1d ago
Lunch & Learn with American Federation for Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Rabbi Sharon Brous to discuss Weingarten's new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy , which exposes the long-planned strategy to undermine education—and lifts up the powerful role educators play in protecting truth and democracy. We apologize for technical difficulties that occured during the livestream which caused compromised the quality of the first 20 minutes of audio.
1d ago
1. We must be exactly who we are, only more so. 2. There is great geographical, ideological, political and religious distance between us. We must remember that we are responsible for one another. And 3. We must dramatically shift our approach to fighting antisemitism.
3d ago
This is a recording of the Weekly Parashah with Rabbi David Kasher, a class co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR from 12.18.2025 / Mikeitz 5786
6d ago
This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.
Dec 14
The seeds of redemption were being planted—we were just too busy to notice.
Dec 9
A conversation between Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Rabbi Sharon Brous on faith, identity, leadership, and Buchdahl’s new book, Heart of a Stranger.
Dec 7
Dr. Kraemer focuses on the literary analysis of rabbinic literature, rabbinic ritual, the social and religious history of Jews in late antiquity, and Jewish diaspora ideologies. Since 2024, he has played a crucial role in forging policy and expanding the impact of the Library’s world-renowned collections and programs. His most recent book is Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora.
Dec 2
This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's third session of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.
Nov 30
When it comes to speaking about the personal experiences we’ve had— or we yearn for— with God, we tend to retreat into self-consciousness and silence. I’d like for that to change. So, here’s my story.
Nov 25
This is a recording of our second session of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.
Nov 23
Our ancestor, Isaac, repeated the pattern of his father’s failures—an expression of loyalty to the covenant. We, too, may feel trapped by the force of the past, as though we are powerless to the repetition of the worst chapters of our history. But we can—and must—choose agency over inevitability.
Nov 18
Read the source sheet here. This is a recording of our first session of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.
Nov 16
This week’s parashah is the fourth in a row to remind us that Abraham and Sarah are old. Imagine them in Los Angeles, 2025 - how would they age? And how can that help us imagine a new approach to aging for ourselves?
Nov 14
This is a recording from 11.12.2025 of the Weekly Parashah with Rabbi David Kasher, a class co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.
Nov 9
Vayera 5786 The Rabbis warn of a society defined by its cruelty toward the most vulnerable. We must not become Sodom.
Nov 7
This is a recording from 11.5.2025 of the Weekly Parashah with Rabbi David Kasher, a class co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.
Nov 2
The audio recording of this conversation was compromised and you may need to adjust volume settings for certain portions of the recording. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience. Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha is a medical doctor with a specialty in internal medicine, currently completing a clinical fellowship in critical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, combined with a research fellowship at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on healthcare policy and politics that create inequality in health services and outcomes for underserved communities. She formerly served as the Health Policy Director at the Task Force for Health Promotion and Equity in the Arab Society at the Israeli Ministry of Health, leading major efforts and interventions to deal with health disparities between Jews and Arabs in Israel. She co-founded two NGOs that promote socio-economic development of the Bedouin community in Israel, while focusing on health, education, women’s employment, housing and community empowerment. She has won several awards, including the 2007 Ramon Award for quality, leadership, and excellence and was chosen to be part of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. In 2023, she was named one of Israel’s 50 most influential women by Globes Magazine. Yasmeen holds a BSc and MD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.
Nov 2
The case for the medium tent. Source sheet: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Everythings-Breaking.-Can-We-Be-Fixed_.pdf
Oct 31
This is a recording from 10.29.2025 of the Weekly Parashah with Rabbi David Kasher, a class co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.
Oct 26
Hidden in the dry details of genealogy and geography is the actual beginning of Avraham’s story– a beginning that fundamentally changes how we understand the call he receives, the family he leaves, and the journey he undertakes.
Oct 21
From September 27, 2025. At a time when so many horrible things are happening, some might wonder, "Why bother to be a decent person?" At such a time, we need to focus on the words of Hillel, "In a place where people are being inhumane, seek to be a mensch."
Oct 19
As a part of disability Shabbat, IKAR member Matan Koch explores the ideas of openness, welcoming and access in the context of embracing each person's unique reflection of the divine. He takes us on a journey from Talmudic thought to present-day actions, exhorting us to be the kind of community where all of the reflections of the divine are known, and seen.
