Since the murder of George Floyd, I have heard two voices from the members of Temple Emanuel.

By far the more common voice is moral outrage at the structural racial injustice that the murder of George Floyd revealed.  I knew, but I didn’t know. I saw, but I didn’t focus.  I should have done more.  I am complicit.   But now I am awakened.  What books can I read?  What films can I see?  Where can I get an education around my own implicit bias?  What can I do to help?

That is the first reaction, and the more common. In the last two weeks both Michelle and Aliza have  delivered powerful sermons channeling and responding to this voice.

But there is a second voice as well.  Less common.  Often spoken with a bit of trepidation.  Often framed with words like:  Of course George Floyd’s murder was terrible.  Of course racism is a problem.  After these preliminary framings, there is always a but.  But Black Lives Matter as a movement is anti-Israel.  Many of the activists demanding racial justice are openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.  Why can’t you be honest about black anti-Semitism?  So today I would like to talk about black anti-Semitism.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-wes-gardenswartz/but-what-about-black-anti-semitism/

I want to speak to you today as a millennial.

As a millennial, people tell me I don’t understand—that problems take time to resolve, they take nuance, they take patience.  But I know that just because things have been a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s how they need to stay. As a millennial, I know that often we do not have the luxury of time. If we want to make our world conform to our values, we may have to upset industries, we likely have to forge new paths, and we can’t always rely on the systems that existed for our parents and those before them. As a millennial, I know that often the greatest obstacle to the evolution of the planet is the common human aversion to change. As long as we are more attached to the certainty of what is known than the uncertainty of change, progress will remain elusive.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-aliza-berger/time-to-drag-out-our-mattresses/

When the coronavirus first hit and schools around the world shut down, Israeli mother Shiri Kenigsberg Levi rose to internet stardom, sharing her displeasure with the world in a hilarious homeschool harangue. A few weeks later she was at it again – this time in honor of Mother’s Day, reflecting on the super-power of one word.

She begins: “I realized something that if not for the coronavirus I would not have paid attention to – that the children say one word without adding anything, and I already know what they need…Ema.” Mom.

“There’s this…‘E-maaah’ [deep voiced] which is a teenager who hasn’t eaten in 10 minutes and is already starving.”

“There’s this…‘EE-MAAAAHHHH!’ [annoyed]…which is a teenager who’s been fortressed in her room for fifty days…and one of her brothers dares to open the door for a second.”

She goes on for several minutes, sharing lots of ways “Mom” is called out in tones that any mother, in any language, immediately understands.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-michelle-robinson/somebodys-baby/

In the 70s, Walter Mischel began the experiment that we all know and love, and which became one of the most famous psychological experiments of all time. At the time, he wanted to explore the relationship between a child’s patience and ability to wait and their success later in life. To conduct the experiment, he sat four-year-old children in front of a marshmallow and told them they had a choice.  They could eat the marshmallow right away, or, they could wait 15 minutes at which point they would receive an additional marshmallow.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-aliza-berger/abra-kadabra/

In case we did not have enough to worry about, earlier this month news broke about a whole new out-of-left field threat: murder hornets.  If their name itself does not do it, the description of these vicious insects is enough to send shivers up the spine.  The nearly 2-inch predators can singlehandedly destroy the entire population of a honeybee hive in a most gruesome manner within the span of just a few hours.

So far, the American honeybee population, which was already waning (remember the “Save the Bees” campaigns of previous years?), have absolutely no recourse.  The so-called murder hornets are impervious to their stings.  The bees cannot flee far enough or fast enough, and they cannot protect their queen.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-michelle-robinson/murder-hornets/

I realized I had a problem last Friday when I was doing our weekly shopping for Shabbat at Whole Foods—when I saw, and could not resist buying, this large package of 16 toilet paper rolls that we definitely do not need.

One of the glories of the Whole Foods where I shop is that often they have large packages of toilet paper available, one per customer.  I go there once a week, and whenever they happen to have the toilet paper available, I buy it.   The lockdown has been 8 weeks. Five of those 8 weeks they have had toilet paper.  Which means that in the past two months I have bought 80 rolls of toilet paper.  That’s enough toilet paper. It’s just Shira, Sam and me. We are good.  We don’t need another roll.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-wes-gardenswartz/bigger/

A few months ago, when I would send an e-mail to the congregation, I would get scores of bounce-backs – out-of-office replies like, “Thank you for your e-mail, I’m travelling for business and will get back to you as soon as I can.”  Or, “I’m on vacation.  I’ll be offline with limited access to e-mail.  If you need something, call someone else.”

I sent an e-mail last week and received exactly one bounce-back.  What does it mean for our days (and nights) that while most of us are home, almost none of us are “out of office?”  What is the impact of waking up every day in the same place with the same limited range of options before us, plugged in 24/7 on the same screens, and no clear end in sight?

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-michelle-robinson/unflattening-time/

There is a very poor neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa that is regularly terrorized by two rival street gangs.  These gangs literally kill each other and extort, harass, and intimidate townspeople.  Police could not stop the violence. Preachers, pastors, counselors, star soccer players could not stop the violence.  You know what did stop the violence?  The Coronavirus.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-wes-gardenswartz/more-is-more/

There is a nurse in Florida who lives in a town that is blessed not to have much Covid-19 activity.  When she heard about the surge happening in our Commonwealth this week, she decided to help.  She left her husband, her children, and her home in Florida and got right to work in one of our hospitals treating those infected with the virus.  She leaves all she knows behind to run towards the population that the rest of us are running away from. She was asked by an NPR reporter whether she was worried about getting infected.  No, she said.  She will take all proper precautions—but what she is worried about is whether she is doing her part.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-wes-gardenswartz/lord-please-help-me-be-gentle-with-myself/

[sung] My life flows on in endless song, above earth’s lamentation. I hear the real, though far off hymn, that hails a new creation. Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear that music ringing. It sounds an echo in my heart, how can I keep from singing?

Every year when we read the Passover story, and every time we sing the Song of the Sea, I wonder what it would have been like to be an Israelite passing through those tumultuous waters. I imagine them exhausted after weeks of not sleeping because of the plagues and because of the Egyptians crying in the night. I imagine them worn tired by the journey to the sea. I imagine the way their heartbeats must have thundered in their ears as they crossed through the waters, the way they must have panicked with each squelchy step, turning to see Egyptians approaching from behind.

And that moment, the ultimate moment, when they reached the other side and watched the waters crash down on their pursuers. What did they feel?

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-aliza-berger/how-can-we-keep-from-singing/