Rabbi Sydni's Sermons

February 19, 2022

Last week, we focused on the words l’dorotam - for their generations, in the context of this synagogue space. We read God’s commandments to the children of Israel to keep a ner tamid (an everlasting flame), to sacrifice a lamb every Pesah, and to bring a yearly offering on Yom Kippur. In a different sense in each generation, we have kept those commandments for thousands of years; so too, our ways of practicing...Read more...

February 12, 2022 - 1 Adar 11, 5782

On October 30, 1902, 58 men signed a charter to officially found Agudath Achim Congregation. 120 years later, we are still here, and we are still thriving. I can’t know what those 58 men and their families thought we would look like in 2022, but I would like to think that they founded this congregation with the promise of our existence in mind. In 2022, we cannot even begin to fathom what...Read more...

Saturday, February 5, 2022

The one who intends to say “terumah” but says, “ma’aser”; “ma’aser” but says, “terumah”; “olah” but says “shlamim”; “shlamim” but says “olah”; [the one who says] “I will not enter into this house,” but says “that house”; “I will not benefit from this person” but says “that person” - has not said anything until her mouth and her...Read more...

January 22, 2022 - 20 Sh'vat, 5782

What would happen if right now, we committed to not checking email or social media, to not typing or writing until nightfall? What would happen if we committed to not spending money, to not cooking or baking until three stars appear in the sky tonight? I am almost positive that the world, even your world would not come crashing down. Sure, there would be inconveniences, and sure, it would be a lot...Read more...

December 11, 2021 - 7 Tevet, 5782

All week, I have been reflecting on Dorothy Rosenfeld’s 94 years of life, a life jam-packed with rich experiences and generous mitzvot. At her funeral on Tuesday, I mentioned a couple of lines from Psalm 90 that come to mind when I think about her energy and curiosity: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12). From Dorothy’s life, from Psalms, and also, from...Read more...

December 4, 2021 - 30 Kislev, 5782

On Tuesday evening, my yoga teacher came into the room and sighed, “Why in the world do we have this season of celebration when it gets cold and dark so early? It’s so depressing!” Jewish author Anita Diamant has the perfect answer to my teacher: “This is the season,” she writes, “when people of all faiths and cultures are pushing back against the planetary darkness. We string bulbs,...Read more...

Saturday, October 30, 2021

18th-19th century Hasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov prescribes a particular regimen of conversation with God:

Hitbodedut is the highest path of all. One must therefore set aside an hour or more each day to talk with God by themselves in a room or in a field.

Hitbodedut consists of conversation with God. One can pour out their...Read more...

Saturday, November 13, 2021

Hizkuni, a 13th century commentator from Ashkenaz, sounds like a modern Israeli tour guide when he explains the holiness of the place where Ya’akov rests his head and dreams at the beginning of our parshah:

This is the place where Avraham offered prayers to God on his way to Ai, and Yitzhak later offered prayers on that same altar. The people Israel would fight battles...Read more...

Friday, October 22, 2021

When you or a loved one has been ill in the past, what has someone else done that has been helpful or meaningful to you?

Tomorrow morning, we will learn the Talmudic statement that hakhnasat orkhim (welcoming guests) is a greater act than welcoming the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). Just a few sentences later, in the Talmud Bavli, Masekhet Shabbat, Rabbi Yehuda Bar Sheilah says that Rabbi Asi says...Read more...

October 15, 2021

A joke you may have heard before: 

A Jewish man was shipwrecked at sea and marooned on a desert island. When a passing boat picked him up five years later, the crew was impressed to see that he had built three buildings - one simple hut for shelter and two synagogues. 

“But why do you need two synagogues?” the captain asked.

“Well,” he replied, “There’s the one where I...Read more...

Saturday, October 2, 2021

We’ve all been there. We’ve gossiped about someone behind their back or walked past a lost dog without pausing to find the owner. When we are behind closed doors or when no one else is present, we often don’t feel the weight of our actions, or even our negligence. But intellectually, we know that that gossip is bound to make it back to its subject and to hurt them and their family. We know that a child...Read more...

September 20, 5782

At the beginning of the pandemic, we thought a lot about touch. We watched viral YouTube videos about how to best disinfect our groceries, in case they had been touched by a store employee or another customer. As places began to open up, hotels and restaurants boasted advertisements by various bleach companies. Gradually, as viral spread on surfaces was seen as less of a threat, we began to focus on interpersonal...Read more...

September 11, 2021

An English Jew, a prominent novelist and intellectual, is informed that he will be knighted. The queen’s protocol officials prepare him and other knights-to-be for the ceremony. He is informed that, when he stands before the queen, he is to recite certain Latin words just before being knighted. On the day of the ceremony, the man is very nervous and, sure enough, when he approaches the...Read more...

September 8, 2021

Lately, words have become a challenge. Halfway through expressing a thought, I change my mind, forget the point of what I was trying to say, or lose track of the appropriate word to describe my opinion or emotion. Often, I will start speaking and then realize that in this particular moment, the absence of my voice would have been much more expressive, much more powerful than its unmindful presence. As someone...Read more...

August 28, 2021

Earlier in our service this morning, we blessed God, habocher b’amo Yisrael b’ahava, the one who chooses God’s people Israel with love. In just a few minutes, we’ll bless God again, asher bachar banu mikol ha’amim v’natan lanu et Torato, the one who chose us from all of the nations and gave us God’s Torah. As we learn in Parshat Ki Tavo, if we act according to this Torah that God has given us, blessings...Read more...