Divrei Torah/Torah Talks

These divrei torah have been delivered on High Holydays and on other occasions.

Rabbi Spitzer is also writing for ON Scripture – The Torah, a weekly Jewish scriptural commentary, produced in collaboration with Odyssey Networks and Hebrew College. Thought leaders from the United States and beyond offer their insights into the weekly Torah portion and contemporary social, political, and spiritual life. These...Read more...

In a moment, we will enter into the collective Selichot prayers, where we ask, in a variety of  ways, for forgiveness. There is a famous rabbinic teaching that the rituals of Yom Kippur do not grant forgiveness for harm that we may have done to other people. The fast day does not substitute for the person-to-person work of teshuvah, repentance and repair. Yom Kippur, the rabbis teach, brings healing between us and the Source of...Read more...

So here we are, back where we used to be – and nowhere near where we used to be. Back in our “regular” High Holydays sanctuary space, as we’ve been for so many years – but this year, we are wearing masks. This year, we are able to beam in folks from across the country via YouTube. This year, we are in our third High Holydays season marked by the coronavirus pandemic. The same; and different. Here we are; and what, exactly, is...Read more...

In a few minutes, we will recite the “Aleynu” prayer, that begins with these words: “Aleynu l’shabe’ach la’Adon hakol, la-tet gedulah l’yotzer bereshit” – “It is up to us to praise the Source of all, to declare the greatness of the Creator.”  This prayer was originally composed for the Rosh Hashanah service some time in the early rabbinic period, two thousand years ago, and then at some...Read more...

Back in June, as I began musing about what I might say during the High Holydays, I imagined a talk along the lines of, “Seven Things I have Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” with the thought that while the pandemic wouldn’t be entirely over, its disruption of our lives would be largely in the rearview mirror.  With that distance, I could begin to discern useful lessons for the new year.  Alas....Read more...

I have had a clear, visceral sense of being in God’s presence very few times in my life.  One such time occurred when I went to another synagogue for a daily evening minyan on my father’s yahrzeit.  It was a small gathering, and the service was simple and straightforward. I certainly wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to occur. Then, during the silent Amidah, I was suddenly struck by an intense feeling of being...Read more...

I’d like to share with you tonight a story told by Congressman John Lewis, may his memory be for a blessing, in his memoir, Walking In the Wind:

“[A]bout fifteen of us children were outside my aunt Seneva’s house, playing in her dirt yard. The sky began clouding over, the wind started picking up, lightning flashed far off in the distance, and suddenly I wasn’t thinking about playing anymore; I was terrified…

Aunt...Read more...

A few weeks ago, I read a wonderful op-ed in the Boston Globe by a writer named Tim Cockey.  He writes:                               

“Here’s what I hope to do on my upcoming trip out West: Get lost. And not just once, but over and over again.

“Why?...Read more...

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780

I am only slightly embarrassed to admit that a good portion of the TV that I watch are reality cooking shows - Top Chef, Masterchef, Masterchef Junior.  This summer, I returned to watching a show that used to be a favorite of mine: Restaurant Impossible.  For those of you not familiar with it, the recipe for Restaurant Impossible is fairly straightforward, and is...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah I 5779

PDF: RH Talk 5779-Finding Faith.pdf

This past July, during a visit with my mother in Maryland, we happened upon the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, on the Eastern Shore.  Established just a few years ago, the Park has a wonderful visitors’ center, with a great exhibit about Tubman’s life and the activity of the Underground Railroad in Maryland...Read more...

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5778

PDF: Erev RH Talk 5778 - Water-Place-Voice.pdf

So here we are, entering a new Jewish year, a time that in our tradition is seen as one both of hope and of trepidation.  Hope, because we are celebrating the creation of the world as if today were that day - everything lies new before us.  Hope, because we are given an opportunity to turn the page, to write a new chapter in our personal...Read more...

Yom Kippur  5778

PDF: YK Talk 5778- Slavery and Its Atonement.pdf

In the Yom Kippur Torah service, we heard from two of the central models of leadership in the Torah: the priest and the prophet.  The priests oversaw the rituals that were designed to allow God’s Presence to dwell among the Israelites, via the sacred space known as the Mishkan, the holy sanctuary.  The priests were...Read more...

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5777

PDF: Your Purpose is Everything

Over the past few years, I spent a fair bit of time at Mass General Hospital, accompanying my spouse Gina on various appointments.  In each of the examination rooms in the cancer center, on the inside of every door, there is a sign that says this:

 “Confirming your identity will be a repetitive process while here...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5777

PDF: Our Path Together

On my various rabbinic listservs, there has been some discussion, as you might imagine, about how and if we rabbis will be addressing the presidential election over the High Holydays.  Due to the tax exempt status of our congregations, we are legally barred from telling people to do everything in their power to keep a misogynistic, racist, narcissistic...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah I 5776

PDF:  RH1 Talk 5776-Asking for Fear.pdf

Last year, I cut out of the paper a graphic op-ed called “100 Years of Fears,” by Phillip Niemeyer.  In it, he puts a little graphic and a heading for the major cultural fear of each year.  Here are a few of what he includes:

1915 - U-Boats
1921 - Reds
1924 - Immigrants
1934 - Hunger
1943 -...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5776

PDF: Aleynu - Praise Be! - KN 5776.pdf

In a few moments, we will recite the “Aleynu.” The prayer begins, “Aleynu l’shabe’ach la’adon hakol—“It is up to us to praise Adon HaKol” - ‘the Master of All’ – a poetic way of referring to the Power of life itself, the organizing force behind the cosmos.

The next line is intended to parallel the...Read more...