Park Avenue Podcast: Recent Episodes
Park Avenue Synagogue
Follow the sermons, music, lectures and conversations of Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove, Neil Zuckerman, and Ethan Witkovsky and Cantors Azi Schwartz, and Rachel Brook. Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges, and learn Jewish history through personal testimony.
Rabbinic Intern Claire Davidson Bruder speaks about Cities of Refuge, her experience volunteering on Rikers Island, and what the Torah can teach us about not judging others.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges, and learn Jewish history through personal testimony.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges, and learn Jewish history through personal testimony.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges, and learn Jewish history through personal testimony.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges, and learn Jewish history through personal testimony.
Rabbi Pink marks the 4th of July with a sermon about the American and Jewish histories of engaging in civic life through forming organizations and contributing your most valuable resource: your time.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—teens met with seniors to form connections, build bridges across intergenerational divides, and learn about Jewish history through personal testimony.
Rabbi Zuckerman reminds us that even though there have been many times throughout history when the Jewish people had to stand in isolation, there is a profound difference between being willing to stand alone and believing that we are destined to be alone.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—our teens met with seniors in our community to form connections, build bridges across intergenerational divides, and learn about Jewish history through personal testimony. Produced by congregant Rya Backer, these stories are a time capsule of New York and PAS Jewry.
A trip to Israel reminded Rabbi Zuckerman of one of the great themes of Jewish history: to nurture life and hope long before we see the conditions that seem to warrant them.
What happens when our youth lack role models who reflect their identities? On Pride Shabbat, Rabbinic Intern Claire Davidson Bruder shared her story as a lesbian rabbi-in-training and the importance of role models, including the teacher who inspired her to live her authentic life.
Rabbi Zauzmer implores us to vote and increase our local civic engagement, inspired by the courage of two of the twelve scouts in this week's Torah portion.
For L'dor V'dor—the Teen Oral History project—our teens met with seniors in our community to form connections, build bridges across intergenerational divides, and learn about Jewish history through personal testimony. Produced by congregant Rya Backer, these stories are a time capsule of New York and PAS Jewry.
Rabbi Pink connects the New York Knicks' success to a lesson in this week's Torah portion about the menorah that stood in the Mishkan. Whether building a team, a menorah, or a Jewish community, every single piece matters.
What happens when the desire to belong becomes more important than remaining true to who we are? Drawing on the tragic story of Samson, Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on Jewish pride, political responsibility, and the dangers of seeking validation from those who ask us to leave parts of ourselves behind.
How does one remain in relationship with an imperfect world, imperfect people, and the memories of imperfect loved ones who dwell in our hearts? Drawing on the themes of Shavuot, Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on the spiritual challenge of relinquishing perfection while still choosing forgiveness, memory, and relationship.
Rabbi Zauzmer discusses why Naomi is the real main character in the Book of Ruth, and how we can learn from her journey back to joy and wholeness after unimaginable tragedy.
As debates over Zionism grow increasingly fraught within American Jewry, Rabbi Cosgrove explores how the meaning of Zionism itself has shifted across generations. Drawing on the wilderness narratives of the Book of Numbers, he argues for a Judaism rooted in memory, responsibility, and engaged Jewish self-determination.
From commencements to demonstrations outside synagogues, we are struggling to answer the same urgent question: When does protest deepen democracy, and when does it fray the ties that bind? Rabbi Cosgrove argues for a Judaism that honors dissent while insisting upon dignity, restraint, and covenantal responsibility.
Rabbi Zuckerman explores Albert Einstein’s relationship to Zionism and the dangers of reducing complex history to sound bites and half-truths.
We welcomed JTS Chancellor Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz to share remarks during Shabbat dinner, and honor her extraordinary service and leadership, which have left a lasting imprint on our community.
Blame is easy; self-reflection is hard. Rabbi Cosgrove explores the instinct to deflect responsibility onto others and calls, in the spirit of Aharei Mot-K’doshim, for a turn inward, where critique begins with humility, responsibility, and the courage to examine oneself.
How do the Jewish people remember tragedy? In this time of memorial and celebration, Rabbi Zuckerman turns to a lesson from the rabbis in the aftermath of the destruction of the temple: to not mourn a devastating loss is impossible, but to mourn too much is also not permitted. Life continues.
What holds the Jewish people together across difference and distance? Rabbi Cosgrove explores the triad of time, text, and territory, beginning with Jewish time as the rhythm that shapes how we live and belong.
Rabbi Zuckerman delivers a poignant message on the final day of Passover: Jewish life is found not only in its grand expressions, but in its quieter ones as well.
Rabbi Pink explains how the Passover Seder demonstrates the importance of asking questions and learning from everyone around us.
What does it really mean to be free? On the Shabbat of Passover, Rabbi Zauzmer encourages us to ask this question and suggests that if we can never put our phones down, we are not truly free.
Touching on one rabbi's response to a pro-Palestine campus display and the Passover Seder, Rabbi Zuckerman reminds us that to be a Jew is to tell a story that begins in pain, but does not end there; rather, it's to insist that there is a path from suffering to hope.
Do you tell the Passover story as a tale of “us” versus “them”? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that binary distinctions between good and bad do not tell the whole story, not in the past, and not now. He encourages us to acknowledge and thank non-Jews who have supported our people.
With baseball season beginning this week, Rabbi Zauzmer discusses automatic balls and strikes, and the humility that the new rule brings to the game.
What can we learn from Torah readings that recount details of rituals and structures that no longer exist? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the connections we make with other people are sacred and persist even when the other person is not physically with us.
There are moments when God’s face feels hidden and faith itself seems beyond reach. Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that even when we cannot see the face of God directly, we may still encounter the divine in the face of another.
When is stubbornness a flaw and when does it become necessary for a people to survive? From Menachem Begin's stance against accepting reparations from Germany to the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf, Rabbi Zuckerman discusses the characterization of Jews as a a "stiff-necked people."
Join us as Cantor Davis and cantorial intern Kelsey Bailey discuss all things Purim spiel, and get to know Kelsey better.
Rabbi Zuckerman explores why the Torah goes into such detail about the clothing one should wear in a sacred space. Clothing, according to the Torah, is not decorative. Rather, it binds us and shapes us. In the biblical imagination, clothing does not merely express identity – it creates identity.
Rabbi Zauzmer discusses the recent Super Bowl ad about antisemitism and encourages us to spend more time fighting antisemites than we spend fighting one another.
Rabbi Zuckerman speaks about the repatriation of the body of the last hostage in Gaza, Master Sergeant Ran Gvili – linking his return home to this week’s parashah, where Moses carries Joseph’s bones out of Egypt.
Cantors Davis and Reisner revisit the pipeline issue from their last episode and share a preview of a special melody for "The Song of the Sea," coming up this Shabbat.
Freedom is born not only through God’s miracles, but through human agency. Drawing on the Torah reading, Václav Havel, and contemporary politics, Rabbi Cosgrove challenges us to stop “living within the lie,” reclaim our moral voice, and take agency in a consequential time.
Rabbi Pink, a Minnesota native, discusses the unrest in his home state, and shares how a teaching from this week’s Torah portion can help us understand what is happening and how to respond.
On the Shabbat before MLK Day, Rabbi Zauzmer reminded us that while we can criticize the policies of our elected officials, we should celebrate religious diversity in leadership.
Why Moses? A close reading of three brief scenes before the burning bush reveals the leadership qualities that shaped Israel’s greatest prophet. Rabbi Cosgrove explores moral courage, responsibility, and the art of standing in the breach – lessons Moses lived by, and lessons our fractured moment urgently needs.
Cantors Davis and Reisner discuss everything from what drew them to the cantorate, Jewish spiritual leadership today, how their work intersects with other parts of their lives, and the hit show "Nobody Wants This."
Hanukkah is not simply a story of light over darkness, but a cautionary tale of Jew against Jew. In an age of division, Rabbi Cosgrove calls for rededication to one another – reminding us that the true miracle is unity without uniformity, and the courage to keep kindling shared light.
Israel’s war is being fought on two fronts, on the battlefield and in the battle for moral clarity. As the last hostage awaits return, Rabbi Cosgrove explores the tension between Jacob’s restraint and his sons’ fury – how far one may go, and must not go, to save a life.
Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham joined Rabbi Cosgrove for a closer look at key moments in America’s history at this milestone anniversary at the Stephen R. Volk Inaugural Lecture: The Soul of America: Our Nation at 250. Reflecting on our nation’s triumphs, the darker hours, and the moments in between, this nuanced discussion brought our history to life and looked to the past for lessons on the way forward.
Jon Meacham, a Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is one of America's most prominent public intellectuals. Meacham is the author of multiple bestselling books, including And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, and His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. Named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Meacham regularly appears on MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets.
Twenty years after Jacob famously dreamed of a ladder ascending to heaven, he had another, less well-known vision. Rabbi Pink analyzes that story and shares what it can teach us about our lives.
