Beth El of Manhattan, Two-Testament Synagogue: Recent Episodes
Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen
Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen’s sermons at Congregation Beth El of Manhattan – an unaffiliated Conservative Synagogue of "Two-Testament" Judaism in the Upper East Side of New York City – where Jewish people and “People of Calling” (not born Jewish), and Interfaith couples come together in Manhattan since 1993 to observe, connect, and celebrate. For more information, please visit us online at www.bethelnyc.org or an Facebook.
"Accepting the Lord" (Psalm 2 & Psalm 24) involves exactly that: we come to be "saved" (in right standing with God) when we "accept (God as) The Lord" of our lives. We live in a genuine 1-on-1 Theocracy, not merely in theory. We cannot obey our King until we hear him. Somehow, some way, we need to come know we have "shema'd" (heard) so we can "shema" (obey). We explore our relationship with God and with the Atoning Messiah in some depth this way today. May it be for shalom!
Since there was a mini-service on 16 May with the rabbi absent, and no service on 23 May due to Memorial Day – we offer this in place of the usual sermons. Trustee Sherry Shieh shares some Scripture, prayers and thoughts on Jerusalem Day; and Elder Scott Poticha shares a brief "drasha" entitled, "Names," pondering the week's Torah portion, "Ba-Midbar." Shavuah tov & shalom!
When God commanded us as Israel to do a "Shmittah" or a Jubilee year (every 7 years let the land rest without being farmed for a solid year) ... God also promised to give us enough food in the sixth year for a 3 year buffer - with other sources of food promised as well. Messiah Yeshua we are told in Matthew 16 called this dynamic in "the lesson of the loaves" – and urged us to learn it, and not forget it. So - here - we ponder into this pattern to weave to deeply into our soul's expectations. Shavuah tov, and Enjoy!
We are told in Romans 8:20-21 that God has woven apparent futility into the fabric of existence in the material universe. Yet, Scripturally, it exists in a kind of spiritually "quantum" state where futility both exists, and does not - at the same time.
Concerning what seems futile to both King Solomon (see Ecclesiastes 1) and The Messiah, Himself (Isaiah 49:4) –– we are also told, "God has put all your tears in a bottle: none are forgotten" (Psalm 56:8) "even if you give a cup of cold water" to someone who needs it, "you will not lose your reward." (Mark 9:41).
The tragedies that begin the Book Of Ruth end with the birth of line of King David and the Messiah. What is our Creator, our Father in Heaven, up to?
Sermon Subtitle: "Limping With The Limp With Which God Has Made Us A Limper" Aaron, the first High Priest, lost both his sons early in the Exodus journey; and by the direct hand of God; and afterwards served for 40 years as the first High Priest of Israel, the central mediator between Israel and the God who had directly slain his two boys. How did Aaron's soul and spirituality survive this terrible contradiction of heart he surely "never saw coming" before it befell him? We reverently explore how God places what Rav Saul called "a thorn in the flesh" as part of the path by which God ushers "out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son." May it be for shalom.
Going beyond reduction to simplicities and soundbites, the Scriptures tell a story of Israel's national origin that is highly complex and filled with stages. It is not slavery to beach-vacation in one neat step. The Exodus has much in common with many group-origin stories: God creates a "camp" (the slaves in Goshen, Gideon's 300, the Israelites committed to King David, the Disciples of Yeshua) ... and gives them a cause. Then, God schools them in precept and experience in the new life and journey He is offering them. And in Messiah - the life is indeed new! We become "a new creation." We feast on this one! May it be for shalom!
In the Torah portion this week there is an enlarged "nuun" (Hebrew Letter "N") in every Torah scroll's Exodus 34:7. This number in Hebrew represents the number "50." The Sages of Israel say there is profound reason this "Nuun" is made large to grab attention: It has to do with the limits of how much anyone - even a Moses who knew God so intimately - can "know" God to the full reach of God's identity. We explore this aspect of knowing God today. Enjoy, and Shalom!
A double holiday with great meaning for Two Testament synagogues all over the world. God has declared certain things will happen. Not might happen - WILL happen. Declarations of such certainty are certainly worth exploring! Enjoy & Shalom!
"And you shall command ..." the week's Torah portion starts. Commands, vows, and promises powerfully elevate ideas by eliminating alternative options. A thing is the only thing we may do, or must not do. Beyond his - as God did with Moses this week – He also chooses to put us as humans into positions in which we must issue commands, and make or stand by promises or vows. We explore this way of God communicating with us in Torah Portion, "Tetzaveh."
"And Moses congregated the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and said to them, 'These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do.'" (Exodus 35:1)
God gathered a group that had been created by a shared experiences (Exodus & Sinai) creating a sense of calling ... and then gave them "spiritual DNA" for the journey forward as a community.
This depth in this concept is extremely valuable to all assemblies existing for the realization of vision & mission lived as actual communities of faith-driven souls. So - we seek to explore the texts with the level of energy it truly deserves. Enjoy!
With the intricate descriptions of exactly how God wants the implements of the Temple Service to be made, we are given an summary commandment: "See to it that you make everything in accord with their patterns shown to you (by God) on the mountaintop." We explore in this week's study what it means to learn – and to stay within – God's designs rather than just make up or substitute our own.
This week's Torah portion "Mishpatim" contains an exquisite rhapsody on resisting the very human urge to attack and exploit weakness. It takes us to sublime understanding of Love Of and For God, and Love Of and For Humankind. We dive in with zeal to understand the heart of God and nature of moral truth expressed by these laws of compassion and mercy, and the commentary of the New Testament upon them.
Revelation from God interferes with things coming naturally to humans: hurtful or wrongful deeds we often reflexively do. The 10 Commandments go to the heart of how God "sent His Word and healed" us. Our Parent in Heaven teaches us how to rein in our instincts and be "good people," just as any good parents teach their children. Yet, Scripture does far more than offer "good" ideas. It offers "God Ideas." Certainties certain enough to be values upon which we are invited/called-upon to "bet our all." "All in" on rightful living "here" - and eternal life "there." Enjoy!
In this parasha Beshalach on "Shabbat Shirah" – "The (Red Sea rescue) Song-Shabbat" – we hear sung, "And you have become my salvation." This salvation/rescue is not some meager, just-barely-effective deflection of the sabotages of God's Adversary (Ha-Sa-táhn). It is the UTTERMOST "rescue" God can provide, leaving BOTH our Free-Will and His Sovereign Will honorably intact. Not "meager" - but "to the uttermost" we are saved. We explore this together now. Shalom!
In this week's Torah portion we see the Exodus from Egypt being accomplished with miracles involved in the process. The words used for what God did were "Otot" (signs) and "Mof'téem" (marvels). In Psalm 71, the writer says, "I have become a 'marvel." ("Mo-fétt" singular of "Mof-téem.") How exactly does a person become a "marvel?"
What does it mean that we have been given awareness of, access to, use of, and right to "stand within" The Name Above Every Name? The name of Yeshua The Messiah. We steep ourselves in His Name in this message. Enjoy!
The Haftarah with this week's Torah portion "VaYechi," closing out the book of Genesis, shows King David at the end of his life cleaning up loose ends and passing the baton to his son, Solomon. It is not a one-dimensional story of "happily ever after." It is a balanced story of fulfillments, disappointments, enjoyable blessings to pour out, and unpleasant-but-necessary justice & statecraft to put into action. King David rises off his death bed to put his last efforts into right outcomes after his passing. A very balancing read.
God's very Name in which we are told to trust (Isaiah 50:10) is "Rakhum V'Chanun" – Compassionate & Merciful. We see the traits in this Name surface especially clearly in moments of high chaos like this week's Parasha in which Jacob returns to Beth El, and his name is changed to "Israel" after he wrestles for his rightful destiny with passionate endurance.
How do we go about rightly being fallible Human Mortals following and effectively accessing the Perfect God among Imperfect Humans in A Stormy and Unsafe Universe? This sermon "gropes for truth" as to these questions through the powerfully unvarnished and candid Patriarchal Narratives of Genesis.
This week's Torah and Haftarah are both about the endgame of human existence. Everyone ages and passes away - and for the aging and the bereaved, the rest of life does not necessarily go kind and gentle before, during, or afterwards. This week, we watch some of life's hardest hammer-blows land on God-following (not perfect) souls (Abraham and David), and learn from these passages which other Scripture tells us "were written down as examples for us, of our instruction." (1Cor. 10:11) So - let us learn together.
Choice-making narrows our world. Choosing to be a long-distance runner has inherent in it the choice to be often alone. The story of Noah gives us a sobering portrait of how some choices in God-following and truth-living can lead to seasons narrow or lonely - with Noah as an extreme example. Scripture also teaches us how people of truth survive such storms. We solemnly engage with this lesson this week.
The Hebrew word "HaBai'yitah" (Home) has been rich in the news as the remaining living Israeli Hostages in Gaza were returned home to Israel. "Home" is a sentiment deep in the heart of the People Israel in the Jewish homeland - and scattered across the world. "Home" for God-followers is a concept God defines: and His definition is worthy of serious contemplation. And so - we ponder, together.
We are commanded to rejoice exclusively for seven days, and yet we are conscious of the Hostages still in Gaza as we rejoice, like background radiation in everything we do. As Believers who seek to do God's will as revealed through His Word, how do we SANELY engage with life as life throws itself at us? We are not the first generation of God-followers to have such a balancing act made incumbent upon us. We explore together.
Since we cannot deliver perfection to God or humankind in our actions or ideas ... how can we live with reasonable "shalom" in a world filled with error/sin-committing-and-repeating creatures ... like ourselves?
Fresh from "Tashlikh," we are full of consciousness of God's mercy that leads to relationship with Him in this world (Olam Ha'zeh), and eternity with Him in the next (Olam Ha-Ba). We take a deep dive into God's mercy toward us - and right mercy toward ourselves and our fellow human beings.
