Sukkot: A Reflection on Our Transience and Impermanence
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar With the High Holidays behind us, we are going to return to our minhag (custom) of sending out weekly summaries of our Shabbat morning Torah conversations. As a reminder, each week during our Shabbat morning service, we engage with a text from our weekly Torah portion and ask, how does this text apply […]
Kehillah Kedoshah: Sacred Community
Yom Kippur Sermon 5781 By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Al shlosha d’varim ha’olam omed. On three things the universe stands. Al ha’torah, va’al ha’avoda, v’al gemilut chasadim. On Torah; on Avodah, worship or service, and on gemilut chasadim, acts of lovingkindness. So says pirkei avot, the teachings of our ancestors, that sacred entry in our canon […]
Avodah: Service
Kol Nidre Sermon 5781 By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Tonight for my sermon I want to talk about a makhloket, so first I have to define what that term means. A makhloket is that component of a dialogue where a disagreement is discovered. It’s not necessarily acrimonious but it’s a place where two sides fundamentally disagree. […]
Lifting the Sparks
Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5781 By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar For my first of three sermons this year, I figured I’d get right to it. The state of the world today. Humanity’s role in a broken cosmos. We’ve got about 10 minutes. Let’s figure this out. In all seriousness, what role does Judaism and religion play if […]
To Return Or Not To Return
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar As we do each week, we reflect back on our communal Torah discussion from this past Shabbat (held each week Saturday mornings at 10 am at this link). This past Shabbat we studied a passage from our weekly parshah (Torah portion) called Shoftim, meaning “Judges,” in which Moses, in preparation for the Israelites’ arrival into […]