Following Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor, Rabbi Cosgrove calls for a civic awakening. Like Rebecca seizing her destiny, Jews today must act with agency—knowing our leaders, voting, and standing up for democracy and Jewish community. Nothing “just happens.” The future of our people and city is in our hands.
From a visit to The Museum of Jewish Heritage on the anniversary of Kristallnacht and this week's torah portion, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the Jewish experience of being both a stranger and a resident in the place they call home, throughout history to today.
Following New York’s mayoral election, Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on democracy, disagreement, and the bonds of Jewish peoplehood. Drawing on the story of Abraham and Isaac, he calls for renewed dialogue, humility, and ahavat yisrael, a reminder that the real test begins not on the mountaintop, but on the way down.
Rabbi Zauzmer leads a discussion on why Sukkot is known as the holiday of joy, encouraging us to let our walls down.
Rabbi Pink explains the hidden meaning behind the ancient sacrifices on Sukkot, and what we can learn from them about how we interact with people outside our community.
How do we carry on after the spiritual high of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that living Jewishly is a year-round, weekly, and daily commitment. If we want the peak moments, we must practice regularly.
As long as there have been Jews, there have been complaints. But some disagreements are holier than others. Rabbi Pink analyzes when Jews are called, and in some cases required, to protest.
If you've ever played card or board games - and especially if you've argued over their rules - you've already picked up a hidden lesson that applies to Jewish learning. Rabbi Pink explains how this experience should inspire everyone to learn more about Judaism in the coming year.
From this week's parashah about Abraham, the anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the upcoming mayoral election in NYC, Rabbi Zuckerman finds a common lesson: sometimes we have to go down to climb even higher and what seems like misfortune and betrayal can actually be providence in disguise.
As the early voting period begins, Rabbi Zauzmer reminds us of our Jewish obligation both to vote and to choose the best available candidate.
On the two-year Hebrew anniversary of October 7, Rabbi Zauzmer invites us to consider the trauma that prompts us to create our world anew.
With a hostage deal coming to fruition, a time of joy mixed with sorrow, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the miracle of Jewish survival and endurance.
With the New York mayoral election in less than three weeks, Rabbi Cosgrove explains why Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of New York Jewish community. He urges us to work to convince undecided voters and to vote ourselves.
From screen time to free throws, Rabbi Zuckerman explores why we resist positive change, even when we know it would serve us, and how Yom Kippur can inspire us to choose the path of courage and growth.
With the rapid rise of a new kind of antisemitism, we are not the first generation of Jews who have navigated this challenge. Rabbi Zauzmer compares our time to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's, imploring us to follow his example with three steps we can take in the fight against antisemitism.
What is the gift of Yizkor? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that as we recall those who are no longer with us, we can pledge to create a memorial for them by the way we live. By taking full advantage of each day, we guarantee that we will enjoy length of days.
Can we support Israel’s legitimate self-defense and also have empathy for the suffering of Gaza? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the tension between concern for self and concern for the other defines Jewish identity and that self-examination together with critique of the other is the essence of Yom Kippur.
On this Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Zuckerman reflected on the extraordinary resilience of the Jewish people—from the displaced persons camps of 1945, where life and learning were rebuilt out of devastation, to the challenges we face today after October 7. Through stories of survival, renewal, and his own journey to Israel, Rabbi Zuckerman explored a timeless truth: “Those who have a why to live can bear almost any how.” As we enter the new year, he calls on us to root ourselves in purpose, to live by the teachings of our tradition, and to take the wheel of our own lives.
Remembering Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her fifth yahrzeit, Rabbi Zauzmer urges us to disagree better and to see the humanity in everyone.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Rabbi Cosgrove turns to the legacy of Jonas Phillips for guidance and inspiration. His story — immigrant, patriot, proud Jew — challenges us to claim our freedoms boldly, live our Judaism publicly, and secure a vibrant Jewish future.
In an age of viral shame, Rabbi Cosgrove tells us that the High Holidays teach otherwise. God does not seek our destruction but our return. We stand before God as our worst — and best — selves, called to forgiveness, renewal, and life.
Two hundred years ago, Mordecai Manuel Noah dreamed of Ararat, a Jewish refuge on the Niagara River. His vision failed, but the question endures: how to live fully in the world without losing ourselves to it. Rabbi Cosgrove calls on us to take up that challenge anew.
A new episode of our teens’ project on the family history of senior members of our community is now available. These conversations offered the teens a new perspective on Jewish American life and gave the adults the chance to reflect and connect with Gen Z.
A new episode of our teens’ project on the family history of senior members of our community is now available. These conversations offered the teens a new perspective on Jewish American life and gave the adults the chance to reflect and connect with Gen Z.
A new episode of our teens’ project on the family history of senior members of our community is now available. These conversations offered the teens a new perspective on Jewish American life and gave the adults the chance to reflect and connect with Gen Z. Check back later in the summer for more episodes.
A new episode of our teens’ project on the family history of senior members of our community is now available on the PAS Podcast. These conversations offered the teens a new perspective on Jewish American life and gave the adults the chance to reflect and connect with Gen Z. Check back later in the summer for more episodes.
This is the first episode of our teens’ project on the family history of senior members of our community. These conversations offered the teens a new perspective on Jewish American life and gave the adults the chance to reflect and connect with Gen Z.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to Zibby Owens – the host of the award-winning daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby and founder of Zibby Media – about her book: On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates.
With Israel under fire, listen as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to Rabbi Steven Weil, the CEO of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), the only organization authorize to collect charitable donations on behalf of the IDF across the United States.
Dr. Richard Haass and Rabbi Cosgrove discuss the latest developments in conflict between Israel and Iran, what it means for Israeli and global Jewry, and its implications on the world stage.
PAS’s own Jon Frankel and sportswriter Michael Bamberger join Rabbi Cosgrove for a wide-ranging conversation about baseball, exploring Jewish ethical questions raised by topics such as the end of Pete Rose’s banishment and the use of electronic umpires.
Words aren’t just words—they carry history, impact, and, sometimes, danger. Rabbi Cosgrove explores how language evolves, why “Free Palestine” can no longer be dismissed as harmless, and what it means to speak—and stay silent—in an age of rising antisemitism.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Why do we read Ruth on Shavuot, and why at Yizkor? In a world governed by law, Ruth teaches the power of hesed – unearned, enduring kindness. Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on memory, love, and the quiet acts that bind us to one another, in life and in loss.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove and Jon Frankel, PAS member and guest co-host for this episode, interview Dan Grunfeld, former professional basketball player and son of former New York Knick and NYC high school basketball legend Ernie Grunfeld, as they discuss Dan’s book, By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Recorded in front of a live audience, listen as Rabbi Cosgrove talks to Shuly Rubin Schwartz, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), joined by JTS students, including our own Rabbi Aiden Pink, as they highlight how JTS has adapted to the modern world.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Can a person guilty of moral failure ever be redeemed? Reflecting on the posthumous reinstatement of Pete Rose, Rabbi Cosgrove explores the balance between justice and mercy, sin and atonement. In a world desperate for integrity, he argues, moral accountability, especially from our leaders, is the cornerstone of national character.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In the wake of a papal-political clash over “the order of love,” Rabbi Cosgrove explores Judaism’s own moral calculus: how to love one’s neighbor while prioritizing one’s own. Drawing on the Bible, rabbinic tradition, and current events, he examines where faith, ethics, and communal responsibility meet—and sometimes collide.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove talks to Rabbi Daniel Ross Goodman about his past studies of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, how it led to his recent book, Soloveitchik's Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America, and what it meant to be a student of "The Rav."
