Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

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Re’eh

August 16, 2023

The Eye Inside the Eye

This was my D'var Torah for Parashat Re'eh last Shabbat, August 12, 2023. Two friends encounter each other late at night near the town square. It’s a classic small New England town, gazebo in the center, and it’s a particularly clear night, the new moon. The one finds the other kneeling down next to a… Continue reading

Calendar, High Holidays, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh, Rosh Hashanah, Spirituality, Torah
July 20, 2021

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — A Map of Spring and Summer 2021

I've been wanting to get this down for weeks…. I’ve been very affected since March by Torah time – by how the cycle of reading the Torah in synagogue has mapped onto our experience of the pandemic since its one-year anniversary. The first anniversary of the formal declaration of the pandemic and the massive shut-downs… Continue reading

B’haalotcha, B’midbar, Behar, Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Ki Tetze, Ki Tissa, Korach, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Metzora, Naso, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Pekudei, Pinchas, Re’eh, Rosh Hashanah, Shmini, Shoftim, Study, Tisha B’Av, Torah, USA, Vayakhel, Vayikra, Yamim Noraim
August 24, 2017

Building Mountains After Charlottesville

This was the sermon I gave on Saturday, August 19, 2017. There is a sweet little film from about twenty years ago starring Hugh Grant, called “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain.” The story is that two government cartographers come to the small Welsh town of Ffynnon Garw, to… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Parashat Hashavua, Peace, Re’eh, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA
September 5, 2016

What Baseball Can Teach Us About the High Holy Days

This was my Dvar Torah last Shabbat, Sept. 3, 2016. On the final day of the 1949 baseball season, George Kell of Detroit edged out Ted Williams of the Red Sox for the American League batting title. Both of them are credited in the records as batting .343, which means that for every ten times… Continue reading

Elul, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh
August 17, 2012

Parashat Re’eh: Getting Ready for the Election

This week I write with a particular awareness of the time of year. It's Rosh Chodesh Elul, the start of the month leading into Rosh Hashanah. It's our annual time of introspection and self-analysis. It's also a week since the presidential election choice has been clarified, with the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Gov.… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Election, Elul, Freedom, Justice, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh, Tikkun Olam, Tzedakah, Tzedek
August 5, 2010

Parashat Re’eh: Learning from Lending

When it comes to questions of poverty and economic justice, the Torah has a way of speaking across the ages to the complexities of rich and poor. In Parashat Re'eh, Moshe introduces an idea that even today seems unique: free loans to poor people. We usually idealize a form of giving that is pure generosity,… Continue reading

Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh, Tzedakah

Re’eh

The Eye Inside the Eye

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — A Map of Spring and Summer 2021

Building Mountains After Charlottesville

What Baseball Can Teach Us About the High Holy Days

Parashat Re’eh: Getting Ready for the Election

Parashat Re’eh: Learning from Lending