Kol Nidre: Living with Complexity: On One Foot, Sermon
Living with Complexity: On One Foot Once a rabbi was sitting in his study, pouring over the holy books, when two sisterhood members approached his door. Please do not read too much into the fact I’ve made this about sisterhood, it is not essential for this story to...
Rosh Hashanah Morning: Fighting for the Miracle of Israel
Fighting for the Miracle of Israel Two months ago, our congregation marked the observance of Tisha B’av, the commemoration of the destruction of the first and second Temples, with a sermon that Friday evening, about a new form of mourning with which we might mark the...
Erev Rosh Hashanah: Be the Goldfish
Erev Rosh Hashanah: Be the Goldfish We have arrived, once again, at this sacred space, in search of inspiration for the coming year. We want to be inspired, we want to feel moved. Our world has travelled forward another year, and there are many reasons to feel...
Sermon Yom Kippur Morning Sermon 5783
Have any of you seen a short animated feature called “Innerworkings?” If you have not, I highly recommend it. It is the best depiction of choosing to make the most of out of life that I have ever seen. It can easily be found on You tube and if you watch it, let me...
Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5783
Picture a barren landscape strewn with garbage with only a single skeleton of an old tree. Two men explore, debate and comfort one another as they wait for… something. This is the world of the playwright Samuel Beckett, and the two men are “Waiting for Godot,” a...
Rosh Hashanah Morning Sermon 5783
In 2001, the National Jewish Population Survey clearly identified 93% of American Jews as “religious” – meaning that the vast majority of those who self-identified as Jews some twenty years ago also identified with a congregation, or a movement, or a denomination. In...
Rabbi Chernow-Reader speech on reproductive rights
Thank you for coming out today to show your support for reproductive rights. I am standing here today as a rabbi, a woman, a mother, a friend, advocating for the rights for women everywhere—here in Indiana and across the country as a whole—to make decide for...
Rabbi Krichiver offers testimony on SB1
May 6 Sermon from Rabbi Chernow-Reader
My phone rings with a friend of mine calling. She is in tears because she is pregnant. She already has children and always thought she wanted a bigger family. But not right now. It’s just not the right time. Her marriage is falling apart and she doesn’t think they...
Rabbi Krichiver’s testimony to the Senate Education Committee in opposition of HB 1041
Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the committee for your time today. My name is Rabbi Brett Krichiver. I am the Senior Rabbi of Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, a board member of the Indiana Board of Rabbis, a participating member of the Center for Interfaith...