In front of a live audience, Rabbi Cosgrove and Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013, discuss a wide range of current events and issues that are relevant to Israel, both its politics and its people.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What makes the seder different from all other nights? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that above all, it’s the questions that frame the entire evening. He urges us to listen to everyone’s questions with open hearts and minds and to allow that every question can have more than one right answer.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
When alternate notions of what’s in the best interest of the Jewish community compete, how do we know what’s right? Reminding us that we are not the first to face this dilemma, Rabbi Cosgrove recalls Rabbi A.J. Heschel, urging us to find the quiet inner voice of conscience.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Cosgrove and Yizhar Hess, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization, discuss why American Jews should vote for Cosgrove and the MERCAZ USA (Conservative Movement) (Slate 17) in the elections that run through May 4.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Cosgrove interviews Snir Pilus from Brothers for Life (BFL), which gives critical and immediate help to Israeli soldiers injured in combat. Among other initiatives, the organization pairs recently wounded soldiers with other injured soldiers to support each other during recovery.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, the senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in California and the author of a new book, The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews, as they discuss the post-October 7 relationship between American Jews and Israel.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What model of leadership serves our people best? Absolute adherence to principle or willingness to compromise? The book of Esther prompts Rabbi Cosgrove to examine both approaches, share his own answer, and advise that we must be tolerant of those who choose differently than we do.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Where do we find holiness? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that while a beautiful sanctuary may inspire us, holiness is to be found in the connections between people, between ourselves and others. He urges us to pursue holiness by practicing respectful dialogue with those with whom we disagree.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
It is tempting to see things as black or white, right or wrong, good or bad. Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that reality is not so neat. He urges us to be generous in standing together as we deal with the messiness of conflicting truths.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In the wake of the October 7 attacks and many universities’ lack of strong response to rising antisemitism on campus, Marc Rowan, major funder and Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, encouraged university donors to “close their checkbooks” until major changes are made on campus. Looking at the current state of affairs, Rowan and Rabbi Cosgrove will discuss the many ways we can advocate for change on campus and beyond.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What are the qualities of a leader? Looking to the examples of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Moses, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that a great leader is one who stands up for righteousness while honoring the sentiments of opposing factions who do not agree on what is the truth.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
After participating in a mission to Israel for parents and their Gen Z children seeking to gain a common language for discussing the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to realize that no resolution is possible without empathy for the other side.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Bucky Apisdorf, founder of Let’s Do Something, an organization that promotes advocacy, safety, and healing in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, recounts his experience on Oct. 7 and how his life changed after the death of his best friend at the Nova Festival.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What does it mean to celebrate victory by planting a flag? Rabbi Cosgrove cautions that true victory includes respecting the dignity of our opponents and that only when we refrain from provoking and demeaning our adversaries can we hope for a permanent, peaceful resolution of conflict.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Rabbi Rebecca Keren Jablonski to discuss her new book, Confessions of a Female Rabbi: Relevant Religion in an On-Demand World. Together, they explore her efforts to foster a deeper connection to Jewish life for “unshuled” Jews.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, Senior Rabbi of New London Synagogue, discusses the history and current incidents of antisemitism in London and the world.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What is your American story? Rabbi Cosgrove offers four questions to guide conversations at the Thanksgiving table.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to renowned scholar and author Rabbi Yitz Greenberg about his new book, A Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, which explores the relationship between humanity and God.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Following last week’s election, you may feel crushed and afraid or you may feel relieved and grateful. Rabbi Cosgrove counsels that whatever our reaction, each of us must move forward, working to realize our ideals with respect for those whose reactions differ from our own.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove discusses the current political climate in Israel with Yohanan Plesner, President of the Israel Democracy Institute since 2014.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with renowned philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy as they discuss his new book, Israel Alone, and Israel’s existential war against barbarism.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Dr. Richard Haass, a veteran diplomat and respected voice on U.S. foreign policy and international relations, shared insights on what has taken place in the Middle East and the world over the past year and his thoughts about what might be on the horizon.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Can you imagine peace between sworn enemies? Through the story of how Jews and former Nazis cooperated to find and reinter the remains of an American Jewish soldier buried in a German mass grave, Rabbi Cosgrove offers hope that the enmities of our day may also be resolved someday.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What happens after a fragile vessel shatters? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the divine light of our loved ones remains even after they are no longer present, and especially at Yizkor, we can still gather their sparks.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What does it mean to be courageous, especially during times that, on the surface, call for resignation? Through an exploration of Jewish history, rabbinic thought, and High Holiday liturgy, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the bravery that is hard-wired in the DNA of the Jewish people.
Are you carrying any grudges? Regretting how you’ve treated someone? Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to forgive the shortcomings of others as we hope God will forgive our shortcomings, to make apologies and accept apologies so that we can begin the new year free of past bitterness.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What do we seek when entering a synagogue? By way of a visit to his grandfather’s synagogue, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that we hope to experience gratitude for the people and values that have shaped us and to dedicate ourselves to becoming even better versions of ourselves.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Do you have hope for the future? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that all of Jewish history has been a series of trials and tests, and it is hope that has sustained the Jewish people throughout. To guarantee the Jewish future, we must channel our hope into living vibrant Jewish lives.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
ABC News’ Nightline anchor Juju Chang interviews Rabbi Cosgrove about his latest book, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In good times and bad, for Israelis and for American Jews, Jewish identity is tied to our connection to the Land. Rabbi Cosgrove explains how the pull of Israel situates Jewish identity and lays bare the challenge of living outside Israel while always feeling that one belongs there.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Throughout history, hope in the future has been essential to Jewish survival. Rabbi Cosgrove urges that despite our weariness and despair over the continuing war in the Middle East, we must envision and plan for a future of peaceful coexistence between Israel and its neighbors.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with Abigail Pogrebin and Rabbi Dov Linzer about their remarkable collaboration on the book It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses, and how the Torah can bring people together despite their differences.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin about his newest book Tikkun Ha’am: Israel and the Crisis of Liberal Judaism, the current era of American Judaism after October 7, and what Jewish identity means.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Is there any getting over grief? Rabbi Cosgrove suggests that just as the Israelites carried the shards of the broken tablets of the covenant, so too, we carry our losses and yet, move forward.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with James S. Snyder, long-time Park Avenue Synagogue member, art historian, and Director of The Jewish Museum, as they discuss the mission of The Jewish Museum, and Jewish art and expression at this point in Jewish history.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What is Double V? Recalling the campaign during WWII for victory against fascism on the battlefield and victory against racism on the homefront, Rabbi Cosgrove calls for a Double V campaign for Israel, for victory against Hamas and for the democratic values that are intrinsic to the state.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove's interview with award-winning author Francine Klagsbrun about her new book, Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream, and Szold's pioneering Zionist vision.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What is your response to the anti-Israel protests on college campuses? Explaining that these demonstrations not only express distress at Israel’s response to Hamas, but reflect a surge of antisemitism, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove urges all Jews to step up to combat Jew-hatred politically, legally, and philanthropically.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How does a connection to the land of Israel play out in your life? In sharing his own personal experience, Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us how the dream and the reality of a sovereign Jewish state in the land of Israel has sustained the Jewish people.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
We heard from Scott Miller, co-author of Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust, in dialogue with Rabbi Zuckerman.
Six months after October 7, are you expecting seder guests with conflicted and conflicting views?
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Recorded in front of a live audience, Dr. Daniel Matt and Rabbi Cosgrove prepare for Passover by exploring the figure of Elijah, his transformation from zealous prophet to compassionate hero, and how he became one of the most popular figures in Jewish folklore.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Hear Rabbi Zuckerman in conversation with Dan Senor, co-author of Start-Up Nation and The Genius of Israel, as he shares insights into why Israel has proven resistant to many of the societal struggles that other democracies face, especially exhibited in the ways Israelis have come together in the wake of October 7.
Can we talk? After a recent experience on campus, Rabbi Cosgrove regrets that honest dialogue between people of differing views is prevented by antagonists who would rather play “gotcha” than take part in challenging and vulnerable conversation.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In honor of Women's History Month, physicians and PAS members Elizabeth Comen and Lisa Fishman discussed Comen’s new book, All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today, moderated by Rabbi Koffman with a special appearance from Cantor Davis.
Welcome Purim as Rabbi Cosgrove speaks with comedian and author Joel Chasnoff about his new book, Israel 201: Your Next-Level Guide to the Magic, Mystery, and Chaos of Life in the Holy Land, and how to laugh when Purim coincides with a war.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Zauzmer responds to Jonathan Glazer's acceptance speech at the Oscars and explores the parallels that do exist between the Holocaust and Israel's current situation.
Is the story of Esther just a comedic fantasy or is it a parable for our own times? Rabbi Cosgrove finds a lesson in the Megillah for how we can understand our place in society and our responsibility to live joyfully as proud, committed Jews.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Although Israel remains traumatized by the terror of October 7, the hostages, and the ongoing war, there is talk of “the day after.” Rabbi Cosgrove examines the arguments for and against a two-state solution and offers his vision for a hopeful path forward.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Israeli society and Jews worldwide need to show solidarity during these times. Using the analogy of “the stretcher,” inspired by author Max Levin, Rabbi Zuckerman emphasizes the importance of carrying our brothers and sisters through the war in Israel in any way that we can, from wherever we may be.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove interviews Dr. Lia Naor about the psychological affects on survivors of October 7 and how her particular brand of therapy has been instrumental in their care.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
As the Gaza war continues, how do you respond to people whose views on what should happen next in the conflict differ from your own? Rabbi Cosgrove counsels that it is essential to assume positive intent on the part of others and to ask thought-provoking questions to promote understanding.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to SAPIR Institute Director Chanan Weissman host a conversation with Rabbi Cosgrove and Rabbi Rachel Isaacs about the future of synagogue life in a time of disruption.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
During Kabbalat Shabbat, Governor Kathy Hochul talked about her trip to Israel, the importance of allyship, and the steps she’s taking to protect citizens from the rise in antisemitism.
On this week's podcast, hear Rabbi Cosgrove and Matti Friedman have a wide ranging discussion about Israel since October 7th.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Cosgrove and Menachem Rosensaft discuss the genocide proceedings brought by South Africa against Israel, before the International Court of Justice.
What happens when we try to hide, or even undo, our Jewish heritage and identity? It's a story seen throughout history, even told on theater stages. Rabbi Zuckerman explores "The New Jew," who is no longer willing to hide in the shadows of antisemitism, and when to combat hate with love.
