NOTE: This is the sermon that I delivered on Yom Kippur Morning 5778 (2017). It gives the thinking behind my decision to begin officiating at Jewish weddings that include a non-Jewish partner. In ancient times, long before they were synagogues or rabbis or prayerbooks, there was the shofar. In those days, the shofar was soundedContinue reading “Hineini: Celebrating Jewish Choices”
Tag Archives: Liberal Judaism
From Human Doing to Human Being: A Yom Kippur Sermon About Mindfulness
I’d like to introduce you to the philosophical treatise that has most influenced my life: Calvin & Hobbes. You may laugh, but anyone who’s ever read Calvin & Hobbes knows that it addresses serious questions about existence and values and meaning…all through the eyes of the world’s most precocious 6-year-old and his imaginary tiger friend.Continue reading “From Human Doing to Human Being: A Yom Kippur Sermon About Mindfulness”
Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: A Sermon For Rosh Hashanah 5778
Does anybody else here remember the book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? It’s about a kid named Alexander, about 4 or 5 years old, who is not having a good day. He gets gum in his hair, and drops his sweater in the sink, and gets criticized by his teacher,Continue reading “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: A Sermon For Rosh Hashanah 5778”
Causeless Hatred and the Jewish State: Have We Learned Our Lesson?
What, I’m not good enough to be blacklisted?? Those were the words with which I jokingly feigned righteous indignation last month when the Israeli rabbinate released its “blacklist” of rabbis from whom they will refuse letters of Jewishness for new immigrants. Others of my colleagues had similar amused responses: congratulating those who did make theContinue reading “Causeless Hatred and the Jewish State: Have We Learned Our Lesson?”
Rabbi Micah Streiffer 