Rabbi’s Sermon: “Rule 19”
by Rabbi Arnold Saltzman How do we explain that a gifted and dedicated woman in the United States Senate, Senator Elizabeth Warren, was silenced this past week by using Rule …
D’var Torah: Parashat Bo
Exodus 10:1 – 13:16 “Being Humble” Every synagogue is a beit tefillah, a beit midrash, and a beit Knesset: a house of prayer, study, and assembly. We are here on …
Rabbi’s Sermon: “Love and marriage — and impulsiveness”
by Rabbi Arnold Saltzman This sermon appeared in Washington Jewish Week on Dec 2, 2016: http://washingtonjewishweek.com/35005/love-and-marriage-and-impulsiveness It is difficult for me to understand, yet my European-born father match-married several of …
What Is In a Musical Note? Or: Therapy for a Rabbi-Cantor
This was Rabbi Saltzman’s sermon during our Dec. 10 Shabbat morning service: You may be surprised by this, but rabbis and cantors can be good candidates for therapy. As a …
Don’t Curse the Darkness, Light a Candle
A Hanukkah Message from Rabbi Rick Jacobs, URJ President In his essay “The Legacy of the Maccabees,” Dr. Shaye Cohen writes: “From the perspective of world history and Jewish history, …
D’var Torah for Chayei Sarah
George Gazarek gave this d’var on Friday, Nov 25 There are five Torah portions named after men in the Torah but only one named after a woman: Sarah, the wife …
D’var Torah for Rosh Hashanah
Suzanne Darby gave this d’var on Rosh Hashanah. Abraham’s binding of his son Isaac, the Torah portion our congregation reads each year at Rosh Hashanah, is quite familiar and memorable …
How Yom Kippur is Like Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
George Gazarek gave this d’var on Yom Kippur. This was in the Reform Judaism Weekly Update last week. I thought it was good enough to share with you this morning. …
New Season in the Spiritual Cycle
By Rabbi Arnold Saltzman This article appeared in the Washington Jewish Week at http://washingtonjewishweek.com/33731/new-season-in-the-spiritual-cycle/editorial-opinion/torah_commentary/ That week’s Torah portion was Nitzavim, Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20. The synagogue poet Ruth Brin wrote, …
D’var Torah for Re’eh
Nancy Gould gave this d’var when she led the Sep. 2 Shabbat evening service. This week’s parsha is Re-eh, which means “see.” It starts out with G-d telling the Israelites, …