Rabbi William Kuhn – Rodeph Shalom

“Vayeira” Coming Out

By Rabbi Kuhn

Last Sunday, Cantor Frankel and I were honored to co-officiate at the wedding of our dear friends Michael Carr and Henry Seigel. Now, I have been to a lot of weddings in my day, but I’ve gotta tell you, this one was off the charts in terms of being exciting, thrilling, emotional and special.

This was the first same-gender wedding Cantor Frankel and I have done since Pennsylvania made it “LEGAL.” Rabbi Freedman officiated at Rich & Rick’s wedding Saturday night and Rabbi Maderer officiated at Steve Mirman and Kenneth Galipeau’s wedding a couple of weeks ago, so we are trying to make up for lost time!

Standing under the chuppah with Michael & Henry was an experience that I will never forget. This was not like the usual couple we marry. Henry & Michael have been together 32 years! They have been living in a monogamous, committed, loving relationship for 32 years! So, why would they feel that they needed to sign a marriage license and have a Jewish ceremony anyway? What possible difference would that little piece of paper make?

Jewish Judaism

Rabbi Kuhn’s Kol Nidre Sermon 5776: “The Hope”

Recently, I found a letter that had been written by Emily’s great grandfather to his grandchild, my wife’s mother. It had been written from Philadelphia in 1922 and told of his family who had lived all together and happy in Odessa for many generations. In 1900, in the face of pogroms and persecution of the Jews, the family was broken apart and made to move from their home. Several of the family members emigrated to Palestine and her great-grandfather and the rest of the family came to Philadelphia. His letter gave me a great deal of insight into the complexities of decision making which have been involved in Jewish immigration patterns down through the ages.

What causes a person to move away from a place where his or her family has lived for generations? Whatever the reason, whether oppression or a decision to try to improve their lives in some way, the common thread that runs throughout all of our peoples’ wanderings is HOPE. Hope for a better life, hope for the freedom to live in a land where we could be proud to be Jewish, hope to raise our children as Jews.

Abraham was the role model of Jewish immigration. Our Torah tells of his feeling the call from God to “Lech l’cha,” “Go forth from your native land, from your birthplace, from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” [Gen. 12:1]

And so Judaism was born, as Abraham and Sarah moved from their home in Mesopotamia to the land that would become Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, to dedicate his life to the one God. And ever since that moment, Judaism has been inextricably tied to the land of Israel.Continue reading

Jewish Judaism

AGING WITH DIGNITY, PURPOSE & MEANING

Shabbat Sermon by Rabbi Kuhn, August 15, 2014

The late, great comedian George Carlin had a great bit about aging. He said when you’re young, you can’t wait to get older. You become 21. But then you turn 30. Sounds like bad milk. He turned, we had to throw him out. You become 21, you turn 30, then you’re pushing 40. Whoa!! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you reach 50, and your dreams are gone. But wait! You make it to 60. You didn’t think you would.

Then you build up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that, it’s a day by day thing. You HIT Wednesday.

You get into your 80’s, and every day is a complete cycle. You HIT lunch; you turn 4:30; you reach bedtime.

And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90’s you start going backwards. I was just 92!

And so it goes. In our society that idolizes youth, it may be difficult to deal with the fact that everyone ages, if you’re lucky that is.

And of course, Judaism has a lot to say about aging with dignity, and finding meaning and purpose in your life as you grow older.

We Stand With Israel

Dear Congregation Rodeph Shalom,

As we gather this evening to celebrate Shabbat, our hearts are filled with concern for our beloved Israel. Once again, our brothers and sisters in our spiritual homeland are under attack, as over 500 rockets have been fired from Gaza by Hamas.

Now is the time for our congregational family to stand in solidarity with the State of Israel, its citizens and armed forces. Of course we grieve for all the innocent people who are affected by this situation, but today, we need to be clear that Israel has the right to exist and to defend herself from enemies who seek her destruction.

Our thoughts are especially with our beloved Cantor Erin and David Frankel and their precious daughters Sivan and Meital, as they have been in Israel the past two weeks. We pray for the safety and the return to security of all the people of the Land of Israel. May there be a speedy resolution to this crisis.

Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael.
May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, let peace descend upon us, on all Israel and on all the world.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi William Kuhn
Lloyd Brotman, RS President

Rabbi Kuhn’s “Crowdsourced” Sermon (7/4/14)

“Have you ever felt that food is sacred? How does food connect you to others? To your family? To Judaism?”