What would MLK say? We cannot know, but based on his writings, Rabbi Cosgrove projects what MLK might say about October 7, about the Israel-Hamas conflict, about Black-Jewish relations, and more.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to a special podcast in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as Rabbi Cosgrove talks to author Jonathan Eig about his latest book, which the New York Times called, "The first comprehensive account of the civil rights icon in decades," King: A Life.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How is being Jewish akin to being a Michigan Wolverine? Rabbi Cosgrove points to the pull of pride in belonging and the push of outside hostility that unite a group. As we confront the hostility unleashed on October 7, we must also retain our joy in living a Jewish life.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How should a Jewish majority apply Jewish law and its principles in a sovereign Jewish state in the modern world? Rabbi Cosgrove honors the memory of his friend and teacher Rabbi David Ellenson, z”l, by introducing three of his articles that address this critical question.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Following the terrorist rampage in Israel last week, the eyes of history are upon us. Rabbi Cosgrove calls on us to support Israel with dollars to meet the urgent needs of the moment and for the sake of pikuach nefesh, saving lives, to make donations even on Shabbat.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What are you doing now to support Israel? Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on last week’s PAS mission to Israel, emphasizing the overwhelming solidarity of Israelis in caring for survivors of the October 7th attacks, advocating for the hostages, and supporting the soldiers.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Charles Bronfman and Dr. Jeffrey Solomon, who have spent decades in the philanthropic world and co-authored the book The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan, join Rabbi Cosgrove as they discuss donating in the Jewish world, a particularly relevant topic while Israel is in need of financial assistance from the Jewish diaspora.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Recorded in front of a live audience, Rabbi Leah Fein, the Senior Director of Engagement at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, discussed antisemitism on college campuses, as well as how college students can embrace their Jewish community and confront hatred on their campuses.
During Kabbalat Shabbat services, Representative Torres explained why he is outspoken against antisemitism, and asks why others have chosen silence.
What are you doing for Israel? Recalling the dramatic and united efforts of American Jewry to assist pre-State Israel, Rabbi Cosgrove calls on us to be united and unflagging in stepping up on all fronts to support Israel in the current war.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Dr. Mishy Harman, co-founder and host of Israel Story, the most listened-to Jewish and Israeli podcast in the world, joins Rabbi Cosgrove in a discussion about the war in Israel and its ramifications for Israelis and Palestinians.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Recorded in front of a live audience, Rabbi Cosgrove and Ted Deutch discuss Israel at war, the impacts on the global Jewish community, and how the American Jewish Committee is responding to this crisis.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How do we move forward after a grievous loss? Recognizing that we have passed sh’loshim, thirty days since the horrendous attacks of October 7, Rabbi Cosgrove turns to our founding father Abraham’s family for a model of how even deeply estranged siblings can work toward a common future.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Reflecting on his recent mission trip to Israel, which was both beautiful and heartbreaking, Rabbi Zuckerman reminds us that it is the responsibility of every Jewish person to not look away when our community is suffering, but rather attempt to put out the flames of a world on fire.
Upon their return from recent clergy missions to Israel, Cantor Schwartz and Rabbi Zuckerman share reflections on their experiences of being there during this crisis and key takeaways from their journeys.
Antisemitism? Here? Now? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that the aftermath of October 7 has revealed not only verbal and physical attacks, but a “higher antisemitism” – a societal attitude that Jewish lives don’t matter.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
"You are each boots on the ground . . . We have to combat antisemitism together." Michal Cotler-Wunsh, LL.B, LL.M, joined us for Kabbalat Shabbat to share remarks from the bimah about the sharp rise in antisemitism around the world since Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Is Israel fighting a just war? Rabbi Cosgrove reviews the Jewish laws of war to provide us with a vocabulary for understanding and defending Israel’s response to the Hamas terror attack of October 7.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Mayor Eric Adams speaks to the PAS community on his deep connection to the Jewish community, combating antisemitism and hate, and breaking bread to create peace and understanding.
How do we embrace our perfectly imperfect selves? Rabbi Koffman explores, and breaks down, the false expectations that many have for their lives, partners, and especially themselves, through the wisdom of the Torah, and the themes of the Barbie movie.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
We often wait until we are on our deathbeds to say the most important things to those we love, sometimes leaving us without the opportunity to say them at all. Yom Kippur is our wake-up call to have these conversations now. Rabbi Zauzmer implores us not to delay sharing what matters most with the people who matter most.
Show business wiz Ben Hecht took a shot in the dark one night and expressed the deep need and desire for a Jewish state to a room full of wise guys, which unexpectedly led to a chance encounter with Hillel Kook, the nephew of Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine.
Taking lessons from the legacy of this unlikely couple and Yom Kippur, Rabbi Zuckerman investigates whether we are asking God to write out our lives like a movie script, or to help us write our own stories with the wisdom of God guiding our hands.
At the moment of Yizkor, what do we remember most about our loved ones? By way of the story of Judge Irving Kaufman, Rabbi Cosgrove challenges us to forgive our own foibles and frailties, to live in the present as our best selves, and to remember the best of others.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Fifty years after the Yom Kippur War Israel again stands at a tipping point, its existence as a Jewish and democratic state threatened not by outside enemies but by deeply rooted internal tensions. Rabbi Cosgrove calls for a Zionism that espouses both self-defense and liberal values.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Has fear kept you from realizing your dreams? Rabbi Koffman asserts that we need to confront our fears to live to our greatest potential.
Many aspects of our world, from learning to entertainment, seem to be getting faster and faster, resulting in instant gratification through vapid hurrying, but at what cost? Rabbi Zuckerman expresses why much of life requires deep, intense encounters rather than the feeling of overnight success.
Some think artificial intelligence will drastically improve our world, and some think it will destroy us, but it's up to us to figure out how to live in a world with AI. Rabbi Zauzmer explores Jewish perspectives on AI and encourages us to strengthen the muscles which make us human, not machine – our emotions, our empathy, and our compassion.
What did the late Rabbi Harold Kushner mean when he said, “We’re more complete if we’re incomplete”? Rabbi Cosgrove explores how we may understand loss and imperfections in our lives.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Scientists and rabbis alike have investigated what we can learn from trees. Rabbi Zuckerman explores the many metaphors for how people are more like trees than one may have thought, and how these lessons apply to our entrance into the new year.
As we enter the Days of Awe leading up to Yom Kippur, enjoy Rabbi Cosgrove in conversation with Rabbinic Intern Aiden Pink and Cantorial Intern Sierra Fox as they discuss what called them to serve the Jewish people.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
To welcome the new year, listen to Rabbi Cosgrove in conversation with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, one of the editors of The Jewish Catalog, as they discuss his new book, Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
On the occasions of the recent yahrzeit (death anniversary) of Abraham Joshua Heschel, and 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Peter Geffen, founder of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City and The Kivunim Institute, and Rabbi Cosgrove discuss in front of a live audience Heschel and King’s relationship and the bridges they built together. This is part two of a special two-part episode.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
On the occasions of the recent yahrzeit (death anniversary) of Abraham Joshua Heschel, and 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Peter Geffen, founder of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City and The Kivunim Institute, and Rabbi Cosgrove discuss in front of a live audience Heschel and King’s relationship and the bridges they built together.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
This week, Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Ben M. Freeman, author of two books about, and founder of, the modern "Jewish Pride" movement, as they discuss what the movement means, the forms anti-Jewish sentiment can take, and what people can do to connect to their own identity. Also, discover the roots Rabbi Cosgrove and Freeman share in the Jewish community of Glasgow, Scotland!
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, the senior rabbi of Temple B'nai Jeshurun (New Jersey), joins Rabbi Cosgrove to discuss his new book, To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder, and his reflections on the challenges of being a rabbi through various crises, including this highly partisan moment in history.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove and the senior editor of Siddur Lev Shalem, Rabbi Edward Feld, discuss his book The Book of Revolutions: The Battles of Priests, Prophets, and Kings That Birthed the Torah.
Are you a good guest? Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that being a good guest is not only about how we behave at our friends’ homes, but also how we move through the world, recognizing that we are passing through and that we owe courtesy to others and care to the earth.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What’s in a blessing? Reflecting on his own Friday night childhood blessings and the imminent high school graduation of his youngest son, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches us the value of every moment and every person.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In this week's podcast, Rabbi Cosgrove is in dialogue with Rabbis Wendy Zierler and Joshua Garroway, as they discuss America's truth crisis from both the Jewish and civil perspectives. This is a topic that Rabbis Zierler and Garroway cover in their recent book, These Truths We Hold: Judaism in an Age of Truthiness, which they both authored and edited.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In the latest episode Rabbi Cosgrove discusses his recent White House visit to represent our community to celebrate Jewish Heritage Month. While he met many notables at an evening event, he was also present to hear President Biden’s inspiring message about moral behavior in our times as well as his strong response to antisemitsm.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Our country and our community are seeing an unprecedented mental health crisis among our youth. Rabbi Cosgrove counsels that every one of us has a role in making the young people in our lives feel seen while helping them find their way to mental stability.