Oct 19
Stories, perspectives, and wisdom from folks in our own community.
Oct 12
A conversation in recognition of October 7th with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Alana Zeitchik, an Israeli-American peace advocate.
Oct 12
A lighthearted and serious look at the shared strengths of the most majestic of trees and the ancient resilient Children of Israel.
Oct 10
Examining how our perceptions inform our beliefs and behaviors, through the Babylonian Talmud's account of the ancient Water-Drawing Festival.
Oct 5
As we move from the peak experiences of the High Holydays into Sukkot, how will we gather in our joy? What practices can we adopt for Sukkot, whether or not we are able to build a Sukkah? And what role does this joy have to play in our experience of Sukkot and beyond?
Oct 3
I turned to King David and the Prophet Natan to learn how to fight fascism. I learned something much deeper and more sustaining for our time.
Oct 3
We cannot bypass the pain in pursuit of the promise. Only by confronting the trauma of our past, both individual and collective, can we build a future of expansive possibility.
Sep 25
Living meaningfully with the time we've got. Join Rabbi Brous and Lori Gottlieb in a sermon-dialogue on the intersection of Jewish and therapeutic wisdom on issues of deep concern for us today: how to stay in relationship with people whose ideas break your heart, confirmation bias and how minds are changed (can they be?), how to overcome psychic numbing and stay centered and empathic, even when we’re hurting, how to hold hope and grow resiliency, and more. Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, which has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. In addition to her clinical practice, she writes The New York Times “Ask the Therapist” advice column and is co-host of the popular “Dear Therapists” podcast and the advice podcast Since You Asked. A contributing writer for The Atlantic, she also wrote The Atlantic’s “Dear Therapist” advice column for six years. She is a sought-after expert appearing on Oprah, The Today Show, The Daily Show, Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, CNN, and NPR’s “Fresh Air” and her TED Talk was one of the Top 10 Most Watched of the Year. She is also an IKAR member, and mother of the wonderful Zachary Gottlieb, IKAR teen extraordinaire.
Sep 25
We are facing a spiritual catastrophe. In the small space between prophecy and distinct possibility, we must forge a new path.
Sep 25
We're living in a world of constant distraction and alerts and noise, and we're exhausted. But we also don't know how to get out of this internally and externally constructed trap. What can these holidays help us learn about the necessity of stillness and silence in order to go back out into the world? How can they help us rediscover our connection with ourselves and with each other?
Sep 14
The Jewish community is being offered a false choice between countering antisemitism and protecting democracy and civil rights. But there is no inclusive democracy without Jewish safety -- and no Jewish safety without inclusive democracy. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) and a nationally recognized leader on countering antisemitism and extremism and protecting democracy -- who previously led the successful lawsuit against the Charlottesville neo-Nazis -- will join Rabbi Sharon Brous for a conversation on how we can reject the false binaries of this moment and advance a more just and inclusive world for Jews and all communities
Sep 7
As we move closer to the High Holydays, what do Ursula Le Guin, a provocative Midrash and the opening word of our Torah portion have to teach us about the demanding but essenntial work of teshuvah?
Sep 1
In this week's parsha we learn that the king had to write a Torah for himself. Or was it two - a Torah that accompanies him throughout his life and one that remains in a treasury locked away? From this we can learn a lot about our public and private selves and about the difference between the actual and the ideal. What lessons might accompany us as we enter this holiday season and throughout our lives?
Aug 24
Both the Jewish calendar and the Torah come to a close leaving our people in a state of active preparation. But do we ever feel truly ready?
Aug 18
An earnest message to my child as she makes her own way in a broken, angry, anguished world, and a quiet plea to us all to open our hearts with love.
Aug 10
At first glance, Tu B’av, the Festival of Love, seems to be the Jewish equivalent of Valentine’s Day. But, a deeper look at the strange origins of this holiday reveals the transformative possibilities of this day. It all begins with an ax.
Aug 3
Tisha B'Av is the day we devote to contemplating destruction and ruin. How should we observe it, this year, when we are already carrying so much grief? And how can our tradition, and the story of one London rabbinical student, spur us to action?
