DErashot: Shabbat/Holiday teachings from our Rabbinic Staff
Arranged by book of the Chumash, with Holidays at the bottom (click here to jump). Click on the title to open a pdf of the talk. Please continue to check back as more teachings are uploaded.
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Shabbat Shuva 5780/2019 - Rav Steven Exler: "Anu V'Atah: Expanding Our Relationships To God" (Drasha text including sources) & source sheet
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Yom Kippur 5780/2019 - Rav Steven Exler: "Sending Forth and Letting Go: The Temple Break and the Process of Teshuvah"
BereIshit
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Noach 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: “Lessons from Babel: Language, Coexistence, and Speaking Hebrew”
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Noach 5777 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Non-violent Communication in Parshat Noach"
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Noach 5776 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Struggling with the situation in Israel through Parashat Noach: Personal reflection from a recent visit in Israel"
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Lekh Lekha 5777 - Rav Steven Exler: "Fear Not, Avram: Reflections on the Shabbat after the Election"
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Vayera 5774 - Rav Ari Hart: Focusing on a Judaism of Mission, not Numbers
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Chayei Sarah 5779 - Rabbinic Team: "Loss, Unity, and Hope: Reflections After Pittsburgh"
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Vayetze 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Yaakov and My Struggle with Lateness"
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Vayetze 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "Remembering the Holzbergs and Babylonian Prayers for Rain"
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Vayechi 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: “And Yaakov Lived: Affirming Life by Planning for The Future”
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Vayechi 5774 - Rav Ari Hart: "Mi Eleh"
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Vayechi 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Sword and The Bow: The Experience of Prayer and the Koren Siddur"
Shemot
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Shemot 5773 - Rav Ari Hart: "Moshe, Buddha and Harry Potter - The Unique Power of Sefer Shemot"
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Yitro 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Musings from Moscow: Reflections on a Whirlwind Tour of the Jewish Community in the Former Soviet Union"
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Mishpatim 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Jeremy Lin and Essentializing the Stranger"
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Tetzaveh 5776 - Rabbinic Intern Bracha Jaffe: "Tetzaveh and The Double Darkness of Depression"
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Ki Tissa 5773 - Rav Steven Exler: "Panim El Panim: Seeing God's Face and Human Encounter"
Vayikra
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Vayikra 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Vayikra, Love, and Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements"
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Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - Rabbi Dov Lerea: "The Religious Imperative to Protect the Child"
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Emor 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Nezirut and the Value of Distance and Preparation"
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Emor 5773 - Rav Avi Weiss: "Blemishes and the Fallacy of Perfection"
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Behar-Bechukotai 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "What Does Shemittah Have to Do with Mount Sinai - and Why Environmental Consciousness Matters"
Bamidbar
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Naso 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "To Give or Not To Give: A Princely Dilemma"
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Behaalotecha 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Two Ways to Take Your Leave"
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Balak 5775 - Rav Ari Hart: "Can Orthodox Jews Celebrate the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage?"
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Matot-Masei 5773 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Creating Light"
Devarim
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Devarim/Shabbat Hazon 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Visions of Climate Change"
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Devarim/Shabbat Hazon 5773 - A D'var Torah from Rabba Sara in Israel: "The Flawed Dream"
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Re'eh 5777 - Rav Avi Weiss: "The Sounds of Shofar: In Solidarity with Charlottesville"
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Shoftim 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Wolff's Law: Teshuvah and the Blessing of a Wounded Patella"
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Ki Tetze 5773 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Reflections on the Aggunah Crises"
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Nitzavim/Vayelekh 5773 - Rabbi Jeremiah Wohlberg: "Standing On The Edge of Life And Faith As The New Year Begins - Uvacharta Bachayim - Choose Life"
Holidays and Special Occasions
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Rosh Hashanah 5779 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Double-Edged Power of Beginnings"
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Rosh Hashana 5777 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Teshuva as Returning to Ourselves"
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Rosh Hashana 5777 - Rav Ari Hart: "Shema B'Kola"