If you are thinking about harming yourself or attempting suicide, tell someone who can help right away.
You can call or text 988 to connect with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Support is also available via live chat. Call 911 for emergency services.
If you are a teen in our community who needs someone to talk or a parent concerned about a teen, reach out to any of our clergy members or Ariel Glueck, Director of Teen and Youth Programs, at aglueck@pasyn.org.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
This week, Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by author, former broadcast journalist, and Park Avenue Synagogue member, Dr. Georgette Bennett. Listen as they discuss her human rights work in Syria, the origins of anti-religious violence, and her recent books Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By: How One Woman Confronted the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of Our Time and Religicide: Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Exploring this central verse from the Torah, Rabbi Cosgrove shares an unexpected interpretation that teaches us how to repair relationships and make ourselves whole.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In this special edition podcast in honor of the start of baseball season, Rabbi Cosgrove is in dialogue with New York Mets Assistant General Manager, and Park Avenue Synagogue member, Ben Zauzmer. Listen as they discuss new rules, how analytics impacts today's game, and more. Listen to this bonus episode ahead of the Mets-Braves matchup this weekend at Citi Field!
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How should we respond to a non-Zionist Gen Z-er? Responding to a young person’s rejection of Zionism, Rabbi Cosgrove engages with the question in all its complexity.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove prepares to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel's Independence Day – by speaking to Rick Richman, author of And None Shall Make Them Afraid: Eight Stories of the Modern State of Israel, which presents individuals who played a pivotal role in the history of the State of Israel.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
In this special edition of the podcast, Rabbi Cosgrove speaks with author Richard Hurowitz about his new book, In the Garden of the Righteous, which illustrates previously unknown stories of righteous gentiles, who at risk to their own lives, saved Jews from certain death during the Holocaust. Hurowitz will also speak at Park Avenue Synagogue on Monday, April 17 at 7:00 pm in honor of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Baseball games and the Passover Seder are both harbingers of spring. Rabbi Cosgrove explores what else these two rites have in common and what we can learn from cherishing them both.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
The Haggadah gives us the opportunity to overlay our own stories onto the shared template of our people’s foundational narrative. Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to open our Seders to challenging questions and to accept conflicting answers, understanding that there can be unity with diversity.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen to Rabbi Cosgrove in dialogue with Rabbi Isaacs, the Director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College and the spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, Maine. They discuss the world and life of American Jews who live outside of metropolitan centers, which is a larger number than you may think, and socio-economic divisions within the American Jewish world.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove and Dr. Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations and Park Avenue Synagogue member, discuss Dr. Haass' new book – The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove speaks with former CNN correspondent and current Park Avenue Synagogue member, Deborah Feyerick, on the state of journalism today.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Purim is not simply playful, and the Megillah is not all merry. Rabbi Cosgrove uncovers the dark side of the tale of Esther and how the story has been turned around to justify violent acts. At this fraught time, we pray for a peaceful Purim.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Get ready for Purim with Rabbi Cosgrove in dialogue with Dr. Erica Brown, Vice-Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University. Listen as they discuss Queen Esther, the central character of Purim, and Dr. Brown's new book, Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile, and what the story of Purim can teach us about our modern world.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
This week, Rabbi Cosgrove sits down with renowned First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams in honor of Presidents’ Day. Listen as they discuss free speech issues such as the Pentagon Papers case, antisemitic hate speech, and the impact of social media on free speech.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
This week, Rabbi Cosgrove is joined by Princeton professor, best-selling author and PAS member Julian E. Zelizer as they discuss his most recent book, Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past. Together, they explore the question, “Who owns history?”
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
So you think you know the story of the Exodus? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches an alternate version that credits our people’s liberation not to signs and wonders but to the courageous acts of righteous women.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
As Rabbi Wolpe prepares to retire after serving as Rabbi of Los Angeles’ Sinai Temple for 25 years, he and Rabbi Cosgrove engage in dialogue reflecting on his rabbinic career.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How do we support Israel when we object to the actions of its government? Rabbi Cosgrove proposes that our support is essential now more than ever before, advising that we must uphold and assist ventures that work toward establishing an Israel that reflects our values.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How shall the legacy of Heschel speak to us today? On the 50th yahrtzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Cosgrove calls upon us to honor his values and to do our share to redeem the world.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
As we approach the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Cosgrove sits down with the founder of The Heschel School, Peter A. Geffen. Geffen shares the Rabbi’s impact on his approach to education, and how this unique relationship led him to play a role in the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
On this week’s podcast, Rabbi Cosgrove speaks with Becky Diamond, a PAS member and award-winning journalist whose work has taken her from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, to traversing the US to report on presidential politics. Listen as she shares insights on venturing outside of your comfort zone, and how hardships can help us build new internal strengths.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
How will we react to the seismic rightward shift in the Israeli government following last month’s election? Rabbi Cosgrove enjoins us that while our love and support of Israel must not waver, we must openly discuss our concerns for the sake of the future unity of the Jewish people.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
This week, Rabbi Cosgrove and Rabbi Sharon Brous, the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, and one of the country's most important rabbinic voices, discuss the themes of Hanukkah and its relevancy to us today.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
As Benjamin Netanyahu is forming his government in Israel, Rabbi Cosgrove and professor and author Shaul Magid, Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, discuss the impact of Meir Kahane on Israeli politics, some 32 years after his murder.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
As the country awaits the outcome of the Georgia Senate runoff election, listen as Rabbi Cosgrove discusses the state of election and voting rights laws, with Neil Steiner, a PAS member and the recipient of the American Bar Association’s top Pro Bono award.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Listen as Rabbi Cosgrove discusses cutting edge issues in sports (and a little Judaism) with HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel correspondent Jon Frankel, a longtime member of Park Avenue Synagogue.
For more Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, follow @Elliot_Cosgrove on Instagram and Facebook.
Want to stay connected with PAS? Follow us @ParkAvenueSyn on all platforms, and check out www.pasyn.org for all our virtual and in-person offerings.
Given the fact of interfaith marriages, what is the role and responsibility of the rabbi and the synagogue? Rabbi Cosgrove enjoins interfaith couples to learn about Judaism together and to take responsibility for their Jewish future.
Throughout history, we have seen Jews and non-Jews leave their homes in a rush. Rabbi Zauzmer explores the story of Lot's wife and why she looked back when she left the sinful city of Sodom. Is it dangerous to look back on our past or can we gain something beneficial?
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
Why should we care about the antisemitic tweets from Kanye, Kyrie, and others? Rabbi Cosgrove explains that hate-filled rhetoric always leads to violence and calls on us to fight antisemitism by every means we have available.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
Is it good to regret? The Hebrew word naham can mean to regret, to repent, and also to comfort. Rabbi Cosgrove explains how the relationship between these apparently contradictory meanings allows us to learn and to benefit from our mistakes.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
As Israelis head back to the polls on November 1 for the fifth time in three years, David Halperin, CEO of Israel Policy Forum, and Rabbi Cosgrove discuss who the key players are, what to look out for in this round of voting, and what’s at stake.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
Enjoy this most recent sermon from Rabbi Zuckerman, which he shared live before PAS this past Shabbat.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
The Soviet author Vasily Grossman imagined a final letter from his mother before her death in the Berdichev Ghetto; he also continued writing to her after her death. Rabbi Cosgrove invites us to imagine the letters our loved ones might have written to us and what we would write ourselves.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
The moment of Yizkor makes us aware of the finite and indefinite length of our lives. Rabbi Cosgrove encourages us not only to remember our debts to those who have gone before but also to recognize our responsibility to those who will follow us and will, in time, remember us.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
Drawing parallels between Moses and successful modern leaders, Rabbi Cosgrove finds that Moses exemplifies all the qualities of a great leader, especially the ultimate measure of success: that one’s values endure far beyond one’s own lifetime.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
While we hope for long life, we fear the inevitable losses of old age; most of all, we fear becoming irrelevant. Rabbi Cosgrove charges us with revering our elders, not only by caring for their physical and social needs, but above all, by maintaining their values in our own lives.
Stay connected with PAS! Follow us on all platforms @parkavenuesyn.
On the closing weekend of the hit Broadway musical Come From Away, Rabbi Zauzmer discusses lessons we can learn from the true story about what it means to gather by necessity and to gather by choice.
Rabbi Zauzmer explores the meaning of honey on Rosh Hashanah and throughout the year. Through sharing about her own upbringing, she discusses how we can create our own sweet Jewish traditions (metaphorical "honey moments") to instill a love of Judaism in our children, our grandchildren, and ourselves.
In an imagined conversation with the founding father of Zionism, Rabbi Cosgrove assesses the accomplishments, the aspirations, and the complexities of the Jewish state and provides a charge for us all to create strong Jewish identities.