AFTER the sermon is a 1981 recording by the musical group Kol Simcha of a song our Rabbi Bruce Cohen composed, arranged, and played piano on - based on Micah 7:18-20, one of today's Haftarah passages, and the very passage upon which Rosh HaShanah's "Tashlikh" ceremony is based. Shanah Tovah.
How do we get to "new" from where we are now? With all swirling about us in the news and our own human life-journeys, how do we genuinely walk in the spirit of the greeting "Shanah Tovah L'cha" - "A Good Year For You!" beyond merely practicing "mindfulness" on the purely human level?
The Haftarah for the Torah parasha Ki Tavo this week exhorts, "Rise, and shine!" This means someone is needed to arise, and some darkness needs light to shine into it." Judges 5 tells us, "Village life in Israel ceased until I arose ..." A person arose - and life restarted, and darkness was dispelled. How does this dynamic apply to each of us - now - today - in our individual arcs of influence?
[FYI - Sermon is only 11 minutes in length.] Continuation of the theme of "Ahavat Adam" ("love of all humankind) from recent sermons, "do not look out for your own interests, but for those of others also," (Philippians 2:4) ... an attitude Scripture tells us "was in Messiah Yeshua" and exhorts us to "let it be in you also." We are to factor in the interests of all humankind for whom Messiah offered up Himself. (Isa. 49:6ff)
In this week's Haftarah, God promises those who come to Him for guidance the same mercies given to King David, himself. What hope do we have of meriting such things as "the man after God's own heart" received from On High? Well ... given King David's nearly bipolar history of glories and errors – it turns out, our chances are pretty good. Let's study and see.
On the 2nd Saturday of every month, we have an abbreviated Shabbat morning service with no Torah Service or Sermon, so after services the synagogue's members and attendees can do "Nosh n Drash" – a communal discussion of the weekly Torah portion and other writings or ideas related to it. S0 - instead of a sermon, this week we share with you our Rabbi's reading of the weekly Haftarah portion from the Prophet Isaiah 40:1-11,, in the style we read the Torah in Beth El services, based on Nehemiah 8:8's clear description of how The Scriptures were read to Israel. Enjoy!
We continue this Shabbat with the theme of interwovenness: how our decision-making is guided by balancing what Scripture calls "our own interests" with "the interests of others" - and God's right as rightful Sovereign to "cast the tie breaking vote" in all our choice-making.
We learn this week how "me" is balanced by "we."
This week's parasha "Matot/Maasei" continues our learning from the situation of the daughters of Tzelof'had. Last week, his orphaned daughters asserted their rights, and God backed them up. This week we see them learn from God that their rights had limits, and needed to be exercised factoring in the overall calling of the nation and the needs of their fellow Israelites in their tribe, in regard to their own personal desires in romance and family-building. [After Sermon ends, there is a brief "Messiah Morsel" explaining an important text-artifact in this week's Torah Portion in the overall span of Messianic prophecy.]
God, Himself, declares, "I remember your devotion in your youth, the way you followed Me into a wasteland with no life in it." What grace! God remembers YOUR every choice following Him, even when it took you into lack or danger. We meditate upon this in the Haftarah attached to the Torah portion "Pinchas" – named for a person whose devotion earned from God an eternal priesthood.
Everything is not relative. That perspective can affect accuracy of understanding is genuinely an important consideration; but still, there are still some things and some stories that are true - and some that are not. This week's Haftarah gives a stunning example of an anti-factual "narrative" being used to justify stealing Israel's land; and the careful historicity of the Israelite Judge Yiftakh's fact-recitative reply – and then his deeds of resistance against the acts the false story generated. This is an important passage for people Yeshua the Messiah described as His crew: "those who are 'of the truth.'" (John 19:37)
In the parasha, "Shelakh" we see what became our synagogue's logo: the Two Spies carrying the "Eshkol" (cluster of fruit). They saw the "land flowing with milk and honey, and full of enemies. God stated several times in "giving" us "our own land" that it would contain enemies needing to be overcome. Why is God's "gift" He is "giving" to us full of enemies?
The "Aaronic Benediction" is described by God in the verse following it as "how you (the Aaronic Priesthood) shall put My Name on the children of Israel." It invokes God's very presence, His "face" to shine on us. When His presence shined on Moses, the face of Moses beamed light for long afterwards. How shall we "shine" in era in which God has caused us to be born and reborn? We ponder this together.
The statement in the opening of this week's parasha is in the Hebrew future tense, which can read as either a statement of a future event, or a command. Most read it as a command: but it takes on a very different flavor when it is read as a predication of the natural result of spending time with, and following God, echoing Messiah's teaching, "Every student who has been fully trained will (inevitably) be(come) just like their teacher." (Luke 6:40)
Rabbi Bruce's first sermon back from his six-month sabbatical. [NOTE: Please forgive the sound quality: the air conditioner above the podium was mistakenly set on "high fan" and loud fan noise had to be filtered out of the mix, affecting the overall tone while making the words understandable. This will not be the usual sound quality of the podcast.] Shalom!
In this sermon for the weekly Torah portion "Terumah" (Voluntary Offering), Rabbi Bruce explores in deep detail and with personal examples how to replace unhelpful complaining with constructive realism.
Starting from the Haftarah for this week in Isaiah chapter 6, our own heartbreak and that of others is pondered for wisdom and appropriate engagement/action.
During last Shabbat (8 Feb 2025), the service leader made reference to Rabbi Bruce's sermon "Hard Hearts, Soft Hearts" given on 18 January 2006. Since that sermon was the driver for the leader's comments, and no sermon was given last weekend because the congregation was saving the time for group-study after the service ... it seemed fitting to rebroadcast the sermon to which he referred from 19 years ago for another go-around. :-) We hope you find it nourishing. Shalom!
During the rabbi's sabbatical, every 2nd Shabbat of the month is not recorded so the congregation can have after services an on-site "Nosh & Drash" in which the week's Torah section ("Parashat Ha-Shavu'a") is discussed while we eat together.
So – this week, in lieu of a recorded sermon from the service, we offer the pilot episode of an experimental podcast Rabbi Cohen and Beth El's social media team recorded in December 2018. We feel the pilot has genuine value for anyone interested or involved in Two Testament Judaism. We hope you enjoy it, and pray you are nourished by it. Shalom!
A mental health-care professional gives us a very insightful glimpse into the relational dynamics presented by the Biblical scenario of our patriarch, Joseph - a victim of terrible harms - reacting to seeing genuine repentance and change in his brothers who did him those harms.
Hanukkah is Hebrew for "dedication" – and dedication as service to God and to Humankind is role-modeled for us by Messiah Yeshua, who was "The Light of The World" – and urged us as His followers to live as "lights to the world" and to "shine in the darkness."
Joseph was an ethically better and exponentially more capable man than his eleven half-brothers; and they hated him so much for it, they conspired to murder him. Yeshua of Nazareth told us, "Blessed are you when people hate and revile you for (your faith in) My Identity's sake (as the true Messiah)." What makes goodness or commitment to the truth lead to being hated?
Sermon from streamed service on 7 December, not In-Person Service. That sermon will be podcast next week. Enjoy, and may it all be for shalom!
A very personal sermon built around an actual recent experience of a long-prayed prayer suddenly being answered.
God, at times, puts us out on the end of a ledge – and then causes the ledge to evaporate under our feet. As we start to fall, with nothing visible between us and the ground below - at some point in the fall, "The Everlasting Arms" of God show up, and we are rescued. What IS this aspect of God-following?
A stirring look at the utter disruption of a family's entire status quo, leading to greater self-realization, long-unfulfilling goals – and challenges along the way that boggle the imagination.
Since last Saturday morning was Simchat Torah, and no sermon was given in the Shabbat morning service in Manhattan - so we offer Rabbi Bruce Cohen's sermon "in" Congregation Beit Ariel of Cape Town, South Africa - given via video the evening before for Erev Simchat Torah there. We hope you enjoy it! Shalom.
In North Carolina last week, people of both political parties, facing Hurricane Helene's recent damages impeding their ability to get to voting stations, became a shining example of what America can be if her citizens decide to be the non-adversarial, right versions of themselves. Let us feast together on the encouragement coming from a great real-life example of many Scriptural precepts about partly-agreeing/partly-disagreeing members of a community working as a team.
How Yeshua the Messiah's atonement provided by God is not just "'a' way to God," but "'THE' (exclusive, single, only) way" to God ... given there were countless people who lived and died before His arrival in Israel; and there have always been human beings far out of reach of hearing about, or knowing of the faith of Israel.
Handling things of the highest value in ways their value deserves; and avoiding toying with things in life not meant to be toyed with.
Shabbat "Shuvah" is the "Sabbath of 'Return'" after Yom Teruah (aka, "Rosh HaShanah") and before Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. Returning to God is taught to us by Messiah Yeshua in the form of the parable of "The Prodigal Son." It is a powerful model of how return from irrational separation into relational joy is enabled by rational and spiritual erasure of ill-founded shame.
Creating rightful newness by removing what IS, which has no or lesser merit - and replacing it with what SHOULD BE, having greater merits as to accuracy or truthfulness. Specific example: assaying for merit the system of "trope" - the tradition of singing the Torah scroll's contents –– rather than following the one clear model Scripture gives us (per Isaiah 8:20) of how to run a Torah service. (Nehemiah 8:8).
From the Parasha, as to how the Levites became the priesthood. Don Quixote style, they saw things others did not see, and so acted in ways masses of other others did not act. Human history's heroes are such. We explore this idea together.
The ceremony of the First-fruits commanded in this parasha has the impact of connecting FORWARD parts of the Jewish journey in God's will with the PREVIOUS legs of the journey. As Yeshua of Nazareth taught, "Others before you have labored, and you have entered into their labors." Healthy connection to the past is important to the present and future. We explore this in the parasha "Ki Tavo" today.
