Shanah tovah!  Welcome to this New Year 5777 that we hope will be full of sweet goodness and opportunity for everyone. Tonight we join together to renew a journey that is timeless.  It’s a journey for Jews worldwide, and a Jewish take on a universal journey for all people everywhere.  These Days of Awe, from Rosh… Continue reading Erev Rosh Hashanah 2016/5777 – The Renewal of Hope

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Shavuot Retreat June 11, 2016 • 5 Sivan 5776 On this Shabbat flowing into Shavuot, our Torah portion readies us to receive Torah anew inהתחדשות הנפש / renewal of the soul.  The question is how: how can receiving Torah renew the soul?  How can standing at Sinai make us like new?… Continue reading Receiving Torah, renewing the soul

Kabbalat Shabbat Congregation Nevei Kodesh Boulder, Colorado May 20, 2016 • 13 Iyar 5776   Shabbat Shalom.  Thank you, Rabbi Sarah Bracha and the Nevei Kodesh family, for so warmly welcoming Rachel and me.  For months we looked forward to this weekend.  We couldn't be happier to be here. When Reb Sarah Bracha asked me… Continue reading Keystones of Renewal: The ALEPH Listening Tour, the Future and You.

Kabbalat Shabbat – Shabbat HaGadol Kehilla Community Synagogue April 15, 2016 • 8 Nisan 5776 Shabbat Shalom.  Thank you Reb David, Reb Dev, Hazzan Shulamit, Reb Burt, Reb Diane and the whole Kehilla family for so warmly welcoming Rachel and me.  For months we've looked forward to this weekend, and we couldn't be happier to be here.… Continue reading Shabbat HaGadol, the ALEPH Listening Tour, and reclaiming the voice

Shabbat Dvar – Parshat Tazria Elijah Minyan & Shirat HaYam San Diego, California April 9, 2016 • 1 Nisan 5776 Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.  Thank you Reb Wayne and Ellen, David and Rhonda, Elijah Minyan and Shirat HaYam, for your warm welcome.  Aor this New Yorker who just saw snow, the "warm" part of your… Continue reading Going free in the light

Kabbalat Shabbat Dvar – Parshat Tzav Or Shalom Synagogue Vancouver, British Columbia March 25, 2016 • 16 Adar II 5776 Shabbat shalom.  For months Rachel and I have looked forward to this weekend, and we couldn't be happier to be here.  I confess to a bit of East Coast jetlag, but your hospitality and warmth have… Continue reading Keeping the fire burning

G’mar chatimah tovah.  For every worthy hope and every healing you seek this year, may it be sealed for good. I want to share a true story about David Gregory, former host of NBC’s Meet the Press, the television forum for national and world leaders.  This story came to me in two parts.  The first… Continue reading Yom Kippur 2015 / 5776: “Who Would You Be if You Lost it All?”

Our theme for this year’s High Holy Day season is “Seeking,” drawn from Psalm 27, our musical anthem that’s a love song with God: You called to my heart: “Come seek My face / Come seek My grace.” For Your love, Source of all, I will seek. Whether or not we’d use the term, all… Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 2015 / 5776 – Seeking the Face of God

Rabbi David delivered these remarks at his Installation Ceremony on March 28, 2015, coinciding with Shabbat HaGadol – the Shabbat of the High Priest’s installation and the Shabbat preceding Passover, when traditionally we prepare for purification and the journey of liberation. Shabbat Shalom. I feel wondrous joy to be here with people I cherish, who… Continue reading Rabbi David’s Installation Remarks: The Path of Service

My Saturday morning teaching for ordination January 10, 2015 • 19 Tevet 5775 Erev Rav David Evan Markus B'rshut rabbotai (with the permission of my teachers), and in the merit of all of our teachers and their teachers, Shabbat shalom. When I entered the patient's hospital room during chaplaincy rounds last November, quickly it became… Continue reading Moses the rookie chaplain and the burning bush

Barcheinu Avinu kulanu k’echad; Kulanu k’echad b’or panecha. Bless us all together, Creator, Protector; Bless us all forever with radiance and grace. Barcheinu Avinu (bless us, our Creator and Protector) kulanu (all of us together) k’echad (as one). Shanah tovah. To this new year, each of us brings our own hopes, hurts to heal, and things… Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 5775/2014: The Light of Belonging

Kol haOlam kulo gesher tzar me’od (Our whole entire world is a narrow bridge)  V’ha’ikar, v’ha’ikar, lo l’fached klal (And the whole point, and the whole point, is not to fear) These words come to us from Nachman of Breslov, set to music by Shlomo Carlebach.  Nachman and Shlomo taught that even when our world… Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 2013/5774: The Bridge from Fear to Joy

I published this letter with Rabbi Shohama Harris Wiener after the January 13 vandalism of our Temple Beth-El of City Island (New York). At a recent gathering of rabbinical, cantorial and rabbinic pastor students, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi reminded that it’s okay to view a synagogue as a business — so long as we know what… Continue reading A response to synagogue vandalism

Shanah tovah.  I hope your new year is dawning bright and sweet. It’s a particularly fitting time of year for getting back to basics – the essence of who we are and whom we aspire to be, the essence of our relationships and the truth of our lives.  God, growth and new life always call… Continue reading Rosh Hashanah 2011/5772: Shanah, Shinui, Shoneh — Year, Change, Difference