by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, This has been a hard week. Last week, the Jewish museum, a block from our synagogue, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti that included an age-old antisemitic slur against Jews. One day later, at a synagogue in New York much like ours, a man disrupted Friday night services,
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, During this past week’s Torah discussion at our Shabbat morning services, we discussed the week’s parashah (portion), which, as we approach the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — is part of the fifth of the five books of Torah, D’varim, Deuteronomy. Both the
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, Last week, in our weekly Torah discussion, we discussed Parashat Devarim, the Torah portion known as Devarim, which is the first portion of the fifth and final book of the Torah. The book’s Hebrew name is also Devarim (the first Torah portion of each
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been encountering some difficult material in the Torah during our weekly reading on Shabbat, material all Jewish communities all around the world read according to the same schedule. Each week at Society Hill Synagogue, we take a
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, If you attended our Congregation Annual Meeting in June, read Lisa Eizen’s — our immediate past synagogue President — recent Kesher article, or perhaps attended one of our TGIShabbat Friday night services in May, would have encountered the following news: the Society Hill Synagogue
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, The tradition, as I have done before, is to write on the 4th of July — especially on the semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of this country’s independence — about the hopes and ideals upon which this nation was founded; perhaps about the complications and