Rabbi Sherman - Honorable Mensch-ion

As I write these words, the night has fallen on the day before Rosh Hashanah. I open the mahzor, like seeing an old friend. It feels so familiar, words recited by my parents, and their parents. Just three generations ago,...

I will always remember the night I stayed up past midnight for the first time. It was Selichot, the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. The service began at midnight, and as my father would say at the conclusion of each...

As the world has changed, so has the manner in which we celebrate simcha in our community. We must discover joy during heartbreak. In pre-pandemic times, our B’nai Mitzvah would gather with their families and the Sinai Temple daily minyan...

Determination. Comeback. Celebration of the Human Spirit. Those words can describe our Jewish community in this transformative moment. We have entered the month of Elul, just four weeks before Rosh Hashanah. Every day until the New Year, we will sound...

During this pandemic, we have learned how to learn. We have shifted our focus from in-person to online learning. We attend webinars and programs from behind our screens. A new way of life demands new ways of operating. Yet, the...

Each year when Parshat Eikev arrives, I think to myself, “If I knew then…” Twenty-six years ago, I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah, acting as teacher and preacher. While I cannot recall the words I said that morning, I can remember...

Questions of faith arise during times of challenge. Last night, as I browsed the TV stations, I chanced upon a talk show on JBS, Jewish Broadcasting Service. It happened to be an interview my father, Rabbi Charles Sherman, participated in...

Last Shabbat was my grandfather’s yahrzeit. My Zaide, Bertram Hurowitz, made Aliyah at the age of 90 to be closer to three of his children living in Israel. Each year, the family visits his grave on Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu and...

Each week is a week like no other. July 4th signifies independence, summer, and fireworks. Yet, tomorrow, we celebrate without fireworks, without gatherings, without the sparks in the air. The first July 4th fireworks were set off on July 4th,...

Twenty four years ago, on Parshat Korach, my brother celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. It was not a normal Bar Mitzvah. Being a quadriplegic, Eyal could not walk or talk. The microphone would be of no help. And yet, his wheelchair...