The path of God-following offers us guidance at times seeming supremely wise, and at other times, outright folly. How shall we find our way forward with such polar opposites of possibility?
The ritual at the end of this Parasha ends with a statement of the impact of "doing what is 'yashar' in the sight of God." Yeshua our Messiah taught us often, saying, "The kingship/dom of God is like ..." followed by a parable to open up how God's reign "works" in the real world. We use these Scriptures and others to open the idea of seeking God's view of what is "yashar" in any given situation.
In this week;'s Torah parasha, "Re'eh" – are commanded to see. This by the God who made us capable of "scotoma" - the willful blanking out of relevant ideas and rational thought leading to healthy conclusions, and replacing them with ill-formed prejudices, gaslighting, and other unhealthy psycho-gymnastics. What is a human-being trying to find and walk in truth to do?
Parashat "Ekev" - a study in the nature of, and results from, hearing God, when He calls to each of us.
It is natural for human beings to seek comfort: relief from stress, or healing from harm. In this, as with all human appetites, we are prone to both accuracy and error. CAN genuine comfort be found? And if so, WHERE? What IS it? WHAT does it feel and look like? What placebos try to replace it? This week's parasha "V'Etchanen" and its Haftarah (from which the Shabbat's title, "Nachamu" derives) propel us to explore these ideas.
Essentially, this sermon is about living during season of history when shalom is in short supply. In an era of conflict, how do we, as believe ... live, and do more than just survive? How do we love, enjoy life, do meaningful work that brings us personal satisfaction ...? All these, during times of crisis or war? We explore.
This week's Haftarah shows how far into folly we humans can go when we invent "religion" from of our own ideas. How do we avoid falling into the traps of false religion, and end up with genuine "revelation" – knowledge or direction from On High?
The central concept in this week's parasha is rightful "zeal," as demonstrated by Pinchas ben Eliezer. We look this week at such zeal in modern Zionism - in Hemda Ben Yehuda, the 2nd wife of Eliezer ben Yehuda, and partner in the resurrection of the Hebrew language, whose unpublished autobiography of the life she and her husband lived for the sake of their work was, "The War With Satan" – clearly, not a tale of life in any kind of Disneyland. A tale of unflinching commitment. Zeal.
From the Haftarah for "Balak" (Micah 5:6-8) - a stunning portrait of Israel's sojourn in Exile, easy to read past because of the poetry within which it is expressed; and the uneasy subject of human jealousy as it influences Antisemitism and other behavior from ancient times up to the present day. We dive in - deep.
After our People lived 430 years next to the Nile River - a four thousand mile source of always-flowing fresh, drinkable water -God led us into a terrifying desert: "The Tzin Wilderness." It was a landscape appearing void of water, food, and safety. Then, Miriam the prophetess died, so our leadership team was down from 3 to 2. Our People were being tested to the limit of their endurance. What can we learn from the Torah's record of this season in our history? A great deal, indeed. Let's dig in.
In this week's Torah portion, we see the standard for genuine spirituality set - Aaron's almond branch budded: the only one to do so among all the tribes; and this singular token, God directs to be put "on watch" in the Tabernacle, to quench the complaints of the "B'nai Mey-ri" (sons of rebellion). We are directed to the immense importance of genuine truth-seeking vs. self-exaltation by outwardly "noble" appearing conduct, as the rebel Korah displayed it. The difference is profoundly worthy of study; and so, study it, we do. Enjoy!
Directly inspired from this week's Haftarah in Joshua 2 in the story of Rahab. The Founders of The United States of America chose to separate themselves from the greatest military power on earth - and on this date in 1776, openly published why. The courage and clarity it took to choose this "treasonous" path is an inspiration to every generation since - and was quoted by Golda Meir on 14 May 1948 after she had signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence! Let's feast on this concept on this 4th of July 2024 - just short of 250 years after that fateful day in Philadelphia that LITERALLY saved the entire world from falling prey to tyranny 166 years later. Huzzah!
God says in this week's HAftarah, "I'm arriving now ... and here's what will happen as a result." We explore what this Haftarah opens up about the reality of God's שְׁכִינָה "Shechi'nah" - his manifest, dwelling Presence, which the Messiah Yeshua's atoning sacrifice made available to us without our judicial debt of sin before God blocking the way.
The Gershonites were given a dismaying assignment by God in this parasha: the exact same kind of labor they did as slaves back in Egypt. We never read of one word of complaint from the Gershonim ... how did they do it? How did they accept their assignment from God in a "good spirit?" The Kibbutz Mentality, as expressed in this sermon, is a clarity as to VALUE: "A community of THIS kind MUST rise HERE." All focused action follows such clarity.
In this parasha, we read "in the wilderness of Sinai." We were taken into the desert. But ... what about when God allows the desert to close in on us?
The Jewish People, and all God-following Two-Testament Believers, have gone through many seasons of history during which "big" problems – like being enslaved, being in exile, being exploited, or hated, or hunted, or blamed en masse - have gone unsolved by prayer and the "arrival" of God's "mighty hand and outstretched arm for years, decades, or centuries – and yet, within their personal capsules of community and context, God-followers are being met by God and led by Him, and having their prayers for smaller scale in their immediate sphere answered. How are we Believers supposed to navigate such seasons? We study this.
From the Haftarah paired with the Torah portion, "Behar," we look at the idea of how things can be rightly counted, and how God and people can rightly be counted upon. This focus was propelled by the Counting Of The Omer leading to Shavuot.
In this week's Torah portion, the "Eternal Lamp" is described, that hangs over synagogue altars all over the world. It is a "God Idea." It came from God and was transmitted to humans to manufacture. This is a massively different thing than human beings making up religious ideas or practices, and naming them to be from, or of, God. We will ponder this through the modern lens of "Virtue-Signaling."
In this parasha we see Moses crying out for true comradeship in his calling and journey - while already well into the journey, and already surrounded by people. He cries out for real, deep connection - to people - and to God's direct presence. What is the meaning of these outcries from a man already deeply into God's Presence and already surrounded by family and 'friends?'
In the Haftarah paired with this week's parasha "Tazria," we see two stories of apparently opposite behavior by the prophet, Elisha (the successor of Elijah). A very "relaxed" standard toward a certain instance of idol worship by Naaman, followed by a very severe standard his servant Gehazi when he sought to enrich himself. If we read deeply, we find clear reasons for the vast difference in kindness vs. severity.
[Guest Speaker, Scott Poticha] In this week's parasha, "Shmini," a great day for Israel is followed instantly by a tragic one. At other times in Scripture, a terrible day turns into a great one. How do we navigate as Believers in a life that can so suddenly vary this much? We ponder this, especially in light of the October 7th Hamas Pogrom against Israel.
The old song goes, "In every age, a hero or sage comes to our aid."
Why?
Because we need them! Let's explore having the clarity to see what is needed in our era, and rise to do it!
Kadima! Am Yisrael Chai!
In the Haftarah with this week's Torah portion, "Pekudei" we see the character trait modeled in God that He almost never needs to "swear" or "promise" anything: just saying "it will be" is enough. This is a character trait we, as God-followers, are commanded to emulate: both Messiah Yeshua and his half-brother Ya'acov ("James") command us, "Do not swear. Let your 'yes' mean (only) 'yes' and your 'no' mean only 'no.' Anything other than that comes from evil." WOW. That is a character-standard worth exploring, and applying to our own words! So - let's.
Why are you ... you? What does your combination of strengths and weaknesses, abilities and inabilities all mean? This week's sermon is a "fusion" to two core ideas: from the Parasha "Vayakhel," the extremely specific intention with which God created the artist Bezalel, and placed him in the time and location to fulfill the reasons for his createdness – along with Yeshua the Messiah having assured us, "I will not leave you as orphans: I will come to you," giving us the "Paraclete" – God's spirit "called alongside" to guide us into all truth, help us. This all leads to the assurance we can "know the things freely given to us by God." We can know. We have not been left here on earth to wander aimlessly. We can live "the guided life."
Sound doctrine is built from learning what Rav Saul called "the whole counsel of God." We pick up this week where we left off last week with "whole counsel of God" theme in Haftarat "Tetzaveh." We see this week commands from God to, "Tell Israel the whole Temple design, all its facets and all its laws." This is echoed in Messiah Yeshua's command, "make disciples (by) teaching them all I have taught you." This runs counter to creation of "sound-bites" – memorable catch-phrases. "Sound doctrine" cannot be built out of one or a few catchy audio-tidbits.
Rav Saul wrote, "I did not shrink from declaring to you 'the whole counsel of God.'" Why would any spiritual leader "shrink from" declaring to his flock "the whole" of God's prophetic output? This week's parasha commands us to "see to it you build according to the pattern." The whole pattern. How do we get it, and what traps can we avoid that would leave us with only part of it?
In this week's parasha, "Mishpatim" there is an apparent non-sequitur. A leap from broadly applying religious practice laws to very specific cooking advice. Is it really a non-sequitur? Or – is it the God of the Entire Universe "going local" with advice creating certainty as to a particular time, place, practice, or project of His will underway? We explore.
Fear is a natural part of our overall composition as humans. Like any part of our nature, it can be either healthy or unhealthy, proportional and rational, or disproportionate and irrational. What does Scripture say about healthy and unhealthy fear -- especially in relation to God? It turns out ... quite a lot. We explore this content this week, driven by the Torah portion, "YItro."
This sermon comes from the Haftarah text for this week's portion on "Shabbat Shirah." The battle for Israel's survival was on - Devorah, Barak, and the Army of Israel, especially the tribes of Issachar and Zevulun, were all ON the battlefield, and the battle had already begun. But – the tribes of Reuben and Dan were hanging back ... showing themselves (in their own view) to be "spiritual" or "wise" ... with "plausible" excuses to be away from any risk to life, limb, or property. What is this Haftarah teaching us?
