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Selected Drashot from Rabbi Mike

Rabbi Mike's High Holiday 5782 Sermons

 

Rabbi Mike's sermons from the High Holidays 5782 can be found by clicking on the title above.  You will see the following:  Erev Rosh Hashanah - "The Torah of Challah";  Rosh Hashanah Day 1 - "The Torah in Your Backyard”; Kol Nidre - "What's So Funny About a Face Mask?" and Yom Kippur Morning - “Justice as Holiness”

Erev Rosh Hashanah - "The Torah of...Read more...

Va'era:  You Don't Have to Be Carefully Taught - January 15, 2021

We’re heading into MLK weekend, and as usual CBE has an amazing program on tap for this year.  It’s an evening program joining Racial Justice for Black Lives (RJ4BL), Acton Boxborough Students for Equity & Justice (ABSEJ), and Educators Committed to Anti-Racism, Equity and Justice (ECARES).  I’m so grateful for the remarkable work of Sarah Coletti and Sal Lopes — and thrilled to say that our own Lindsay Rosenman is one...Read more...

Lech L'cha 5781: "World on Fire"

The world is on fire.

No, I don’t mean literally, though we are seeing unprecedented fires out West, most likely exacerbated by climate fluctuations.  I don’t even mean rhetorically, though God knows the words we’re hearing — and sometimes saying — are certainly  inflammatory.

I don’t even necessarily mean now, though of course it is burning now.

This week we find, in the Torah, something new....Read more...

Yom Kippur Morning 5781 - "Tzedakah Tatzil Mimavet"

Ivdu et-YHVH b’simcha.  The words of the Psalmist: “Serve God with joy.”[1]

Last night we talked about the Salanter Rebbe, the master of mussar, who publicly defied of the laws of Yom Kippur.  If you weren’t with us — or my words gave you an opportunity to take a well-deserved nap — here’s a quick recap.

In 1848, a...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5781 - "Choose Life"

1848.  October.  The cholera epidemic has hit Vilna.  And the Salanter Rebbe is worried.

Vilna’s prominence as a center of Jewish learning in Lithuania is known throughout the Jewish world.  So much so that Vilna has come to be known as “the Jerusalem of Lithuania”

And yet, here in this epicenter of Jewish wisdom, the...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah 5781, First Day - "Choosing to See Divinity in All"

OK, first things first — I’m not going to tell you who to vote for.  For one thing, it would jeopardize our non-profit status.  And, in any event, I suspect you already know where your vote is going. 

No, instead, I want to talk to you this morning about a force more degenerate, more depraved than any political figure, past or present. 

I mean...Read more...

Tazria-Metzora 5780: "Kavod Over Covid"

Rabbi Mike Rothbaum

The Torah reading this week is, on first glance, less than gripping.  It discusses, in great detail, how we are to confront a plague of what’s called tzaraat.  Tzaraat is a scaly affliction that can strike the walls of houses, clothing, as well as human skin.

Excited yet?  Did I mention that this week there’s a double portion? 

But there’s a...Read more...

Ki Tissa 5780 - "A Bearhug on God"

You all know how much I like hugging.  In a world of fear, of suspicion, where we’re alienated from each other, being in contact with each other is vital.  Vital, as in life-giving.  As souls, we need intimacy, the love of other souls.

But today, I don’t need to tell you, we find ourselves in uncharted territory.  COVID-19 has created a worldwide...Read more...

Yom Kippur Morning 5780 - "The Hands on the Kids"

As many of you know, Anthony and I spent five years in California.  As a lifelong New Yorker, living in California took some getting used to.  For one thing, everyone in the Bay Area dressed like they had just come back from hiking.  Business attire seemed to mean wearing your good hoodie.  And, compared to New York, people were clearly in less of a rush. There were other things to think about:...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5780 - "On the other hand, Israel"

There’s a fine tradition in Judaism — the Kol Nidre sermon starts with a joke.  Far be it from me to undermine tradition.  So here goes.

