From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Shabbat Sermon: Where Do We Find God? with Guest Speaker Rabbi Israel de la Piedra

Such an important question, “where is God?” It seems so basic, yet do we ever stop to ask ourselves this question? Probably only rarely, if at all. It must be at the same

Shabbat Sermon with Rabbi Aliza Berger

August 15, 2026

Shabbat Sermon: Food for Thought: Why Does Judaism Care So Much About Food? with Guest Speaker Rabbi Sonia Saltzman

This week’s Torah portion offers us a list of forbidden and permissible foods, but Jewish tradition challenges us to look beyond what we eat and ask deeper questions abou

Shabbat Sermon: What Is Your Life For? with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

When we are inthe midst of our Bar and Bat Mitzvah season, our clergy team meets with the teen whose big day is coming up that Shabbat. We often ask some version of this

Shabbat Sermon: The Spirituality of Welcoming with Head Usher Rick Thau

Welcoming is an essential part of the Jewish tradition and a key to spirituality. I’ll discuss my take on how I and so many others at Temple Emanuel work to create a welc

Shabbat Sermon: Between Iraq and Israel, Be’er Sheva and Gaza: A Family Journey Across Arab and Jewish Worlds with Guest Speaker Yuval Evri

This talk traces Yuval's family’s journey from Basra and Nasiriyah in Iraq to Israel in the 1950s. Through the story of his parents, his childhood in Be’er Sheva’s Dalet

Shabbat Sermon: Two Geographies, One Covenant with Rabbi Jamie Kolter

When the tribes of Gad and Reuben ask to settle east of the Jordan, Moses hears a threat to Israel’s future. Together we’ll discover how the Torah and the Book of Joshua

Shabbat Sermon: Parashot Ḥukat-Balak: A Divine Lesson in Employing Perspective to Overcome Life’s Emotional & Interpersonal Difficulties with Guest Speaker Michael Rosemberg

What does it mean to be blessed without knowing it, especially in a period permeated by suffering and perceived meaninglessness? Today, reading these two parashot togethe

Shabbat Sermon: Choosing Teams Over Titles with Ritual Coordinator AJ Helman

I need all of you to join me on a sports-nerd journey, for a second, because the Knicks just won their first championship since 1973. I’m aware this may not be the right

Talmud Class: Living Without Closure

We all love closure. We would all love to know that a danger we had worried about has passed, that we can exhale. All good. All safe. Peace. Nothing to worry about anymor

Shabbat Sermon: Singing God’s Words with Rabbi Jeffrey Summit

Singing God’s Words: The Meaning and Experience of Chanting Torah Drawing from his book, Singing God’s Words: The Performance of Biblical Chant in Contemporary Judaism,

Talmud Class: Aleinu

The many aspects of the prayer Aleinu There’s no other prayer in the entire Jewish liturgy as fascinating as the Aleinu with its rich history and meaning on one hand, an

Talmud Class: What is Your Word Cloud? You Become It.

What is your word cloud? What are the leading words that take in how you feel about your life?   Our reading this week reminds us of the very intimate connection betwee

Shabbat Sermon: Maimonides’s Moment—And Our Own with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

I want to talk to you this morning about a pivotal moment, a fork in the road moment, faced by the greatest rabbi who ever lived, Maimonides. And while we are not Maimoni

Talmud Class: Tuning Our Six Strings

Please do yourself a favor. Listen to the commencement address that country star Eric Church recently gave at the University of North Carolina. It’s 18 minutes—and very m

Shavuot Sermon: Never Say Goodbye with Rabbi Michelle Robinson

May 23, 2026

Talmud Class: Parenting Through the Lens of Revelation

Last week, we cut Eder’s hair for the first time in celebration of his third birthday. As he grows, Solomon and I find ourselves thinking more intentionally about the kin

Both Sides of the Glass: the Art of Jewish Self-Consciousness with Shavuot Guest Speaker Joshua Foer

Author and social entrepreneur Joshua Foer is the co-founder of several initiatives to make Jewish learning and cultural exploration accessible worldwide, including Sefar

Bruce Feiler in Conversation with Rabbi Gardenswartz on his Newest Book, A Time to Gather

In his new book A Time to Gather, our friend and multiply published bestselling author, Bruce Feiler, delves into the role of rituals in our lives, how traditional old an

Shabbat Sermon: Time in a Bottle with Rabbi Michelle Robinson

May 16, 2026