In the Exodus narrative we see God visit punishing judgments not only on Pharaoh as Egypt's governing leader - but also onto the entire Egyptian populace, Did God destroy and torment "innocent civilians." The Scriptures open up genuine understanding of this deeply challenging topic" are "civilians" always automatically "innocent?"
As we navigate varying seasons of ease or challenge in our lives or in our era, what is it about "faith" or "faithfulness" that allows us to retain a healthy (non-delusional or denial-based) positive inner state and momentum, no matter what circumstances may be swirling around us?
The end of Genesis and beginning of Exodus are valuable reading if it is truth we seek, not "life-hacks" guaranteeing a safe, easy, or profit-laden life. God's own project hits more bumps in the road and impacts with more human frailty and more evil than we could possibly have imagined: and this is God's own project! May He help us to gain understanding from the time when His promised "nation," after 3 generations, was still only 70 people in number, many of whom were highly dysfunctional people – and a famine forced them to leave The Land that God Himself had promised was "yours and your descendants after you, forever."
As we leaving 2023, this sermon given on 16 June 2021 seemed so appropriate a focus, it led us to choose that weekend's service for rebroadcast when we were prevented from meeting in person by a Covid-19 outbreak in our Staff. Thank God all are again testing "Negative (Covid-free)," so will be meeting again this Saturday 6 January in person. We hope if you are local, you will join us in person: and If not - "virtually" via our livestream on YouTube and Facebook channels. Shalom - and Happy New Year 2024!
We could not meet this past weekend due to a Covid19 breakout in our staff - happily all are recovering nicely. We re-broadcast a sermon from earlier in the year that was not made into a Podcast: it followed a "Giyur" (Conversion) service in our synagogue in September. It is rich with meaning and applicability for now and the coming year before us. We pray you enjoy it! Shalom!
[GIven to Cape Town, South Africa via Zoom on 15 Dec 2023] In this week's Haftarah for "Mikketz," we see a king put on the spot to answer a question only modern genetic science could. He does. He is supernaturally given wisdom beyond human limits, In this post-Hamas Pogrom era of upscaled Jihad against The State of Israel and against Jews everywhere, it seems essential that a sense of justifiable hope for seemingly impossible solutions is needed, if it can be had. Let's study, and see it together. And – may it all be for shalom!
This recording contains a preliminary statement propelling from the song "Ma'oz Tzur" traditionally sung for Hanukkah; and afterwards, the sermon "Show Them Yeshua" attempting to context the multi-dimensional Messiah into (hopefully) accurate and unsimplified form - especially during the very challenging season following the Hamas Pogrom still underway since 7 October. It closes with the singing of Maoz Tzur (Rock Of Ages) vocals by Janna, piano by Rabbi Bruce.
In this week's parasha, Jacob's life continues to seem to go from wrong to wronger. The wife he really wanted dies first, leaving him go on in a calling filled with danger and challenges after his heart has been cut out. We see Jacob rise here in the name he gave the son whose birth took away his beloved Rachel. The combination of reality and clarity-of-calling has great relevance for Two Testament Jews in the wake of the Hamas October Pogrom.
Jacob is the 2000-year "source code" for the antisemitic portrait of Jews as deceitful money grubbers. Starting with the common mistranslation of his name "Ya'acov" - (consequent, or pursuant) wrongly as, "Deceiver" – and moving to how allegedly "just plain folks" alleged Harry Truman figure Esau, is falsely ennobled at Jacob's expense --- we see in the text it was actually "thank God I'm a country boy" Esau who deceived by failure of candor, and attempted to theft by fraud when he sought to obtain from his father to receive the birthright he had earlier sold to Jacob.
After an event like the Hamas Pogrom of 7 October - how do we find our way forward not falling into the two extremes of response: Unrelenting Engagement vs. Utter Avoidance? Today we explore where strength for the moment AND recovery from its impact and demands can be found: and how soundly to balance them.
"He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" was true on the morning of 7 October 2023, when over a thousand armed murderers stormed into Israel and slaughtered 1400 Jews in one day ... in Israel. And Kidnapped over 200 more. And let 200,000 be displaced. God was awake, aware, and present ... and did nothing to prevent what happened. So ... now what are we, as "Believers" to believe, think, say, and do. It is the Holocaust set of questions ... all over again. Let's not turn away or invent epithets. Lets engage.
God saw the Hamas Massacre Jews in October 2023 coming - and did nothing to prevent it, nor even warn of its approach. How do God-followers go forward in faith and positive spirituality, knowing as Messiah taught us, "not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from Your Heavenly Father?" And what are we to not only believe or think ... but do, since as Scripture teaches, "faith without action is dead."
One week into The Hamas Pogrom in Israel - the mass slaughter of civilians by missile attack and ground-assault --- all aimed at civilians. Atrocities not seen since the Holocaust - happening on the Holidays of Shmeini Atzeret and Simchat Torah and Shabbat - on the 50th Anniversary of The Yom Kippur War. "God saw the light - that it was good; and separated between light and darkness." We are seeing the terrible difference between light and darkness, right when we are beginning again. It's what we do.
Human understanding of reality changed in 1923 when our species did what Isaiah 51:6 suggests, and looked (in)to the heavens and looked at (the structure of) the earth ... and learned that ALL physical existence is only temporary. Temporary like the Sukkot we build each year: a house "not built to last" and that will one day cease to exist. We are we to do with this knowledge in contrast to the "eternity" of what God calls, "My Salvation/Rescue" ("Yeshua-ti") in the very same verse? How does knowledge of transience fit in with "Sukkot, the season of our rejoicing?"
For Yom Teruah (misnamed "Rosh Hashanah" in common use; the actual Biblical New Year is 1 Nisan (see Ex. 12:1ff) on the other side of the year.). The Day Of The Alarm/Trumpet-sound. We explore what it means to both be set free by the truth, and imprisoned by it, the way Galileo in the 1600s was both set free by his direct observation of the moons orbiting Jupiter (freeing him from the wrong world-view "everyone knew" - that everything did orbits the earth; and he was also taken captive by the truth: his life and his relationship with the world were forever changed seeing, confirming, and knowing it.
T.S. Eliot said, "Most of the world's trouble comes from people trying to be or seem more important." This sermon on Haftarah Ki Tavo – the 1st Sermon of Beth El's 30th year - explores how to cease striving to be (or seem) more than we actually are - and get "comfortable in our own skin – strengths and limitations all-included. Kadima!
The parasha this week is "Shofteem" - "Judges (empowered expert legal authorities) and officers (enforcement/police) you will install in all your gates (where decisions are made)." Such personnel are only needed in places where crimes and harms are done. In "The Promised Land?" What gives, here? We find that banditry - using force and alliances to do self-beneficial harm to others by theft and other crimes – is at the heart of human existence. How can we rise above it?
On the Parasha "Re'eh" - and more so, on Jeremiah 26, this sermon explores the necessity of learning how, when situations turn upside down, to get them right-side up again; especially when some sort of "goodness" from God, expected by us because it was promised IN GENERAL by Him, does not make its way to us as individuals in real life, and our little boat capsizes. You can't sail if you can't handle your boat getting blown over - and also handle getting it "righted." Scripture gives us powerful tools for this.
Piggy-backing off of last week's Torah, "you have been SHOWN to know" – this week focuses from the current parasha, "Ekev" on what we "know" as PROVEN propositions, AND what we have come to "know" by EXPERIENCE; and how we can use all these to neutralize fear when under pressure to make decisions having much at stake in them.
For Shabbat "Nachamu" ("comfort") after Tisha B'av ... the kind of comfort that comes from having been, as this week's Torah portion "V'Etchanen" describes –– "shown to know." The comfort of having seen clearly, so as to know clearly - and thus, be able to choose with certainty a forward path in conformity with truth.
In this week's passage giving Israel's gathered "leaders of tribes" moral-guidance directives about vow-keeping, the word for "tribe" is actually the word "mateh" for a "shepherds staff" - not "shevet" - the most common word for tribe, a "scepter" as a symbol of governmental authority. "Matot" reads oddly on the page. Why is this the word God's Spirit put into the pen of Moses at this moment? We explore exactly that this week: why.
All of Israel just stood and watched; but Pinchas acted; because he felt the same "zeal" God felt. What is the right kind of "zeal?" How do we acquire zeal that is healthy? People have zeal for many things, ranging from exalted pursuits like human rights to mere spending of time, in hobbies like video gaming, activity clubs, tv bing-viewing, etc. How do we rightly acquire and rightly use healthy zeal?
This week's parasha shows the Israelites being slandered "because they are mighty." Why do people who are not mighty slander those who are? Messiah Yeshua - as his path was getting harder - taught His disciples how to have "fullness of joy" while facing such upticks in challenge. This excludes slander of those who outshine us, urging us in the Haftarah to walk "in modesty (accuracy and righteous relationship to one's self-image) with your God." It is a worthy lesson.
Criticism is often a placebo for genuine spirituality. The Letter of Ya'akov ("James") almost did not make it into The "New Testament" – because the redactors were concerned it places "too much" emphasis on ACTION rather than "faith & grace" (mere words and ideas). This sermon starts with the premise, "if you see a man drowning, do you CRITICIZE his poor swimming technique, or DO something (entailing EFFORT, or even RISK to yourself) to rescue him?"
Two Torah portions in a row - last week's Shalakh and this week's Korakh - Moses and God kept losing "the best people." Why? How did Moses and the remaining crew keep "enduring to the end, so as to be saved" in a calling repeatedly seeing "the best of the best" turn out to be not only useless - but toxic? From where and what came their "endurance" – and whatever "success" they had?