What stories do we tell ourselves? What elements do we choose to include – or exclude? In this service from Selichot, Rabbi Cosgrove explores the role we play in constructing our narratives, our history, and ultimately, our truth.
Rabbi Cosgrove suggests that while the Torah lists detailed rules for returning lost property, the deeper meaning of this concern may be about repairing lost relationships and restoring our souls.
Graduation season reminds us that time moves forward inexorably. Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that even though it is human nature to resist change, we live best when we move forward with openness to becoming our best selves in whatever circumstances the future brings.
The story of Ruth, read on Shavuot, demonstrates the value of putting others’ needs above our own. Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that our Jewish tradition teaches that we are not free to do whatever we please, but that living in society requires us to accept limits on our freedom.
What can the Torah teach us about facing the horrors and hatred we see in Buffalo and the world around us? Rabbi Witkovsky explores the injunction in Leviticus, “Do not wrong one another,” and implores us to stand up against hate wherever it is found.
What defines a life of k’dushah, of holiness? Responding to that ages-old question, Rabbi Cosgrove finds that a life of holiness includes both observance of ritual detail and commitment to ethical behavior, pride in the distinctions that set Jews apart and responsibility to all humanity.
How shall we remember the Holocaust? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches us both the pitfalls of remembrance and that memory should inspire us to live meaningful Jewish lives and to respond compassionately to present-day suffering of others.
The Passover seder asks us to not only think of the lives of our ancestors in Egypt, but to see ourselves “as if” we were there. So too when we recall the loved ones we have lost: We can think of them and their lives, reflecting on what they taught us and left for us. Rabbi Witkovsky introduces Yizkor with a memory of his beloved cousin Fran and asks us to examine how we recall our loved ones.
How do we show our loyalty to the Jewish state? Rabbi Cosgrove explores the reasons to sign or not to sign a recent rabbinic letter regarding the question of funding right-wing Israeli organizations.
The future of the Jewish community is threatened by a shortage of clergy, with not enough people choosing to become rabbis and too few rabbis choosing to serve congregations. We all have a role in addressing this pipeline problem.
Rabbi Cosgrove describes the heartbreaking, inspiring, and complicated moments of his recent trip to the Poland-Ukraine border. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation, he reminds us that we must also do whatever we can to provide relief.
The story of Esther hangs on the question of whether to reveal one’s identity in public no matter the consequences. In light of current events, Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to stand up for our values and to commemorate Purim with heroic generosity to aid the Jews, and all the people, of Ukraine.
The forests of Ukraine birthed one of the greatest spiritual revolutions in Jewish history. What can they teach us about ourselves and how we respond to this moment of crisis and others?
Rejecting the assertions of the recent Amnesty International report on Israel and Palestine, Rabbi Cosgrove envisions the kind of report that could bring the sides closer, not further apart.
The Talmud teaches that irreconcilable differences of opinion will be resolved when Elijah the Prophet arrives to announce the Messianic age. Noting the toxic divides of our age, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that we must learn to hear opinions that differ from our own.
When do we peak in our life work? Reflecting on the life of Martin Luther King, Rabbi Cosgrove suggests we are all ever at the shores of the sea taking a stride toward opening the next vital chapter of our lives.
As the Israelites prepare for their journey into the wilderness, God’s first commandment to Moses and Aaron will both surprise and inspire you.
Why didn’t Joseph write home to his father? Rabbi Cosgrove reviews the possible answers, suggesting that when we are open to hearing the perspectives of others, we can pass blessings from one generation to the next.
Why are we more confident that a child born to an intermarried Jewish woman will identify Jewishly more readily than the child of an intermarried Jewish man? Drawing on the Biblical story of Dinah, Rabbi Cosgrove opens a conversation on the dynamics of gender, intermarriage, and Jewish identity.
What makes for successful parenting? Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that unlike the example set by our biblical ancestors, parents can love children equally and infinitely, but differently.
We all love the story of two enemies who become friends, but how can we make it happen? Rabbi Witkovsky uses one of the more obscure relationships in Parashat Va-yera to discuss the importance of giving and receiving criticism in transforming our relationships.
How do you show that you are a Jew? Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that we are heirs to Abraham, the iconoclast founder of our people. We must be true to that heritage and proudly assert our Jewish identity.
Life is meaningful when it is shared with others, when we are in relationship with others. Just as God told Noah, “get out of the ark,” it is time to venture outside, and it is time to remind others that when they are ready, it is safe to do so.
What is the theme of our people’s story? As we open the Torah to read once again about the beginning of humanity, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that our history is a story of persistence in response to setbacks. Faith in the future and in ourselves is as essential today as ever.
Where do we go from Yom Kippur? Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that resetting our moral compass is not a “one-and-done” task, but a lifelong challenge that we meet by a day-after-day commitment toward becoming our aspirational selves.
Our tradition teaches us to search for the truth that can be found on both sides of a disagreement. Yet when it comes to the dignity of other people, there can be no equivocation. In celebration of Pride, Rabbi Philp challenges us to create communities that welcome our LGBTQ friends and neighbors.
Taking inspiration from his friend and colleague Rabbi Aaron Panken, z”l, Rabbi Cosgrove enjoins us to make the values of our loved ones meaningful in our own lives.
Are there any lessons that we should take with us when, please God, the pandemic is but a memory? Rabbi Cosgrove challenges us to appreciate our blessings, to pay attention to the problems that the pandemic has exposed, and to move forward with intention to live meaningful lives.
Returning from a rabbinic mission to Israel following the recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Rabbi Cosgrove delivers a mixed report of gloomy realities tempered by reasons for hope.
How We Talk About Gender
In honor of Pride Month, the How We Talk About team discusses gender – how we can affirm the presence of a truly diverse and inclusive Jewish community by sharing pronouns, offering alternatives to gendered and binary Jewish rituals (such as bar/bat mitzvah), and thinking about alternative ways to form groups or teams instead of boys vs. girls. What is the important conversation that we need to have about gender in the Jewish community? Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser are joined by Dubbs Weinblatt, the Associate Director of Education and Training for Metro New York at Keshet and the Founder and Executive Producer of Thank You For Coming Out, a podcast and live improv show celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. Weinblatt is currently undergoing a physical transition to better affirm their gender identity and embarking upon a journey to their adult B-mitzvah, a gender-neutral approach to the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. Listen for advice and guidance about how to have these important conversations about gender.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
- What are ways you have made your classroom inclusive regarding gender? What is the next step to make your learning environment more inclusive?
- Is there a time when you used gendered language when, in hindsight, you could have used different language?
- Question from Dubbs Weinblatt: Think of a time when you were able to bring your full self into a space – fully celebrated and fully affirmed. What did that feel like? How did you know that you were fully affirmed? How did that moment of authenticity affect your relationship with the community you were in? And how can you take that feeling and bring it back to your classroom/learning space/community to help create the same space for others to belong?
What if we threw a rally for Israel and nobody showed up? Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to the battle for the soul of American Jewry and the continued importance of investing in Israel’s future and well-being.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
One in five. That’s the number of people with disabilities in the United States today. Today on How We Talk About, Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Dori Frumin Kirshner, Executive Director of Matan, a Jewish non-profit working toward inclusive classrooms and communal and spiritual aspects of Jewish life. What more can we be doing to support learners with special needs and their families? Listen for concrete suggestions and language for talking about learning differences in the classroom and in the world around us.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
- Am I doing everything I can to partner with students and ensure they are getting what they need?
- What am I doing to make inclusion a reality, particularly when I am in Jewish communal settings? Am I really thinking about this and stretching myself to become part of the solution?
How do we come back from this past year’s tough times? Do we despair or do we respond with optimism that we can transcend our difficulties to craft a positive future? As Jews have done since the prophet Jeremiah, we can show resilience and choose the positive.
Why is talking about race within the Jewish community important? Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Benny Witkovsky, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at UW-Madison, for some background on how to talk about race in white Jewish learning spaces. Talking about this will inherently make people feel uncomfortable – so let’s get uncomfortable.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
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What is your experience and understanding of race?
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Do you think it is important to speak about race in the Jewish community? Why or why not?
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Where do you see a potential opportunity to incorporate a discussion about race with your students?
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How can we use our Jewish identities to deepen our understanding of race and racial injustice in America today?
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A question from Benny Witkovksy: What do we do with our history? How do we use it to bring us to action today?
Resources: Anti-Racism Resources Part 1 for Families (pasyn.org)
Does it matter if we are precise in our observance of mitzvot (commandments)? While always a balance between exactitude and right intention, Jewish living calls on us to be attentive to the sacred grammar of doing mitzvot.
How do we bring a person who has been isolated because of a dreadful disease back into community? How do we all reintegrate as a community after a year of isolation and disruption?
In this episode, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak about the Jewish views on death and dying with Rabbi Melanie Levav, founder and director of the Shomer Collective, a new Jewish organization focused on improving end-of-life experiences. Listen for some concrete language on how to talk about death with young children, older learners or even what we as adults need to understand about Jewish views on death and dying. In what turned out to be an uplifting and spiritually fulfilling conversation, Rabbi Levav discusses how this work gives us the opportunity to live lives of greater meaning and connection by recognizing our own mortality. Trigger warnings include talk of death, dying, cancer, the Holocaust, and how to speak about these topics with very young children.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
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What are your own views on death and dying?
