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.
-
Shabbat Shuva 5780/2019 - Rav Steven Exler: "Anu V'Atah: Expanding Our Relationships To God" (Drasha text including sources) & source sheet
-
Yom Kippur 5780/2019 - Rav Steven Exler: "Sending Forth and Letting Go: The Temple Break and the Process of Teshuvah"
BereIshit
-
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
-
Chayei Sarah 5779 - Rabbinic Team: "Loss, Unity, and Hope: Reflections After Pittsburgh"
-
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 Hashanah 5779 - Rav Steven Exler: "The Double-Edged Power of Beginnings"
-
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"
-
Shabbat Shuvah 5780 - Rav Steven Exler: "Anu V'Atah: Expanding Our Relationships To God" (Drasha text including sources) & source sheet
-
Yom Kippur 5780 - Rav Steven Exler: "Sending Forth and Letting Go: The Temple Break and the Process of Teshuvah"
-
Yom Kippur 5779 - Rav Steven Exler: "Kol Annot Anokhi Shomea: A Yom Kippur MeToo Reckoning"
-
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 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
-
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"
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.
 |
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. |
Tue, April 13 2021
1 Iyyar 5781
Parashat Hashavua
Recordings of the weekly Torah reading by our Ba'al Keriah, Bernie Horowitz are available at
GREEN resources
To learn about our Green Team, find resources, and read new green posts please visit www.thebayit.org/green
Celebrating a Simcha? Observing a Yahrtzeit?
Please email gabbai@hir.org with details.
