Sermons

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

By Hershel Allerhand with thanks to Mary Ann Easley for typing and Liz Coffin for editing. This year, the holiday of Shavuot will be celebrated on Friday, May 26th and Saturday, May 27th. In common with other two pilgrimage holidays (Passover and later Sukkot), Shavuot commemorates both an historical and agricultural event. The historical event

By Hershel Allerhand Based on the writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (the memory of the righteous is a blessing). Time: Freedom, Holiness and Responsibility  The first commandment given to the Jews in Egypt before the exodus was to create a calendar by designating the first day of each month, in effect to

A thoughtful essay by our member, Hershel Allerhand, on the meaning of Tu Be’Shvat. Tu Be’Shvat, the ‘New Year for trees,’ falls this year on February 6th. The holiday is called by its date, the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat. It is celebrated in the state of Israel by planting trees and

College used to be a place for academic inquiry, social and physical exploration, recreation and maturation, and sometimes political activism.

Imagine, if you will, that every morning when you woke up some anonymous donor placed $86,400 in a bank account for you to spend any way you wished – with one proviso: any dollar not spent would disappear at the end of 24 hours — no money could be saved. 

The Dubner Maggid told the story of a king who had a large and glorious kingdom – but his most prized possession was a large and glorious diamond.

As never before, our United States democracy is being threatened. And it is being threatened by attacks on one of the most basic rights that sustains a democracy: the right to vote, and the integrity of that vote.

By Herschel Allerhand Vaclav Havel (writer, dissident and statesman) was not Jewish, but his views regarding life mirror those of our Sages and make a good introduction to the coming Holy Days. “Higher responsibility grows out of conscious or subconscious certainty [that] everything is forever being recorded and evaluated … somewhere above us… [by] an

By Herschel Allerhand Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the Jewish year, will be observed on Sunday, August 7th, 2022. Actually, Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, falls on Saturday, August 6th, this year, but as the Sabbath is made for joy, our sorrowful observance is postponed one day.  The first

By Herschel Allerhand, typed by Mary Ann Easley, edited by Elizabeth Coffin

Shavuot is the second of the pilgrimage holidays (falling between Passover and Succot).

By Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor

There are so many interesting challenges when considering the festival of Chanukah – the first is obvious: how do we spell it? 

By Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor

Ed Paine, Ed Pease, Mike Scarpiello wrote a song in 1977, made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary in 1982 “music speaks louder than words, it’s the only thing the whole world listens to, music speaks louder than words, when you sing people understand”

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Yom Kippur 5782 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket The oldest hatred rears its ugly head again.  How I wish there could be a High Holiday season during which the topic of antisemitism need not be addressed.  We don’t live in that world yet and I wonder if we ever

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Kol Nidre 5782 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket I am almost always behind the eight ball. Behind the eight ball means placed in a difficult situation from which one is unlikely to escape. The idiom behind the eight ball was first printed in American newspaper stories in the 1920s and was derived

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Rosh Hashana 5782 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket Imagine if you will – I know that this might be difficult –but try:  Amidst a great democracy, once opposing views have become poisoned.  Instead of reasonable people approaching problems from differing points of view, the atmosphere has become so polarized

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Erev Rosh Hashana, 5782 Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket On March 12, 2020, I drove to Tarrytown, New York, to meet up with some friends who were giving a concert at the Tarrytown Music Hall.  They had been on tour for the past several weeks and expected to continue

Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor As we find ourselves almost a year since the initial shut-down precipitated by Covid-19, it is interesting that we have lived a full Jewish year in that time.  I wrote last year’s thoughts on Purim just days before the actual shut-down of our country.  Many of the things that I wrote

A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Take a minute and imagine the scene: The Children of Israel, after a forty-year journey through the desert, are poised to enter the Promised Land. They are arrayed awaiting the instructions on how to live and what to expect. Moses, their leader for the entire journey, begins his