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January 19, 2021
Repairing the Breach
Shabbat Shemot Repairing the Breach I speak this morning not as a Democrat or a Republican, but as an American. I speak this morning not about partisan politics, but about American and Jewish values. ...
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September 29, 2020
Yom Kippur Yizkor 5781: The Road to Character
Gut Yontif – gmar hatimah tovah! When I had heard that day in August of 2015 that Dr. Oliver Sacks had died, I wasn’t surprised. Six months earlier in a New York T...
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September 29, 2020
Kol Nidre/Erev Yom Kippur 5781: Justice and Mercy
Last year while waiting for a connecting flight to Milwaukee from Philadelphia in route back from Israel, I ran into dear friends who were also former congregants of mine. While catching each other ...
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September 21, 2020
Rosh Hashanah Day 2 5781: When Choosing Life is Hard
While packing up my home in anticipation for my move from Milwaukee to the Seattle area I listened to podcasts – some covering politics and current affairs, others related to the arts and science....
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September 21, 2020
Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5781: Courageous Love
As a law student at Yale, Senator Cory Booker made a bold decision. He would move into a housing project in a tough neighborhood in Newark. He had grown up in Harrington Park, NJ, a lily-white suburb,...
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September 21, 2020
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5781: Apologies Aren’t Easy, But They Are Necessary
I never should have said what I said…but once I did it was too late to take my words back. They took on a life of their own – and a few months later they still haunt me, even after I apologized. &...
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June 28, 2020
Korach 5780 – Resilience
06.27.2020 This week’s parsha, Korach, is not only the last parsha for which I’m here as your rabbi, it was also the first. Last year I said: Change is hard. Change is necessary. Change is inevita...
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May 24, 2020
Bamidbar Yom Yerushalayim 5780
05.23.2020 53 years ago yesterday on the Jewish calendar, on the 28th day of Iyar 5727, Jerusalem was liberated. That was June 7, 1967 on the secular calendar. For the first time in 1,887 years, the ...
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April 7, 2020
Sacrifices and Coronavirus
Vayikra 5780 If I were making a movie like “Oh God!” or “Bruce Almighty” that anthropomorphizes God and gives him a human appearance, I would definitely do one scene that showed God with an ap...
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March 9, 2020
Shabbat Zachor and the Coronavirus
03.07.2020 Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the...
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February 3, 2020
Peace and Prosperity
02.01.2020 President Trump’s “Deal of the Century” is a plan that would vastly improve the daily lives of Palestinians while meeting the security needs of Israel. So why did Palestinian Authorit...
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January 26, 2020
Crying Out and Reparations
01.25.2020 America was built on the backs of slaves. From 1620 to 1865 nearly 600,000 Africans were enslaved and shipped to America. Their population grew to over 4 million at emancipation in 1865. As...
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January 19, 2020
The Burning Bush
1.18.2020 This week’s parsha starts with the Jewish people enslaved by Pharaoh. Pharaoh loads the people up with cruel and pointless labor, intended to demoralize the people. Paranoid about the grow...
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December 23, 2019
Chanukah and Envy
Vayeshev 5780 – Rav Barry Leff Envy is at the heart of this week’s parsha. We’re told, And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age; and he made him a ...
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December 10, 2019
The Holiness of Jacob
Vayetze 5780 – the Holiness of Jacob Rav Barry Leff In the birkat hamazon, the grace after meals, there’s a curious phrase: Kedoshenu kadosh Yakov Our holiness is the holiness of Jacob. Why Jacob?...
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November 4, 2019
Science and Creation
Bereshit 5780 – Science and Creation Sermon by Rav Barrry Leff Bereshit bara El-him et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz, “in beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Torah tells us tha...
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October 3, 2019
Nationalism versus Patriotism
Rosh Hashanah 5780 – Nationalism versus Patriotism There is a rising tide of nationalism around the world. And that’s bad news for Jews. Over 65 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon on ...
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August 1, 2019
Capital Punishment
Pinchas 5779 Should someone be rewarded for acting as judge, jury, and executioner and killing a criminal? Everyone here, I hope, would say “of course not!” That’s lynching. It’s a terrible th...
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July 25, 2019
Can You Separate the Art from the Artist
Balak 5779 Is it OK to appreciate art that comes from very flawed artists? Knowing what went on at Neverland, should we still listen to Michael Jackson’s music? Knowing about the accusations against...
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February 22, 2019
Dress Up Clothes
My granddaughter, Daniella, who is two, has been known to go to school in her pajamas. She is not the only one. One time, one of the moms told me she was relieved that her son was not the only one wea...
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November 4, 2018
Come From Away – Reflections on Pittsburgh
Everyone has been telling me to go see the play “Oslo.” And, I’m sure I will eventually go see it. But, honestly I’m not eager to see it. I’ve heard it’s brilliantly done. But, to be hones...
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September 28, 2018
Let’s Make Earth Great Again
09.19.2018 Yom Kippur According to a Jewish comedian, the following true story happen to his Bubbie. Bubbie was going 70mph in a 40 mile zone and she was pulled over by a policemen. Bubbie, said, ‘w...
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September 28, 2018
When I’m Sixty-Four
09.18.2018 Kol Nidre Please sing this song aloud and with feeling, before reading further! When I get older losing my hair Many years from now Will you still be sending me a valentine Birthday greetin...
