IKAR Podcasts

At this time of year in our Jewish calendar, weare in a season of second chances. We are reading Moshe's retelling of thepeople's journey through the desert in Deuteronomy, and we are about to enterinto the month of Elul, the month of spiritual preparation for the High HolyDays. It is also the moment when Moshe went back up the mountain to get thesecond set of tablets - the ultimate story of second chances. We are about tostart our own month of reflection and repair - let's see what we can do.

Water is not only a building block of life, but also ofculture. How we receive water shapes our consciousness and has the potential toremind us of the ultimate truth of our existence: we are always, andinevitably, dependent.

Source Sheet: https://ikar.app.box.com/s/rtmn38bq994apeql50rea60v1irkvvsgAn extraordinary rabbinic story re-imagines the finalconversation between Moses and God, exploring core questions foundational tothe human experience.  What happens in the moment of death?  And,what peace can be found when learning to let go?

Some years, the mourning and reflection of Tisha b’Av can feel performative. This year, it will be deeply personal. Even as we approach the abyss, we must remember the redemptive vision planted deep within our souls.Parashat Devarim, Shabbat Hazon -- 5784

Sermon from 8.3.2024 / Matot-Masei 5784

This week we find ourselves freed from some of the defeatism and despair that was taking root these last weeks and months. And now, with a bit of renewed hope, we have so much work to do. In the parsha we see a model of a collective that includes everyone and centers marginalized and unexpected groups. This moment demands we show up, no matter what that looks like. Find a way in - this fight will take all of us. 

The sense of defeatism, all too present after the events in thiscountry over the last week, is the most dangerous myth threatening our futureright now.  To throw up our hands and surrender to the myth ofinevitability is to relinquish the most precious gift given to humanity: ourcapacity to change the world around us.  We can be scared without beingresigned.  We can be exhausted without being fatalistic.  We can bediscouraged but nonetheless courageous.  

When we roll open the sacred Torah, what we see is monochrome. Pale parchment, dark ink, black, and white. Which are the only colors the human being can see when we are born. If today's parsha had a color, it would be red.Click here to see the painting Hope, by George Frederick Watts, painted in 1886: https://www.wikiart.org/en/george-frederick-watts/hope-1886

We are living in a world that is broken and painful. It is a moment to turn towards the angels within us and around us in order to find our way through.

Our family is broken. Please, God, help us heal.