Drashot - Hebrew Institute of Riverdale - The Bayit

Drashot: 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.

Bereshit

• Noach 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: “Lessons from Babel: Language, Coexistence, and Speaking Hebrew”

• Noach 5777 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Non-violent Communication in Parshat Noach"

• Noach 5776 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Struggling with the situation in Israel through parashat Noach: Personal reflection from a recent visit in Israel"

• Lekh Lekha 5777 - Rav Steven Exler: "Fear Not, Avram: Reflections on the Shabbat after the Election"

• Vayera 5774 - Rav Ari Hart: Focusing on a Judaism of Mission, not Numbers

• Vayetze 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Yaakov and My Struggle with Lateness"

• Vayetze 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "Remembering the Holzbergs and Babylonian Prayers for Rain"

• Vayechi 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: “And Yaakov Lived: Affirming Life by Planning for The Future”

• Vayechi 5774 - Rav Ari Hart: "Mi Eleh"

• Vayechi 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Sword and The Bow: The Experience of Prayer and the Koren Siddur"

Shemot

• Shemot 5773 - Rav Ari Hart: "Moshe, Buddha and Harry Potter - The Unique Power of Sefer Shemot"

• Yitro 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Musings from Moscow: Reflections on a Whirlwind Tour of the Jewish Community in the Former Soviet Union"

• Mishpatim 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Jeremy Lin and Essentializing the Stranger"

• Tetzaveh 5776 - Rabbinic Intern Bracha Jaffe: "Tetzaveh and The Double Darkness of Depression"

• Ki Tissa 5773 - Rav Steven Exler: "Panim El Panim: Seeing God's Face and Human Encounter"

Vayikra

• Vayikra 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Vayikra, Love, and Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements"

• Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - Rabbi Dov Lerea: "The Religious Imperative to Protect the Child"

• Emor 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Nezirut and the Value of Distance and Preparation"

• Emor 5773 - Rav Avi Weiss: "Blemishes and the Fallacy of Perfection"

• Behar-Bechukotai 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "What Does Shemittah Have to Do with Mount Sinai - and Why Environmental Consciousness Matters"

Bamidbar

• Naso 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "To Give or Not To Give: A Princely Dilemma"

• Behaalotecha 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Two Ways to Take Your Leave"

• Balak 5775 - Rav Ari Hart: "Can Orthodox Jews Celebrate the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage?"

• Matot-Masei 5773 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Creating Light"

Devarim

• Devarim/Shabbat Hazon 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Visions of Climate Change"

• Devarim/Shabbat Hazon 5773 - A D'var Torah from Rabba Sara in Israel: "The Flawed Dream"

• Re'eh 5777 - Rav Avi Weiss: "The Sounds of Shofar: In Solidarity with Charlottesville"

• Shoftim 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Wolff's Law: Teshuvah and the Blessing of a Wounded Patella"

• Ki Tetze 5773 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Reflections on the Aggunah Crises"

• 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

• Rosh Hashana 5777 - Rabba Anat Sharbat: "Teshuva as Returning to Ourselves"

• Rosh Hashana 5777 - Rav Ari Hart: "Shema B'Kola"

• Hesped (Eulogy) for Jack (Yankel) Erlichson z"l, 8 Adar 5775 - Rav Steven Exler

• Rosh Hashanah 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "Derek Jeter, Avraham Avinu, and Setting Our Personal Mission"

• Rosh Hashanah 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Living Life on the Wide End of the Shofar"

• Rosh Hashanah 5774 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Change with Sacrifice"

• Rosh Hashanah 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Yosef - Unprepared to Meet the King"

• Yom Kippur 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Power of Words"

• Yom Kippur 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "The High Priest and Our Struggle with Work-Life Balance"

• Yom Kippur 5774 - Rav Steven Exler: "Keeping Score - with Each Other and God"

• Yom Kippur 5772 - Rav Steven Exler: "Beating Our Chests in Radical Acceptance"

• Yom Kippur 5771 - Rav Steven Exler: "Tov Lehodot: It Is Good To Confess"

• Yom Kippur 5770 - Rav Steven Exler: "Our Roots Are Our Sins"

• Yom Kippur 5769 - Rav Steven Exler: "The High Priest's Garments and the Twelfth Commandment"

• Sukkot 5774 - Rabba Sara Hurwitz: "Nation Obsessed with Security"

• Shemini Atzeret 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: "Separate and Together: Shemini Atzeret and Human Interconnectedness"

• Purim 5772 - Rav Avi Weiss: "The Secret to Happiness"

• Shabbat Hagadol 5778 - Rav Steven Exler: Wholly Divided: Yahatz as A Model for Constructive Division - National, Communal and Personal (Drasha Text) & Source Sheet

• 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

• 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

• Shabbat Hagadol 5775 - Rav Steven Exler: "Transcending the Self: Radical Identification on the Seder Night and Beyond" (drasha text) & source sheet

• 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"

• Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach 5773 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Valley of Pesach and Returning to the Temple as a Nation"

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 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 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 audio recording of the event.