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September 14, 2018
The Need for Moral Confusion
09.10.2018 Rosh Hashanah Day 1 A few weeks ago, I had a Tom Sawyer moment with my granddaughter, Daniella, who was then 20 months old. We have a big apple tree in our front yard. Its branches extend...
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June 15, 2018
Porgy and Bess in the Youth Lounge
Sing the lyrics to it Aint Necessarily So It ain’t necessarily so, it ain’t necessarily so De t’ings dat yo’ li’ble to read in de Bible It ain’t necessarily so Li&#...
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April 30, 2018
The Man Behind the Curtain
We have a rather complicated Ark. When I go to a new congregation, the one honor that scares me is opening the Ark. Because every Ark is a little different. And, it’s easy to get mixed up. And, ever...
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March 25, 2018
Golda Meir and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today, I’d like to talk about two things that happened in 1957. In 1957, Golda Meir was the Foreign Minister of Israel. And she decided that it was important for Israel to reach out to Africa with i...
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February 18, 2018
The Anti-Semite Who Loved to Daven: Re-imagining Social Justice
A few weeks ago Julius Lester passed away at the age of 78. Julius Lester was a fascinating character. He was a black activist in the 60’s and 70’s who rubbed shoulders with Stokely Carmichael and...
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January 23, 2018
There Goes the Neighborhood
Sing the song: One day when King Pharoah awoke in his bed There were frogs in his bed and frogs on his head Frogs on his nose and frogs on his toes Frogs here! Frogs there! Frogs were jumping everywhe...
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December 25, 2017
A Time Like This: Reaching Out to Blacks and Latinos
In the movie Borat, the main character Borat travels to America from his small village in Kazhakstan with the goal of bringing back wisdom to his country. One of his objectives is to improve his sense...
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December 19, 2017
Lady Gaga and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
If it weren’t for Purim, I wouldn’t know anything about popular music. My popular musical tastes are frozen in time several decades ago. But, once a year, on Purim, I have to learn something about...
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September 25, 2017
The God Who Sees Me
Janine and I have an expression about a child who was raised in a dysfunctional family. We say he was raised by wolves. In the case of J.D. Vance, being raised by wolves would have been a step up. In ...
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August 20, 2017
Reflections on Charlottesville: Consonants and Vowels
My granddaughter Daniella is 8 months old. And, she has begun to experiment with her voice. That’s how babies learn to talk. So, sometimes Daniella is very loud, and sometimes she whispers. Sometime...
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June 26, 2017
The Elephant in the Room
This sermon comes with a trigger warning. Before I begin, I want to say that my purpose in this sermon is not to take a political side or to cast aspersions on any political figure or political party....
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June 4, 2017
The Spirituality of Hot Chocolate
Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook and the author of Lean In. Two years ago, her husband David Goldberg died suddenly at the age of 48 of a massive aneurism. His death left Sheryl in a state of sh...
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May 7, 2017
Does Siri Exist?
We have a pretty complicated Ark at Herzl-Ner Tamid. To get to the Torah, we have to get past two sets of double doors and a curtain with a draw string. And, legend has it that in the days of Rabbi Ro...
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May 1, 2017
The Harpischord and the Piano
I grew up in New York, not far from Jones Beach. And, one of my favorite things to do when I was a child was go to the beach and collect shells. At some point, someone told me that if you hold up the ...
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March 5, 2017
The Inconvenience of Anti-Semitism
In Megillat Esther which we will be reading soon on Purim, there is a scene in which Mordecai responds to the news of Haman’s nefarious plans for the Jewish people. He puts on sackcloth and ashes an...
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February 19, 2017
With God on Our Side
(Please sing this abridged version of the Bob Dylan classic with a nasal twang and imagining a harmonica in the background) Oh my name it ain’t nothin’ My age it means less The country I c...
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February 8, 2017
America of Firsts
I grew up around the excitement of the American space race. I remember sitting in my elementary school class and listening to the reporting of John Glenn’s orbit around the earth. I can recall our s...
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December 26, 2016
The Sounds of Silence
(sing this famous Simon and Garfunkel song!) Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that w...
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November 20, 2016
An American Moment
I want to share with you an American moment. We are now in our fifth year of Muslim-Jewish dialogue at Herzl-Ner Tamid. The next meeting is tomorrow and it’s at MAPS, the mosque in Redmond. The subj...
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November 15, 2016
The Rigged Election
This has been the most unusual election that I can ever remember in my lifetime. Now that the results are in, half of America is elated and euphoric. And, the other half is devastated and in a state o...
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October 12, 2016
Yossel Make Your Mind Up
I want to share with you again one of my favorite true stories, this time in a different context. Some years ago, when I was a rabbi in Massachusetts, I was teaching a fifth grade class about the Tora...
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October 11, 2016
Maria
Let’s take hold of our song sheets. We’re going to sing a slightly abridged version of this song. I think we all know the melody: The most beautiful sound I ever heard (Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria)...
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October 4, 2016
To Tell the Truth
In the movie, Florence Foster Jenkins, Meryl Streep plays a wealthy New York City socialite who founded the Verdi Club to celebrate a love for opera. As a philanthropist, Jenkins did a lot of good s...
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October 3, 2016
Dark Horse
I saw a wonderful little film the other day, called Dark Horse. Dark Horse is a documentary about Janet Vokes, a barmaid from a small town in South Wales who has a dream of breeding a racehorse. It...
