“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?

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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

The Work Of Jim Winters as discussed on ReformJudaism.org

jim winters new grid hi rez.inddA continuing theme running through the book of Exodus is the coming and going of both Moses and God. After the lengthy drama of the Exodus, Moses disappears up the mountain and reappears to see the chaos of the episode of The Golden Calf. He is God’s corporeal messenger to Pharoah but absent from the discussion in Parashat T’tzaveh of the priestly responsibilities. God, too, is near when displaying signs and wonders in Egypt and splitting the sea, enabling the Israelites to pass to freedom, and also remote to the Israelites while Moses is up on the mountain receiving the law. Indeed, the whole discussion of the building of the Mishkan (tabernacle) through a great proportion of the book of Exodus revolves around the central question of how God will dwell among the people, so the Israelites understand that something that cannot be seen or touched can feel close.

What does it mean to be present? What does it mean to have presence? Perhaps we best consider our most abstract questions through the abstraction of art.Continue reading