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What were the conversations that you had about death and dying when you were younger in your family, at school, and in your community? If you could change or reframe those conversations, would you and how?
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- A question from Rabbi Levav (attributed to the poet Mary Oliver): What will you do with your own wild and precious life?
Resources
- Sesame Street's grief toolkit
- PJ Library article: "How to Talk About Death and Dying"
- Tablet's list of kids books about death
- NPR article: "Be Honest And Concrete: Tips For Talking To Kids About Death"
- HealthyChildren.org article: "How Children Understand Death & What You Should Say"
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Episode 7 is a part two of “How We Talk About Art.” Jen Stern Granowitz speaks with PAS Artist-in-Residence Ellen Alt about creative ways to integrate art into teaching about Israel. Check out the show notes for this episode for visuals of the different projects.
Can a miracle be difficult for God? Follow Rabbi Cosgrove into a sea of stories and interpretations as we discover how building a relationship is like making a miracle.
In this episode, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Rabbi Geoff Mitelman, the Founding Director of Sinai and Synapses. The organization bridges the religious and scientific worlds, offering people a worldview that is scientifically grounded and spiritually uplifting. Rabbi Mitelman shares advice on how to talk with your learners about the Torah and God while also validating their understanding of science and history.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
- How do you authentically connect with the Torah and God? To use Rabbi Mitelman’s words, how do you bridge the religious and scientific worlds?
- How have you or would you respond to a student who does not want to engage in learning about our Biblical stories because “this didn’t even really happen”?
- When teaching about Passover specifically, how have you or would you help your students connect to the holiday if they are struggling to connect with something that “didn’t even really happen”?
- A question from Rabbi Mitelman: Where do I find meaning even if something is not necessarily factually true?
We all make missteps. Sometimes we need to receive a second chance, and sometimes we need to offer one. Rabbi Witkovsky discusses the sacrificial system of Va-yikra as the Torah’s way of codifying the importance of second chances, a message we all need today.
May we break Shabbat in order to keep Shabbat? The tension between working to make Shabbat and resting to have Shabbat is as old as Shabbat itself. Looking back over our pandemic year, Rabbi Cosgrove questions how our use of technology will affect how we keep Shabbat in the future.
In this episode, Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak to Jewish educator and artist Sarah Damelin about the importance of integrating art in Jewish education to teach valuable critical thinking skills of exploration, interpretation, and decision making. Listen to Damelin’s advice on how to engage different types of learners when making art and how to talk to them about their work.
Discussion and Reflection Questions
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How can you incorporate art in a new way during an upcoming lesson?
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Next time you see a student’s work, what is a new way you could respond?
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A question from Sarah Damelin: How can you use art experiences in your classroom to push kids to develop their sense of confidence and self-worth in other things that they do?
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on the vituperative reaction of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox to last week’s Supreme Court decision regarding conversion and the uncomfortable choice faced by diaspora Jewry.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Is it better to make change from the inside or outside? On our annual UJA Shabbat, Rabbi Cosgrove looks to the Megillah for two models of leadership that can guide our choices today.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
“Laws are the love language of the Torah.” Rabbi Witkovsky explores Parashat Mishpatim and an 1838 speech given by Abraham Lincoln. He shows the importance of laws in Jewish and American tradition and of ensuring that our laws reflect our values and are followed. No one is above the law, but the law must also be molded for equity and justice.
For more information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn.
In this episode of How We Talk About, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Purim Spiel Director Cantor Rachel Brook about the adult themes of the Book of Esther, a biblical text that involves forced sex, substance abuse, genocide, and mass murder. And yet, year after year, we turn this story into endearing entertainment for all ages. Listen to Cantor Brook share her advice on how to talk about Purim and discuss the importance of the merriment and laughter of this holiday!
In the face of sin and addictive behavior, how can Torah guide us to realize our best selves? The legacy of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, z”l,inspires us to take personal agency over our lives.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
In this episode of How We Talk About, Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Josh Rosenberg, Cantorial Fellow at Park Avenue Synagogue, about the challenges of praying and learning how to pray. Josh’s background as a classroom music teacher influences his perspective on how to effectively lead and teach a challenging topic. Listen for tips to create a prayer flow, manage transitions, and quiet a room full of rowdy fifth graders like a boss.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
What lessons does the Exodus offer to our country and to us? Rabbi Cosgrove proposes five principles that can guide us as we seek to emerge from today’s narrow places.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Calling the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol no surprise, Rabbi Cosgrove argues that as with Pharaoh's Egypt, the degradation of our society occurs incrementally and with the complicity of many. Reversing it will require that we take a stand to denounce hatred and injustice.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
In this episode, Jennifer and Erin speak to Pamela Schwartz, Penn Family Early Childhood Center Director, about using respectful language and empowering children to take leadership and responsibility in the classroom and at home. We asked Pamela why kids call out, opt out, or act out in school (particularly Hebrew school). If you're a parent or a teacher, tune in for specific language to help you stay mindful when kids are . . . well . . . being kids.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Reflections, retrospectives, and resolutions . . . Didn’t we already do this at Rosh Hashanah? Our tradition teaches us that sometimes we need a do-over to help reorient us toward a more courageous, more hopeful future.
For more information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn.
We all need some strength as we work to keep everyone safe through a little self-restraint. To give us a boost, Rabbi Witkovsky discusses the Jewish values latent in the idea of restraint, including lessons from Joseph on when and how we can benefit ourselves and others through self-control.
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Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that since Joseph in Egypt, Jews have found the strength to form imagined community and make spiritual connections even when we are physically separated. We must reach out to others, reminding them and ourselves that we are never alone.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Manhattan Congregational and Hebrew School Directors Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser co-host this professional development podcast for educators who teach Jewish subjects in Jewish schools. Each episode will explore an educator's most powerful tool, the pedagogy of language, and how the words we use can create new worlds and open spaces in a classroom. Today's pilot episode will explore how we talk about Judaism, unpacking expressions such as "Judaism says that . . ." and "They're more religious" and discussing who's entitled to have a Christmas tree.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Do you believe in miracles? As we approach Hanukkah, the holiday of miracles, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that we need not believe in the supernatural in order to appreciate the miraculous in the mundane.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
We are all imperfect, and holidays like Thanksgiving often seem to shine a light on the ways we don’t measure up to some Rockwellian standard. Rabbi Witkovsky shows us how the family stories of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, along with the writings of Brene Brown, can give us insight into being vulnerable with one another and getting our needs met.
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As Thanksgiving approaches, Rabbi Cosgrove explores the subject of sibling relations by way of the most intense and painful sibling rivalry of the Bible – Jacob and Esau. He urges us to invest in the blessing of siblings and to express gratitude for their presence in our lives.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
In posing “the Sancho question,” Rabbi Cosgrove considers how the response of our political leaders and our own responses to the recent election bear on the health of our democracy and the strength of our country.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that at moments of joy and sorrow, gam zeh ya·avor, this too shall pass. We can find strength and sorrow in the realization that no single moment totally defines us and we should always work for things to be different in the future.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Genesis is the origin story of our world, and like any good origin story, it imparts both superpowers and a mission to its heroes. Rabbi Witkovsky discusses the origin stories of the Torah and the United States. What lessons we can learn from them? Is it time for a reboot?
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Introducing Geshem, the ancient prayer for rain, Rabbi Cosgrove suggests that we pray for abundant rain not to sustain crops, but to wash out the crowded outdoor holiday gatherings that jeopardize public health and cast shame on the Jewish community.
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Rabbi Cosgrove encourages us to appreciate Yizkor of Shemini Atzeret as a moment to linger with our memories of loved ones and to find guidance for stepping into the new year inspired by their values.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Cosgrove challenges us to step up to the ideal of Yom Kippur, to commit to acting to mend our world, our community, and our personal relationships.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Perhaps no one in the country for the last few years has been more keenly aware of the repercussions of their own death than Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Rabbi Witkovsky weaves her story together with that of Moses, along with words of wisdom from the Talmud to invite all of us to think about how we would live if we knew our deaths to be imminent.
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Jewish law differentiates between ideal and nonideal situations. Rabbi Witkovsky uses this distinction to help us navigate the nonideal world in which we find ourselves. We must choose the values that are truly important to us and fight for them.
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Judaism has survived periods of calamity because visionary leaders have transformed Jewish life to accommodate changed circumstances.
