A Bar Mitzvah Student Grapples with the Scapegoat • (Im)purity: Alienation vs Integration
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, This Shabbat, we celebrated the Bar Mitzvah for Elias Zaring. Elias’s parashah, as will be discussed below, was the double portion of achareit-mot/kedoshim, two portions in the midst of the book of Leviticus that include the portion that is read each year on Yom Kippur, involving the ritual of “the […]
Yom Hazikaron | Israel at 75 | Yom Hashoah
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Yom Hazikaron – Memorial Day This evening, Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, (whose full official name is Yom Hazikaron Lehalelei Ma’arkhot Yisrael Ul’nifge’ei Pe’ulot Haeivah/Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism) begins. It is followed immediately tomorrow night with the beginning […]
The Omer: counting the in-between moments
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, Here are the remarks I delivered this past Friday at services on a special Jewish ritual at this time of year: *** A ritual that we’re called upon to engage with at this time of year—a mitzvah, a sacred act that we’re called upon to fulfill—is sefirat haomer, the counting of […]
A Dayenu Moment in Tennessee, Violence in Israel
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, I write this week in part to speak up about what I see as a dayeinu moment in Tennessee. Dayenu is of course the song we sing during the Passover seder that comes on the heels of the recitation of the ten plagues, contrasting these plagues with the manifold blessings we have experienced […]
Elijah’s Cup
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, This past Shabbat, I delivered the following D’var Torah in preparation for Pesah: The last several weeks we have been reviewing a series of special shabbatot, special sabbaths, that anticipate Purim and Passover, each of which have special parshiot, special torah portions, that help us prepare our hearts, our minds, and our […]