Jul 27
Right now we are in the period of the most concentrated grief in the Jewish calendar leading up to Tisha b'Av next week. This year, in Los Angeles, we are in an extended period of the same. From the fires through the ICE raids beginning last month, we have gotten no reprieve. What insight does our parsha lend us about how to live in this valley of grief and also let our grief be a catalyst for action?
Jul 20
Buried in a list of names is the mysterious fact that the sons of the mutinous leader Korah did not die. What follows is the bizarre journey of the sons of Korah to a ledge in Hell, where their song calls out to us, even today.
Jul 13
Sharing a personal, first-hand account of my time in Israel during the war with Iran.
Jun 29
Trauma, history, fear—all of these lead us down a path that is as futile as it is dangerous. At the end of one terrible war and in the midst of another, we can do better. We must grow in our ability to imagine one other.
Jun 22
The ten spies who enter Canaan create 40 years of delay in the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land. What did they do wrong? And how can we avoid making the same mistake they did as we witness the brutality all around us?
Jun 15
Amid ICE raids and ballistic missiles, here’s what I saw from the stage at a multifaith vigil in downtown Los Angeles, what I heard from my Iranian friend who yearns for home, and why I believe our most audacious dreams must be born in the darkest times
Jun 8
This Pride Shabbat, we need to reckon with the current landscape for our trans siblings. We need to understand that trans people are being used as a wedge to divide Americans, and as a test case for increasing authoritarianism. What does our parsha teach us about the dangers of callousness, and what brighter, more beautiful future can we imagine?
Jun 1
When trauma is acknowledged, not denied, not justified, not dismissed through comparison, only then can something new and hopeful be imagined. Read the sermon here.
May 25
After the antisemitic murder of two young beloveds on a DC street, there are four things I know. Parashat Behar-Behukotai 5785
May 18
A strange, mysterious half-story told in the Torah hints at a failure of leadership and a failure of law, and calls us to be brave and bold, especially when our dreams seem furthest from reality.
May 11
A blessing for strength in spirit and body for a new Pope in a time when spiritual and moral leadership matters more profoundly than ever.
May 9
In a world roiled by seemingly unprecedented division and doubt, the longing for spiritual meaning and for a life rooted in faith appears to be growing ever stronger. In this session, speakers share their perspectives and experiences of faith, and the role faith and faith-driven communities can and should play in calming stormy seas. This is an archive of a live event from 5/7/2025 that took place as part of Milken Institute's Global Conference.
May 8
To thine own self be true: Sharon Brous has let this advice illuminate her path to becoming a rabbi. She was raised with a strong social, but not religious, Jewish identity. The more she studied and admired the humanity in the sages’ writings, the more Brous felt her voice was silenced simply because she is a woman. Today, as an ordained rabbi, Brous’s decades of hands-on pastoral care in Los Angeles has cleared “a path to become myself.” Her book, The Amen Effect —and how to get it—is embraced by seekers of every stripe and urges us to seek human connection in an increasingly isolated and divided world.
May 4
…Because there is a space between stimulus and response. What we do in that space is our choice. So please: tell me you’re scared. I’m scared too. Tell me times are tough. Tell me we’re facing a narrowing landscape of possibilities. But please do not tell me there’s nothing we can do . There’s always a choice to make. Parashat Tazria-Metzora 5785—May 3, 2025
Apr 28
On today’s episode of Best Book Ever, Rabbi David Kasher is joined by Madison Margolin to talk about psychedelic experiences in the Torah. Madison is the author of Exile & Ecstasy: Growing Up with Ram Dass and Coming of Age in the Jewish Psychedelic Underground . She’s also Co-founder of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit and DoubleBlind , a print magazine and digital media startup covering psychedelics and where they intersect with mental health, environmental justice, social equity, and more, Madison also teaches on Judaism and psychedelics, such as with Tzfat’s LiveKabbalah or Psychedelics Today, and offers consulting and guidance for those on the Jewish-psychedelic path.
Apr 27
This week was the 250th anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. In his story we see so many echoes of our current moment. What lessons can we take with us right now? And how does our parsha's story of Aaron, the high priest, help us step forward to carry out the tasks we are called to do?