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The pandemic has contracted our horizons and cost us innumerable losses, but we can still find hope and meaning in what we do. Rabbi Cosgrove encourages us to find and create beauty and joy even within the smaller scale of our lives.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Cosgrove finds parallels between the life of the incomparable Mets pitcher, Tom Seaver, and the message of the Torah reading: wherever we are today is not where we can be tomorrow. As we approach Rosh Hashanah, let us all act with strength and courage to make tomorrow a better day.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Engage your senses – and your soul – as we explore what makes space sacred and how we can create our own sanctuary for prayer and reflection with Ahmane’ Glover. Glover is a spoken-word artist and cultural organizer who has explored the sacred in community with The Kennedy Center, Catalyst for Peace, the Poor People’s Campaign, and more.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Expert educator Erin Beser joins Rabbi Witkovsky to talk about Parashat Shoftim, the different roles we play in society, and what happens when those roles break down.
Rabbis Ethan Witkovsky and Ethan Linden discuss Deuteronomy as a book looking to create an idealized society. In this regard, it is similar to synagogues and summer camps, which also try to create a rubric for the holiest society. The rabbis discuss what goes into creating these “plausibility structures” and what the average Jew gets out of them.
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Rabbi Witkovsky uses Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, to discuss the nature of repentance and how it can bring us comfort in a world in desperate need.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Over the course of our history, we’ve gone from the moon landing to shuttering the space program; from the destruction of the Temple to the creation of a new religion. Do we reach for the stars or keep our feet on the ground? Each day brings new possibilities and a new chance to choose our direction.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbis Witkovsky and Linden discuss Moses’ retelling of Israel’s story as we begin the book of D’varim. Looking at the narratives of the Torah and those presented today, they ask the questions of what we choose to emphasize and why.
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On December 13, 1975, during a Shabbat service honoring the Sisterhood (a predecessor of the Women's Network), the Honorable Bella Abzug addressed the PAS congregation with "A View From the Congress." These remarks included her thoughts on Israel and the Middle East, Soviet Jewry, Women's Rights, concerns of poverty, and the aftermath of Watergate. We honor her memory this week on what would have been her 100th birthday (July 24). We hope you enjoy this piece of PAS history.
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Rabbi Loren Monosov joins Rabbis Witkovsky and Linden to discuss community in ancient Israel and explore the purpose of a city of refuge.
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As a guest on Rabbi Ed Bernstein’s My Teacher Podcast, Rabbi Cosgrove discusses the life and legacy of Rabbi Louis Jacobs.
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Zach Banner’s response to DeSean Jackson’s antisemitic screed is not the first time Steel City sports has given Black-Jewish relations a much needed shot in the arm. Recalling the friendship between baseball players Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson, Rabbi Cosgrove urges us all to examine our own internalized prejudices in order to reach first base in our struggle to check our biases and eliminate racism.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky and Rabbi Ethan Linden are joined by Rabbi Jessica Fisher of Beth El in New Rochelle as they discuss the anger of Pinhas and how the Torah and the rabbis treat his violent actions. Is righteous anger something to avoid? Or can it push us to make the world a better place?
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We are starting something new this week! Rabbi Witkovsky is teaming up with Rabbi Ethan Linden, the director of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, for the next few weeks! Camp might not be in session, but that won’t stop two rabbis named Ethan from trying to bring interesting Torah to our communities! In this podcast, we discuss an old question: Are there reasons behind the commandments in the Torah, and how could one’s answer to that question shape our lives. Subscribe and stay tuned – Rabbis Witkovsky and Linden will be bringing in many different guests throughout the summer!
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On April 5, 1964, James Farmer, the national director of the Congress for Racial Equality, spoke at PAS on the topic of "Contemporary Moral Issues." His lecture, presented more than 55 years ago, resonates today as we continue to confront inequities in our society.
Rabbi Witkovsky calls on Jews engage in conversations about justice and inequality. We cannot stay on the sidelines of Black Lives Matter, but must work to make our community an anti-racist one. We must stay in the conversation, even when we are uncomfortable with certain aspects of a protest movement.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that public speech can change the world and also destroy it. Important as public protest may be, giving feedback privately will often forward our causes better than rash responses in social media.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky takes a message of hope from the week’s parashah. For those feeling overwhelmed by challenges, this parashah calls on us to acknowledge our ability to act and do good.
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Rabbi Cosgrove shows us how the Bible can provide inspiration, guidance, comfort, and even challenge, as we seek to respond to the systematic racism that infects our country.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
At any Yizkor service, mourners are called on to stand together – separated in their grief. This year we are “together apart” more than ever. Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to follow the examples of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, reaching beyond our own pain of loss to help ease the grief of others.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky and Rabbinic Intern Viktoria Bedo discuss the disturbing Sotah ritual described in parashat Naso. Is there any meaning to be made from this oppressive ritual? And perhaps most importantly, can the way we treat this Biblical account of privilege and oppressions teach us anything about how to address such issues today?
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This week we begin the book of B’midbar, and we do it with a census of the Israelites (or some of them). Rabbi Witkovsky interviews Benny Witkovsky, a Sociology PhD student who comes from a great family. They talk about the censuses in the Torah and the United States and try to tease some meaning out of those numbers.
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In honor of our annual “Seminary Shabbat,” Rabbi Cosgrove tracks the history of the American Jewish experience through the seven chancellors of the Seminary and raises the question of what sits on the docket of the soon to be announced next chancellor.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky discusses a strange phrase that appears three times in B'har. What does security in our land have to do with the way we treat one another? Listen to find out!
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How do we respond to the loss of occasions and opportunities during the pandemic? Rabbi Cosgrove advises us how to acknowledge each other’s sorrow and be present for one another as we gather our strength to step into an uncertain future.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky finds a bit of wisdom from the parsha to help us address the religious needs of our current situation. He also talks with Cantor Rachel Brook, Dr. Matthew Holman, and their daughter Lila about the holidays we love and which ones we are still working on.
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Rabbi Cosgrove describes serving as clergy during the past two months and how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way families experience the death of a loved one and the Jewish rituals of burial and mourning. As difficult as our moment may be, there remains holiness – kedushah – before death, in death, and after death.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky discusses the meaning of holiness and a story about Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev.
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Torah commentator extraordinaire Avivah Zornberg, author of six books, with a Cambridge PhD and a grand rabbinical heritage, finds the human side of our greatest biblical figure. Moses's fundamental sense of himself as “not a man of words” comes to a poignant consummation in the long speeches he makes to the people before he dies. What does it mean to learn to speak?
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A sermon dedicated in honor of the medical professionals and researchers serving on the front lines of our public health crisis: Rabbi Cosgrove recounts the life and legacy of Dr. Waldemar Haffkine – revolutionary, life-saving epidemiologist, Zionist, and philanthropist.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky and Rabbi Philp discuss similarities between this week’s parsha and the world in which we live today: illness and isolation. What do we do when themes in the Torah echo modern experience?
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Accept Rabbi Cosgrove’s challenge from his Shabbat Hol Hamoed Pesach sermon: For each of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, call or email someone to whom you might not otherwise reach out. Through social solidarity, we can create a caring community and society as we face the wilderness ahead of us.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
On the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of Rabbi Milton Steinberg’s passing, Rabbi Cosgrove draws on his predecessor’s writing to address the question of suffering. Rather than asking why there is suffering, we must seek to give our suffering meaning by responding to our tribulations with dignity, patience, benevolence and with care for others.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
Rabbi Witkovsky has a conversation with Rabbi Cosgrove about the difficulties of the book of Leviticus and the importance of Jewish objects and Jewish ritual.
Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn
We all risk decision fatigue as the public health crisis forces us to we make one important choice after another with limited information. In “The Next Right Thing,” Rabbi Cosgrove urges us to take care of ourselves, so that we can make good decisions, and to be compassionate to others, knowing that they face the same demands.
Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn
What can Purim teach us in the time of coronavirus? Rabbi Cosgrove presents the story of Esther as a reminder that even when life feels like a lottery, we can all take agency and respond by moving the needle towards good – in our own lives and the lives of those around us.
Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn
What can synagogues learn from Blockbuster and Kodak? Using the countercultural havurot of the 1960s as a case study (as well as the building of the mishkan/tabernacle), Rabbi Cosgrove explores models of innovative disruption, inviting us to be open-minded in imagining the future of our community.
Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn
In his sermon "Making Sense of Our Moment," Rabbi Cosgrove looks sixty years into the past to find similarities to the present and suggests that the international community's persistent unwillingness to recognize the Jewish people's right to safety and self-determination is today's manifestation of our perennial enemy, Amalek.
For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.
In his sermon, “Standing at Sinai,” given at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles to honor his father at his “second Bar Mitzvah,” his 83rd birthday, Rabbi Cosgrove enacted the fifth commandment, honoring his father and mother by speaking of the influence their Judaism had on his own Jewish values and choice of career. He charged all parents and all synagogues to take and share responsibility for passing Jewish heritage on to the next generation.
Park Avenue Synagogue seeks to inspire, educate, and support our membership and listeners towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. Through spirited prayer, study, observance and acts of kindness we aspire to foster deep connections with each other, our Torah, our God, the people and State of Israel and our shared humanity. More information available at www.pasyn.org or follow us @parkavesyn or https://www.facebook.com/parkavenuesyn