Watch this special address by our Beth Am President Loree Farrar.
Sermons
Sermons
Sermons
Sermons
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5777
October 2, 2016
When I was in middle school, I was a really shy, quiet kid. Thinking back, I can now recognize the turning point, when I began to discover that I actually could make good friends and become a more social person. It was the same summer I got my braces on (a real highlight in the life of a teenage boy about to enter high school). Out of the blue, my temple’s youth group advisor called me and invited me to go on our youth group’s annual river rafting trip. It was a seven-day road trip, from Los Angeles to the...
September 9, 2016
During the summer between my third and fourth year of rabbinical school, I travelled to Germany with other HUC students on a program called Germany Close Up, in order to explore the long, complex history of Jews in Germany. While there, we took a walking tour through the city of Hamburg, focusing on the Jewish sites in the city. But there was a problem: On the tour that we took, there were no Jewish sites to see. Just plaques and markers:
This was once the site of a Jewish cemetery.
The town’s main synagogue once stood here.
These...
September 2, 2016
It’s been a busy summer. The news has been filled with terror, triumph, and Trump. We’ve seen the first woman nominated for president by a major political party. We’ve seen Michael Phelps and Simone Biles win gold. We’ve taken vacations or staycations or just enjoyed the lighter traffic around here. And now, in what seems to be the blink of an eye, it’s September. The kids are back in school and the calendars are filling up. But just as we start jumping back into the busy-ness and business of life, the Jewish calendar pulls the reins and stops us short. ...
August 19, 2016
Shabbat Shalom
My first memory of Moses is as a young girl, sitting in a dark movie theatre, looking up at Charlton Heston portraying the icon in “The Ten Commandments.” The image that is stuck in my mind is from the end of the film, when Moses is very old. He is sadly saying goodbye to his family and Joshua. The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land but God has forbidden Moses to go with them. I remember crying at the unfairness of it. It has always bothered me – the faithful servant Moses is denied the opportunity...
August 12, 2016
How many people could you call at two in the morning to come over in a pinch? How many people could you call at seven at night if you had a fever? How many people in the synagogue would you feel comfortable calling and asking them to buy groceries for you because you were sick?
What kind of a congregation would we be if every member of Beth Am had 2-4 people they could call in these kinds of circumstances?
How many of you are in a chavurah? For those who are, we should recognize how blessed and wonderful and...