“And Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt.  “47:28 And Jacob died and was gathered to his people…” 50:1 My topic today is “what is a life,?” taking as my text, the account of Jacob’s life, and using the text to scrutinize his character. The lenses through which I am viewing these matters are exemplified in the following three epigrams: 1)Socrates, “The unexamined life is not liveable for a human being” (38a, 5-6, Plato’s Apology) 2)Chassidic tale:Reb Zusha was lay

Good shabbos. It is so good to be here. Some of you might know that for most of the last month and a half, I was in Ithaca, NY, caring for my mother, who was unexpectedly ill. In addition to some underlying medical issues, she developed progressive muscle weakness that stumped her doctors, and led her to require assistance with most daily tasks. I left Boston for what I thought might be a few days or a week, and it turned into 5 weeks. I am so grateful that my mom is doing mu

How Do Dreams Come True?  Mikeitz, literally “at the end of” introduces us to Pharaoh : At the end of 2 years Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt had a dream—- standing by the Egyptian god, the Nile river , the source of abundance in that fertile land, 7 fat handsome cows come out of the river to graze on the reeds, followed by 7 repulsive emaciated cows who proceed to eat up the fat cows; he fell back asleep and had a second similar/ reinforcing but puzzling dream with 7 ears of heal

Shabbat Shalom, and a special welcome on this Shabbat to our newest members. I am Stuart Kaufman, a long-time Nehar Shalom member, and I can attest that you do not have to be a rabbi to offer words of Torah at a Shabbat service, and that we have many opportunities during the year for members to stand before you, as I am doing this morning. Very early in this morning’s Torah portion, Chayeh Sarah, we meet Abraham coming to terms with his wife Sarah’s death in Canaan and his st

Shabbat shalom! It’s my pleasure to have a different role in the service today than usual–instead of reading Torah, I have the pleasure of teaching some! I want to remind you that, like I and the many other folks who are giving divrei Torah during R. Leora’s leave, you too can–and please do–also do things that you’re not used to, because your community needs it!  So, Parshat Lech Lecha. I apparently have a thing for this parsha. I actually didn’t remember when I signed up for

How do we make change? One dichotomy I often come across is whether we try to change from within or from without. Getting inside the system, with all its flaws, applying internal pressure, and making incremental, even glacial paced changes OR challenging the system from the outside, applying external pressure, sometimes incrementally sometimes more like a deluge, which is what we see god do in parshat noach.  For the last 5 years I worked in an organization that worked with t

Kol Nidre, 5786 | Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue When my sister and I were little, Grandma Ruth made us books on our birthdays. They...

Rosh Hashana, 5786, Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue In August, I prepared to participate in an act of civil and communal disobedience,...

Yesterday, I had the honor of guest teaching a pastoral care and counseling class at Hebrew College. The topic was collective grief. The...

Rosh Hashana 5785 One of my teachers talks about the fall of 2001. That year, the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center...

Shabbat Beresheit Oh beloveds. What can I even say? It feels so hard to talk. I’m sad, and scared. I am angry and grieving. I’m...

Yom Kippur 5784 In the city of Budapest, the Great Synagogue is on Dohany Street. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, with seats for...

Torat Chayeinu: the Torah of our lives. Talks by members of Nehar Shalom on the second day of Rosh Hashana. Our theme for 5784 is...

Torat Chayeinu: the Torah of our lives. Talks by members of Nehar Shalom on the second day of Rosh Hashana. Our theme for 5784 is...

Torat Chayeinu: the Torah of our lives. Talks by members of Nehar Shalom on the second day of Rosh Hashana. Our theme for 5784 is...