Sermons

Yom Kippur Morning 5778 Authored by Rabbis Judy Shanks and Elka Abrahamson With input from many colleagues, especially Rabbi David Stern Shared and emended by Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor Congregation Shirat HaYam, Nantucket The Talmud teaches, “If you see wrongdoing by a member of your household and you do not protest – you are held accountable.

Kol Nidre 5778 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor “They’re trying to throw dust in the eyes [of the public] and say that the Orthodox extremist Jews invented [the separation of sexes],” Shlomo Amar, a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, said. “It’s like Holocaust deniers, it’s the same thing. They shout about Holocaust deniers in Iran,

Rosh HaShanah 5778 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor There isn’t a soul in this room that cannot recount how and when they or their ancestors came to this country. In fact, our very identities are rooted in the travels and travails of our forbearers. Aside from Native Americans, the majority of Americans came from somewhere else,

Erev Rosh HaShanah 5778 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor The meaning of life is often found in where you place the emphasis. This is true especially in language. A little comma — a jot, a tittle, a little mark — changes the entire meaning of a text. Let us take a text from the Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur 5777 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor On Erev Rosh HaShana, I spoke about the power of the voice and noted that the voice can be used to denigrate or elevate. In the intervening days, profanity has continued to pollute our environment. It seems as if we have explored all aspects of the profane –

Kol Nidre 5777 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor Since the breakup of the phone company, and the rise in cellular telephone and cable television and internet companies, there has been a massive increase of competition between them all. While it seems that Comcast and Verizon are the two choices here on Nantucket for cable and internet,

Erev Rosh HaShana 5777 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor A few days ago, I was driving south on the FDR Drive in Manhattan. Traffic had slowed to a crawl. As I looked at the car in front of me, my eyes were drawn to a large bumper sticker, which read “TRUMP THAT BITCH.” Now I have

Rosh HaShana Morning 5777 Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor This morning’s Torah reading has Abraham learning a lesson on the top of Mount Moriah. In fact, most lessons Abraham, and many of our Biblical antecedents, learn take place on the top of a mountain. There may be something to this…. I am a rabbi today in

Yom Kippur 5776, a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor. I will never forget the opening scenario to a sermon my friend, Rabbi Eric Gurvis, gave more than three decades ago, as his Rabbinical School “Senior Sermon”. He described a scene in which he saw, in the distance, a father and child walking down a

Kol Nidre 5776, a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor. Imagine a couple coming in for therapy, married for decades. Both partners talk about their long and difficult upbringing – facing poverty, discrimination, dysfunctional families, myriad challenges — one challenge heaped upon the other. They meet, and despite wildly divergent paths, they find a common

ROSH HASHANA 5776, Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor. While the conversation of the moment is: the Iran agreement and whether or not the Obama proposal should be supported or rejected; if there is a better deal that could be brokered; and, is this good for the Jews and for Israel – there is a greater threat

EREV ROSH HASHANA 5776, Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor. This sermon began with a light bulb. One can say that a light went off in my head. We all know that the common 100 watt incandescent light bulb is now a thing of the past. As one who has a sensitivity to florescent lights, I was loathe

For my 50th birthday, several years ago, my beloved wife Marianne decided to try to control my impeding mid-life crisis with a special gift – giving in to a long-held desire of mine.  She was about to hand me the key to a beautiful motorcycle, when she announced, “I have three rules: 1) Your life insurance better

Kol Nidre, with its focus on the vows that we made which could not be fulfilled, and for which we pray to be released, reminds us that we are human – we err – we make mistakes, sometimes intentionally, sometimes inadvertently. To schlepp these burdens with us, even into a New Year can hobble us,

Rosh Hashana 5775, a sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor. “…I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse; choose life, therefore, that you and your descendants may live.” On Yom Kippur morning, we will read those words in an alternative Torah reading, which, while not found in our Machzo, will be read

EREV ROSH HASHANA, A sermon by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor. When I was a young rabbinical student studying the traditional liturgy, one prayer always made me laugh out loud. While in the Orthodox world the prayer would be recited after one’s daily ablutions, in the Reform Prayer book it would come at the very beginning