At sunrise on Wednesday mornings in the summer, farmer Phil Stober and his crew pick fresh vegetables and fruit at their farm, Barefoot Organics near Lebanon, PA. and deliver it to Rodeph Shalom every Wednesday afternoon, as part of our Community Supported Agriculture. On Wednesday evenings, RS congregants come in to cook fresh meals, prepared with the produce just-picked that morning and then deliver them (we call them “Mitzvah Meals”) to other RS congregants who are ill, or homebound, or who have recently lost a loved one.

Last Wednesday evening, as I stood in the RS kitchen and watched our team of chefs preparing Mitzvah Meals I was overcome by the feeling that what I was witnessing was the very essence of Judaism.

Can food be sacred? What is the connection between food and Judaism? These are the questions we posed to our congregation this week in our first ever “Crowdsourcing” sermon, where we asked the members of our RS family to offer your thoughts on a different question each week – as our Summer Sermon Series. (As a way to tap into the collective wisdom of our congregation)

This week, we received a lot of very thoughtful responses. Quite a few of the comments focused on the Mitzvah meals, as this has helped provide deeper meaning to the connection between food and Judaism.

food Jerusalem Judaism Mark Bittman physical sustenance The Festival Shavuot

Crowd Sourcing Sermons

Imagine that you are a member of the Rodeph Shalom clergy team, and you could tap into the collective wisdom of our congregation to help you write your sermons this summer.

That is exactly what we are going to do this summer with CROWDSOURCING SUMMER SERMON SERIES.

What is Crowdsourcing? It is the process of obtaining ideas or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, especially from the online community. (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2014)

What is Crowdsourcing a Sermon? It is an opportunity for us to draw inspiration from your comments and to encourage conversation among our congregants on important Jewish issues. Crowdsourcing sermons will be a way for us to find an opportunity to draw closer as a community. It will be a way for us to fulfill our Vision of creating profound connectionsContinue reading

“What’s Jewish About Everyday Life?”

During the nine Friday nights from July 5th through August 30th, we will offer a newly updated version of what has become a great tradition at Rodeph Shalom. Throughout our summer Shabbat services, we will focus on one common theme: the presence of Jewish values in otherwise secular encounters we experience throughout our typical day. During these services, we will explore how Judaism can be relevant to our every day lives. All through our daily lives, we experience events that seem quite ordinary and mundane. Yet, if we really think about these occurences, we can see that many of them are quite extraordinary. The music we hear in our daily lives (wherever you access your music: via radio, satellite, MP3, live, CD, etc.) can be filled with Jewish content, even though the words are quite secular.
Continue reading

shabbat worship

Rabbi Kuhn Kol Nidre Sermon

By Rabbi Bill Kuhn, sermon delivered Kol Nidre evening 2011

A man was walking along, minding his own business, doing his job on a day just like any other ordinary day. When out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fire. He didn’t really think anything of it, as he sees little fires all the time in his line of work. But this fire was different, it would not go out. Eventually he turned and noticed this extraordinary fire, and his life was changed forever. For the longest time, Moses stared at the bush that was burning unconsumed in the desert. And when God saw that he had turned and noticed, God called out to him, “Moses, Moses.” And Moses answered, “Hineini,” “I am here.” [Ex. 3:1-4].

Rabbi Kuhn Rosh Hashanah morning sermon

By Rabbi Bill Kuhn, sermon delivered Rosh Hashanah morning 2011

A couple of months ago, I met with a small group of some of the top Jewish leaders Philadelphia, and one of them said that he really wondered if the Jewish community in America would exist in another generation. I have thought a lot about that statement, and I must agree that there are threats to the very existence of our Jewish community, but actually, the threat to our existence comes from the fact that conditions have never been better for Jews in America. We are totally accepted into American society as never before.

The Universal Struggle For Freedom

By Rabbi Bill Kuhn

It was impossible to watch the recent uprising in Egypt and not think of the Passover story. How ironic! Egyptian citizens in the year 2011 felt they were oppressed and enslaved by an authoritarian dictatorship. Perhaps their political oppression was not on a par with the ancient Pharaoh’s enslavement of our Israelite ancestors, but the Egyptians of today certainly felt the need to achieve freedom no less than we did over 3,000 years ago.Continue reading