Calendar – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

July 17, 2026

Four Takes on the Book of Deuteronomy (Shabbat Chazon, Devarim 5782/2022)

This was my D’var Torah on August 26, 2022 for Parashat Devarim, the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy. When you look at the Torah in the scroll or even in a book, it all looks the same – the stories, the laws, the recipes for meals at the altar, the census lists and travelogues,… Continue reading

Books, Brit, Calendar, Devarim, High Holidays, History, Holidays, Jewish Education, Leadership, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Prophets, Simchat Torah, Study, Synagogue, Teshuvah, Torah

July 3, 2026

Celebrating America at 250 — Or, The Daughters of Tzelophechad Meet the Founding Fathers (Parashat Pinchas 5786, the 4th of July!)

This is the draft of my words for Shabbat morning, July 4, 2026, the day of America’s 250th anniversary! The parasha (reading in the Torah) is Pinchas, and my link to that is chapter 27 of Numbers. Chapter 27 of Numbers begins: They came up close, the daughters of Tzeloph’chad, son of Chefer, son of… Continue reading

Calendar, Conservative Judaism, Current Affairs, Equality, Feminism, Freedom, History, Holidays, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Pinchas, Power, USA

July 2, 2026

Hope in America — Data Points and Torah (Chukkat-Balak 5786/2026)

This was my D’var Torah for June 27, 2026, a week before America’s 250th anniversary, for Parashiyot Chukkat-Balak. Though I don’t reference it specifically, Parashat Balak is an interlude in the complaints of the wilderness, a reassurance from the outside that despite the challenges the people are experiencing they are fundamentally blessed and their project… Continue reading

Balak, Calendar, Chukkat, Current Affairs, Exodus, History, Holidays, Hope, Leadership, Miryam, Moshe, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Power, Torah, USA

July 2, 2026

Partners, Not Guests: Jews Building America, America Building Us (Yom Kippur 5780/2019)

This was my Yom Kippur morning sermon for 5780 (2019). As I generally do, I was jumping off from the spirit of the Haftarah of that day, which is mostly from Isaiah 58, and I conclude quoting the end of those prophetic words. One evening last fall I sat in the auditorium at Nashua High… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Freedom, High Holidays, Holidays, Holocaust, Inclusion, Terrorism, Tzedek, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

July 2, 2026

Why I Chose America

This is a D’var Torah I gave just before Independence Day 5776 (2016), for Parashat Sh’lach L’cha. I became an American for good the same year I had decided to become Israeli, and the same year I decided to become more observant, and the same year I pretty much decided to become a rabbi. I… Continue reading

#integratingamerica, Calendar, Conservative Judaism, Equality, Freedom, History, Immigration, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Parashat Hashavua, Sh’lach L’cha, Social Theory, Tikkun Olam, Torah, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

June 19, 2026

Exploring Equality as American Jews as We Approach 250 (Parashat Korach 5786)

Here is my current draft of a D’var Torah for this Shabbat on Parashat Korach. It’s one of many in this period leading up and beyond July 4, the 250th anniversary of the U.S.A. June 20, 1776, was a Saturday just like this year. On that day the town meeting in Natick, Massachusetts, unanimously approved… Continue reading

Books, Calendar, Current Affairs, Equality, History, Inclusion, Justice, Korach, Leadership, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Social Theory, Torah, Tzedek, USA

June 12, 2026

Kalev — Like a Heart But Even More (Parashat Sh’lach L’cha 5785)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Sh’lach L’cha on June 21, 2025. As I publish this a year later (5786/2026), I plan to iterate on very same focus in the synagogue this Shabbat. It’s early summer; Year 2 in the wilderness, the midbar. It’s been some weeks of the nation moving forward, and also… Continue reading

B’midbar, Calendar, Current Affairs, Gaza, GLBT, Hope, Immigration, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Jerusalem, LGBTQ+, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Sh’lach L’cha, Soul, Torah

May 18, 2026

The World Needs Us Not Just to Learn Torah but to Receive It (Preparing for Shavuot)

This is an edited version of my D’var Torah on the Shabbat just preceding Shavuot in 5782 (2022). It’s among others another take on the midrashim about the giving of the Torah that I teach over and over, and a meta-take on what it takes for Torah to be significant when we engage with the… Continue reading

Calendar, Current Affairs, Holidays, Revelation, Shavuot, Talmud, Torah

March 11, 2026

Breadman, and What Rising Bread Taught Me About Our Inflated Selves

This was my D’var Torah for Shabbat Hachodesh, the Shabbat before the beginning of the month when Pesach occurs, in 5769 (2009). It’s one of my favorites! On Shabbat Hachodesh, we read from Exodus 12 about the preparations for the original Pesach in Egypt. A couple weeks ago, our bread maker gave up the ghost. … Continue reading

Calendar, Exodus, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, Holidays, Middot, Pesach, Shabbat Hachodesh

January 6, 2026

Love Is a Form of Sweet Labor (Parashat Shmot 5779)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Shmot in 5779 just before New Year’s, at the turn of 2018 into 2019. I have come to love the hinge between the book of Bereshit (Genesis) and the book of Shmot (Exodus). The sense of something coiled up and about to uncoil. My rav at the Seminary,… Continue reading

Calendar, Love, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Torah

December 25, 2025

Not a Christian Nation, Mr. Vice President, But Yours and Mine

I published this post on Facebook on December 22. 2025, to much positive reception, so I am posting it here too. Sometime around when my family was lighting our last Chanukkah candles last night, the Vice President of the United States proclaimed in a speech at the Turning Point USA convention that the United States… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Freedom, History, Holidays, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Leadership, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult

December 25, 2025

The Ice Bucket Challenge and the Menorah: Sustaining Light (Shabbat Chanukkah 5786-Parashat Mketz)

This was my D’var Torah for Shabbat Chanukkah coinciding with Parashat Miketz in 5786 (December 20, 2025). Do you remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? In the summer of 2014, people began sharing videos of themselves getting ice cold water poured over their heads and asking people to donate money to support people with ALS, amyotrophic… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Holidays, Miketz, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Tzedakah, Tzedek