Rabbi Sherman - Honorable Mensch-ion

The Chofetz Chaim suggested that even the most feeble of flames is powerful enough to dispel the thickest darkness in the largest of rooms. We often ask, “What difference will my flame make?” If I keep kosher, observe Shabbat, or...

Waking up to the smell of ash and a sky painted with an orange glow of fire was fearful and nerve wracking. The theologian Paul Tillich wrote, “Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.” Over these past 48 hours,...

A typical complaint a Rabbi receives: “I don’t believe in God.” Here is my answer. “Tell me about the God that you don’t believe in.” Rabbi Neil Gillman, my first theology professor, helped me create this response. I recall the questions...

Our tradition tells us  kol ha’omer davar b’shem omro, mevi geula l’olam – whoever says something in the name of the one who said it first, brings redemption to the world. The words below are the words of my father, Rabbi Charles Sherman, a Thanksgiving message for...

This morning I met David Bluthenthal, one of the most well known basketball players in Israeli history, for Maccabi Tel Aviv. What is most fascinating about David is where he came from. David grew up in Marina del Rey. His...

A house of worship is supposed to be a safe, sacred place. Last Sunday in Sutherland Springs, TX, a holy ground turned into a place of death and destruction. We know from our tradition, that in these most difficult times,...

Today, we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a prominent Zionist and a friend of Chaim Weizmann, stating that: “His Majesty’s...

I attended the first NFL game of my life this week. My wife surprised me with a birthday present; tickets to the Philadelphia Eagles Monday Night Football game with my father. The Eagles have always been my favorite team, but...

When I was 8 years old I had a unique birthday party. It was celebrated in the daily minyan. I can still recite the names of the attendees by heart, mostly octogenarians who made prayer a daily part of their...

I spent most of my week carrying a Torah scroll from class to class in our synagogue’s pre-school. When I asked the children what we should do when we finish the Torah, most of them inherently understood that our Torah...