Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated: Recent Episodes
Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated
Romemu is a welcoming, experiential, irreverently pious, intergenerational Jewish community that elevates and transforms individuals and communities into more compassionate human beings.
Committed to powerful prayer and transformative spiritual practices, Romemu attempts to engage the heart, mind and body in everything we do, helping us to foster greater levels of compassion.
We believe that Judaism offers spiritual seekers and skeptics alike a path that celebrates our wholeness and provides practical, grounded ways to heal our brokenness. We are committed to helping to birth a post-denominational Judaism that transcends ideologies and labels, that is joy-based and contemplative, ecstatic and reverential, connected to our tradition, yet open to truth, wherever it is found.
Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses on Parsha Metzora and what it means to be part of humanity.romemu.org
January 19, 2024 Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses on Parsha Bo and how the difficulties of speech faced by Moses in the story of the Exodus parallel our abilities to articulate current events.
January 12, 2024 Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses on parshat Vaeira and maintaining hope in times of hopelessness
Rabbi Ingber's sermon at Romemu's Communal Comfort Shabbat Service on Friday, October 13, 2023Parshat Bereshit
Rabbi David Ingber's sermon on October 27, 2023, three weeks after the terror attacks of October 7, 2023 and five years after the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.Parshat Lech Lecha
If this is, why am I? Rabbi Cohler Esses' sermon on Parsha Toldot at Romemu on Friday, November 17.
In his sermon on Parsha Vayishlach, Rabbi Ingber reflected on his recent trip to Israel.
Rabbi Ingber reflected on his recent trip to Israel after we read Parshat Vayishlach on December 2.
Sermon Dreaming of a New Book - Rabbi Cohler Esses Dec 29 2023 for parshat Vayechi 5784 at Romemu
Shimon Smith on Parsha Shemot, Friday, January 5, 2024 Romemu's director of music and family programming spoke the need for strong women leaders in Israel comparable to those we read about in Parsha Shemot.
A community member asked, "Where is God right now?" This was Rabbi Scott's moving response.
There was a protest for Gaza at the Brooklyn Museum over the weekend. Many people were there because they care about Palestinians. Many were Jews. But what we've seen is that a small few will come imbued with a much older hatred. How do we teach Jewish kids to come into adulthood, knowing that the world is rarely indifferent to us? What does it take to bear the pressure of the world's gaze when you're Jewish?
Rabbi Scott's barnstormer two weeks after the Hamas attack and the start of the war between Israel and Gaza
Does life feel narrow? Do you keep pushing in the direction you think you or your children ought to be going and...it doesn't work? There is more than one way to live, more directions to life. Rabbi Scott's powerful drash on Rosh Hashanah on living beyond the expectations of where we think we ought to be.
Rabbi Scott's Bar Mitzvah Blessing to the parents and friends of Anya and Ryder Hoerburger by Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated
Self-promotion, being first, having a 'brand' or a platform, are all ubiquitous in today's world. 'If I am not for myself', the wise words of the great Hillel have become a modern-day mantra. And, though sharing your voice and being heard are vital, learning to live with others through the trait of humility may be the most powerful antidote to the current state of division, discord and despair available to us. This past week's wisdom, Eikev, literally means 'heel' and in it, our teacher Moses implores the people to listen in an 'eikev' or heel way. What does that mean? Eikev, or heel, is the lowest part of the body. It doesn't seek to be first, to lead, to be a-head or get a-head. It follows the rest of the body, but, according to our Sages, is the densest and strongest part of the foot. Learning to listen from the heel, can heal us.
In our parsha, Va'etchanan, Moses warns the Israelites to obey and follow Torah lest they be exiled from the land, dispersed throughout the world. He then proceeds to predict that his warnings will go unheeded and indeed, the Israelites will eventually find themselves in galut, or exile, dislocated and distanced from home. But, says Moses, if you seek G-d from that place (Heb. mee'shom), you will find the Divine.
Finding G-d where we are now, beginning the journey home from our current situation is not easy at all. Often we are like children who ask, 'are we there yet?', restless and uncomfortable with where we are, we can lose sight of this profound teaching from Moses our teacher.
Rabbi Cohler-Esses explores the question of faith and whether it is possible to have faith without believing in God. What would allow us to move forward in life with faith that some greater hand is at work, some greater purpose, faith that might relieve help us face a difficult world?
Matot-Masei is a double parsha which brings us to the completion of the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar). In her sermon, Rabbi Cohler-Esses explores reckoning with difficult passages in the Torah, with texts that are violent or patriarchal. Focusing on the laws of women and vows she suggests a methodology for approaching problematic texts by highlighting larger Biblical principles that can take us on a path to honoring those that have been diminished in the Torah.
