Rabbi Danny Sermons

COVID Keepers- Rosh HaShanah I Sermon

Posted on September 17, 2021

Click here to watch the video! There was a man who found the cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far Continue Reading »

Sharing Our Brokenness

Posted on September 17, 2021

How’s it going? How are you? How are things? We get asked this question, or a variation of it numerous times a day. But, when I first moved to America, I had to get used to the fact that “How are you?” is not necessarily a real question. The Cultural Atlas actually warns newcomers to Continue Reading »

Covid Keepers

Posted on September 17, 2021

There was a man who found the cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as Continue Reading »

Empathy is the Cure to Society’s Ills

Posted on August 23, 2021

I have seen a sign. And I am sorry to tell you it wasn’t a good one. No, don’t worry it wasn’t that kind of sign, it was an actual physical sign, the type you put out on your front lawn. And in six simple words it symbolizes everything that is wrong with our society Continue Reading »

The contradictory truths of Israel-Palestine

Posted on May 14, 2021

A story is told of six blind men who were fascinated by elephants.[1] They had heard so many tales of these majestic creatures, but of course they had never seen one. One day word came to them that an elephant had arrived in town and so they all set out to meet the animal. The first Continue Reading »

The Jewish Call to Vaccination

Posted on May 9, 2021

It started in Israel as so many innovations and moments of progress often do. Once again, they were the leaders and the ones who were blazing a path for the rest of the world to follow. It began with a new type of photograph shared on social media. A picture of two masked people, one Continue Reading »

Words Matter

Posted on January 9, 2021

At 2:15 on Wednesday afternoon I got a text from my father: “What is happening in your country?” with 3 question marks for effect. At the time I assumed he was simply talking about objections to the democratic process and the fact that elected politicians were challenging the validity of the election that sent them Continue Reading »

Celebrating the Many (and the positives)

Posted on December 7, 2020

One of my favorite psychological experiments is the so-called marshmallow test. It was pioneered at Stanford by a psychology professor named Walter Mischel in the 1960s.[1] To refresh your memory; a child aged 3-5 years old would be left alone in a room with two identical plates, with different quantities of marshmallows, pretzels, cookies or another Continue Reading »

Good winners and Good losers

Posted on November 14, 2020

Our four-year-old son Benny does not like losing. It doesn’t matter what the game is or who the competition is, for him a defeat is often followed by stomping his feet, wailing loudly about the unfairness of it all, and then running away. Recently, he and Gabby have been playing a game on our swingset, Continue Reading »

After the election, now what?

Posted on November 9, 2020

Given the way the last few days have gone, it may be time to declare that the American election is actually a Jewish holiday. The preparation for the day feels like it goes on for months, the main event begins in the evening at sundown; and then it doesn’t end, but lasts for several days. Continue Reading »