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...

Rosh Hashana 5784 The Jewish musician Eliana Light has a song for Rosh Hashana that goes like this: Hayom Hayom Harat olam Happy birthday...

Yom Kippur 5782 When I was growing up, my family belonged to a Conservative synagogue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We didn’t always feel...

Rosh Hashanah 5782 Hi. (Deep breath.) Shana tova. We got here. I’m a rabbi - getting to Rosh Hashana always feels like a feat. But this...