Five sisters in the Torah portion of Pinchas, known as the Daughters of Zelofchad, stand up to the leadership of the Israelite community. Their father died in the wilderness and they don't have brothers, meaning they don't have inheritance rights. These sisters stand before the entire community and ask to inherit their family's land. God responds affirmatively, and as a result an entire system shifts and inheritance law is rewritten. Listen to this sermon and be inspired by the Daughters' of Zelofchad to take a stand and ask for what you want.
Rabbi Cohler-Esses' sermon addressed the Kabbalistic notion of small mind and large mind -- "mochin de-katnut and mochin de-gadlut" -- and shows how Bilaam, the Ancient Near Eastern prophet, is given lessons by his donkey, by God, and by the wilderness about what it means to make the shift from a narrow to a more expansive consciousness.
Rabbi Dianne explores the ongoing tragedy of gun violence and turns to the Torah to see if there are lessons there to help us as we face the unthinkable.
The Children of Israel turn from grief at the punishment of having to wander the desert for forty years in the parsha/portion of Shelach Lecha to grievance in the parsha of Korach. Korach and his cohort challenge Moshe's power by saying - rav lecha - you have taken too much. In her sermon, Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses explores the role of grief in our lives and the potential it has to prepare us for activism.
Two Shabbatot before Passover is known as "the Shabbat of the month," when we once again read the commitment made to the people of Israel. Once a people with no ownership of their own time, the Israelites, now free, finally have a say over how their time is used - they are renewed. While every Shabbat involves the holiness of renewal, the special Shabbat of a new month also ushers in a renewal of the moon. As we enter a month that reminds us of a liberation we thought was impossible, we must also address what areas of our lives are in need of renewal as we push to build the world we'd like to see.
"If all we do is remember, we become slaves to memory, and if all we do is forget, we erase the legacy of the past and make covenants simply a matter of nostalgia." As a community and a society, we have been imprinted with memories of forced separation, brutality, and loneliness, reflected both in current global events as well as our retellings of ancient stories. However, if we are slaves to memory and we do not use the power of compassionate, intentional forgetting, we are refusing to grow together. On our path from Purim to Pesach, we must keep in mind that it is time to retell - and rewrite - our stories.
Regret is not the same as disappointment. Yes, regret involves disappointment and remorse, but also agency - What did I do, and what should I have done differently? I shouldn't have severed those ties, I shouldn't have compromised my personal morals... But what do we do with that energy? The Torah tells us that if we toil in that position of uncertainty, we would die in despair. However, the Torah then says, "But here's a way out." Acknowledge the mistake, say you'll do it different next time, and mean it. It's hard to look back over the last two years and not feel regret, but as we fully reopen and embrace each other as a community, we now have a golden opportunity to reflect and grow.
Every week we turn to the Torah for clues on how to lead a life well-lived. Elsewhere in the Torah, the word pekudei and its root appear at moments of great hope, community, and sacred duty. Now, as we learn the pekudei of the tabernacle, we know we are not simply given a list of tasks, but rather actions with divine promise. Rabbi Ingber extends the tabernacle as a representation of the world and suggests that the Torah is in fact reminding us to be mindful, to keep promises, to be guardians, and to foster hope. Not only that, but as we observe Refugee Shabbat during a time of great crisis in Ukraine, we recognize how crucial it is to never allowing another to be subject to what we endured as strangers in Egypt.
Exodus ends with an exploration of the meaning of our Shabbat cycle alongside the tabernacle's completion. The Israelites all brought contributions to the tabernacle until Moses commanded them to stop and observe Shabbat, after which the sequence would begin again. In every generation, each of us does what we can to build for the generation to follow, who will pick up where we leave off. Following this train of thought, Rabbi Ingber suggests that not everything you want to see in the world can happen through you alone - we must pass that torch over to future generations to carry.
When Moses last descends from Mt. Sinai, he doesn't know that his face is illuminant with rays of light. By the time we encounter this divine phenomenon in our reading, we have already experienced the human cycle of brilliant joy and wretched despair; the Jews breaking the chains of slavery through the destruction of the first pair of tablets - highs and lows. For all of us, it is possible to live in our disappointment and come down from the mountain with our faces bright, emerging from despair.
