Sermons

Sermons

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Sermons
  • Rabbi Zauzmer: To Mask or Be Seen (January 4, 2025)

    Rabbi Zauzmer leads a discussion about Joseph's vulnerability, questioning when we decide to filter ourselves and when we risk sharing it all.

  • Rabbi Koffman: What's Hanukkah? (December 27, 2024)

    Learn with Rabbi Koffman the reasons we celebrate Hanukkah for 8 days…the answers may surprise you.

  • Rabbinic Intern Pink: Placing God Before Us (December 21, 2024)

    Rabbinic Intern Pink discusses how Joseph’s strategies for dealing with captivity can inform our own approaches to navigating difficult circumstances.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Don’t Plant a Flag (December 14, 2024)

    What does it mean to celebrate victory by planting a flag? Rabbi Cosgrove cautions that true victory includes respecting the dignity of our opponents and that only when we refrain from provoking and demeaning our adversaries can we hope for a permanent, peaceful resolution of conflict.

  • Rabbi Solmsen: Children Will Listen (December 7, 2024)

    Rabbi Solmsen reflects on all that parents can do as Jewish educators.

  • Rabbinic Intern Pink: Was Esau Wicked? (November 30, 2024)

    Rabbinic Intern Pink analyzes the ways that the character of Esau has been interpreted throughout history and what that has to say about how we judge others.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Our American Stories (November 23, 2024)

    What is your American story? Rabbi Cosgrove offers four questions to guide conversations at the Thanksgiving table.

  • Rabbi Zuckerman: To Languish, or to Rebuild (November 16, 2024)

    What does one do when there are no signs of approaching miracles or heavenly protection while marching into moments of fear or tragedy? By reflecting on Abraham’s task to sacrifice his son, and more contemporary hardships of the Jewish people, Rabbi Zuckerman uncovers the balance between divine i...

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Looking Long (November 9, 2024)

    Following last week’s election, you may feel crushed and afraid or you may feel relieved and grateful. Rabbi Cosgrove counsels that whatever our reaction, each of us must move forward, working to realize our ideals with respect for those whose reactions differ from our own.

  • Rabbi Zuckerman: The Way of the Dove (November 2, 2024)

    During the NYC marathon weekend, Rabbi Zuckerman compares marathon runners to the story of Noah, and reflects on how through hope, resilience, and support, we can help each other reach the finish line and decide our own future. 

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Hospitality of The Heart (October 26, 2024)

    In tribute to his late teacher, Professor Paul Mendes-Flohr, z”l, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that welcoming others, especially those who are different from us or whose ideas differ from our own, is the core lesson of the Torah and essential to healing our world.

  • Rabbi Zuckerman: The Endurance of the Etrog (October 19, 2024)

    How have the Jewish people been able to endure and persevere in the face of exile and tragedy? Drawing on themes of the holiday of Sukkot, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the revolutionary ideas of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, a leading Zionist thinker of the early 20th century.

  • Rabbi Koffman: Ode to Joy (Sukkot Day 1, 2024)

    Rabbi Koffman explores what it means to find joy on Sukkot.

  • Rabbinic Intern Aiden Pink: An Elephant in the Sukkah? (Sukkot Day 2, 2024)

    Rabbinic Intern Aiden Pink discusses one of the oddest debates in the Talmud, and what it has to say about the message of Sukkot and the true meaning of Jewish community.

  • Rabbi Zuckerman: The Essence of Courage (Rosh Hashanah, Day 2, 2024)

    What does it mean to be courageous, especially during times that, on the surface, call for resignation? Through an exploration of Jewish history, rabbinic thought, and High Holiday liturgy, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the bravery that is hard-wired in the DNA of the Jewish people.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Lt. Nathan Baskind, z"l (Kol Nidrei, 2024)

    Can you imagine peace between sworn enemies? Through the story of how Jews and former Nazis cooperated to find and reinter the remains of an American Jewish soldier buried in a German mass grave, Rabbi Cosgrove offers hope that the enmities of our day may also be resolved someday.

  • Rabbi Zuckerman: Carry Forth the Legacy (Yom Kippur, 2024)

    How do a people in exile maintain their traditions, ideals, and knowledge of history? Rabbi Zuckerman explains that Jewish survival is not dependent on rebuilding a physical structure, but rather by maintaining a structure of learning and nurturing Jewish identity, and how you can bring these str...

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Shattered Vessels (Yom Kippur, 2024)

    What happens after a fragile vessel shatters? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the divine light of our loved ones remains even after they are no longer present, and especially at Yizkor, we can still gather their sparks.

  • Rabbi Koffman: We Will Dance Again (Yom Kippur, 2024)

    How do we heal from so much pain and loss this year? Rabbi Koffman reflects on what we can learn from the framework of Mourner’s Kaddish.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Pardon Me (October 5, 2024)

    Are you carrying any grudges? Regretting how you’ve treated someone? Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to forgive the shortcomings of others as we hope God will forgive our shortcomings, to make apologies and accept apologies so that we can begin the new year free of past bitterness.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: A Time of Testing (Rosh Hashanah Day 1, 2024)

    Do you have hope for the future? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that all of Jewish history has been a series of trials and tests, and it is hope that has sustained the Jewish people throughout. To guarantee the Jewish future, we must channel our hope into living vibrant Jewish lives.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Entering a Synagogue (Erev Rosh Hashanah, 2024)

    What do we seek when entering a synagogue? By way of a visit to his grandfather’s synagogue, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that we hope to experience gratitude for the people and values that have shaped us and to dedicate ourselves to becoming even better versions of ourselves.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: The Pull of the Land (September 28, 2024)

    In good times and bad, for Israelis and for American Jews, Jewish identity is tied to our connection to the Land. Rabbi Cosgrove explains how the pull of Israel situates Jewish identity and lays bare the challenge of living outside Israel while always feeling that one belongs there.

  • Rabbi Cosgrove: Today and the Day After (September 21, 2024)

    Throughout history, hope in the future has been essential to Jewish survival. Rabbi Cosgrove urges that despite our weariness and despair over the continuing war in the Middle East, we must envision and plan for a future of peaceful coexistence between Israel and its neighbors.