Together We Will Prevail
Rabbi Davidson’s Shabbat Message – November 10, 2023
Gili Roman, Brother of Hostage Yarden Roman-Gat, Addresses Congregation
On Friday, November 3, we were honored to be joined by Gili Roman and Yotam Polizer. They addressed the congregation to raise awareness about the more than 230 Israelis being held hostage and the critical efforts to support the survivors of the October 7 terror attack. Gili Roman is the brother of Yarden Roman-Gat who …
Torah Commentary on Chayei Sarah by Bettijane Eisenpreis
Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for November 11, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “This is the line of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names in the order of their birth: Nabaioth, the first-born of Ishmael, Kedar, Abdeel, Mibsam, …
Shabbat Service in Unity & Solidarity with Israel
On Friday, October 20, the Temple Emanu-El community held a special Shabbat service in unity and solidarity with Israel. We are grateful for the presence and heartfelt support of our Christian clergy allies. Reverend Dr. Eric Park of Christ Church NYC, Pastor Jared Stahler of Saint Peter’s Church, and Reverend Ryan Muldoon of the Catholic …
Dr. Alyssa Cady
Return to Clergy DR. ALYSSA CADY – Director of Center for Interfaith Dialogue Dr. Alyssa M. Cady is a scholar of Mediterranean religions in the Late Roman and Late Antique periods focusing on material culture, literature, and intellectual history. Her interests range widely and include monastic book production in Roman Egypt, patronesses of the early …
Torah Commentary on Noach by Bettijane Eisenpreis
Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for October 21, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “The Lord smelled the pleasing odor, and the Lord said to Himself, “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever destroy every living being, as I …
Communal Shabbat Service in Solidarity with Israel
On Friday, October 13, the Temple Emanu-El community came together for a special Shabbat service in solidarity with Israel. We were honored to be joined by Ambassador Dennis Ross, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Lt Governor Antonio Delgado. In addition to the hundreds in our sanctuary, we were more than 9,000 viewers from …
“I Have No Other Homeland”
Rabbi Sarah H. Reines Temple Emanu-El NYC | Yom Kippur 5784 Two of my earliest loves, Judaism and poetry, are deeply and inextricably linked. The Torah describes itself as a shir – a poem, or song. Much of our liturgy is poetry, and poetry can often be offered as prayer. Why? Because with few words, …
Who Shall I Say is Calling?
Rabbi Joshua Davidson’s 5784 Yom Kippur Sermon “Who Shall I Say is Calling?” “Who by fire? Who by water? Who in the sunshine? Who in the nighttime? Who by high ordeal? Who by common trial?…And who shall I say is calling?”1 Leonard Cohen composed those verses after singing for Israeli soldiers in the Sinai desert …
“It’s Hard to Be a Jew”
Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson’s Rosh Hashanah sermon in the Times of Israel
Shver tsu zayn a Yid! Last Spring, walking in Jerusalem, I passed a man wearing a t-shirt quoting the old Yiddish maxim: “It’s hard to be a Jew.”
Even in Israel.
Shver tsu zayn a Yid is how I felt that afternoon. Only a few hours earlier at the Knesset I had met Simcha Rothman, a principal architect of the Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial reform that jeopardizes a cornerstone of democracy – judicial independence. The reform is a means to an end. If enacted, other coalition proposals would be difficult to defeat, including bills discriminating against Arab Israelis, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women, increasingly segregated in public settings; as well as bills to re-legislate the Law of Return to halachic standards, and to annex portions of the West Bank, effectively killing the Palestinian people’s own national aspirations – aspirations already withered by decades of Israeli occupation and a corrupt Palestinian leadership that traffics in antisemitic canards and pays terrorists to slay Israeli civilians.
For thirty-seven consecutive weeks, Israelis of every political, social and ethnic stripe have assembled to protest against this government; hundreds of thousands wrapping themselves in the blue and white of the state they cherish. Ein li eretz acheret, “I have no other country,” they sing. “I will not stay silent….” Poet Ehud Manor composed that cri de coeur during the first Lebanon War, in which many of these protestors fought. Others served in ’48 and ’67. Still others during Yom Kippur fifty years ago. But most, too young to remember those existential battles against enemies without, fight now to save Israel from the threat within.
Torah Commentary on Korach by Bettijane Eisenpreis
Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for June 24, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “All the sacred gifts that the Israelites set aside for Adonai, I give to you, to your sons, and to the daughters that are with you, as a due for all time. It shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before Adonai for …
Torah Commentary on B’haalot’cha by Bettijane Eisenpreis
Bettijane Eisenpreis Parashah for June 10, 2023 Torah Commentary by Bettijane Eisenpreis “On the day that the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Pact; and in the evening it rested over the Tabernacle in the likeness of fire until morning. … At a command of the Lord, the …