Man goes into a bar in Jerusalem.  Says to the bartender, “I’m looking for a rabbi.”  Bartender says, “nu, in Yerushalayim?  You can’t find a rabbi?”  Guy says to the bartender, “Well I’m...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah Day One 5780 - "The United States of Hagar and Ishmael"

We’ll start this with a tale of a bonehead move.  We’ll acknowledge, at the same time, that the bonehead was me.

When I was in rabbinical school, I lived in Manhattan.  Harlem, specifically.  I had a little gold Ford Escort, with a 5-speed, that I drove to my student pulpit out in tree-lined Maywood, New Jersey

It was...Read more...

Masei 5779 - "In Honor of Steve Sussman's 90th Birthday"

A boy came to visit me this week.  Actually, the first day back from my vacation.  He’s 11.  “I’ll be 12 in October,” he was quick to add.

While his friends were enjoying the long summer days, catching up on YouTube videos and sharing secrets behind camp bunks, his family went to visit his grandfather.  I’ve met his grandfather.  Good...Read more...

Ki Tissa 5779 - "Don't Have a Cow, Man"

February 22, 2019

When I sit down to write my drash each week, there’s often a point when I have some sort of mini lightbulb moment. Like, this week. I had a really cool a ha moment. I knew I would be writing about chet ha-egel — the sin of the Golden Calf — considered by our sages to be the worst sin in Jewish history

You probably know the story — at the very moment that Moses is receiving the tablets of the covenant on...Read more...

Parashat Shemot 5779 - "The Hebrews are Animals"

December 28, 2018

The drive west, away from I-19 in southern Arizona, is nothing if not beautiful. Saguaros dot the landscape as you approach the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, majestic mountains rising out of the approaching landscape. I’m here on a trip with other rabbis to see the Mexico-US border first-hand. We’re in our own caravan, rental cars of rabbis chasing the sun.

Except our path is not...Read more...

Parashot Toldot 5779 - "Red State Esau"

November 10, 2018

I have never been hunting.

I have no desire to go hunting.

It is true — I am a meat eater.  I wear leather.  By consuming animals as food and clothing, I participate in their killing.  But of course, killing an animal by bowshot or gunshot is not a kosher method of slaughter.

Read more...

Yom Kippur 5779 - "The Man Who Never Returned"

September 19, 2018

One thing we can say for certain.  Massachusetts — it’s a proud place.

It’s proud of its history.  It’s proud of its politics.  It’s proud of its Dunkin Donuts.  It’s certainly proud of its sports teams. 

The pride is well-earned.  But there’s one area where, to be honest,...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5779 - "Care What Other People Think"

September 18, 2018

“Basically, you know, like, be yourself.”

The speaker is a 14-year-old girl.  Her name is Kayla, and she’s a character in Bo Burnham’s recent film titled, appropriately, Eighth Grade.

“And don’t care about what other people think about you.”

She’s speaking into a...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah 5779, Day 1 - "Days are Scrolls"

September 10, 2018

These days.

I said last night that these days are days of stories.  The stories told about us.  The stories we tell about ourselves.

But Rosh haShanah is not just an inventory.  It is an invitation.  To retell the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves.  Not just who we were last year. ...Read more...

Balak 5778 — "Safe at Home"

June 29, 2018

I stood here roughly a year ago, on Parashat Balak, at my first official service at Beth Elohim.

I spoke about houses.  Specifically, this house.

I said what a beautiful house it is.  Beautiful because of the spirit and dedication and love that’s in it.

And, a year later, I haven’t wavered from that conclusion.  It is a great blessing to be your rabbi, in this house.

That...Read more...

Chukat 5778 — "The Miriam of the Moment"

June 22, 2018

Few substances are as precious in Torah as water.  Of course, taking place in the arid landscape of the Middle East, it’s hardly a surprise.  But over the course of the five books, water seems to take on an almost mystical quality.  It is treasured and desired, it is scarce and valuable, it engenders life and — occasionally — deals death. 

It is death that we consider this week,...Read more...

Tue, March 19 2024 9 Adar II 5784