Apr 20
Find the text study sheet here. There are a number of parallels between the creation of the world and the splitting of Yam Suf , casting this dramatic moment of the Exodus as a kind of “recreation story.” Which makes the appearance of a provocative midrash about an Israelite woman picking fruit from a tree and feeding it to another that much more fascinating… and I’d like to suggest, subversive. What exactly happened in the Garden of Eden, and what message does it hold for the generation crossing the sea? 7th Day of Passover 5785 | Parshat Beshallah
Apr 15
From 4.12.2025 Prepare to embrace the bold vision of Passover (that we are all heading toward freedom, that pharaohs crumble and fall) requires focus. Let's affirm the twin pillars of the Hebrew Bible (chesed/lovingkindness and tzedek/justice) to gird ourselves for the battle ahead!
Apr 7
Ours is not the first generation in which telling this story, reiterating these foundational ideas, is risky. Dangerous, even. And perhaps that is the greatest reason of all to tell this story truthfully. April 5, 2025 – Pesah 5785
Mar 31
Guy Branum joins Rabbi David Kasher to discuss Ashera and the presence of a goddess in the Torah.
Mar 30
Let us not turn to the garden—or the theater, or the studio—to escape this world, but to enrich the soul, to strengthen our hearts to plant for a better future. Making art, tending gardens, telling stories, especially from within the narrowest constraints—all of these can be sacred acts of defiance.
Mar 26
This is an archive of IKAR's Adult learning class: The Amen Effect with Rabbi Sharon Brous
Mar 23
Lunch & Learn from Shabbat 3.21.2025 - Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum in conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous.
Mar 20
An archive of Rabbi Sharon Brous's The Amen Effect class from 3.11.2025
Mar 20
An archive of Rabbi Sharon Brous's The Amen Effect Class from 2.25.2025
Mar 16
The rabbis radically reinvent Elijah. From violent zealot to gentle peace builder. The path to the messianic era depends on this transformation.
Mar 9
Using Jews as a wedge to break apart the world order is not new. We must be honest about what’s happening here.
Mar 5
On March 3rd, we welcomed Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the forefront of a burgeoning new peace movement in conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous.
Mar 2
Rabbi Morris Panitz is joined by Professor Arnold Eisen to discuss his new book. "Seeking the Hiding God: A Personal Theological Essay invites readers to join the author in asking, perhaps for the first time, what they actually believe about ultimate matters of faith and doubt – and rewards fellow- searchers for ultimate meaning with reassurance that the search itself can be a source of personal fulfillment, vibrant community, and great joy."
Mar 2
When your most precious resource faces grave risk, you create a sanctuary to protect and nurture it. You hold close the seeds, so that when the conditions are right, you can replant and rebuild.
Feb 24
Hear from Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Khaled Abu Awwad, leaders of Roots/Shorashim/Judur, an Israeli-Palestinian grassroots initiative for understanding, nonviolence, and transformation. They represent a unique network of local Palestinians and Israelis who have come to see each other as partners in the work to make changes to end the conflict. They share with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Melissa Balaban their personal stories of struggle and transformation as well as their vision of mutual national recognition and reconciliation.
Feb 24
In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Join Rabbi Brous in a series of text studies that explore the Jewish sources that form the core ideas behind her new book, The Amen Effect.
Feb 23
We are lost and disoriented. How can the core values of this week's Torah portion supply us with a compass to navigate the landscape of moral injury?
Feb 17
Yitro reminds us, in the twisted reality of our time: do not quiet your intuition. Defy the new norms. Live from your deepest moral convictions, not your most callous political calculations. And do not eat the tainted grain— no matter how hungry you are. Keep searching for an alternative food source. There is always another food source.
Feb 9
Four postures our tradition warns against, in the face of grave threat: Do not snail. Do not capitulate. Do not meet become the mirror image of your enemy. Do not render yourselves preemptively powerlessness. Instead: do what you know.
Feb 2
We are all struggling in this moment of deep darkness - either riding the constant emotional rollercoaster or already feeling numb. The thing is that both of these will destroy us. Instead, we need to stay connected to our humanity and each other to get us through. That is the only way we will find ourselves back in the light.
