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PODCAST

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Temple Emanuel in Newton

Bringing weekly Jewish insights into your life. Join Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz, Rabbi Michelle Robinson and Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger of Temple Emanuel in Newton, MA as they share modern ancient wisdom.

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

00:48:41

Talmud Class: What Changes Your Mind?

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/05/04

When was the last time you changed your mind on a matter of deep principle? You felt one way on an important issue, and then you flipped and came down on the other side? If that has happened to you, what inspired your change of thinking? What changed your mind? Pharaoh and his courtiers changed their minds not once but twice. For a long time, he was not going to let the people go. Then after the tenth plague he changed his mind. Not only can they go, they need to go now. ASAP. And then in the

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00:17:45

Pesach Day 8 Sermon: What Can We Control? A Yizkor...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/30

Yizkor sermons tend to be challenging for rabbis because we give a lot of them. We say Yizkor four times a year. If you do the math year after year, that is a lot of Yizkor sermons, and what is there new to say? What is there to say that we haven’t said before? That you haven’t heard before?I wish we had that problem again this year. Unfortunately we don’t. This is a Yizkor with an entirely fresh angle. The last time we said Yizkor was October 7. I don’t need to tell you that the months

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00:15:08

Pesach Day 7 Sermon: Song of the Sea Possibilities...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/29

I want to ask you to imagine for a moment that you are one of the Israelites fleeing Egypt. And let’s be granular. I want you to imagine that you’ve been a slave for decades. That your life is dictated by the whims of a cruel pharaoh, that your days are spent lugging huge stones, that you’ve been separated from your family, kept apart so that you can work harder. I want you to imagine that after decades of hard work, you are tired. Your bones creak. Your muscles are sore. When Moshe tells you

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00:21:00

Shabbat Sermon: Rough Patches with Rabbi Wes...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/27

Abe and Sarah have been happily married for more than 60 years. They share children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. One fine day, Sarah says, Abe: I’d like a banana sundae. Would you please go to JP Licks? Of course! It would be my privilege! What kind of banana sundae do you want? Abe, write it down. A banana sundae has a lot going on. Would you please get me three flavors: chocolate chip, Oreo, and cake batter. Then whipped cream. Lots of hot fudge. With a cherry on top. Abe, write it

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00:40:11

Talmud Class: Why Don't We Say Yizkor for Dead Ideas,...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/27

This year, on the 8th day of Pesach, we will say Yizkor. In a recent clergy conversation as we were planning out this class, Michelle asked the simplest and most profound question, one I had never thought about before. Why do we not say Yizkor for fallen ideas and ideals? For broken hopes and dreams? If we did, there would be so much to say Yizkor for this year. Think of all the ideas and ideals that have fallen since October 7. Think of all the hopes and dreams that feel utterly

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00:22:19

Pesach Day 1 Sermon: A Passover Conversation about...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/23

April 23, 2024

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00:21:00

Shabbat Sermon: Apples with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/20

Do you remember where you were last Saturday night when we learned that Iran was firing more than 330 drones and cruise missiles into Israel? Shira and I spoke to several Israelis, and they used three words to describe last Saturday night. One word was apocalyptic. We spoke with an Israeli woman living in Boston who spoke to her Israeli sister living in Tel Aviv, and the sister said the sirens are blaring, we are going into the bomb shelter, and I do not know what will be on the other end of this

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00:15:55

Shabbat Sermon: Listening to Beyonce in a Time of War...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/13

Within the last few weeks, something has happened to give me a new lease on life. A new glide in my stride. We are all looking for hope and energy, and I got mine from an unexpected source: the release of Beyonce’s new album of country music, Cowboy Carter, in particular one incredible song, a duet with Miley Cyrus called II Most Wanted. I have listened to this song easily 100 times in the last few weeks. I listen to it in the kitchen when I am doing dishes. I listen to it in the family room when

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00:38:17

Talmud Class: Love in a Time of Not Love

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/04/13

What happens to love in a world of not love? Consider this past Sunday at Temple Emanuel.In the morning Shai Held was in dialogue with Marc Baker about his new book Judaism is About Love. It was a truly inspiring conversation. After their dialogue, I heard many people offer some version of the following statement which, to my mind, is the single greatest compliment any rabbi could ever earn. “Shai Held inspires me to want to be a better human being.” Totally beautiful, and totally well earned

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00:24:07

Shabbat Sermon: Brothers for Life with Amit Gilboa...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/30

This Shabbat, we hear reflections from two visiting members of Brothers for Life. Since October 7, Amit Gilboa has served 155 days of active duty in the IDF and is currently participating in a workshop to facilitate support groups for newly wounded soldiers. Shahaf Segal, who served in the Golani Brigade, volunteers with Brothers for Life visiting newly wounded soldiers, showing them there can be a better future.

