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.

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I’m no Thomas Friedman: The State of Israel vs. The Land of Israel

By Rabbi Eli Freedman, sermon delivered Yom Kippur Morning 2011

I’m not Thomas Friedman.  Yes, we have the same last name, although he spells it wrong, but that is the end of the similarities.  Why do I say this?  Because Pulitzer Prize winning, New York Times “Foreign Affairs” Correspondent Thomas Friedman can tell you about the political situation in Israel better than I ever could.  So, what can I tell you about Israel that Thomas Friedman can’t?

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Tennessee: The Volunteer State

By Rabbi Eli Freedman, sermon delivered erev Rosh Hashanah evening 2011

As many of you know, this summer I got married.  Laurel and I decided to take a road-trip to and from our wedding in Texas.  While leaving Asheville, NC and heading into the birthplace of Rabbi Bill Kuhn, I saw a large welcome sign.  On that sign it read, “Tennessee: The Volunteer State.”  I usually do not place much stock in state mottos.  I come from the Bay State and now live in the Keystone state, neither of which names deeply resonates with me, however, for some reason I was struck by Tennessee: The Volunteer State.  I assume it is because, as a synagogue community, we have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a part of congregation in recent months.

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Limbs of a Whole: Caring Community

By Rabbi Jill Maderer, sermon delivered Yom Kippur Morning 2011

A boat filled with travelers sails in the ocean, when suddenly one passenger begins to drill a hole in the floor.  His fellow passengers plead with him to stop, but the man says, “Mind your own business.  This is my seat, and I can do whatever I want to the floor under it.  Am I telling you what to do?  No.  So why don’t you leave me alone?”

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Open the Gates: The Spirit of Prayer

By Rabbi Jill Maderer, sermon delivered Kol Nidre evening 2011

If you enjoy cruise-ship vacations, you have likely come across a cruise-ship rabbi.   Often times when rabbis retire, they take a cruise-ship gig.  Unless you suffer from sea-sickness, it’s good deal.  The cruise can offer Shabbat services and the rabbi can enjoy an all—inclusive vacation.

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Wrestling with God: A Profound Moment

by Dan Seltzer, presented at August 19 Shabbat Service

With a sense of relief that comes with confessing, but also in the Socratic spirit of “the only thing I know is that I don’t know anything,” tonight I am going to talk about whether I believe God exists. If this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, I assure you there’s at least one other person in the room that feels the same way. Me. But first, I want to set the stage by describing a profound moment in my life. The summer after graduating college, some friends and I took a week-long canoe trip through the Allagash River Wilderness.Continue reading

Spiritual Luster and Equations: A Profound Moment

by Thomas Perloff, presented at August 12 Shabbat Service

Before sharing a profound moment, I would like to provide some background.      

First, I am a numbers guy. In high school, I won the math prize. In college, I majored in economics. In graduate school I pursued economics and was steeped in econometrics, graphs and statistics. For thirty-some years I worked in the low margin foodservice distribution business, where, if you didn’t pay close attention to the numbers, your business was not sustainable.Continue reading

Understanding Profound Moments: Open to Inexplicable Concepts

by Michael Hauptman, presented at July 22 Shabbat Service

After my grandmother died, I remember my mother asking me whether I believed in an afterlife; whether after you died, some part of your being remained and watched over the living. Being the self-absorbed, unsentimental twenty-one-year-old that I’m sure I was at that time, my response was honest and blunt: “No, I believe that when you’re dead, you’re dead”, Continue reading

This Shabbat’s Profound Moment

This Shabbat, we continue our Understanding Profound Moments  series with Michael Hauptman’s presentation and Rabbi Freedman’s teaching.  Please join us tonight at 5:30pm for pre-oneg and blessings and 6:00pm for the service.

Thank you to all who have already presented!  Last week, Fred Strober shared a beautiful moment that he experienced in Amsterdam.  Holly Lentz Kleeman’s presentation from the first week of the series is now on the blog in its full text.  Please comment on any and all of these and share your own profound moment!

A Profound Interaction with A Stranger

by Holly Lentz Kleeman, presented at July 1 Shabbat service

I am fortunate to have been blessed with many profound moments in my life.  Many of these moments are what you would envision – the birth of a child, a tender moment with a loved one, a breakthrough about faith.  But I have found that there are less obvious encounters that can be quite profound as well.  I want to share one of these with you.

This past January I needed to pick up something from CVS.  Continue reading