Sermons

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. This year it will be observed from approximately one hour before sundown on Wednesday, July 22nd through sundown on Thursday, July 23rd. The First Tisha B’Av and Its

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand Freedom From Two Oppressions Passover represents freedom from outside oppression; Shavuot represents freedom from internal compulsions. The oppression of Egypt was both overt and subtle, the tyranny of Pharaoh and the pressure of the dominant culture. We were passive when God liberated us from Pharoah, but freedom

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand Purim is one of the happiest days in the Jewish calendar. This holiday, which emphasizes gratitude for our deliverance and friendship for fellow Jews, is so luminous that rabbis have taught that in the days of the Messiah, when other holidays will be abrogated, Purim will still

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Yom Kippur 5786 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket In mid-August, the New Yorker published a cartoon by Christopher Weyant depicting a couple with glasses of wine, looking out from their deck, overlooking a beach and ocean.  One is turned to the other and says: “I can’t believe that the

a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Kol Nidre 5786 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket There is no doubt that every person in this room, and joining us online, is here in North America because at some point in the past each of you, or a parent, or grandparent, or great-grandparent arrived on these shores from

a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor  Rosh HaShana Morning 5786  Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket  (an earlier version of this sermon was originally preached at  St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Nantucket  August 24, 2025)  In the first lines of the Prophetic Book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah struggles to  find words:  הִ נ ֵּ֥ה ל ֹֽ א־יָדַַּ֖ עְ

Rosh Hashana 5786  Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket  Fifty years and three weeks ago, I met and fell in love with my life’s partner,  Marianne. We were in our second year in college, from wildly different  backgrounds and with wildly diverse interests. While we shared a love of  philosophy (and took several classes with the same

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the Jewish year, will be observed from sundown Saturday, August 2 through sundown Sunday, August 3, 2025.  The first Tisha B’Av and its aftermath  The Jews of the Exodus had witnessed the ten plagues, seen the Egyptian army drown in the

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand This year the holiday of Shavuot starts Sunday evening, June 1st around 8 p.m. and concludes on Tuesday evening June 3rd around 9:20 p.m. (the times vary with location). Shavuot, the second pilgrimage holiday falls between Passover and Sukkot. It celebrates both an agricultural and an historical,

a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket Yom Kippur morning 5785 There is an old joke about a ship passing by an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. Upon closer inspection they see two people surviving on the beach.  The captain detours to see if they need rescue.  The

a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket Kol Nidre 5785 My dear friend, Rabbi Stuart Geller, tells the following story.  There once was a confirmed atheist.  All his life, he denied religion and denied the possibility of God.  Upon his death, friends came from all around for one last viewing of

A sermon by Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket Rosh HaShana morning, 5785 It has become increasingly clear that in the past decade we humans have lost an important sense – not one of the five senses (though some of us are losing our hearing, and our vision, as we age, becomes less sharp). 

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket Erev Rosh HaShana 5785 HaYom Harat Olam — Today is the birthday of the world – actually, today the world was conceived.  There is a discussion in the Talmud about blowing the shofar during the Jubilee year, and Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak, asks, “In

Hersh Goldberg-Polin Ori Danino Carmel Gat Alexander Lobanov Almog Sarusi Eden Yerushalmi Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, Hersh’s parents, recently spoke about his captivity.  Jon said, “There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East.  In a competition of pain, there are no winners.”  But now their pain

Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor- Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket (This year it begins on evening of Monday August 12 and continues through sunset on Tuesday August 13) I share with you this essay that I wrote in the past. It is still worthy of consideration.  And yet, there is something different this year.  This day remembers the heart-rending and gut-wrenching moments of our

By Hershel Allerhand This year the holiday of Shavuot will be celebrated on Tuesday evening June 11th through to the Thursday evening of June 13th.  The summary of the laws and customs which follows is unchanged from last year.  However, I do want to emphasize that Shavuot is the culmination of Passover. On Passover, we passively received our political freedom but spiritual freedom

A Passover Sermon 5784 by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor מה נשתנה הסידר הזה מכל הסידרים? Why is this Seder different from all other Seders? I write this not 48 hours from the moment hundreds of drones and missiles were launched from the Islamic Republic of Iran directed at multiple targets in Israel, and thankfully 99%

My Dear Friends, How I wish that I could be with you in person. On behalf of Nantucket’s Jewish Community, Congregation Shirat HaYam, I want to thank you for your concern and support. I especially want to thank Father Max Wolf for organizing and hosting this opportunity to be together – and for his beautifully

A sermon by Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor: Yom Kippur morning 5784 In my years of teaching about interfaith relations, I have often been asked: ‘What is the root difference between Jews and Christians?’  My response, which surprises many, is that if there was a giant balance scale – one side, the pan was marked “faith” and

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor: Kol Nidre 5784 At the end of each day of creation, God said, “V’henei tov (And Behold, it is good).” When God completed the work of creation, God said, “V’henei tov me’od (And Behold, it is very good).”  Yes, the world we have inherited is very good –

Now almost 9 months in duration (a pregnant analogy if there ever was one) the gestating protests across Israel have reached a fever pitch as the first steps have been taken to strip Israel’s Supreme Court of its power to reign in extremist forces that have been empowered in Knesset by a Prime Minister desperate

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor–Rosh Hashana morning 5784 We are living in a time of shifting tectonic plates under the Jewish world.  The synagogue model of the 1950’s no longer sustains many in the community. Jewish defense organizations have changed their priorities as much to address changing needs as to address donor interest.  Denominational differences, once clearly defined, have become

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor– Erev Rosh Hashana 5784 One of the most difficult and probing challenges of our High Holy Day liturgy are the words of U’netaneh Tokef.  It asserts that it is on these days that the Holy One sets the bounds of each of our lives.  “Who shall live and who shall

As we prepare for the High Holidays, you may wish to read a thoughtful piece by our congregant, Hershel Allerhand.  Jewish Prayer Quotations  from the Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik  The Jewish service distinguishes itself by its utter simplicity and the absence of any cultic-ceremonial elements. It lacks the solemnity and magnificence of the Byzantine Greek Orthodox service, the

Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor (This year it begins on evening of Wednesday July 26 and continues through sunset on Thursday July 27) Jewish life is the life of the mind – study is the very core of our continued existence since Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai founded the first Academy after the destruction of the 2nd