Numbers 13 holds forth for us how different people can view challenges through entirely different lenses. 10 said "No, we can't." And 2 said, "Yes, we can." Why? How? What can we, as pioneers of Two Testament Judaism, still in 1936 so-to-speak, developmentally, in the era of the "Tower And Wall Kibbutz," learn from it?
How healthy people made decisions to leave safety and comfort and go into lack and danger on frontiers in order to raise up things they believed to the core of their souls were so necessary, their "normal" and "comfy" lives among "their peeps" were acceptable risks or casualties.
On Shavuot, we recite the Torah-commanded trope, "My ancestor was a perishing Aremean." Yet – that description of his current state was not the final word on it. We see Ruth, a woman excluded from Israel by law – with her widowed and child-bereaved Jewish mother in law, Naomi, declaring "all hope for me is past." Yet – while these both seemed accurate at the moment, they was not close to the final word on either woman's existence. Let us truly learn Shavuot's lessons this year, in a way letting us live them genuinely in the year to come!
Right use of our words in quantity and quality has been, in our present era, moved from the Biblical standards "where many words are, error is unavoidable" and "a harsh word stirs up anger," and "a slandering tongue hates the one it crushes" – into admiration of fast and hurtful speech, using humor to devastate others and using quantity to word-swamp rather than listen. Are values like, "Let your words be few" and "be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger" still valid in the present age?
This is audio of the 8 April 2023 Passover Service segment in our synagogue when we observe the commandments Yeshua our Messiah gave us to remember Him in two key elements of the Pesach Seder, and do them forever "in remembrance of Me" – the 3rd cup of the Seder (after dinner) called "The Cup of Redemption," and the breaking/eating of the "Afikomen" – which does not mean "dessert," but is Greek for "I have arrived." We close by singing "the" Passover hymn, "Adir Hu" (He Is Mighty).
Ps 119 gives us an intimate portrait of King David's love, not only for God's "Torah" (teaching) - but the individual laws and statutes (chuk'eem and meeshpat'eem): he "meditated" on them in a way that "made (him) wiser than (his) enemies." How? We explore that dynamic to rescue Leviticus from being the book everyone skips on their treks through the Bible, seeking stories and songs that hold one's attention. We hope this two-sermon series will rescue Leviticus from Devotional Oblivion in your Scripture-learning life. :-) On the weekly portion, "Tzav" – Enjoy!
There is hot discussion in religious leadership over, "What is the future of 'congregating?'" Are people of faith going to cease gathering together IN PERSON as humans have done for the millennia of our existence - and segue into watching a "virtual" world, and attend virtual gatherings through screens as small as those on an iPhone. What is the essence of "being gathered" by God, for God-focused purposes ... and what does cost to "forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some?" (Hebrews 10:25) We explore this together.
God's contract with us. God told Moses, "Write down THESE words, because THESE words are my covenant with YOU and with ISRAEL." Yeshua the Messiah echoed this concept: "My words which I speak to you, they are 'spirit' and they are 'life.'" Given the level of priority God assigns – how vital is it that we define what we expect from God according to "these words," and not some other defining source?
In this week's parasha "Terumah" (Freewill Offering), the Scriptures explore how people's responses to what is requested rather than commanded reveals the nature of their hearts. And oddly oxymoronic pairing of values: materials required are requested to be volunteered: they are not demanded. God put His entire Nation-Building project into the hands of people willing to do more than just the minimum.
How could the Elders of Israel be in the very presence of God on Mt. Sinai, and "see God" as they are described in this week's portion to have done --- and still later have Aaron sink into repeated rebellions and his sons Nadav and Avihu treat God so profanely that God ended their lives over it? Shouldn't having "seen" God carried them forward with ironclad focus? Why is seeing NOT necessarily believing? And what can we learn from this section of Torah history to benefit from it?
Isn't it great when "the fix" to a problem or need is simple, straightforward, and easy? That is what Messiah taught us about a balanced diet in spiritual life, the way Yitro advised his son-in-law, Moses. "Here is the problem; and here is the solution ... which, by the way, you are not doing. Want to start today?" May God grant us the grace to walk in so simple a path to robustly healthy spirituality.
Congregation Beth El of Manhattan, a Conservative Synagogue of Two-Testament Judaism in Manhattan's Upper East Side since 1993. Please do visit us on the web at "bethelnyc.org." Sermon on “Shabbat Shirah” (The Sabbath Of Song”) on portion “Beshalakh” (In Sending Out), our Rabbi’s sermon is a song title: “With A Little Help From My Friends.” Often in Scripture, people do not save themselves: they are rescued. Our Jewish People in Egypt enduring 430 years of slavery did not “escape” it - we were rescued from it. And later, we see Israel, dependent on Moses’s prayers, rescued by Aaron and Hur rescuing Moses from his human limitations. A lot of rescuing going on this week! We “get by with a little help from our friends,” as Lennon & McCartney put it in their 1969 song of that title. Let's explore this week's literally "uplifting" dynamic (as Aaron & Hur lifted Moses's arms.)
In the Haftarah this week, we have an odd sentence from God's mouth: "... and cleansing, I will not cleanse you." Which is it? Are we cleansed, or are we not? What moved God's spirit to put this oxymoronic thought into the pen of Jeremiah? We explore "cleansed but not cleansed" by God, Himself. What does it mean for us in the real-world of God-following and truth-seeking?
Sermon on VaEra is, "God Is Saving You Anyway." An emphasis on the ways God often compassionately looks past our inability to respond to truth because we are exhausted or our burdens are overcrowding us. He also provokes us to hope again, despite long, despair-inducing apparent delays and deflections - like 430 years in slavery in a foreign land.
The indispensable role of pro-activity in God-following and Truth-Seeking, as role-modeled by Moses. The different types of inertia, harmless and non-so-harmless. And - the way grace is involved in our choices to react to God's overtures, or not.
Rabbi Bruce's 1st sermon of 2023, on this week's Torah portion," VaYechi" - we read the summaries of the lives of three patriarchs, Jacob, Joseph, and King David, all having had immensely difficult and complex paths with significant tragedies mixed in ... who tell us at the end, "It's all ok ..." and "It was all worth it."
The "Beth El" chapter - the House/Home of God is described in this week's Torah portion as a place to meet God, get directions and promises FROM God, and make honorable commitments TO God and to His People. Trust and commitment flow FROM God ("we love, because he first loved us") and TO God (based on Him fulfilling His given word ("I trust in Your Word, by which You have made me hope."). It is Rabbi's Bruce's view that too many Believers "let God off the hook" from HIs promises, and Rabbi explores today people in Scripture who did not.
Torah & Haftarah "Chayye Sarah" with Sermon by Rabbi Bruce entitled, "Rightly Using A New Season In Life." – or – "A New Normal ... Again." Happy Thanksgiving!
Sermon on the Haftarah of Torah portion," VaYera." Facing into the kinds of suffering having no apparent rhyme or reason – including being pulled out of "numbness" back into healthy levels of feeling - and sound hope. Recovering a sense of momentum based on "the real God," not one we make up in our own image, resembling a kind of Santa Claus running a world like Disneyland, in which the rides occasionally go "on the blink."
Rabbi Bruce's sermon this week on Parashat "Noakh" is a "deep-dive" into the Scriptures and history, exploring how an entirely time-unbound and all powerful, all knowing God can come (across time) to "regret" having earlier created or done or chosen something ... especially when He foreknew exactly what the outcome would be, long before material existence even existed.
The annual shofar sound on "Yom Teru'ah" (also called "Rosh HaShanah" despite the Exodus 12 command about what is to be for Israel the "head of the year") calls us away from the earthly and reminds us of the eternal ... IF we respond to the sound when it reaches our ears, and do not "Hit the 'Snooze' button," so to speak.
In this week's parasha "Nitzavim" we are told what is being presented and done is not only for those standing here today - but for those not yet here. The task of "un-dumbing" the faith --- removing bad ideas masquerading as Biblical precepts – has been a major focus of our Rabbi for the past forty years. On this last Shabbat before Yom Teruah, he presents it as a clarion call to service beyond self.
"Bark and Water" was the motto Koreans adopted during the 1950s Korean War to express their level of commitment, the amount of deprivation they were willing to endure in order to preserve their Homeland from foreign invasion. What things in Biblical faith create such a level of commitment? We explore easily bypassed bedrock truths and values that play key roles in creating appropriate levels of commitment.
What motivates The Creator to teach humans? We explore that from Parasha Ki Tetzeh's instructions to warriors in love with their captives - and many other passages, as well as our "nature and nurture" driving our choice-making.
[Note: This recording is clean of the drop-outs in the Live Video Broadcast] On the parasha, "Shoftim" ("Judges") - the need for "judges" and "officers" in The Promised Land. The Abrahamic Nation was being led to a real place in the real world - not "heaven on earth." Judges and officers would be needed because we would be a nation of humans, needing laws, experts on those laws, and enforcers of those laws – in "The Promised Land." How this truth applies to faith-communities like our own in the present era as well.
Exactly 29 years ago today, this synagogue was born in a living room on 70th Street in Manhattan's Upper East Side. As leave Covid-19 lockdown and embark on holding renewed public services in addition to online live-streaming ... what might Scripture and history teach us of how to look and move forward? We say "Kadima" (Forward!) often: this sermon is about how to live forward into a long-term calling.
Pairing the Torah portion's portrait of a life of ongoing listening/obeying (to God) with Yeshua of Nazareth's startling words, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work" - we explore the "nourishment" that comes to and from a life obeying God's will in contrast to merely living with "religion" of some kind in one's life. Yeshua the Messiah taught us that "the narrow path" is the ONLY path that actually leads to eternal life. Why spend one moment on any other path? Shabbat shalom!
