Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom,

While living in Israel, I went to a restaurant, and while enjoying my meals, a Haredi religious person came in with a supermarket cart filled with booklets of psalms and frames. The frames included the pictures of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and other rabbis, surrounded by stars of David, or "Shaviti", which is an image of a Menora, formed with the letters of Psalms 16 and 67.

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Shabat Shalom,

In Sephardic and Eastern communities, during the religious services of Rosh Hashana, a Piyut or poem reads as follows: “This is the moment the doors will be opened, the day on which my palms will bow before God, please remember on this day of trial, the one who sacrifices, the sacrificed and the altar”. This very long poem written by Rabbi Yehuda Eben Abas, is sung before the sounds...Read more...

Shabat Shalom,

The Sumerians, the Mesopotamians, the Hindus, the Chinese, the Koreans, Malaysians, Polynesians and Hawaiian mythologies in Asia. In Europe: the ancient Greeks, the Irish and the Finnish myths. Many African cultures also have an oral tradition of myths, including the Kwaya, Mbuti, Maasai, Mandin, and Yoruba peoples. In Central America, the Maya’s ancient book of Popol Vuh; In South...Read more...

Shabat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach!

One of the moments that I enjoy the most in this congregation, is reciting and singing Birkat Hamazon - the grace after meals. In many reform and even conservative communities this important prayer has been relegated to a theoretical level, and right after Oneg Shabbat, everyone is chatting and then, go home! The same thing happens after the morning services. In...Read more...

Shabbat shalom!

I will begin with three short stories:

When I lived in Mexico, I had a good friend who used to tell me about all his adventures, which occasionally included moral transgressions: with his clients, with his manager, even with his wife. When I asked him about the conscience or morality issues, he always answered, that in his church, prior to Mass on weekends, he...Read more...

Hag Sameaj and Shana Tova!

Tomorrow morning and the day after tomorrow on the second day of the New Year, we will hear the sounds of the shofar during the three divisions that are added to the Amida prayer in Musaf. The divisions are called: Malchuyot (kingdoms), Zichronot (remembrances) and Shofarot (shofars). These three parts are said one by one, and at the end of each one of them the shofar is...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

Approximately twenty five years ago, the concept of SPAM E-Mail was not yet conceived, and automatic filters for this kind of ugly E-Mail chains was not yet integrated into our modern E-Mail applications. In those days I used to receive lots of chain messages from my own contacts and friends, promising a large list of blessings from heavens, that I could receive only if, I would resend...Read more...

Shabbat shalom!

This week's Torah portion Shoftim begins in Deuteronomy ch. 16, as follows:

“18 Shoftim veshotrim (Judges and officers) shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

This week's portion is called Parashat Ekev. The children of Israel are now on the verge of entering the Land of Israel, following forty years of wandering in the desert. At that moment, Moshe repeated in their ears the same basic things on which they were about to base their life from that moment on. Rashi claims, that the laws mentioned in this reading of the Torah are mostly "light...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

This Shabbat, which takes place before the 9th of Av, is called “Shabbat Chazon”, in light of the first words of the Haftarah reading, that we read from the first chapter of the book of Isaiah ben Amotz. On the one hand, Isaiah rebukes at people who sins against God, and on the other hand, he offers us a comforting and very important ethical message, which teaches us the deep meaning...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

          If we were asked – who we considered as the most representative female figures – who have a symbolic role in the world of Judaism – I think that the vast majority of us would name, intuitively, the three matriarchs: Sara, Rivka, Rachel and Lea, surely leaving Bilha or Zilpa aside. Young girls receive a...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

          The weekly Torah portion of this week is Chukat which presents us with a great challenge of faith. At the beginning of chapter 19, we can read the laws regarding the red heifer. For those who do not know about the subject, I will explain briefly. The red heifer is a cow whose fur color is reddish brown. The ashes...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

          Besides the flag of Israel and the menorah, perhaps one of the most representative iconic images of the Land of Israel is the one having two characters carrying huge bunches of grapes on their shoulders. This image appeared several decades ago, on Israel's postage stamps, and is as old as the one that was found...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

It is traditional that after the lighting of the Shabbat candles at home, or after the Kiddush, the father, or the mother if the father is not present, blesses his children with an emotional blessing. The sons are blessed: "May the Eternal make you like Ephraim and Menasseh" and the daughters: "May the Eternal make you like Sara, Rebekah, Rachel and...Read more...

Shabat Shalom!

The great Israeli writer and poet, Yehuda Amichai, wrote an interesting prose entitled: “דיוק הכאב וטשטוש האושר” – “The precision of the pain and the vagueness of the happiness”. The text translated into English reads as follows:

“I think about how accurately humans...Read more...