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Hesped (Eulogy) for Jack (Yankel) Erlichson z"l, 8 Adar 5775 - Rav Steven Exler
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Rosh Hashanah 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "Derek Jeter, Avraham Avinu, and Setting Our Personal Mission"
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Rosh Hashanah 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Living Life on the Wide End of the Shofar"
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Rosh Hashanah 5774 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Change with Sacrifice"
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Rosh Hashanah 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Yosef - Unprepared to Meet the King"
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Shabbat Shuvah 5780 - Rav Steven Exler: "Anu V'Atah: Expanding Our Relationships To God" (Drasha text including sources) & source sheet
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Yom Kippur 5780 - Rav Steven Exler: "Sending Forth and Letting Go: The Temple Break and the Process of Teshuvah"
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Yom Kippur 5779 - Rav Steven Exler: "Kol Annot Anokhi Shomea: A Yom Kippur MeToo Reckoning"
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Yom Kippur 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Power of Words"
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Yom Kippur 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "The High Priest and Our Struggle with Work-Life Balance"
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Yom Kippur 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Keeping Score - with Each Other and God"
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Yom Kippur 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Beating Our Chests in Radical Acceptance"
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Yom Kippur 5771 - Rav Steven Exler: "Tov Lehodot: It Is Good To Confess"
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Yom Kippur 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Our Roots Are Our Sins"
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Yom Kippur 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "The High Priest's Garments and the Twelfth Commandment"
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Sukkot 5774 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Nation Obsessed with Security"
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Shemini Atzeret 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: "Separate and Together: Shemini Atzeret and Human Interconnectedness"
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Purim 5772 - Rav Avi Weiss: "The Secret to Happiness"
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Shabbat Hagadol 5779 - Rav Steven Exler: "Why is this Night the Same as Last Night? Lessons from Yom Tov Sheini for Israel-Diaspora Relations" (Drasha text including sources) & source sheet
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Shabbat Hagadol 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: "Wholly Divided: Yahatz as A Model for Constructive Division - National, Communal and Personal" (Drasha Text) & Source Sheet
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Shabbat Hagadol 5777 - Rav Steven Exler: "On Time, In Time and With Time: The Symbol of Matzah and Its Meaning in Our Lives" (Drasha text) & source sheet
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Shabbat Hagadol 5776 - Rav Steven Exler: "Mathil Bignut Umesayem B'shevah: The Optimistic Trajectory of the Seder Night, Jewish Faith and Our Lives" (Drasha text) & source sheet
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Shabbat Hagadol 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "Transcending the Self: Radical Identification on the Seder Night and Beyond" (Drasha text) & source sheet
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Shabbat Hagadol 5773 - Rav Steven Exler: "From Standing Out to Outstanding:
Confronting Our Jewish Identity in Egypt and Today" (Drasha text) & source sheet -
Pesach 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Meaning of 'Pesach': Protection - and Avoidance - as Compassion"
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Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach 5773 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Valley of Pesach and Returning to the Temple as a Nation"
K'vod Habriyot Series: Sources & Recordings
PART I: Homosexuality
Shabbat | 10/31/2015 | Homosexuality Shiur with Rabbi Steven Exler and Rabbinic Intern Bracha Jaffe
Click here for contemporary responses.
Click here for medieval sources.
Tuesday | 11/3/2015 | Homosexuality Panel Discussion with Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Dr. Michelle Friedman, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin | Moderated by Rabbi Steven Exler
Click here for an audio recording of the event.
PART II: Agunah
Shabbat | 11/21/2015 | Agunah Shiur with Rabbi Steven Exler and Rabbinic Intern Dan Margulies
Click here for sources.
Tuesday | 11/24/2015 | Agunah Panel Discussion with Rabbi Simcha Krauss, Ms. Blu Greenberg, Rabbi Jeremy Stern | Moderated by Rabbi Steven Exler
Click here for an audio recording of the event.
PART III: Conversion
Shabbat | 12/12/2015 | Conversion Shiur with Rabbi Steven Exler
Click here for conversion source sheets.
Tuesday | 12/15/2015 | Conversion Panel Discussion with Rabbi Adam Starr, Ms. Bethany Mandel, Rabbi Jeff Fox | Moderated by Rabbi Steven Exler
Click here for an audio recording of the event.
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Sunday, March 1, 2015 - Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Lau: "Whose Torah is it? Torah in the Hands of Nonbelievers from Ezra Until Today" Click here to hear Rabbi Lau's talk. |
Sat, July 31 2021
22 Av 5781
Parashat Hashavua
Recordings of the weekly Torah reading by our Ba'al Keriah, Bernie Horowitz are available at
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