[We are still working on our audio quality in our new 3-camera set up. We hope to have it perfected soon. Thank you for your patience.] This Shabbat, we leave the solemn focus of last week's "Tisha B'Av" behind, and pivot to comforting contemplations. Hence, the sermon to title, "And Now For Something Completely Different ..." – we dwell upon "the finished work" of Messiah's atonement through the Haftarah of Shabbat "Nachamu" – the amazing idea, "Your warfare over, your iniquity has been "nirtzah" factored into your path forward – and God has paid in full your debt of justice" (the idiomatic meaning of "keef-lai-eem" in Isaiah 40). Shalom!
What would move the Creator to tear down His own Temple? The Torah, Prophets, and The Jewish Sages' commentaries in the Talmud (TB Yoma 9b8) engage with this question head-on, in order that we, their successors, might not fall into the same patterns that led God to act as He did on the 9th of Av --- in regard to both the 1st and 2nd Temples, which feel on the same calendar date.
Given in our 1st public service since the CV19 lockdown began in March 2022. The Torah portion, "Maasai" - "The journeys of the children of Israel" was especially poignant as our doors in a new location and time! (NOTE: this sermon was slide-based, so you may want to watch the Video recording here or on YouTube or Facebook, and be able to follow along a little better). Shalom and Shavuah tov!
Since our Rabbi was absent and unable to give a sermon this past Shabbat (23 July), we offer this “blast from the past” for your listening pleasure and edification.
Exactly thirty years ago this month, at the MJAA International “Messiah” Conference in July 1992, our Rabbi Bruce Cohen was asked to give a class sharing his aggressive first-hand research on the long-concealed, recently-released “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments, the photo-facsimiles of which had just been published by Biblical Archaelology Review from the Bechtel Family Library, edited by Dr. Robert Eisenmann into a 2-Volume “scholars edition” of which Rabbi Bruce was one of the first possessors in the entire world. Rabbi Bruce had vigorously researched those newly-released treasures, event to chasing down Dr. Eisenmann by phone at his home in California to confirm the specific sense of the most hotly debated “Messiah-related” texts. The information Rabbi Bruce uncovered using his comparative literature education and expertise to dissect and verify is STILL revolutionary, three decades later. In this digitalized copy of a cassette tape made at that 1992 conference, you get to hear this news as it was breaking on the Two-Testament believing world. As the old radio show said it, “And you are there.” And we hope being there for this moment is an extraordinary and inspiring experience. Shalom!
Pivoting away from the Torah to the Haftarah, we delve into the dynamics of being "called" by God; and how Elisha's call from God away from being a plowman to being a prophet occurred in an emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy way; especially, the certainty, clarity, and focus we see in him. We also go into the manner in which we, as Two-Testament Jews, are called in our generation, and some of the needs among the Jewish people and Faith-People around the world that can be met by, among, and through us.
The Lord "sends" humans: people with thoughts, feelings, strengths and flaws. God's goal is not to de-humanize us, but to rescue us into lives as "spiritual" human beings, rooted in eternal realities, and headed for the reality of Eternity – with Him, not separated from Him.
Sermon Given Via Zoom Video to Congregation Beit Ariel of Cape Town, South Africa. In this parasha we see Moses and Israel face the loss of Moses's sister, Miriam - and neither of them do a great job of handling it in a healthy manner. We learn from this example how to cultivate constructive, not destructive reactions to moments or seasons of discomfort.
This sermon explores facing how often we humans "just want to be like everyone else" around us; and how we often misjudge what we call "what everyone else has." We also see how deeply the Prophet Samuel "got it." He was accurately onboard with God's "Abraham Project," and could not be deterred, even by the entire nation rejecting God's kingship in favor of a fallible human king. Finally, the Israeli song, "LaMidbar" ("In The Desert") informs our understanding of these Two Testament truths about genuine vision keep us "on track" with God's will in our era.
Rabbi Bruce is back from sabbatical, and again offering new, original sermons to us. This week, from the middle of the Parasha, "Beha'alotecha" - a deep-dive into the actual experience the Exodus Generation had learning to God-follow, by having their location totally dependent on if and when "The Pillar of Fire/Cloud" moved or stayed put. And - how it applies to each of us, here and now.
Due to the mitzvah of The Seder, we will not be holding Erev Shabbat Services tonight 15 April 2022. However, there will be 90 consecutive minutes of Two-Testament Jewish music broadcast during the service time on FacebookLIVE and YouTUBE, if you'd like that kind background for your in-home observances. Enjoy!
Until the Rabbi begins delivering new sermons/podcasts on May 6th, your synagogue's iTunes library, our website library, and our huge "Archive.Org" treasury of over 500 Beth El Sermons (under the "Learn With Us" top menu at www.bethelnyc.org) ––– all offer you a chance to revisit favorite past sermons of yours, or listen to ones you may have missed. We cherish the place you have given us in your listening habits - and look forward to a new season sharing with you starting on Shabbat "Emor" in May. Shalom uv'rachot! (Peace and Blessings!)
Congregation Beth El of Manhattan, a Conservative Synagogue of Two-Testament Judaism in Manhattan's Upper East Side since 1993.
Parshat Yitro this week gives us a range of obligations – from can or may through could and should into must. We examine what the path of the God-follower / Truth-follower is in a world in which people can, at times, alter even the meaning of words to give themselves leeway to harm or defraud their fellow-humanbeings. May Heaven give us the light we need to “put aside lying, and speak truth with one another” to degree our Creator desires – and desires so much, He offers to do the “heavy lifting” on our behalf, and in our stead.
We also thankfully point anyone wishing to Tithe or Donate to our Donor’s portal at https://www.bethelnyc.org/make-a-donation. Be sure to peruse the newly-revamped website-and DOWNLOAD OUR NEW “APP!!!”– and please do share these resources with others YOU are HOW this synagogue GROWS! :-) Shabbat shalom!
Parsha Bo, the first study of 2022 – is all about freedom. “Remember the day you left the house of slavery!” We are told in Exodus 13 – near the end of the parasha. Our rabbi delves into the personal experience of being set free from any kind of slavery, because “by what a person is overcome, by that (s)he is enslaved.” (2Peter 2:19) But, “If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36) Habits or patterns that “take control” from you – and you are no longer “in the driver’s seat?” Time to be free indeed!
Parsha for the last week of 2021: “Shemot” (Torah: Exodus 1:1-6:1 Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22 - 29:23) – and the sermon title is ... or, “Game-Changing Truths Onto Your Radar.” With huge numbers throughout the world observing the Messiah’s birth ... what are we as Jews to do with the stunningly clear portraits in Scripture and Talmud about the “Messiah son of Joseph, who will be slain?” There is such clear understanding among our Sages of why He would come, when He would arrive, what He would do ... and yet, the topic has been moved off the table of “in-house” Jewish discussion as so many billions of “them” (the non-Jewish nations) believe in Him within their languages and cultures ... while among our Jewish 14 million, only a few hundred thousand accept The Suffering Messiah as having been Yeshua of Nazareth? No truth ever ceased to be a truth because it had not yet found its fullest following. As the Sermon title holds forth, once anyone carefully reads the content of Jewish Scripture and commentary on the Suffering Messiah, they can never “go back” to before that content was clearly seen. It is a total “game-changer.”
This week’s parasha is “VaYigash” – and the sermon has the title, “The Essence Of Healthy Prayer.” Rabbi Bruce delves into “drawing near” to God, and what makes sound prayer different than spiritistic activities like use of talismans and applying esoteric “special knowledge” as is done in Kabbalah. Enjoy “the simplicity of devotion” as Rav Saul of Tarshish taught it in 2Corinthians 11:3.
Hanukkah is the perfect opportunity to contemplate "the power of one." An old man in a backwater town, through his clarity and courage inspired his entire generation to defeat the greatest military power on earth, leading to over a century of Jewish self-government. The right person in the right place at the right time - can change the world. Am Yisrael Chai! And Happy Hanukkah!
This week’s parasha is “VaYeshev.” In it, we are shown how the all-foreseeing God directly, pro-actively stirs up trouble between people and nations in order to foment His objectives in human society. God tells us in Isaiah 54:16, “I, Myself created the smith who blows the fire of the coals (heats things up) I created the destroyer (intentionally) to ruin!” God claims SOLE ownership of all events in human experience, having deliberately created even the irritants intentionally to do what they do (see Isaiah 45:7). It is a mind-blowing exploration that detoxes faith from overly simplified portraits of the Creator whose ways are “as high above us as the heavens are above the earth.” Enjoy!
This week’s parasha is “VaYishlakh” – “And He Sent Out” – and the Haftarah from the itty-bitty 1-chapter book of Obadiah, we see see spiritual plutonium-strength display of the Deuteronomy 18 standard for the authority of the Scriptures: such specific long-range prophecy so accurate it is almost scary to read it. The prophet predicts when Israel returns from scattering across the world, exactly where in Israel certain populations will settle – abnd it is not the region of our land from which they were kidnapped and exiled! Amazing! Mind-boggling! And – we study WHY God put this content into the bread-crumb trail of the Scriptures. Enjoy!
This week’s parasha is “VaYetzeh” – “And He Went Out” – and we continue to see the soft under-belly of the Patriarchal Era ... the under-theme of limitation and temporality soaking every moment we read about. The sermon this week is “Life’s Two Fake-Outs” – dealing with the ways we distract ourselves from the reality about which God teaches us so clearly: 2 Cor. 4:7 – "we have this (spiritual) treasure in earthen (clay) vessels.” And why it is this way.
Sermon was given via the ZOOM teleconference app "in" Congregation Beit Ariel of Cape Town, South Africa - and then rebroadcast as the Sermon for the Manhattan Erev Shabbat Service 7 hours later. This week’s parasha is “Toledot” – “Generations” – and we see the full range of human glory and weakness expressed in one family: ours! Nature and Nurture, Favoritism and Faith, Lion-heart and Lily-liver ... the sermon this week is aptly entitled “The Reality Of Duality.” How God engages with our flaws and glories, without compromising His character on either! Beit Ariel of Cape Town, South Africa is a synagogue and community our Rabbi Bruce has influenced as a “shaliakh” since the 1980s, and with which he retains a vibrant connection dating from then to the present. We hope you enjoy connecting with this Two-Testament Synagogue on the other side of the world!
