Divrei Torah - Guests/Members

These talks were delivered by members and guests on Shabbat and holidays.

Other talks by members, including some High Holyday talks, are available in Members’ Writings (members only).

Sometimes I feel that reading the Torah should come with a trigger warning, a statement that alerts us that the content may be disturbing or upsetting. This is true for me in reading this portion. It includes examples of painful dysfunctional family dynamics and truly disturbing values and behavior leading to conflict, deception, and betrayal. 

God tells Rebecca, who is having a difficult pregnancy after her distress at her...Read more...

In this week's parsha, Shlach Lkha ("Send for yourself"), we read about Moshe sending twelve spies into the land of Canaan, the despair-inducing report ten of them relay upon their return, the contrasting hopeful report that the other two give, and the divine consequences dealt to Moshe and his people as a result of losing their faith and succumbing to their fears despite what God Itself has promised them. The parasha concludes...Read more...

In my late forties, I began making short visits to the city where my grandparents grew up: a city in Poland or Latvia. I’d only been there briefly as a child, so the smells, sounds, and look of the place felt familiar, but I had no idea where anything was or how to get around. All the street signs and the names on the bus routes were in a language I barely knew and could barely read. As I walked around the city, the sound of people speaking...Read more...

This week's Torah portion concerns a mysterious affliction called tzara'at that apparently can afflict the skin of an individual, the clothing, or even a house. We don't know what this affliction was, and I think it is pretty clear that the authors of the text didn't know either - except that it appears to have been pervasive and scary, but not irreversible. Many commentators have taken it to be a spiritual ailment as much as a physical one,...Read more...

Shabbat shalom!

It is an especially joyful Shabbat for me today for along with my Dorshei community I am also surrounded by members of my family.

As I read today’s parasha in preparation for my d’var, I smiled to myself.  My d’var comes a day after my birthday—often a time when memories of our parents come to mind.  And my mother—of this I have no doubt-- would have taken great delight in today’s...Read more...

Good Morning! If you haven’t yet met me, my name is Lily Fisher Gomberg, I go by LilyFish & I use she and they pronouns.

This is my eighteenth time attending Rosh Hashannah services at Dorshei Tzedek, so I know that these Jewish Journeys usually end with; “and that’s how I ended up here.” But- I’m only 21. I didn’t end up here, I started here.

My mom, Diana, and my dad, Richard, joined...Read more...

5779

On Yom Kippur, Dorshei Tzedek members and poets Ben Newman, Josette Akresh-Gonzales, and Jo Radner explored the Avodah service, a part of the traditional Yom Kippur liturgy, to find their own meaning of Yom Kippur. They shared original poems- beautiful, powerful, relatable and diverse- to invite us to reflect on our own experiences of the day. You can read their poetry at the links below.

The Trumpet Player
by...Read more...

“When a person departs from the world, all their deeds come and present themselves to him one by one, saying: “This is what you did on day X. Do you believe it?” The person responds: “Yes, I do.” The deed then says: “Sign!” — and the person signs. Then the person vindicates God’s judgment, saying: “You judge me correctly.”

This ancient midrash from the sifre, a rabbinic commentary on the book of Devarim,...Read more...

5775

So That I may Dwell among Them.pdf

Where does God Live?

I never thought that I would be delivering a d’var Torah, with so much of a focus on God, since “God language” makes me uncomfortable. But, when Matilda asked me if I would deliver a d’var Torah and told me the possible dates, I said to myself, “Hmm I’ll give myself a few days to research the parshiot for those dates and come up with a...Read more...

5774

History and Memories d'var Torah.pdf

History and Memories:  Past and Present

As an historian, and especially as a Jewish historian, I have often wrestled with the dialogue between history and memory.  For perhaps in no religious tradition are memory and history more interwoven than in Judaism.  When God...Read more...

Feb 1, 2014/5774

PDF version

Picture us, the Israelites, at the foot of the mountain. The smell of smoke lingers in the air. The trembling of the mountain still has us trembling. We have received the 10 commandments. Here we are, saying yes to Adonai, yes to agreeing to live by the Torah and to teach our children the Torah. Our first instruction is we must remember our past and have compassion for the stranger, for others. We,...Read more...

Pesach 5772

Reconstructing Passover, by Rabbi Mordechai Liebling

Shabbat shalom, it is an honor, a privilege and a pleasure for me to be here; a wonderful occasion to celebrate. This is Shabbat Hachodesh and our extra torah reading is from Exodus, the initial commandment and description for observing Passover. The rabbi’s inserted this reading to remind us to prepare for the holiday. Today I am suggesting some...Read more...

5771

Process Theology and the story of Bilam and his Donkey

Process Theology and the story of Bilam and his Donkey

Stan Fleischman

June 26, 2010

Parshah Balak is about a talking donkey and its owner, the non-Israelite prophet Bilam, who utters the words “How Fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel” which made it into the Jewish liturgy, and which we read at the very...Read more...

5770

noach - susan nitkinl.pdf

“Adonai remembered Noach and all the beasts and all the animals that were with him in the ark, and Adonai caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain from heaven was restrained. The waters then receded from upon the earth, receding continuously, and the waters diminished at the end of a...Read more...

Tim Gunn meets the Prophet Elijah

April 3, 2010 

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