Jan 29
How do American Jews navigate complex conversations about Israel and Palestine across generations? And what does it take to truly listen to each other? Rabbi Sharon Brous sits down with IKAR’s CEO Melissa Balaban and her daughter Emma Wergeles to reflect on their recent trip to Israel and the West Bank with Encounter . From different generational perspectives, they share what challenged them, what moved them, and why direct engagement with both Palestinian and Israeli perspectives is essential for for any hope of a lasting and just peace.
Jan 26
This is the moment to remember who we are, to ground ourselves in the story that stands in determined opposition to the story of tyranny. To tell of a God who cares about the vulnerable. To become again a people whose faith compels us to protect the frightened.
Jan 19
After 15 months of catastrophic loss, unspeakable heartache, and the utter undoing of not one but two peoples—in body and spirit, we stand—at this moment—at an inflection point. May this be the beginning of the end of the suffering. May it be the beginning of the path toward a just peace. Read the sermon here.
Jan 12
Even as the fires burn, let us hold on another, give voice to what we have lost, and turn toward what remains.
Jan 5
How did Joseph, a man hardened by one life experience after the next, soften his heart to forgive his brothers? A remarkable midrash imagines a conversation between Joseph and Benjamin that changes everything. Ten names and all the worlds of meaning, of missing, of memory they contain.
Dec 29, 2024
What is Joseph's legacy? And what can we learn from the character with the most costume changes in all of the Torah?
Dec 15, 2024
Jacob tried to flee from his estranged brother. Did he fear more the battle, or the potential reconciliation? What happens when victimhood is built into our self-definition? What do we lose when we stay at the table, and what might we gain? What will it take for us to understand that there is no future until we see one another? Vayishlah 5785
Dec 8, 2024
There is a teaching in Pirkei Avot that says that the mouth of the well was made during the first Shabbat of creation. We have long accepted it to be Miriam's well, but what if it's the well from this week's parsha - the one Jacob encounters after his dream, and where he meets Rachel for the first time? If it's that well, then maybe we, like Jacob, have to find the well, roll off the stone, and discover what exists underneath.
Dec 1, 2024
Who is Isaac? The man perpetually trapped by his father’s story, still bound to the altar, forever defined by the core trauma of his life. What will it take to break free? For the once bound to become unbound? Source sheet: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Isaac_-Bound-and-Unbound-1.pdf
Nov 24, 2024
After a life of heartache, two estranged brothers affirmed each other’s humanity, and rediscovered their own. We, too, can make that choice. Let us push back on the encroaching darkness as a force for good—a light force—that counters the cruelty, racism, and violence poisoning our culture with compassion, tender presence, and forgiveness. This is what solidarity looks like.
Nov 17, 2024
Loving your neighbor, who is like you, whose identity you share, is not enough. You must stretch the boundaries of love to wrap into its embrace the stranger, the people in our society who are furthest away from power. To counter the frenzy of rhetoric and the aspirations of policy that demonize these human beings, we need to love them fiercely. We need to love them fully.
Nov 10, 2024
Now we must learn the lesson our ancestor Avram learned: one day our dreams will be realized. Just not today. And not tomorrow. And maybe not for many years. But just as hope doesn’t die, dreams don’t die. The dream we share for America didn’t die because our dream— the dream of a just and merciful multiracial democracy in which all people live in dignity— that dream is the right dream. It is the only future… it’s just now clear that it will take much longer to achieve than any of us had hoped.
Nov 3, 2024
There’s an eerie resonance between the Noah narrative and this week. What does Noah's Flood teach us about navigating chaos and coming once more to land?
Oct 27, 2024
After the death of a beloved child in our community to suicide, we reaffirm our commitment to combatting shame with tenderhearted love, to meeting one another in the dark, to never giving up on each other. May Benjamin Ellis’s memory be a blessing.
Oct 20, 2024
Sukkot reflects our people's ancient narrative, balancing the transience of a wandering nation and the fragility of life with our yearning for home and the Eternal Divine. How does our tradition compel us to relate to those who yearn for home, but who are left to wander?
Oct 13, 2024
The only way forward is one broken heart next to another, crying together, awakening to the reality that grief is our common bond.