"Whatever a person has decided is God's will, it should be done without grudging or complaining," the Scriptures teach us. So – does what we NOW do, and what we NOW have bring us genuine joy without being yet perfect? Or - are "our eyes always on the ends of the earth" and is "the grass always greener elsewhere?" This sermon offers positive tools for assessing our personal joy-index, and what joy, or lack of it, teaches us.
This week’s parasha “VaYera” yields two themes and a sermon entitled “Two Comforts: Human Integrity & Divine Ubiquity” – both equally present and nourishing – so our Rabbi shared both. Also - quite unusually for our synagogue, the Rabbi shared a Christian music video with top tier musician Dolly Parton as a duet partner to Zach Williams, showing from “the other side of Two Testament culture how these truths make their way into our experience. The Video can be found on YouTUBE: “There Was Jesus.” We pray it nourishes your understanding of this week’s themes.
Parshat "Lecha Lecha" – "Get Yourself Moving" – how Golda Meir turned a room full of totally uninterested observers into zealous co-laborers when their choices in that room that night might decide whether the new born State of Israel would live or die: and the Biblical precepts that apply.
The story of Noakh is perhaps the clearest and best known container of the idea of the existence of limits to God’s grace. We learn how to set healthy boundaries, and we see this week how often in Scripture God portrays this aspect of “shalom” (wholeness, not merely the absence of conflict) for us.
Rabbi Bruce brings his Comparative Literature chops to bear on one of the most-often misread and misapplied sections of Scripture used by God-Dodgers as an excuse to avoid The Scripture, claiming they are "obviously just myths, and untrue because they say the entire universe was created in 6 earth days 6,000 years ago." This Sermon is a GREAT "sharing tool" for anyone who has offered you the "mere mythology" rebuttal.
On Erev Shabbat Hol HaMoed during Sukkot - a preparatory jaunt into the joy of being able to proclaim, "We Have A Torah!" (Yesh lanu Torah!). Contrasting God's laws with religious law erupting from the human mind, or what the New Testament calls, "doctrines from unclean spiritual sources." May the joy of having God's Torah (Teaching/Law) abound! Hag Sameakh!
The entire holiday of Sukkot emphasizes the transience of life - yet, we are commanded to rejoice for 7 straight days. How does one GENUINELY rejoice in ALL seasons, full and spare and everything in-between. There "a secret" to this Rav Saul tells us in the New Testament, "I have learned." Let's learn this precious secret also!
Given on "Shabbat Shuvah" 2021 – Beth El of Manhattan is the only synagogue of Two Testament Judaism having been in Manhattan before, during, and after "9/11" occurred. We lived and worked and ministered here. In the ensuring decade, ours was the only synagogue of any kind in all 5 New York Boroughs targeted for direct Islamic Terror threats: and it happened to us twice! Our story should be heard: and here, in this sermon, twenty years after – it is. May it be all for shalom.
RabbI Bruce Cohen, invited to share the Rosh Hashanah Sermon for Beit Ariel of Cape Town with which he has been involved as a 'shaliakh' since 1986 – a heartfelt outpouring of encouragement and exhortation to pour ourselves into "The Return" – the long-foretold thing God is doing with us in our era, scattered throughout the world, but pulled by God toward returning to our God, our Messiah and our national identity/Homeland.
פרשת נִצָּבִים Nitzavim, "we are standing here" before God to enter into covenant with Him ... or are we? Do we "tell" God what we are willing to do, and for how long? How do we leave His rightful Kingship over our lives in the hands of our rightful King?
פרשת כִּי־תֵצֵא In this parasha, we see God show compassion on us by giving us commandments which, if heeded, can prevent us from giving away our lives on impulse. It is human nature to be drawn to diverse genetic traits in mates – diversity helps us avoid genetic inbreeding are repeats of genetic errors. This good aspect of our instincts renders us vulnerable to being overwhelmed by an exotic, foreign exterior. In this parasha, we see a pattern for making sure whom we think we love, we actually do "love" as a person.
בּוֹנֵ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֣ם יְהוָ֑ה נִדְחֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל יְכַנֵּֽס׃ "The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He regathers the outcasts of Israel." Much of the world has no idea what Israel is: they view it through the narrow lens of their own religious predispositions. This teaching from our weekly midweek "TnT" (Torah & Tefilah" - Teaching & Prayer) Meeting on 11 August 2021 after our Rabbi returned from 17 days in Israel, is a real eye-opener as to what God is doing ... and how we can seek and find our place in His plans.
פרשת רְאֵה What happens if we accept or decline God's invitation? Yeshua the Messiah taught us, "When invited by the Master, some began to make excuses, and for those reasons said to The Master, 'Please consider me excused.'" Now, the place is empty God Almighty intended to be yours since before time, itself, existed. What happens now?
On 9th of Av in the Jewish lunar calendar, both the 1st and 2nd Temples were destroyed on the same date: the 1st in 586 bce and nearly 700 years later, the 2nd in 70 ce. The Sages of Israel attribute God's choice to erase our Temples and scatter our nation primarily due to "seenát ḥeenám" (baseless hatred). This Shabbat, we seek to understand "baseless" as a description of truth being lost and replaced by contrived and inaccurate "narratives." We hope to learn from our history, so we do not repeat the worst episodes. May it all be for shalom.
The story of the reaction of Pinchas reveals to us how we can be in lock-step with God and how that condition manifests in action! INCLUDED BONUS: a brief teaching on "A Tale of Two Spellings," resolving the movement-wide issue of "Yeshua" vs. "Y'shua" – is there a genuinely, clearly correct first-name spelling of The Messiah? Happily, the answer is, "Yes." A VIDEO of the "Tale of Two Spellings" (not the entire sermon) is provided, because the teaching on Hebrew vowels has important Visual Aids supporting it.
Bil'am heard and knew the will of God – and connived to do otherwise. King Saul did the same, and was told, "because you have rejected the word of The Lord, God has rejected you from being king." Being religious, but "rejecting the Word of The Lord" is how Bil'am and King Saul met their fates we all hope to avoid. So, this week, let's learn from their "anti-models" – and strengthen our relationship with our Father in Heaven.
The song entitled, "Cover Me In Sunshine" by contemporary songstress, "Pink" on her album "All I Know So Far" was the inspiration for this attempt to get to the core of what every heart expects from God – how we handle "the real world" as we grow past youthful fantasies of life as a kind of Disneyworld-on-Earth – and how evildoing often arises from people simply trying to get enough of a slice of the pie to feel some measure of security and dignity for themselves, their dear ones, or the "crew" on earth they consider "their" circle of interest. A special section in presents the Biblical passages explaining WHY Israel's enemies ceaselessly bear down on the Jewish State and the Jewish People.
It is basic human "hardwiring" to weave stories giving us a sense of safety, starting as children believing our parents to be all-wise and all-powerful - thus creating a sense of perfect safety. This natural instinct both SERVES and HARMS us. How do God-followers & truth-seekers escape this trap, when we are commanded to "speak truth in our hearts" and "cease lying, and speak (only) truth to one-another" as Scripture clearly directs us? "The truth," Messiah taught us, "will make us free." Let's get free.
This week's parasha contains the source of our Manhattan synagogue's logo since 1993: the image of Joshua & Caleb bringing back the "eshkol" – the huge cluster of fruit of The Land; and in our logo, the central fruit has a Jewish star embedded in it. The symbol is of 2 people out of 10 who "got it." They had the clarity, the courage, and the trust in God to GO TO where God wanted them, and DO WITH VIGOR what God wanted them to do – despite the risks involved. This from-the-heart idea is shared by Rabbi Bruce with the Cape Town congregation he has been serving intermittently as a shaliakh since 1986.
We explore via the commandment in this portion to the Levites, that they be "cleansed for fitness to serve God," and Peter the Shaliakh's mandate that to be healthy spiritually, our godly qualities must grow, not stagnate ... we celebrate Asian Jewishness in our synagogue and the world at large - and the multiracial nature of both the Jewish nation and all humankind. In age of increased "Othering" - we seek to "give effort to the spirit of unity and the bond of peace," as Paul exhorted us in Ephesians 4.
God is a Person. He cannot only be "known about," but "known." Far too many "Believers" relate to God as if relating to or liking ideas about Him is the same thing as the "knowing God" Scripture holds forth as necessary. This sermon explores the two primary ways God communicates with human beings interested in being governed by Truth. (There a bonus at the end: a song based on Psalm 95 called "Ki El Gadol Adonai" (A Great God Is The Lord) from a Jerusalem worship band we have been featuring in our service broadcasts. Enjoy!
Peace in The Middle East? Really? With 3000 rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza onto Israel – and things heating up again for the nth time in memory - is there ANY GENUINE HOPE for peace between Israel and the hundreds of millions of Arabs surrounding her, and living inside her borders? Thank God, the answer is YES – a long future of peace is FORETOLD in the Scriptures - and we will look at those encouraging passages and precepts in this sermon.
The Rabbi gives a from-the-heart sermon for Mothers' Day 2021, having grown up without his mother from 18 months old. What the presence of a mother means, as learned by living in the absence of one; and living the New Testament triumph over bad experiences, as spoken in advance by the prophet Jeremiah (31:29-30), "In this New Testament (covenant), no longer will it be said, 'The parents ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge; but in this New Testament (covenant), everyone deals with only their own issues.'"
The Haftarah's injunction that the priesthood actively teach the people of Israel the difference between holy and ordinary, pure and tainted, is explored for the positive effects of understanding these differences, and the consequences of ignoring them.
