Living Jewishly Out Loud

Torah of the Street

During this busy time of year – kids heading back to school, Labor Day plans, the High Holy Days approaching, fall sports underway – it can feel difficult to add anything

Hate is a 4-Letter Word

As we head into the High Holy Days, we often focus on teshuvah — the hard work of apologizing and making amends. But what about the modern "villains" in our lives whom we

The Courage to Critique

Is a "good friend" someone who never judges you, or the one person with the courage to call you out? Drawing from the Torah, this episode dives into the difficult Jewish

How to Raise a Mensch

We’ve all heard Jewish caregivers kvell over their "exceptional" children — the doctors, the lawyers, the "tall and handsome" sons. And they're right to: Jews make up onl

Choosing the Living: a response to a world that prefers our history to our presence

The world often embraces Jewish stories when they are tragic, memorialized in museums, or win Academy Awards — but as Dara Horn famously wrote, "People love dead Jews. Li

Jewish Resilience

Having just commemorated Yom HaShoah, and in this moment of deep communal challenge and change, Rabbi Amy reflects on what it means to live openly as a Jew. Drawing on a

Let My People Go

Moses stands before the burning bush and receives the divine command to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go," yet he repeatedly resists, citing a profound speech impediment. 

The Blame Game

When terrible things happen, we often look for where to place the blame - villains, ourselves, even God. This week’s Torah portion prompts us to ask the same question abo

Planting for the Next Generation

Drawing on Mark Twain’s famous observation of Jewish endurance, this sermon explores how the secret to Jewish continuity lies not in having all the answers, but in our co

Jewish Appearances

Jewish congregations, and Temple Israel specifically, have a long tradition of innovation and change. In the generation to come, we need to both appear more Jewish and ma

Going All In

Throughout American Jewish history, there have been times when it seems that a switch flips in us that reminds us that our Judaism is our defining feature. Now is the tim

The Siren & the Shofar

In times of danger, we have warnings that help us protect ourselves, but there’s rarely a sign that tells us when the danger has passed. The shofar, however, provides a m

Jews by Choice: Part 2

You may remember our spring episode on those who become Jews by choice. Join us for this episode of Living Jewishly Out Loud as Rabbi Amy digs deeper into the awe and sig

Who Are the Bad Guys? Seeking Clarity in a Time of War

With news of a possible end to the Israel-Hamas war, and as we await the release of our hostages this weekend, Rabbi Michael offers clarity and context in this powerful e

The Jewish Origins of Paddington Bear

The story of Paddington Bear was inspired by the author seeing Jewish refugee children during WWII.  As we marked Kristallnacht and read the story of the Akeidah, we look

Escaping the Scapegoat

Ancient Judaism imagined Yom Kippur as a time when ritually, the whole community’s sins could be erased by putting them on a scapegoat (an actual animal). How has the ide

God, the Poet, and the Lone Soldier

As we come together as a community in the face of a recent antisemitic attack here in Clayton, MO, it can be hard to make sense of the ongoing turmoil Jews are facing eve

From Anne Frank to Mordechai Anielewicz

The Jewish story contains the voices of both strength and hope. This episode includes inspiring stories of both strength and hope that have occurred in the last few years

Too Soon?

There is a perpetual question of when to dwell on the tragedies of the Jewish past and when to focus our thoughts toward a positive future. When is it too soon?  This se

Jews by Choice

After the congregation witnesses and celebrates someone choosing Judaism, we become more aware of how different it can feel to have been born into Judaism.  The way we de