Tazria-Metzora 5786 | When astronaut Victor Glover faced 40 minutes of total isolation on the far side of the moon, his last words to Earth were about love; when Christina Koch reconnected on the other side, her first words were about choosing each other. A sermon on the ancient practice of sending the afflicted to "dwell alone," and what cosmic solitude reveals about what we cling to when everything else falls away.

Ki Tissa 5786 | A week after the death of Rabbi Dr. Andrea Weiss z”l — the scholar who taught me to love biblical poetry, and who was slated to ordain my class before her illness intervened — I turn to a midrash drawn from the Torah commentary she helped bring into the world. It tells of the golden calf, and of the half of the Israelites who refused to build it: the women, who resisted their husbands, their leaders, and the pressure of the moment, and were blessed for it.

Lech Lecha 5786 | When a sleepless Abram fears being forgotten, God points him toward the stars, and toward a different way of seeing himself within the universe. A sermon on fear, legacy, and what Carl Sagan's "star stuff" can teach us about a promise made to a man convinced his life would leave nothing behind.

Rosh HaShanah 5786 | "Let love be our banner before You." I spent a year thinking about that line from the Hineni prayer. I had it embroidered on my new tallis. It's an ancient militaristic image of love, one that isn't naïve but necessary: love not as feeling, but as the muscular, active force strong enough to answer a year defined by hatred.

Chukat 5785 | Millennia after the Israelites traveled through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, I found myself retracing that same route — fleeing Israel during the recent war with Iran, through the Negev and into Aqaba and north to Amman in Jordan, with the help of my Congresswoman. In this patriotic sermon, I reflect on what the experience taught me: that ancient enemies can become modern friends, and that local politics matter more than we think.

Sukkot 5785 | Years ago, living in Israel, I found myself on Erev Sukkot in the Sinai Desert, lying in the back of a pick-up truck under a sky bursting with stars — the same sky the Israelites saw on their own desert wandering. A Sukkot sermon on fragility, joy, and why the flimsiest structure of the Jewish year is also the one that opens its arms widest.

Vayigash 2023 | When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, his first words aren't triumph but urgency: "Is my father still alive?" — the same question echoed by hostages and their families in the aftermath of October 7th. A sermon on Parshat Vayigash, the sacred obligation to redeem captives, and what an ancient reunion can teach us about a wait that, for too many, isn't over yet.

Noah 5784 | For millennia, we've read Babel as a story about the sin of hubris punished by the scrambling of language and the scattering of people. But what if we've been reading it wrong? In my Senior Sermon, I argue that dispersion and difference were never the punishment but the promise, and that a Judaism worth inheriting is one built on contrast, not conformity.

Pride/Sh’lach 2023 | I wasn't expecting my eighth-grade students to read the story of David and Jonathan as a modern love story, but they did, and their unclouded reactions reveal something profound about how far the fight for queer acceptance has come. A Pride Shabbat sermon on ancient text, generational change, and why the next generation gives me hope.