Our ancestors, the ancient rabbis, had a principle called "ein mukdam o meuchar baTorah" meaning: there is no early or late in the Torah. This is a radical principle that the rabbis used to re-organize the narrative of the Torah in order to solve an exegetical problem. Recognizing the dangers of this principle they used it infrequently. However, in the portion of Tetzaveh, Rashi, the 11th century French Bible commentator, employs it to make the claim that the instructions for the tabernacle (mishkan) were given only after the sin of the Golden Calf (in the Torah's narrative, these instructions are placed before the episode of the Golden Calf). With this new narrative order, Rashi illustrates God's great compassion for the Israelites, illustrating that God understands that in worshipping a golden calf God's people needed something concrete, something tangible by which to relate to the Divine Presence. In response God gives them instructions for building a sanctuary, a mishkan, by which they can connect to the Divine presence.
This Shabbat, we are told to build a sanctuary, a place God may live inside. But what is the purpose of this small desert sanctuary? Like Sinai, the sanctuaries we build remind us of the heights we can achieve with the strength of our community. In the fallout of the sin of the golden calf, however, we also recognize the need for a place to be broken together, a place where we might have the chance to rebuild ourselves. So, is a shul a place for longing or belonging? Perhaps it is both.
We all endure falls, make mistakes, and are subject to a variety of hardships we have no control over. We also have the capacity to see these events as either bricks of slavery or the luminous bricks of divine revelation. Rabbi David Ingber urges us to liberate ourselves from stories, from slaveries, that we no longer need to honor.
Hazzan Basya singing Ladino Hamavdil that will be sure to bring some lightness to your day.
Rabbi David Ingber is taken not by events of revelation, but rather the events which precede revelation. Prior to receiving the Torah up on Mt. Sinai, Moses received torah, trust, and support from his father-in-law Jethro. As we continue to grow as a worldwide community, we must all acknowledge that we are always preceded by mentors and supporters who light our paths toward revelation.
How do we take up the mantle of transformation, as is our obligation? Saturday morning, on Jan. 15, 2022, Rabbi David Ingber reminded the Romemu community of the need to face adversity with strength while simultaneously embracing our traditions, understanding that they indeed have shadows. In time, we can fulfill our duty with both humility and pride, not either/or.
Miriam's original role was to protect Moses, and ultimately, despite a life lined with bitterness, she chose to become a bountiful source of sweet water for an entire young nation of desperate people. Rabbi David Ingber reminds us of a similar lesson from Martin Luther King Jr. - that we can either react with bitterness, or we can respond by putting our energy into a creative force. It is possible to choose the positive - may we always choose to take ourselves to the place of the possible.
Rabbi David Ingber reminisces on work before Romemu - work that seemed endless. The morning alarm would sound, and as little as he may have been able to sleep, he had to muster the strength to get out there, do his part, and trust that the labor resolves into respite. Now is the time to muster our own strength as we meet uncertainty. We are all tasked with maintaining justice; a heavy task, but not infinite. All it takes is me and you.
Beginning with Moshe's voicelessness and the stuck communication system in Egypt-- Pharaoh won't listen, Moses can't speak and the Israelites can't hear the message of freedom -- Rabbi Cohler-Esses focuses in on the experience of shame that is at the heart of slavery. She ends with an invitation to all of us to create a spiritual community that accepts human fallibility. It is only through embodying a spirit of collective forgiveness that we can move past our sins and failures.
Moses at the Burning Bush turned to see the great miracle of a bush burning without being consumed. It is precisely when God sees that Moses turned to see that God addresses Moses. But when God introduced God's self to Moses, Moses hid his face. What do we turn to see in our lives? When do we hide our faces? Listen to Rabbi Cohler-Esses's sermon about the first portion of Exodus, Parshat Shmot, to learn about practices that place us on holy ground, at the burning bush, turning to see the powerful sights of everyday life.
In her sermon Rabbi Cohler-Esses reckons with Jacob blessing his sons in the face of their more than disturbing behavior. How do we hold everything going on now in the world, and still bless? How do we stay alive and connected? Rabbi Cohler-Esses looks to the parsha for practices that can help get us through these difficult times.
The meeting between a wounded, angry and resentful Joseph and his vulnerable but guilty brothers invites us to explore how healing and forgiveness might take place. The brokenness at the heart of living is the essence of being made of flesh, of being human. Compassion for the suffering each of us carries softens and prepares the soil of our lives for the seeds of reconciliation to be planted and, eventually, to bloom.
Or Zaruah Latzadik Rap featuring Kohenet Elana Brody from Romemu Brooklyn's Kabbalat Shabbat on December 3, 2021.
Righteousness and forgiveness are ultimately cycles of falling down and getting back up. Mistakes are made, we learn, we grow, and we keep moving forward. On Shabbat Chanukkah, the gentle spin of the dreidel suggests to us that this is not actually a cycle of falling - we're dancing back up.
