the Day of Atonement, I’m picturing us on the shore of a river. I don’t know why we’re here, but our task, I feel certain, is to
Moments of Clarity: Connecting With the Divine
Rosh Hashanah 5786 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar In the course of my prayers these days, I do a lot of just sitting and listening: sitting and letting my heart, my spirit, wander, seeing what comes. Recently, what has come to me was a leadership course
Commemorating The Cycle of Life
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5786 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This is a special moment. We’re welcoming in Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. It’s a moment of beginnings, of the conclusion of one cycle and the beginning of the next. The earth continues its revolution around the
The Heart As Agent For The Divine
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar In a few moments, we’re going to sing the beautiful words and haunting melody of Ahat Sha’alti from Psalm 27, a psalm which tradition teaches that we chant every morning and every night from the beginning of the month of Elul,
Three Steps Forward
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’d like to share the D’var Torah (teaching of Torah) I delivered this past Friday night, on the eve of celebrating a young person in our community, Isaac Hohns, becoming Bar Mitzvah: People like to talk about the experience of playing
Three Secrets
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to share with you the D’var Torah I delivered this past Friday night at our Open House Shabbat, when we welcomed more than 250 people into our synagogue for the return of our weekly Friday night TGIShabbat musical services: