Rabbi Jacobs Sermons
RH2 5769 - The Mind/Body Connection
RH2 5769 - The Mind/Body ConnectionAbout a month ago, I experienced a momentous transition in my life when Jeff and I got engaged. To be honest, as excited as I was to make this transition, I didn’t expect the change to be such a momentous one. For months leading up to our engagement, Jeff and I talked candidly about marriage, discussing when and where our wedding would be. Before “making it official,” our relationship was already a loving and committed one. What’s more, engagement is less of a complete transition than a symbolic one. In our tradition, the betrothal ceremony formerly took place a year before the wedding. Due to the binding nature of erusin, betrothal, and the difficulty of undoing it in the event, God forbid, that the couple did not marry, this “waiting period” has been eclipsed, and erusin takes place under the ḥuppah, alongside the marriage ceremony. In the eyes of Jewish and civil law, we have no binding relationship to each other, no matter how emotionally connected we feel.
Shofetim 5768—Justice from both sides
Drasha Parashat Shofetim 5768—Justice from both sidesI began my illustrious political career in the fourth grade, by running for office—in the Solomon Schechter Day School Student Council. It was a short-lived career, by all accounts, lasting just long enough for me to lose the election to a rival classmate. While I have thankfully recovered from the devastation of that day, I learned from the process something invaluable. When I was preparing my campaign speech, my father taught me how every speech should go: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you’ve told them,” he said. While I never ran for student council again, those instructions stayed with me.
Kedoshim 5768 — Do not stand idly by
Kedoshim 5768—Do not stand idly byThis past week, I read a remarkable article in the New York Times. It told the story of a sefer Torah, a Torah scroll, rescued from the squalid remnants of Auschwitz, which was to be rededicated for use as a part of the Holocaust memorial service at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. Facing the impending onslaught of the Germans, the sexton of the synagogue in the town that would later become Auschwitz buried the Torah to protect it from certain destruction.
Metzora 5768 — Coming back into the camp
Metzora 5768—Coming back into the campAs the days between now and Pesaḥ grow fewer and fewer, I find myself thinking more and more about what I consider “meta-level” concerns. Perhaps it’s just my rabbi’s way of avoiding cleaning my kitchen, but whatever the reason, I’ve been spending a lot of time considering the countless ways we can interpret and enrich our understanding of the Haggadah, the seder, and even the story of the Exodus itself. There are many powerful and meaningful spiritual places these ideas can take us, most of which are quite lofty. Fortunately, just in case the prospect of cleaning out our ḥametz isn’t quite enough, we have this week’s parashah to bring us back down to earth.
Bo 5768 — Shifting Paradigms
Bo 5768 — Shifting ParadigmsFor my entire sophomore year of college, I took an Astronomy course. While this was certainly an introductory class, it wasn’t the celestial equivalent of “Rocks for Jocks,” or “Physics for Poets.” It was essentially an intro level astrophysics class. And I loved it. My astronomy class taught me that I really did understand physics. In our lab meetings, I learned how to use a telescope, and a Geiger counter. I found myself looking up at the sky far more frequently than I had in the past, trying to see constellations and planets amid the ubiquitous airplanes constantly flying around New York City. What I loved most about this class, however, was how learning about the makeup and origins of the universe helped me find meaning in seeking out my own place in it. One of the more perplexing things we learned in Astronomy was that neutrinos, these strange particles that could be found in the solar wind, had no mass. They existed, but the only way to access them was in a supercollider. And even then, you’d be lucky to catch one whizzing by—having no mass makes something hard to catch. Imagine my surprise that summer when I read in the paper that neutrinos had been discovered actually to have mass. Even more surprising was the title of the article that revealed this in the New York Times: “Elusive Galactic Particle Found to Have Mass: Universe May Never Be the Same.” My immediate response to this headline was to look at it cross-eyed and say, “What?! The universe has always been the same—we just know different stuff about it now.” What the headline was really trying to convey was that our perception of the universe—whether based on a year of introductory Astronomy or decades of high-level research—had changed. We had experienced a paradigm shift.
Toledot 5768 — Family Resemblances
Toledot 5768 — Family ResemblancesEvery so often, I’ll wear my hair a certain way, catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and do a double take. Or, I’ll do something quirky, like leave the refrigerator door open while I go back and forth grabbing items for dinner. Or, even worse, I’ll say something a little too familiar. After each of these occurrences, I’ll think, “Oh my God, I have become my mother.” This is not a happy realization. Now, let me be clear: I love, admire, and respect my mother a lot. There are, as she might say, worse things in the world than being like someone who has been such an important part of my life. But still, I don’t greet this realization with excitement or pleasure.
