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December


Vayigash – Joseph’s Children

Keywords: amnesia, assimilation, Bernard Berenson, casket, cell phones, coffin, Ephraim, Esau, forgiveness, forgotten, history, Isaiah Berlin, Jacob, Jeffrey Salkin, Joseph, Lamentations, Manasseh, Moses, past, present, remembrance, righteous, slavery, tablets, text, Tisha B'Av, Yiddish

Vayeshev – Looking in the Mirror.

Keywords: Adam Galinsky, basketball, battle, candle, championship, chanukiah, charisma, Colorado, competition, cooperation, enthusiasm, Esau, Friend And Foe, hyena, Jacob, Joseph, Kobe Bryant, lights, Maccabees, mashiach, Maurice Schweitzer, messiah, murder, peace, reward, rugged, Sandy Hook, sleep, steep, student, toil, unsettled

November


Vayetzei– For You Were Strangers

Keywords: Abraham, All Things Considered, Allentown, Ben Hecht, Charles Dent, crisis, danger, enemy, evil, facts, fear, Holocaust Museum, Islam, Jacob, Japanese, Jihad, Liberty Bell, Muslim, National Public Radio, NPR, panic, persecution, Philadelphia, refugees, screeening, spies, Syria, Thanksgiving, vetting

Toldot – Journey to Israel and Azerbaijan

Keywords: Armenia, Avigdor Lieberman, Azari news, Azerbaijan, Baku, burka, City Of David, cycle of violence, Daniel Gordis, davka, Dead Sea Scrolls, economy, family, footsteps, funeral, guard, Heydar Aliyev, Iran, Jewish Museum, kosher, Louvre, lunch, metal detector, mountains, Mumbai, Muslim, paparazzi, Paris, Potemkin village, Quba, Richard Lakin, Riyadh, Russia, Shia, statue, Sunni, taxi, Time magazine, travel

October


Lech-Lecha – Mrs. Noah and Sarah

Keywords: Abraham, Abram, ark, Avivah Zornberg, Baruch Epstein, Emma Lazarus, female, Golda Meir, laughter, Lecha, male, man, Maryland, niece, Noach, Noah, righteous, Sarah, Sarai, Sidon, sons, Statue Of Liberty, teach, Torah Temimah, wives, woman, women

Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot – “Koufax and the American Jewish Dream”

Keywords: 1965, athletes, baseball, Bernie Sanders, country club, Don Drysdale, Elliot Cosgrove, insecure, Joseph Lieberman, Kennedy, October 6, pitcher, Sandy Kofax, Shawn Green, social progress, socialist, Solomon Schechter, sports, Vice President, World Series, Yom Kippur

September


Ha’Azinu – How We Grow

Keywords: action, bunching, celebrate, E. M. Forster, holidays, Isaac Stern, joy, lessons, Moses, nostalgia, pain, planning, psychiatry, psychology, Rachael, search, self-examination, , self-expression, Shlomo, sin, sing, Solomon, suffer, Sukkot, therapy, wisdom, Yom Kippur

Kol Nidre – Forgiveness

Keywords: Abraham Joshua Heschel, ashamed, Atlanta, bioethics, brother, Calvin Coolidge, candle, Edith Piaf, elevator, flawed, forgive, forgiven, forgiveness, guilty, health, hotel, IRS, mistakes, morality, Navy SEAL, peace, Pentagon, regret, Rembrandt, repent, Sherlock Holmes, sin, sweetness, Yom Kippur

2nd Day of Rosh Hashanah – What We Treasure About Our Tradition

Keywords: American Jewish University, apologize, bless, Bradley Artson, bread, Camp Ramah, candle, chosen, Christopher Hitchens, Communists, community, David Gordis, Elie Wiesel, extinction, Fear No Evil, grunts, humor, Jacob Artson, Jonah, Kol Nidre pledge, Lincoln, Natan Sharansky, offering, particularism, Pascal, psychoanalyze, question, Rashi, responsibility, ritual, sacrifice, Sam Harris, Samara Wolpe, Simon Greenberg, slaves, solidarity, Soviet Union

1st Day of Rosh Hashanah – Ahavath Yisrael – Loving Israel

Keywords: argument, Belgrade, calf, Christian, David, Ezekiel, government, indignation, Irving Goldberg, Isaiah, Jeremiah, land, Lincoln, love, mountains, Muslim, peace, Rabbi Akiva, self-criticism, Sinai, state, strength, testify, traitor, United Nations, Vuk Jeremic, wilderness, words, Zion

Erev Rosh Hashanah – What You Get When You Give

Keywords: Adam Grant, axe, camping, CEO, corporate, deeds, fire, Give And Take, givers, giving, James Hodgeson, John Locke, kindness, litvak, lumberjack, matchers, mitzvah, monastery, Mrs. Woodberry, Salt Lake City, Sherlock Holmes, takers, Utah, Watson, wood, words

August


Re’eh – Body and Soul. Preparing for the High Holidays

Keywords: Alzheimer's, body, camp, cancer, cell phone, chemo, chicken, dementia, Elul, fire, fruit, high holidays, ice cream, idolatry, inn, innkeeper, kapparot, kashrut, notebook, physical, sacrifice, slaughter, soul, spiritual, trees, volunteer

July


Devarim – Iran: A Jewish Way of Arguing

Keywords: Africa, AIPAC, Bar Kokhba revolt, baseless hatred, battle, Betar, certainty, Chaim Weizmann, calamities, Congress, Iran, Jerusalem, Jordan, Kishinev, mishnah, mistakes, Palestinians, spies, Theodor Herzl, tisha b'av, Uganda Plan, Zionist Congress

Matot-Masei – Where Is Home?