Oct 13, 2024
There is a dominant story in America today—a story of isolation, alienation, and narrow-minded extremism, fueled by a deeply unsettling convergence of right- and left-wing antisemitism. This story—propagated by a would-be authoritarian—plays on our worst instincts: the smallness, the fear, the ever-present sense of scarcity. And it threatens to do untold damage. We must write something new.
Oct 6, 2024
Text study and conversation between Alex Edelman and Rabbi Sharon Brous on the Torah of Joy, and the Power, Promise, and Necessity of Laughter in Dark Times.
Oct 6, 2024
Hope doesn’t die, and despair is a privilege we cannot afford.
Oct 2, 2024
We think of t'shuvah as a process that begins quietly, internally. We take stock and then we act. But what if we need an external catalyst first? What if we need to return to a physical place in order to encounter ourselves again - a different version of ourselves, different pieces. What can returning to a place surface for us? And what does our tradition show us can come from that journey?
Sep 29, 2024
One year after her sister's death, Michal rethinks the Talmudic story of "the oven of achnei" and Moses's final speech to the people to reflect upon the importance of small and private acts.
Sep 22, 2024
Vivian Silver (founder of Women Wage Peace, lifelong Israeli-Canadian peace activist and beloved friend to many in our community), was murdered by Hamas on October 7th. Since then, her son, Yonatan Zeigen, has dedicated his life to realizing her vision of peace. Arab Aramin is a Palestinian peace activist whose sister was killed by an Israeli soldier in 2007. The two are members of the Parents Circle – Families Forum, a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members in the conflict, and who believe that only together can they achieve a sustained peace.
Sep 22, 2024
As we prepare for the High Holy Days, what difficult things do you need to say to God? Covenantal relationship must be able to hold it all. The anger and the disappointment, the heartbreak and the rebuke.
Sep 15, 2024
We say Psalm 27 100 times in the High Holy day season. Why?
Sep 8, 2024
Six beloved hostages were executed in a tunnel beneath Rafah, leaving behind broken-hearted loved ones and a shattered nation. We must be clear about who is responsible.
Sep 1, 2024
At this time of year in our Jewish calendar, we are in a season of second chances. We are reading Moshe's retelling of the people's journey through the desert in Deuteronomy, and we are about to enter into the month of Elul, the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. It is also the moment when Moshe went back up the mountain to get the second set of tablets - the ultimate story of second chances. We are about to start our own month of reflection and repair - let's see what we can do.
Aug 26, 2024
Water is not only a building block of life, but also of culture. How we receive water shapes our consciousness and has the potential to remind us of the ultimate truth of our existence: we are always, and inevitably, dependent.
Aug 18, 2024
Source Sheet: https://ikar.app.box.com/s/rtmn38bq994apeql50rea60v1irkvvsg An extraordinary rabbinic story re-imagines the final conversation between Moses and God, exploring core questions foundational to the human experience. What happens in the moment of death? And, what peace can be found when learning to let go?
Aug 12, 2024
Some years, the mourning and reflection of Tisha b’Av can feel performative. This year, it will be deeply personal. Even as we approach the abyss, we must remember the redemptive vision planted deep within our souls. Parashat Devarim, Shabbat Hazon -- 5784
Aug 5, 2024
Sermon from 8.3.2024 / Matot-Masei 5784
Jul 28, 2024
This week we find ourselves freed from some of the defeatism and despair that was taking root these last weeks and months. And now, with a bit of renewed hope, we have so much work to do. In the parsha we see a model of a collective that includes everyone and centers marginalized and unexpected groups. This moment demands we show up, no matter what that looks like. Find a way in - this fight will take all of us.
Jul 21, 2024
The sense of defeatism, all too present after the events in this country over the last week, is the most dangerous myth threatening our future right now. To throw up our hands and surrender to the myth of inevitability is to relinquish the most precious gift given to humanity: our capacity to change the world around us. We can be scared without being resigned. We can be exhausted without being fatalistic. We can be discouraged but nonetheless courageous.