On the last night of Hannukah, here's a shout out to our Honeymoon Israel couples: Omicron knocked us out, but our time will come for our lights to shine bright in Israel. In this Hannukify, Naomi Less, Sharon Jones, Neil Diamond, They Might Be Giants, and Adriatic Sea
This Hannukify is in honor of the great Jewish singer, actor, storyteller, and activist Theodore Bikel z''l. Happy Hannukah with two heaping doses of the best of Theo.
It's Hannukah Ska - what would the Maccabees make of that? If you like Island Boy, this trackisnt for you because that song is terrible, and this is good. So listen to this instead.
So nice we did it twice. Nehora v'Hadas's stunning Maoz Tzur melody - there's nothing like it.
A true Hannukah miracle(ish) story in Prague plus Jack Black singing the Hanukkah song. Happy Hannukify!
Are you ready to HHHHHHanukify with Rabbi Scott? In this Hannukify Short: Sarah Aroeste's Ladino track Hanuka. Watch out for those killer horns!
Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses explores the widespread human habit of comparing ourselves to one another, ranking ourselves and the other person ---to our detriment or to the detriment of the other person. This process takes a terrible toll on the Israelite family; Jacob explicitly favors Joseph--through the gift of the multi-color coat-- leading to Joseph's brothers feeling undervalued and their lethal jealousy.
The past years have been traumatic and transformative. Rabbi Ingber discusses Romemu member Matthew Heineman’s powerful documentary ‘The First Wave’, which recalls and recasts the first 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC and its relationship to the mythic moment of the Patriarch Jacob’s wrestling with a mysterious foe in Genesis 32.
As when Jacob left Be'er Sheva, when any one of us leaves a place, a part of us remains behind. We all have the capacity to resurrect; what vessels can we build from that residue?
Our patriarch Isaac loved Esau even as Jacob seemed the more likely candidate to receive the familial blessing. This affection has puzzled commentators for centuries. Many read Isaac's love as the reason he couldn't see Esau's unworthiness. However, one commentator read Isaac's choice as strategic, his decision to confer a blessing on his unsavory son as a path that all of us might take when dealing with the obstacles, difficulties, and painful parts of our life.
Friday, November 5, 2021
The High Holidays are a process of repair, and with repair comes joy. Featuring: El Nora Alila by Meydad Tasa
Surprise Shabbatify! Welcoming you back into our Shabbatify bubble with Elul shorts that will be sure to get you ready and on your way to the High Holy Days.
Check out all of our High Holy Day offerings here: https://romemu.shulcloud.com/form/brooklyn-highholidays-5782.html
Miriam's Death, Moses' Fulfillment. Brooklyn Pride Shabbat by Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated
Look, we know things have been heavy. We've watched, heard, and listened. Shabbatify this week offers everything you've offered us: space to share truth and voice. We talked to Hamza Khan, one of the many moderators of the Clubhouse Room "Meet Palestinians and Israelis" (it's still going BTW), and treat you to the Bengsons' Hope Comes.
For more Hamza Kahn: http://www.hamzakhan.me/ Follow us on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/club/romemu-brooklyn
The music and Torah of Deborah Sacks Mintz! Plus the Scorpions (you'll like it), Chava Alberstein, Basya's own great stuff and a little Moishe Oisher for you fans of years past. This might be the best Shabbatify yet.
It's a Shabbatify Esther-avanganza. Aviva Chernick joins Scott and Basya to talk about her mentor Flory Jagoda z''l, the Queen of Ladino Music. Plus Alicia Jo Rabins, Galeet Dardashti, Meilech Kohn, Ilana Chava, and Basya herself.
Love Songs (of the holy yearning variety) during this week of love. Yula Be'eri, the woman behind the trio Indiga joins Basya and Scott. Scott explains "how I met your mother," to his kids, who will listen to this in approximately two decades. Basya explains her unique Bar/Be'er(well) concept with holographic camels.
It's our Shabbat Shira special. Friend of the 'Mu Elana Brody gives us a sneak peak at her newest song, and Scott and Basya talk music, songwriting, and davenning. Debbie Friedman (Miriam dances with her timbrels this parsha), Zusha, Mosha, R. Hayim Luk, and more.
How do you commit to defeating oppression?
Rabbi Scott Perlo on Parshat Bo from Kabbalat Shabbat on January 22, 2021.
Shabbatify is back from Winter break with Episode 5. Did you miss us? To make up for our small hiatus, we have a PACKED show for you: we speak with Grow and Behold's Anna Hanau about the perfect cholent & Batya Levine about her new album Karov. Her voice will leave you high in the heavens. We also take some time to reflect and respond to what is going on in the world around us...