Keywords: AIPAC, Ba'al ha-Turim, Babylon, bitterness, bread, Columbia University, CUFI, foolish, Greeks, Hamas, Hassan Rouhani, Hezbollah, home, Iran, Jonathan Sacks, Joseph Singer, New York, palm trees, peace, Philadelphia, pray, Promise Land, Roman Empire, Ron Dermer, Ruhollah Khomeini, Syracuse, Third Reich, travel log, war, water, wise

Balak – The Meaning of America

Keywords: 1994, Abraham Lincoln, America, Argentina, Buenos Aires, disaster, Ellis Island, embassy, immigrants, inclusion, Iran, Jewish tour, Leo Frank, Michael Oren, Moishe House, Native Americans, New York, Richard Nixon, Ulysses Grant, worry

June


May


Achrei Mot-Kedoshim — The Spirituality of Imperfection

Keywords: Abraham Joshua Heschel, Abraham Lincoln, Baltimore, broken, character, child, clothes, despair, fight, garment, gossip, guest, healer, heroes, Jacob, Kotzker Rebbe, ladder, leaping, loser, Miriam, Nepal,pain, pain, perfect, perfection, sadness, suffering, traitor, vessels, wearing, Winston Churchill

April


Tazria-Metzora — Love and Gossip

Keywords: Abraham, Aharon Lichtenstein, attack, balance, celebrities, complain, couples, escape, externals, gossip, holiness, husbands, immunization, Israel, Joseph Soloveitchik, love, lovingly, medical, Miriam, Moshe, refuge, scholars, skin disease, Theodor Herzl, victims, vision, wives, Zionism

Pesach I — Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters

Keywords: bank, blessing, Boston, dock, elegance, extravagance, fear, freedom, gambling, generosity, hat, Iran, love, memories, memory,money, open hand, Rabbi Israel of Konitz, ship, shipyard, Song of Songs, stereotypes, stock, uncle, wedding, Winnebago

March


Ki Tisa – AIPAC, Netanyahu’s Speech and Iran

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, AIPAC, alarm, alliance, America, argue, argument, Benjamin Chappell, Christians, contention, creativity, crime, crossroads, disagreement, dynamism, Emma Lazarus, enemies, focus groups, George Washington, Israel, Jonathan Sarna, Lawrence Kushner, New York, outsider, persecution, Pledge of Allegiance, police, president, prime minister, Puritan,sick, Silicon Valley, Statue Of Liberty, tensions, weakening, Western Wall

February


Tetzaveh – The Speech I Plan to Give to AIPAC

Keywords: 1956, Aharon Appelfeld, AIPAC, America, Assyria, authority, brevity, Brooklyn, build, Chabad, counseling, demonic, diplomacy, enrichment, Europe, evil, freedom, history, kill, nation, nuclear, republicans, restraint, statue, Talmud, teach, telegram, torah, torture, war

Mishpatim – Ahavat Olam — Eternal Love

Keywords: Abraham, act, books, chocolate, creation, danger, deeds, enacted, feel, fight, flowers, God, hearts, humanity, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Leah, love, music, Rachael, Rebecca, romantic, Sarah, song, story, synagogue, Valentine's Day

Sisterhood Shabbaton — No Sermon

January


Bo – Cellphones in Synagogues

Keywords: address, book, boredom, browser, cell phone, Celtics, child, communications, darkness, deputize, distraction, Egypt, e-mail, England, focus, ideas, IQ, journalist, letter, memory, memento, Patriots, pen, picture, Rabbi Simon Greenberg, Red Sox, sanctuary, screen, sermon, sports, stationary, synagogue, time, video, Zadie Smith

Shemot – Western Values and the Charlie Hebdo Attack

Keywords: AP,Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Boko Haram, Book Of Mormon, Brandeis University, censorship, Charlie Hedbo, CNN, crude, categories, Death of Klinghoffer, distinctions, Egyptian, hateful, hurtful, juvenile, Lasana Batili, Mali, Moses, Muslim, New York Times, offensive, opera, Paris, religion, Twitter

Vayechi – America in the New Year

Keywords: 2015, America, America In Retreat, Bill Gates, Bret Stephens, business, Congress, empire, English, freedom, grateful, history, holiday, Jesus, law, Lincoln, Mandarin Chinese, military, Napoleon, New Year's, pessimistic, politician, predictions, technology, threats, United States, web