From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Jan 31 2025 466 ep. 25 mins 28

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life Podcast artwork

Bringing weekly Jewish insights into your life. Join Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz, Rabbi Michelle Robinson and Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger of Temple Emanuel in Newton, MA as they share modern ancient wisdom.

Religion & Spirituality

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Shabbat Sermon: Upon 3 Pillars The Teen’s World Stands with Rabbinic Intern Aaron Berc

Jan 31 2025 7 mins

Shimon The Righteous would say that the world stands upon three things: upon Torah, upon Avodah - the Temple Service, and upon G’milut Hasadim - acts of loving kindness. Since I am finishing my fifth month working with the teen community here at Temple Emanuel I thought that I would humbly reflect upon three stories that illustrate these three pillars of Jewish life, which point

Talmud Class: Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde's "Have Mercy" Speech

Jan 25 2025 41 mins

If you have not already done so, please take a couple of moments to watch this clip of the most famous part of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon at a prayer service this past Tuesday, the day after the inauguration, at the Washington National Cathedral. In class we will watch this clip together before our study and conversation. Here are some questions we will consider together

Shabbat Sermon: A Lens for Understanding the Ceasefire and Hostage Deal: The Power of "And" with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Jan 18 2025 40 mins

For 469 days, ever since October 7, every morning, and every evening, at our daily minyan, we pray for the IDF, that God should guard and protect Israel’s courageous and heroic soldiers. We pray that God return our hostages safely to their families. We say Mourner’s Kaddish as a community, as part of am Yisrael, for Israel’s fallen soldiers. Occasionally, somebody will ask:

Talmud Class: In All of Egypt, Why Were There Only Two People to Stand Up to the Pharaoh?

Jan 18 2025 40 mins

This week we begin the Exodus story which offers humanity a one-two punch. First, a cruel new Pharaoh who demonizes a vulnerable and marginalized minority and commands “all his people, saying: Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” Exodus 1-22. In other words, baby-killing is state policy. Infanticide is the law of the land. Second, in

Shabbat Sermon: May the Memory of Our House Be for a Blessing with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Jan 11 2025 20 mins

There is a new form of loss in the world, and it is spreading like wildfire. We know what it is like to lose a person we love. Our mother dies. Our father dies. Our grandparent or sibling or friend dies. There is a Hebrew word for that, and it comes from the Joseph story. After the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, older brother Reuben observes hayeled einenu, Joseph is no more.

Talmud Class: How is it With Your Soul?

Jan 11 2025 36 mins

How is it with your soul? In her book on evangelical Christianity, Circle of Hope, Eliza Griswold shares the centrality of that question in helping people understand one another. How is it with your soul? Do I wake up angry and aggrieved, and spend my energy honking the horn, sending flaming emails, taking offense, looking for a fight? Do I wake up feeling grateful for the good

Shabbat Sermon: Happy New Year? with Rabbi Michelle Robinson

Jan 04 2025 17 mins

January 4, 2025

Talmud Class: It's Not What Happens, it's the Story We Tell

Jan 04 2025 34 mins

Earlier in the year, Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote about her father's friend who was kidnapped at knife-point 50 years ago. It was a powerful piece--both for the thoughtful discussion of this original trauma and its impact on her and on her family friend. But the real story wasn't the kidnapping, nor the way the kidnapping re-ignited memories of her own lived traumas. The real story

Shabbat Sermon: Living Legacy - It's Complicated with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Dec 28 2024 21 mins

One of the most magnetic moments drawing us to shul is the observance of a yahrtzeit, the anniversary of our loved one’s passing, which offers us a precious opportunity to show up again for our beloved departed, to say a few words about them, and to recite Kaddish in their memory. Ordinary people who do not show up at shul all that much the rest of the year show up for their love

Shabbat Sermon: No Finish Line with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Dec 21 2024 18 mins

I have a thought experiment for you. In honor of Hanukkah, which begins Wednesday night, find a photograph of you lighting Hanukkah candles with your family from 25 years ago. Take a good long look at that old photo. How does it make you feel? For many of us, it can be complicated. On the one hand, there is a certain wistful beauty to it. Our children were so young and small and c