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00:20:24

Shabbat Sermon: Cultivating Hope During Seemingly...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/25

I must tell you that whenever I have entered this sanctuary, I am reminded of the Starship Enterprise of Star Trek….and now I have the honor of speaking from the Control Room, And I flash to Spock communicating “Beam me up Scotty”…For me, this is a metaphor of how we use the spiritual power of this Sanctuary to create a Place For Healing. A true story. When my 40 year old son Adam Goldman-Yassen was in second grade, they brought the class to the Temple Emanuel sanctuary…and they showed them

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00:36:48

Talmud Class: Why Don't We Say Hallel on Purim?

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/23

For Talmud this week a different kind of move, in two ways. First, we are actually going to study a page of Talmud, tractate Megillah 14a. Second, we are going to examine a halakhic question: why do we not say Hallel on Purim? We say Hallel on Pesach, when we were rescued from Egyptian slavery. We say Hallel on Hanukkah, when we were rescued from the Syrian Greeks. We say Hallel on Yom Haatzmaut, when we established the State of Israel. Why do we not say Hallel on Purim, when we were rescued

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00:22:04

Shabbat Sermon: Have a Little Faith with Rabbi Wes...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/16

I want to start with something lovely, a little bit of serendipity. I meet from time to time with a good friend to catch up. This friend has a tradition, after our conversations, of giving me a book to read. He is a big reader, a person of ideas. So often he gives me a new book, usually hard cover, that just came out, and that he had read right away. But on this last occasion, for reasons I do not know, he gave me a book off his shelf, a used book, a paperback that he had read long ago. The

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00:34:27

Talmud Class: "I'm Just Not Into Israel"...Which of...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/16

A hypothetical based on a real-world situation, not at Temple Emanuel, but at another Jewish organization:Imagine you are on the rabbinic search committee for some institution near and dear to your heart: shul, Hillel, federation. You read the resume of a candidate. Superb. Excellent education. Deep experience at Jewish summer camp. Has lived Judaism in a rich journey. Doing exceptionally well in rabbinical school. You go into the interview very favorably disposed. At the interview, you like this

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00:21:29

Shabbat Sermon: Build a Tabernacle in the Wilderness...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/09

The IDF has an intelligence unit whose name does not exactly roll off the tongue. It is called Terrain Analysis, Accurate Mapping, Visual Collection and Interpretation Agency. As Dan Senor and Saul Singer point out in their new book The Genius of Israel, which came out on November 7, 2023, the job of this intelligence unit is to analyze millions of details in millions of images gathered by Israeli satellites, airplanes and drones For example, if the war in Lebanon happens, Israel would need to send

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00:40:42

Talmud Class: The Bible Story About No Good Options

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/09

No good options. All options are bad. There is a hard-to-understand Bible story, 2 Samuel 24, about what do we do when there are no good options. King David commissions a census. How many soldiers are there in Israel and in Judah? The text assumes, without stating why, that this is a grievous sin. King David’s general Joab knows this is a sin but does it anyway because the King has commanded it. What makes the sin particularly puzzling is that God incited David to do the census. God punishes David

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00:15:48

Shabbat Sermon: Real Body Positivity with Rav Hazzan...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/02

Dronme Davis tells a powerful story. She was nine. At the time, she had developed the habit of biting her nails until they were raw and sometimes even bleeding. A teacher told her, in all seriousness, “if you keep biting your nails, one day you’re doing to meet a boy and you’re going to want him to date you and he’s going to be holding your hand and will look down and see how disgusting your hands are and he’s not going to want to date you.” Even as a nine-year-old, Dronme knew that there was

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00:36:12

Shabbat Sermon with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/02

March 2, 2024

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00:36:12

Talmud Class: Is the Sun Rising or Setting on...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/03/02

Please look at this iconic photograph of a chair at the Constitutional Convention. The chair has a sun which is ambiguous. Benjamin Franklin famously wondered out loud, is the sun rising or setting?https://files.constantcontact.com/d3875897501/094c58c3-688a-4ef0-a325-c75a886b067a.png Now please read this evocative article entitled “The New American Judaism” by Shira Telushkin published recently in The Atlantic.

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00:39:13

Shabbat Sermon: Reflections of Our Israel Mitzvah...

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life ·

2024/02/24

This week we enjoy the reflections of Sonia Saltzman, Noah Rivkin, Rhiannon Thomas, Michael Gardener, and Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz on their Mitzvah Mission to Israel.

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