Sermons & Stories

Shabbat Shalom!

I don’t feel that the idea of “diversity” is in any way controversial, and yet it is. A week ago one talking head was claiming that one company’s desire to increasing diversity in their workforce could get people killed. https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-warns-united-airlines-diversity-initiative-will-eventually-kill-people-1581853 It was shocking to...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom!

On Pesach we celebrate freedom, liberation, redemption. And what are we free from? Avodah – work.

So we leave Egypt and create a system of sacrificial offerings to God. And what do we call it? Avodah – work.

The same word we used for the Temple service is the same word that we are running...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom!

Leading up to Pesach – which is just over a week away – I’ve been focusing on various aspects of freedom. Tonight’s teaching and invitation has been inspired by the opportunity to spend a week learning with over 350 Reform rabbis at an online CCAR conference. I studied with great teachers, I reconnected with friends, and we had more than one session that...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom!

I don’t usually do this, but this is the first in a series of sermons related to different aspects of freedom that will lead us into Passover. Let me know if this is a good thing. We start tonight with Israel.

Israel’s a complicated place. It’s a Jewish state, but most people are secular. It’s a democracy, but it doesn’t...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom!

My original intention was to share a silly story to lift your spirits. Raymond was joking about singing the prayer, “Roll into Dark” tonight, but we agreed that it might be too soon after the week we had. But instead of a silly story, it made more sense to share some true ones.

For in parshat Terumah we learn how to build a mishkan, a tabernacle - A portable temple made of the finest materials. It was a...Read more...

To hear Rabbi Charlie deliver this sermon, click HERE

Shabbat Shalom!

This week is Shabbat Shira – the Shabbat of Song, named after the Song of the Sea in Exodus, chapter 15. After the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites sing a song of freedom – only to be followed by complaining due to a lack of faith. We know that they will eventually make it to the Promised land, but...Read more...

View Rabbi Charlie delivering this week's story/sermon, including special effects, HERE.

This week’s Torah portion begins with incredible drama. Joseph is second only to Pharaoh. His brothers have reluctantly brought Benjamin down to Egypt only to have Joseph frame Benjamin for stealing. Parshat Vayigash begins with Judah’s heartfelt appeal to save Benjamin. Joseph is so moved that with tears in his...Read more...

Watch Rabbi Charlie's teaching HERE. The text is below...

It doesn’t take much to celebrate Hanukkah. A chanukiah – a menorah for Hanukkah, some candles, something cooked in oil – that’s it. We can always do more – decorations and gifts and gourmet latkes and gourmet donuts – yes, donuts. An Israeli baker created a donut to celebrate the new relationship with the UAE called the...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom!

Our very own Richard Baratz knows how to draw a caricature. For those who don’t know, Richard is the caricaturist at Sardi’s in New York City, a restaurant famous for it’s caricatures. In a caricature, certain features are made to be more obvious and others are toned down. By definition, a caricature shows us a small part of a person. In the right hands,...Read more...

Sometimes it’s hard to connect to God. That sense of spirituality can be elusive. That’s the case in the best of times. Nowadays, it can be even more difficult to see that divine spark.

And our Torah portion only highlights that difficulty. For it is true that there are parts of Parshat Vayeira that I love, it is also filled with difficulties and violence. Abraham’s nephew,...Read more...

To see Rabbi Charlie deliver this sermon, click HERE.

Shabbat Shalom!

Parshat B’reisheet is the beginning of the Torah – and I want to begin with what should be a simple question: Do our words mean what we think they mean? The obvious answer should be, “Of course they do!” At the same time, we have all of these wonderful idioms about how our words can be twisted, we...Read more...

I want to elevate the words of the Prophet Isaiah, which were read so beautifully by Cara Serber this morning. Isaiah explains with scathing sarcasm that if we fast and we pray, but continue with the status quo – if we are not moved to change, then all of us suffer.

The prophet specifically implores us to care for people who are hungry and bringing people without anywhere to go into our home. With the reality that Shonda Schaefer...Read more...

See Rabbi Charlie share this story HERE.

Shabbat Shalom! We are Israel, we who struggle with God and as we start the new year, there’s a lot of struggle going on. So, here’s a great story that reflects the best of that struggle featuring Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev – a Chassidic Rabbi known as a defender of the Jewish People.

While it’s one we tell at the...Read more...

See Rabbi Charlie deliver this sermon HERE. It is a little different than the written text.

L’shana Tova! A Good Year.

L’shana Tova! I do not offer these words lightly. These words of optimism and hope that we all can be inscribed for a good year – I offer in defiance of everything that the world has been throwing at us. At a time when the struggle seems overwhelming, when God and nature and humanity have...Read more...

To see Rabbi Charlie deliver this sermon, click HERE

Sometimes the simplest teachings can be the most profound. Judaism makes it clear that we need to care for each other. This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, gives us reminder after reminder. If we see someone’s animal go astray or we find a lost item – we can’t ignore it, even if we don’t know where the person lives....Read more...