Centering in on this caveat in Proverbs 21:30: "There is no 'wisdom' and no 'understanding' and no 'counsel' against the Lord" –– making sure we fulfill the "Shema" (hear/obey) by making sure we ask – and then wait for a clear answer. "You do not have because you do not ask." vs. "Ask, and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find." King David's model after the raid on Ziklag, making sure he asked God for God's counsel before doing what seemed the natural choice. (1Sam. 30:8)
This week's Haftarah, starting with a group of lepers thinking through their situation for maximum benefit, takes us into ways our minds work on the human and spiritual levels. We explore reason, faith, and courage/boldness applied in the real world - especially when we are facing an "impossible" situation – which is often, merely a bad forecast coming to us first out of the gate.
The sources of authentic joy and, identifying and avoiding its placebos. How to recover lost joy and how to avoid the traps of false comforts.
The 2nd Sermon in 2021 by Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen via "Zoom" at Congregation Beit Ariel of Cape Town, South Africa. There are 7000 Jewish people remaining in Western Cape – and they have inherited the false idea in Passover that "afikomen" is a Hebrew word for "dessert" – when it is actually a Greek word meaning "I arrived." So – WHO ARRIVED - AND WHEN? And WHY do we remember that arrival EVERY Passover? What is THE TRUTH? And how can all our Jewish people scattered across the earth be moved to face it, and embrace it?
"Returning" is the heart and soul of the historical moment in which we all live. From the time of Deuteronomy until now, God has been speaking about our exiles and our returns – from Himself, from our Land – from our very selves. This sermon is a mediation on the Haftarah's question this week "How shall we return?"
How to be "spiritual" when the situation you face makes you feel inadequate, "on empty," and bankrupt of sufficiency. Where the "sufficiency" comes from ... and how.
How genuine interaction with God, and cooperation with his rightful place as Ruler of The Universe ("Adon Olam") translates into rescue – salvation – "Yeshua" – in this life and the next.
The difference between your active connection to God radiating and changing people – and – merely being religious, with no God-connection radiating anything. Core idea from this week's parasha, when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai after being in God's Presence - and his face beamed.
A heartfelt outpouring via "Zoom" from our Rabbi in New York City, who, from 1986 to the year 2000, as an official "shaliakh" (envoy) of the MJAA - Messianic Jewish Alliance of America's "International Outreach Committee to Israel, South Africa, and Russia, became a vigorous participant the founding of, and life of, this synagogue of Two-Testament Judaism at one of "the ends of the earth." (See Deuteronomy 30:1-6)
Parashat Mishmpatim orah: Exodus 21:1 - 24:18 7th aliyah: Numbers 28:9 - 28:15 | Shabbat Shekalim (on Rosh Chodesh) Maftir: Exodus 30:11 - 30:16 | Shabbat Shekalim (on Rosh Chodesh) Haftarah: II Kings 12:1 - 12:17 | Shabbat Shekalim (on Rosh Chodesh)
Parashat Bereshit: Torah: Genesis 1:1 - 6:8 Haftarah: I Samuel 20:18 - 20:42 | Shabbat Machar Chodesh
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30 Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9
Sermon: “Getting God Woke"
Sermon: “Balancing Grace”
Parashat Ki Tavo: Torah: Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8 Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1 - 60:22
Sermon: "Prying Your Heart Loose From The World"
Parashat Devarim Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22 Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1 - 1:27
Sermon: “Mask Wearing”
Parashat Matot-Masei Torah: Numbers 30:2 - 36:13 Haftarah: Jeremiah 2:4 - 28; 3:4
Sermon: “Remember Love?”
Parashat Pinchas Torah: Numbers 25:10 - 30:1 Haftarah: Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 | Pinchas occurring after 17 Tammuz
Sermon: "These Values"
Parashat Chukat-Balak Torah: Numbers 19:1 - 25:9 Haftarah: Micah 5:6 - 6:8
Sermon: “God In The Fire”
Parashat Korach Torah: Numbers 16:1 - 18:32 Haftarah: I Samuel 11:14 - 12:22
Sermon: “Saving Truth” Parashat Naso Torah: Numbers 4:21 – 7:89Haftarah: Judges 13:2 – 13:25
Sermon: “Yom Yerushalayim” Parashat BamidbarTorah: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20Haftarah: I Samuel 20:18 – 20:42 | Shabbat Machar Chodesh
Sermon: “The Joy Of My Salvation” Parashat Behar-BechukotaiTorah: Leviticus 25:1 – 27:34Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 – 17:14
Sermon: “Unrecognized Habits” Parashat EmorTorah: Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23Haftarah: Ezekiel 44:15 – 44:31
Sermon: “Positive Stillness” Parashat Achrei Mot-KedoshimTorah: Leviticus 16:1 – 20:27Haftarah: Amos 9:7 – 9:15
Sermon: “The Long View” Tazria-MetzoraTorah: Leviticus 12:1 – 15:33Maftir: Numbers 28:9 – 28:15 | Shabbat Rosh ChodeshHaftarah: Isaiah 66:1 – 66:24 | Shabbat Rosh Chodesh
Sermon: “One God And Tolerance” Parashat ShminiTorah: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47Haftarah: II Samuel 6:1 – 7:17
Sermon: “Shabbat HaGadol” Parashat TzavTorah: Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36Haftarah: Malachi 3:4 – 3:24 | Shabbat HaGadol
Sermon: “God’s Economy” Parashat Vayikra Torah: Leviticus 1:1-5:26 Haftarah: Isaiah 43:21-44:23
Sermon: “Barnabas” Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei Exodus 35:1-40:38 Haftarah Ezekiel 45:16-46:18
Sermon: “A New Normal” Parashat Ki TisaTorah: Exodus 30:11 – 34:35Maftir: Numbers 19:1 – 19:22 | Shabbat ParahHaftarah: Ezekiel 36:16 – 36:38 | Shabbat Parah
Sermon: “The Unfearing Life” Parashat TetzavehTorah: Exodus 27:20 – 30:10Maftir: Deuteronomy 25:17 – 25:19 | Shabbat ZachorHaftarah: I Samuel 15:2 – 15:34 | Shabbat Zachor
Sermon: “Defeating Despair By Learning From Experience” Parashat MishpatimTorah: Exodus 21:1 – 24:18Maftir: Exodus 30:11 – 30:16 | Shabbat ShekalimHaftarah: II Kings 12:1 – 12:17 | Shabbat Shekalim
Sermon: “Love Of The Truth” Parashat YitroTorah: Exodus 18:1 – 20:23Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 – 7:6; 9:5 – 9:6
Sermon: “Truth Versus Benefits” Parashat BeshalachTorah: Exodus 13:17 – 17:16Haftarah: Judges 4:4 – 5:31
Sermon: “Change of Plans” Parashat BoTorah: Exodus 10:1 – 13:16Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13 – 46:28
Sermon: “Following God Or Using Him” Parashat VaeraTorah: Exodus 6:2 – 9:35Haftarah: Ezekiel 28:25 – 29:21
Sermon: “How Destinies Are Made” Parashat VayechiTorah: Genesis 47:28 – 50:26Haftarah: I Kings 2:1 – 2:12
Sermon: “Overcoming Training” Parashat ShemotTorah: Exodus 1:1 – 6:1Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 – 28:13; 29:22 – 29:23
Sermon: “Sheep Life In Wolf Town” Parashat VayigashTorah: Genesis 44:18 – 47:27Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:15 – 37:28
Sermon: “Glory In The Mess” Parashat VayishlachTorah: Genesis 32:4 – 36:43Haftarah: Obadiah 1:1 – 1:21
Sermon: “House of God” Parashat VayetzeiTorah: Genesis 28:10 – 32:3Haftarah: Hosea 12:13 – 14:10
Sermon: “Living With Plan B” Parashat Chayei SarahTorah: Genesis 23:1 – 25:18Haftarah: I Kings 1:1 – 1:31
Sermon: “Is Anything Too Hard For The Lord?” Parashat VayeraTorah: Genesis 18:1 – 22:24Haftarah: II Kings 4:1 – 4:37
Sermon: “Git” Parashat Lech-LechaTorah: Genesis 12:1 – 17:27Haftarah: Isaiah 40:27 – 41:16
Sermon: Redub of “A New True Beginning Part 2” Parshat NoachTorah: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5
Sermon: “A True New Beginning – Part 2” Parasha Noach Torah: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5
Sermon: “A New True Beginning” Parashat BereshitTorah: Genesis 1:1 – 6:8Haftarah: Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10
Sermon: “Change” Parashat Ha’AzinuTorah: Deuteronomy 32:1 – 32:52Haftarah: II Samuel 22:1 – 22:51
Sermon: “Selichot, The Missing Piece” Parashat Ki TavoTorah: Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1 – 60:22
Sermon: “Evading Is Not Erasing” Parashat Ki Teitzei Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19 Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 54:10
Sermon: “Driven To Speak” Parashat ShoftimTorah: Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12
Sermon: “Driven To Speak”
Torah: Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9 Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12
Sermon: “Justice And Mercy” Parashat EikevTorah: Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3
Sermon: “Justice And Mercy” Torah: Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25 Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3
Sermon: “People OFF The Book” Parashat VaetchananTorah: Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1 – 40:26
Sermon: “Golda On Broadway” Parashat Matot-MaaseiTorah: Numbers 30:2 – 36:13Haftarah: Jeremiah 2:4 – 28; 3:4
Sermon: “Useful Righteousness” Parashat PinchasTorah: Numbers 25:10 – 30:1Haftarah: Jeremiah 1:1 – 2:3
Sermon: “Savor The Awesome” Parashat BalakTorah: Numbers 22:2 – 25:9Haftarah: Micah 5:6 – 6:8
Sermon: “Rewriting History” Parashat ChukatTorah: Numbers 19:1 – 22:1Haftarah: Judges 11:1 – 11:33