Holy-ing up your eardrums with tracks from Yosef Goldman, Jewlia Eisenberg, HaBnot Nechama, Irving Berlin, and Frank London's Klezmer. This Jewish podcast is all about Christmas...God help us.
Basya and Scott bring you an electrified Hannukify this week, including songs by Basya, the Indigo Girls (yes, you read that right), DeLeon, Cantor Moshe Oysher, and Adam Green. Chhhhhapppy Chhhhhanukkah everyone.
This week, Basya and Scott explore David Steindl-Rast's teachings, Jacob's ladder, Heschel's experience of wonder, and some killer music
Rabbi Scott Perlo and Chazzan Basya drop the good Torah and Shabbat tunes. No zoom required. Romemu Brooklyn's first experiment with Shabbat Radio.
First episode in Romemu's Hassidic Bedtime Stories for Kids. Narrated by Rabbi Mira Rivera, with musical accompaniment by Jerome Korman.
Reaching for a Plank: SHMINI Shabbat Morning -04/14/18 by Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated
For more information visit www.romemu.org
Jacob, Vayetze, Essau, Bet El, stones, Akiva Ben Yosef, Akiva, Waves, Gal Ed,
For more information visit www.romemu.org
CORRECTION: Ki Haadam Hu Hanefesh should be "Banefesh"
Zohar and Various quotes, p. 79 Menachem Kallus, Pillar of Prayer, p. 154-155, no. 112, in source packet p. 80-82 Pillar of Prayer, p. 173, no. 138, in source packet p. 83-84 Pillar of Prayer, p. 104, source 81, in source packet p. 85-86 Betty deShong Meador, Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart, p. 126-133, in source packet, p. 87-90 Jill Hammer, “Ariadne,” “What is in the Goddess’ Tefillin?”, and a poem from “The Book of Earth,” in source packet p. 91-97.
Learn more: http://romemu.org
Zohar II, 140b, Zohar I, 223a, Zohar II, 51a, source packet p. 66-67b Lilith: Zohar III, source packet 68-6b Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, writings on Lilith, p. 70-74 Betty deShong Meador, Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart, p. 118-123, in source packet, p. 76-78
Lecha Dodi, Shlomo Alkabetz, source packet p. 49-50 Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 54a, Zohar II, 63b, 99a, Zohar I, 8a Source packet p. 52 Jill Hammer, “The Bride,” source packet p. 53 Julia Watts Belser, “Speaking of Goddess: Finding the Sacred Feminine in the Song of Songs,” p. 54-59 The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, p. 59a-62
Zohar I, 48a and assorted quotes, source packet p. 44-45 Menachem Kallus, Pillar of Prayer, p. 101, no. 78 (from the Baal Shem Tov and his circle), source packet p. 46-47 Rachel Adler, “Second Hymn to the Shekhinah,” source packet p. 45 Jill Hammer, from the poem-cycle “The Book of Earth,” source packet p. 48 Jill Hammer, “Gender and the Hidden Faces of God,” USCJ website, source packet p. 48a-c
Sefer haBahir 54, 63, 131, 132 Zohar I, 2a, Zohar II, 24b, Zohar I, 10a, Zohar I, 183 b Source packet 40-43 Laura Strong, “The Myth of Persephone”, source packet 43a-b
Pesikta Rabbati 26:9, source packet p. 31 Lamentations Rabbah Prologue 25, source packet p. 32-36 Lamentations Rabbah 1:5:32, source packet p. 37-38 Alicia Ostriker, “The Shekhinah As Exile,” source packet p. 39 From “The Descent of Inanna,” source packet p. 62a-65
Recorded 2/17/2014
“Wise-Woman-Priestesses,” Jill Hammer (from The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership), source packet p. 19-23. Proverbs 3:13-18, 8:1-9:18, 31:1-31, source packet p. 24-30.
“Shekhinah,” Rabbi Jill Hammer, source packet p. 1-6 Exodus 40:17-38, source packet p. 7-8 Numbers Rabbah 12:4 and 12:6, source packet p. 9 Assorted Sources from the Talmud, source packet p. 10-11 Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, writings on Asherah and Anat, source packet p. 12-18
Learn more: http://romemu.org
Do I remember and fix, or do I remember and repeat? Rabbi David Ingber on Parshat Vayechi. Learn more: http://romemu.org
All Mixed Up: We Are Our Brother's Keeper - Vayigash ויגש by Romemu: Jewish Life, Elevated
Rabbi David Ingber's weekly Tuesday Kabbalah Café. Find out more and join in on http://romemu.org
Rabbi David Ingber's weekly Tuesday Kabbalah Café. Find out more and join in on http://romemu.org