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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God’s Humanity: Strengthening the Relationship
Yom Kippur 5785 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to share with you one of my favorite, and one of the most personally impactful, rabbinic teachings that I’ve ever encountered. An allusion is made to it in the final blessing of services today, and
Discerning the Call. And Following Through.
Kol Nidre 5785 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar For me, becoming a rabbi was a calling. I can still remember a moment that I unequivocally felt the call. I was a college senior, out for a meal with my cousin who was a
The Jewish Story: Resounding Through the Shofar
Rosh Hashanah 5785 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This year has changed my relationship to what it means to be Jewish. Every year, during the High Holidays, I give a sermon, in one version or another, making the case for getting more deeply connected to Jewish
How to Pray, I Think
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785 by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to start my teaching this evening with one of the most well-worn stories of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, about a boy and his flute.¹ When Rabbi Israel was about to enter
Facing Life’s Big Questions this Rosh Hashanah
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’m writing to share the D’var Torah, the words of Torah, I offered this past Friday night on the eve of celebrating a young person in our community, Arielle Schwartz, becoming Bat Mitzvah. It comes on the eve of
T’shuvah and the Margin for Error
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’d like to share with you the D’var Torah I shared Friday night in advance of Abigail Hamilton’s beautiful Bat Mitzvah celebration this past Shabbat: There’s a phrase that’s been floating around in the public consciousness lately that has
One Thing I Ask
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past week, as part of our celebrating our first Bat Mitzvah of the year (Mazal Tov, Madeleine Wilson!), I shared the following D’var Torah: In a few moments, we’re going to sing a verse of a psalm that
Who We Are
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to start by sharing the remarks I shared at this past week’s Open House Shabbat, where our building welcomed hundreds of people over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning. It was truly an inspiring return
Bearing Witness to Heartbreak — Reflections on the War’s Toll
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This has been a brutal week for the Jewish people. Six hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Lobanov, individuals whom we had gotten to know through accounts by their loved ones, were murdered
Balancing Humility and Responsibility
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar In this past week’s Torah portion, Moses relates the experience of the 40-year journey the Israelites have made to the generation of Israelites who stand on the brink of the Promised Land. They are getting ready to enter it
Chosenness, Conflict, and a Path Forward
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we began the final book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy. The word “Deuteronomy” comes from a Greek translation of the phrase “Repetition of the Torah”, which is in a sense a fitting name
Journeys of the Past and Present — Insights from Parashat Masei
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Masei, which means something like “travels” or “stages”. It is the last portion in the Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the fourth of five books of the Torah. In it, the “travels”
Jewish Wisdom on Character and Leadership Amid Political Change
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Yet again, I write in response to unfolding developments in one of the most eventful months in electoral politics in modern American history, with reverberations for the Jewish community, for Israel, and for the world. Never in modern history
Navigating the Eternal and Temporal in Jewish Practice
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar First I want to share a word about how I approach Divrei Torah — this practice of writing reflections based on Jewish text, tradition, and history — differently during the week than for Shabbat. On Shabbat, the emphasis is
The Power of Hope: A Cornerstone of the Jewish Experience
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar There’s one part of my previously emailed d’var torah that I kind of want to take back. In it, I shared the truism that “hope is not a strategy” (juxtaposing it to the notion that “neither is despair”). It