Korach: Holding onto Hope for Korach

When we escalate from anger to contempt, to what 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer described as ā€œthe unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another,ā€ we move our gaze from a personā€™s actions to their individuality, their personhood.
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On Power, Hope, and Change

A Sermon for Rosh Hashanah, 5772 Rabbi Barbara Penzner   Iā€™d like to start by talking about the movies. Who here has seen ā€œMoneyballā€? Who is planning to see it? Good, that means that you may have some idea about the movie. Itā€™s the story of Billy Beane, general manager of the 2002 Oakland Athletics....
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Fat Torah: Emerging Together from the Shadow of Fear

I loved the cover of my first album. It was all swirls of red and blue painted by my friend Eileen. The year was 1996, and I was proudly selling my CDs (and cassette tapes!) after finishing a performance. One woman bought a CD, took one look at it, shook her head, and said, ā€œYour...
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Good Tents Help You Really See

Commentary on Parshat Balak For the past 10 years, Iā€™ve been leading my synagogueā€™s childrenā€™s school team, yearly, in a 5k walk that likely none of you have ever heard of. TheĀ Save Our Homes Walk SomervilleĀ is indeed a very small local effort. Its purpose is to raise cash for keeping people on the verge of...
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