See below a snippet from Rabbi Josh’s sermons over the years.
Want to read more? Click on the title of any to get the full text.
Shabbat Shalom! !שבת שלום
Why would a decent and loving God ever allow this to happen? I am sorry, but I can’t believe in a God who would allow for this. I am angry at God. I can’t forgive God. This is the one thing that I cannot reconcile with a benevolent God. Where is God? These, and so […]
All the shine of a thousand spotlights All the stars we steal from the night sky Will never be enough Never be enough Towers of gold are still too little These hands could hold the world but it’ll Never be enough Never be enough…For me! This portion of the now-famous song “Never Enough” comes from […]
Before wolves go out hunting for food, they engage in an interesting ritual. The wolves gather together and practice an elaborate session of wagging their tails and howling in a coordinated manner. According to a famed 1979 study called “The Spectrum of Ritual” by Eugene D’Aquili and Charles Laughlin, these wolves took part in the […]
When will the Sabbath Day finally come for us as Jewish people? When will our day of rest truly arrive? These might seem like odd questions to ask on Shabbat, which is our designated day of holy rest. This week’s Torah portion, before delving into the detailed building of the Mishkan, or tabernacle in the […]
I was at home a couple of weeks ago with Lena, my four, almost five-year-old daughter. It was what Lena likes to call a “Daddy-Daughter Day,” and we were having fun just hanging out playing with her newly acquired Barbie Dream House. Lena suddenly stopped playing with her ballerina Barbie, looked directly at me, and […]
Our prayer service is sprinkled with so much mention of peace. Shalom Aleichem, Shalom Rav, Sim Shalom, Oseh Shalom, the list goes ever onward. An abundance of prayers for peace are directed toward, or include, Israel. The first word in Hebrew that mostly every Jewish child learns is the word for peace, shalom. With shalom […]
Elohai neshama shenatata bi tehora hi- Oh God, the Soul You have placed within me is pure. What language do you speak, Kfir? 9 months when you were stolen. Pure. Can you learn to speak without love? Do they let you speak at all? 500 days now, and too many others. Kfir, you are the […]
I will never forget my first lesson with Marko. Marko was my voice teacher when I was in my early 20’s in New York City. I have definitely mentioned him before; but this first experience is worth bringing up. I was walking hastily in the upper west side of Manhattan with a backpack full of […]
I was sitting at my desk in the temple during religious school this past week. I was thinking about the return of our Israeli hostages, and how it relates to the biblical demand to let all of our people go from Egypt. 3 here and 4 there is not enough. God made it clear in […]
God is an understanding and empathetic therapist this week. This might seem like an odd area of focus given the fact that this is the Torah portion that brings the first seven plagues on Egypt. In the current midst of Israeli hostages returning home after over 400 days in captivity at the hands of Hamas […]
