Yom Kippur Morning Sermon 2023, Rabbi Beth Cohen
10/03/2023 03:42:59 PM
It was in the 1st or 2nd century CE, when the Talmud Rabbis began to codify the Torah reading with a reading from the Prophets.
So, for the last 2000 years or so, the Jewish people have been reading the Haftarah that Cantor Kilik just chanted. And for the last 2000 years or so, the Jewish people – US – have been asked the same question -- why do we fast. Are Isaiah’s words just another part of the liturgy for which we’re not...Read more...
Sermon for Rosh Hashanah Morning 5784/2023
09/19/2023 12:18:13 PM
A person asked their rabbi, "Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?" To which the rabbi replied, "Nu, how should we answer?"
Jews are much more into open ended questions than specific answers. We teach our youngest kids to recite four questions at the Passover Seder. We then take 3 hours to answer them. Open up a Talmud, and...Read more...
Introduction and Sermon for Erev Rosh Hashanah 5784/2023
09/19/2023 11:51:42 AM
Over these coming Days of Awe, I invite you to join me in looking at our lives today through the questions of a teaching of the great first century Sage Hillel in Pirke Avot (1:14):
אם אין אני לי מי לי?
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
וכשאני לעצמי מה אני?
And if I am just for myself, what am I?Read more...
Nurture Yourself this High Holiday season
09/12/2023 11:41:35 AM
"Autumn Eye Candy" Photo by Julie H. Danan
As we embark on these Days of Awe, let me share some thoughts on making your Teshuvah (return, renewal) into a more nurturing and affirmative process. Thanks to Delaware Jewish Living for sharing (and beautifully presenting) my article on that...Read more...
Elul: Prepare for the New Year
08/28/2023 11:40:29 AM
We are in the midst of Elul, the Hebrew lunar month preceding Rosh Hashanah. Taking some time to prepare for the Days of Awe ahead can make our experience can more meaningful and transformative. It’s a time for Heshbon HaNefesh, accounting of the soul. This personal stock-taking is a springboard for self-improvement and growth. You might ask yourself, journal, or discuss with a friend how you are doing in relationship to yourself,...Read more...
Crisis in israel on Tisha B'Av
07/25/2023 12:09:05 PM
Theodor Herzl, visionary of Zionism, weeping, Basel, Switzerland, circa 1897, illustration via Yoshi Zweiback.
This week the Jewish world observes Tisha B'Av (9th day of the Hebrew month of Av), a yearly fast to mourn the destruction of the ancient Holy Temples in Jerusalem...Read more...
The Rainbow of Community: REflections for Pride Month
06/16/2023 05:01:23 PM
We recently celebrated our annual Pride Shabbat at Seaside. Thank you to organizer Ellen Rabinowitz and everyone who participated in the meaningful evening, and thank you to Todd Hacker for creating the original outline and handout with beautiful readings.
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Be a Lightship
05/21/2023 10:07:55 AM
I'm sharing the Invocation that I offered at Maritime Day 2023 in Lewes. The Overfalls is a historic lightship lovingly restored by a large crew of volunteers, that has become a celebrated Delaware landmark. Lightships were like floating lighthouses that kept other ships safe by...Read more...
Earth Day Thoughts
04/28/2023 03:00:35 PM
PP
The Torah tells us the earth is God’s wonderful creation and gift; scientists say it's the precious blue dot in the universe that is our home. Our mystical tradition reveres the earth as is the dwelling place and revelation of the Shechinah, the divine presence. This...Read more...
The Turmoil in Israel
03/17/2023 10:54:04 AM
View of Jerusalem from the Haas Promenade, photo by Julie Danan
For thousands of years Jews have been proocupied with law and the pursuit of justice, “Tzedak, Tzedek Tirdof.”...Read more...
Opening Our Hearts to Compassion
01/24/2023 10:24:24 PM
Photo: Bleeding Heart Flowers, JHD
In the book of Exodus that we are currently reading in the Torah, we grapple with the famous phrase that “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,” (Exodus 9:12). This creates a moral dilemma; how can we blame Pharaoh if God took away...Read more...
Reflections on the Lights of Hanukkah
12/22/2022 03:08:16 PM
Many people like to have a different poem or reflection for each night of Hanukkah. I think that's great, and I also like to just feel into the lights and what they awaken in my soul. My teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi,...Read more...
Doing Our Part: Yom Kippur Sermon 5783 / 2022
10/07/2022 11:51:45 AM
Here's my Kol Nidrei Sermon: " Neither Are You Free to Desist from It." I've linked to organizations or people you might want to explore, and...Read more...
Nothing Great is Ever Finished (Rosh Hashanah Sermon, 5782/2022)
09/28/2022 03:07:20 PM
There is an old rabbinic teaching that we should leave a little bit of our house unfinished. (Had these guys seen my townhouse in Philly?) But seriously, leaving a bit of our house unfinished was to be a reminder of the destruction of the Temple. More broadly, it signals that life is unfinished, that all good things are incomplete.
Shabbat is another reminder that things are never...Read more...
Relational Judaism (Sermon from Erev Rosh Hashanah 5782/2022)
09/28/2022 03:05:24 PM
Hinei mah tov u-mah naim, shevet achim gam yachad..most of us have sung that song from Psalm 133:1 countless times. It means, “Look how good it is for us to be brothers/sisters dwelling together.”
In his book, Relational Judaism, Jewish organizational mayven Ron Wolfson brings an ancient Jewish mystical teaching on this verse: There seems to be an extra word that doesn’t need to be there. We could...Read more...
Feel the Awe
08/23/2022 01:06:26 PM
I've been asked to share my Devar Torah (Torah teaching) from Friday night, for Parashat Ekev. It's all about Awe, and I think it's a good one for this time of year.
I’m not really a morning person…but I get up before sunrise as much as I can to go see sunrise at the beach…because of the Awe. This week’s Torah portion tells us...Read more...
Special Musical Guest July 15
07/12/2022 09:42:08 AM
A last minute musical treat is happening this Shabbat!
This Friday, July 15, 7:30pm,I will be joined by a wonderful singer and musician Cantor Emil Skobeloff, playing guitar and singing his beautiful arrangements of traditional Shabbat prayers. If you love music, you...Read more...
Jews Stand for Reproductive Rights
06/24/2022 04:30:09 PM
As many of us learned during our recent Shabbat program with Rabbi David Teutsch, Jewish law and tradition has been surprisingly flexible on matters of contraception and reproductive rights. Judaism is pro-life in that we value each person as the image of the divine. When it comes to such reproductive rights, Jewish law always prioritizes the safety, well-being, and dignity of a woman in her own body. This is not a matter of being...Read more...
PRAYERS And Actions
06/02/2022 09:30:06 PM
With the many problems our nation faces, including the scourge of gun violence, "You are in our thoughts and prayers," has become a reflexive phrase. The term has become an empty slogan for many, who see these alleged prayers as just an excuse for inaction, or at best a passive wish that God will solve problems that we don’t want to address. But the Jewish traditions that I know always link prayer to...Read more...
Message from Our Rabbi
05/16/2022 05:44:54 PM
Dear Seaside Members and Friends,
Our grief and prayers are shared with the victims and their families of the recent hate crime shooting in Buffalo, New York. Ten precious human beings were killed and three others wounded, and eleven of the victims were Black. Each person is a world entire, and was mercilessly killed as each went about the innocent business of buying groceries. Just a day later, there was another mass shooting at...Read more...
