Archive | D’var Torah

On Gazelles and Pillars of Fire By Rabbi Beth Kalisch Traveling in Tanzania on safari, my husband pointed excitedly to a gazelle bending down in the tall grass. After a moment, I realized why he was so excited – the gazelle was standing over a wet, furry ball: a baby gazelle. Newborn gazelles are on […]

Pharaoh’s Final Request by Beth Kalisch In the middle of the night, in Parashat Bo, Pharaoh and his whole court wake up to the horror of the 10th plague: as the firstborn sons are slain, every Egyptian household is suddenly in mourning. Under the weight of this tragedy, the king who fancies himself a god […]

How Humble Is Too Humble? By Beth Kalisch When we open the Book of Exodus this week, and turn to Parashat Sh’mot, we find that the Israelites are suffering under the tyranny of ego. Pharaoh, a despot who believes himself to be more powerful than God – indeed, he believes that he is a god […]

In Place of God? In God’s Place? by Edwin C. Goldwin After a natural calamity or terrorist attack an understandable question presents itself: Where is God in all this? We’ve seen the evil that people can do, and we’ve seen the spirit of sacrifice and service in firefighters, emergency workers, police officers, and ordinary citizens. […]

Leadership and Letting Go By Edwin C. Goldberg Can you say chutzpah? How about arrogance? Or is ignorance a more appropriate word for people behaving badly? When I served a congregation in Hollywood, I met many performers who were both prominent and very fine human beings. But on occasion, I met one who plays a […]

Joseph the Educator By Edwin C. Goldberg In this week’s Torah portion, Mikeitz, Joseph, now the viceroy of Egypt, receives a visit from his brothers who seek relief from the famine in Canaan. While Joseph recognizes them, they don’t realize that he is the brother they kidnapped and sold into slavery. This makes sense. They […]

Practice Positive Pessimism and Partner With God. By Edwin C. Goldberg Most of us have grown up with the power of positive thinking. We’ve been warned about negative outlooks and what popular psychologists call “catastrophizing.” To have a successful outcome when facing a problem, we’re told that we need to avoid the bad and focus […]

What Does It Mean to Be a Man in Full? By Edwin C. Goldberg One day, I may give a sermon titled: “Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Pagan Philosopher.” This is thanks to the book, The Art of Living,1 by Sharon Lebell. In this book, Lebell, an author and musician from […]

Someone Is Always Watching!  by Rabbi Robert S. Goldstein In New England, people talk about two things: the weather and sports, both of which are reliably unpredictable! The New England Patriots’ football team is beloved and their star quarterback, Tom Brady, is revered. Last season he was accused of using underinflated footballs, a violation of […]

God as Matchmaker D’var Torah By Edwin C. Goldberg With so many matchmaking and online dating services, it’s no surprise that people are looking for love, but as a recent Pew study1 shows, their search results in marriage less and less often. That’s because relationships of any kind are seldom easy. As a professor of […]