Tag: Rosh HaShanah
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The Pain of Being Unseen: A Rosh Hashanah Message of Hope and Recognition
On Rosh Hashanah, we stand before the Divine with a profound and deeply human hope: to be truly seen. This sermon explores the quiet, sinking feeling of being overlooked that we have all experienced and connects it to the central prayers of the High Holy Days. It asks: What is the greatest blessing we can…
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When Conscience and Command Collide: Faith and Ethics in the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) Story
When Conscience and Command Collide: Faith and Ethics in the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) Story In this powerful sermon for the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5786, Rabbi Adrian Schell of The Wimbledon Synagogue offers a profound re-reading of the Binding of Isaac (the Akedah). What if Abraham’s journey up the mountain was not an…
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Small Steps, Great Success – The Journey of Teshuva
How is your stock-taking – cheshbon haNefesh – going? Now, only 10 days away from the start of the new year and 20 days from Yom Kippur, how much do you feel prepared for the big days in our Jewish calendar? And in general, is this whole Elul business of introspection, reflection, and transformation, meaning…
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Awesome moments between past, present and future – Greetings for the New Year 5779
Dear congregants, members, supporters, friends—chaverim,This will be my 5th High Holy Days with you, or to be more precise, my 6th, as Chayim and I joined the congregation exactly 10 years ago for my rabbinic internship at Bet David. Much has changed in the past years, but also many things have remained untouched and sacred, as…
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Your book of life
YOUR BOOK OF LIFE doesn’t begin … on Rosh HaShanah. It began when you were born. Some of the chapters were written by other people: your parents, siblings, and teachers. Parts of your book were crafted out of experiences you had because of other people’s decisions: where you lived, what schools you went to, what your…
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Take the choices into our one hands
The Torah declares: “Surely, this instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we…
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A serious move – Rosh HaShanah 5775
Many of you know that I moved a few short weeks ago. Anyone, who has moved, knows that relocation from one place to another isn’t easy. There are so many things to consider. What needs to be put into the packing cases, what needs to be left, to be sold, given away, or maybe stored.…
