by Sonja Kantor | Oct 7, 2020 | Rabbi Jordana Chernow-Reader, Sermons
As I begin my sermon this afternoon, I invite you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. Now I have a question for you: do you know anyone who is living or has lived a meaningful life? What is it about their lives that makes it so fulfilling? Take a moment,...
by Sonja Kantor | Oct 7, 2020 | Rabbi Jordana Chernow-Reader, Sermons
Who will live and who will die? Today on our day of confessions, I have a confession to make. This will come as no surprise to people who have spent time with me, but the truth is, I am a bit of a control freak. I like things the way I like them. I like when things...
by Sonja Kantor | Sep 27, 2020 | Rabbi Brett Krichiver
In one of the most well-known Talmud stories, a man comes to the famous sage Shammai to ask if he might convert. The man says, “If you can teach me the entire Torah while standing on one foot, I will convert.” Shammai proceeds to beat the man with a stick. What is...
by Sonja Kantor | Sep 27, 2020 | Rabbi Brett Krichiver
There is a moment each year in which I personally prepare for the High Holy Days. It usually occurs only a few days before services. All our cues are prepared, books are set out, the wall between the Social Hall and the Sanctuary is opened, and pristine lines of...
by IHC | Oct 9, 2019 | Rabbi Scott Fox, Sermons
I actually hated the song when I first heard it. Everyone was playing it, it was all over the radio, and at the local high school a dozen teenagers covered the song decked in clothes carefully selected to look nonchalantly thrown together from a thrift shop wardrobe....
by IHC | Oct 8, 2019 | Rabbi Brett Krichiver, Sermons
Tonight is Kol Nidrei, the most meditative and moving moment of the Jewish liturgical year. This day marks the culmination of the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the Ten Days of Repentance. Through the prayerbook, our Machzor, we have been bombarded with petitions and pleas...