Please join me for six weeks of meaningful study on the themes of the High Holidays
In the bestselling novel, Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, a character named Desdemona, begins to plan for her own death. The narrator describes her preparations: From her bed she directed my mother to clean out the closets … you can give (them) to Goodwill. My nice dresses, too. Now I only need something (to be buried in)…’
Yom Kippur 5787: Rehearsing the Day of our Death Read More »
A Sermon Especially for Am Shalom Every year, around Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish world holds a version of the same debate – what should we use for tashlich? Traditionalists throw bread crumbs. Environmentalists throw pebbles or fish food or birdseed. I know people who throw flower petals, and people who throw pieces of paper with
Kol Nidrei 5787: Who Do We Want To Be? Read More »
Picture this: The rabbi sits down to begin writing her sermon. The topic is: “Israel: Is there hope even now?” She types out the question. She stares at the screen. She doesn’t know how to answer. She doesn’t even know where to begin. Ok, I know you get it. The rabbi is me. The question
Hope Even Now (Revised for Yom Kippur 5786) Read More »
On September 11th 2001, I was in my second year as a Religious Studies Major at Queen’s University. At 8:46 that morning, as American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, I was walking to class. And so I first heard about what was happening from my TA, who
Moments of Choosing (Erev Rosh Hashanah 5787) Read More »
For the Sin We Have Commited Against You Through …. Zionism? Al Cheit Shechatanu L’fanecha For the sin we have committed against You …Each Yom Kippur we recite these words over and over again, listing the sins we have committed. I always find it powerful to remember what I was taught about this section of
The Sermon I Am Always Giving (i.e. Why Be Jewish): This time in the context of a world that would rather we go into hiding Last night, I spoke about antisemitism, a sermon I thought I would never have to give. I spoke about how it feels like we have come to the end of
Rosh Hashanah Morning 5786 Read More »
A Sermon I Never Thought I Would Give, But Here We Are
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5786 Read More »
The following D’var Torah was written / delivered for Am Shalom Congregation, in Barrie, Ontario (August 2025 / Av 5785)
Devarim 5785: The Importance and Challenges of Retelling Read More »
When we lose someone, there is a list of things to do. There are “death-logistics”. There are phone calls to make, document to find, and sign, and file,there is a body to collect, and then bury. There are prayers to say – the shema and vidui and psalms. There is a funeral or a memorial
Memory & Meaning (Yiskor 5785) Read More »
This poem, by Rabbi Evan Schultz is possibly all too relatable. It speaks to how fragile we have become in recent times. Everyone around us is so similarly shaken, that we imagine even God is weeping with us. And for good reason. This year, for Jews all over the world, everything has changed. Rabbi
Trauma in My Inbox (and what we can learn from it) – YKAM 5785 Read More »