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 is just those of us who have a close and […]
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 prayer books; and even sermons, when done well, are meant […]
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 childhood to adulthood? We all, all Jews, automatically become Bar […]
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 Roemer, who died in May 2010, almost fifteen and a […]
#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 with the by-now dated notion of a hashtag. A hashtag, […]