Jul 14, 2024
When we roll open the sacred Torah, what we see is monochrome. Pale parchment, dark ink, black, and white. Which are the only colors the human being can see when we are born. If today's parsha had a color, it would be red. Click here to see the painting Hope, by George Frederick Watts, painted in 1886: https://www.wikiart.org/en/george-frederick-watts/hope-1886
Jun 30, 2024
We are living in a world that is broken and painful. It is a moment to turn towards the angels within us and around us in order to find our way through.
Jun 24, 2024
Our family is broken. Please, God, help us heal.
Jun 16, 2024
Every ounce of our energy must advance a vision of peace. There is no other way to rebuild a society in ruins. Our God, and God of our ancestors. Our God, and God of our descendants. Grant us peace.
Jun 11, 2024
A special discussion with author Mickey Bergman about his book, In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad .
Jun 9, 2024
A warning, from our dark and pained past: remember, even when confronted by external enemies, it is the extremism in our own Jewish community that poses the most potent threat to our survival. We are at an inflection point: will we again fall prey to the zealots?
May 31, 2024
Source Sheet https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/568347?lang=bi Full class: https://youtu.be/xCIiAkZDSGQ
May 27, 2024
A tribute to some of the many moments with this beautiful community that have changed me over the past 16 years.
May 24, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/566742?lang=bi Watch the Full Class: https://youtu.be/FRhY5TSlsqo
May 20, 2024
Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/404083?lang=biWatch the Full Class: https://youtu.be/YrP-HnwjiNc
May 19, 2024
“It is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair. Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives, such as job opportunities or barrier-free buildings…” - Judy Heumann, of blessed memory.
May 13, 2024
Weekly Parsha Study with Rabbi David Kasher Full unedited class: https://youtu.be/tQGKQYEjVKA Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/563716?lang=bi
May 13, 2024
Holiness is recognizing that what looks like the whole story is always, necessarily, only part of the story. It's the stretch that moves us beyond what we know and what we’ve seen and into what we can imagine and dream.
May 5, 2024
Weekly Parsha Study with Rabbi David Kasher from 5.2.2024. Full unedited class: https://youtu.be/O-gaUHURJBA Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/562111?lang=bi
May 5, 2024
With Auschwitz Survivor Ella Mandel and Amit, Zeve, and Oren Zilberstein, Jason Neidleman, and Alexia Gyorody, the second, third, and fourth generation of family members who both survived and perished in the Shoah. As living survivor numbers dwindle, we will explore together how we can understand and hold their experiences in ways that co-create a more just, humane and dignified future for one another and our world. Co-produced by Peanut Productions. Videos by The Righteous Conversations Project: - To Life: The Ella Mandel Story created in collaboration with Sinai Akiba - Dreams of Yisrael: The Story of Yisrael Zilberstein created in collaboration with IKAR Limudim
May 5, 2024
We must have zero tolerance for violent and racist rhetoric in our Jewish community. We must support the birth of a new mixed multitude: those who reject extremism, who reject the violent, reductive idea that Palestinians and Jews must be eternal enemies. That one’s victory necessitates another’s victimhood, or even worse: elimination. This mixed multitude is made of people who know that we do not undermine our own sorrow or betray our own people when we see one another, those who understand that our fates are all tied up in one another.
Apr 28, 2024
The protest movement has unleashed a virulent and dangerous antisemitism that endangers Jews, threatens democracy, and undermines the fight for justice and liberation for Palestinians. We must do better. What we need is a movement fueled by empathy and moral imagination. One that recognizes that both peoples have suffered terribly. That neither is leaving. That a just future is possible for everyone.
Apr 22, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/558262?lang=bi
Apr 21, 2024
The free person, awake and humble, can acknowledge the truth that emerges from various even contradictory perspectives. This is not a sign of weakness, but of spiritual liberation. Perhaps that the very essence of freedom is growing in spaciousness.
Apr 14, 2024
How can we ensure that the Passover Seder is not performative, but transformative? When we open our doors to those who are hungry, something in our hearts opens too. This is how we begin to write a new liberation story. Since October 7, The New Israel Fund has been funding emergency support and resettlement for Israelis forced from their homes, and they have been supporting Israelis and Palestinians working together for a just future. They have now launched a campaign to feed the people of Gaza living at the brink of famine through the World Central Kitchen and The International Rescue Committee. The humanitarian crisis there is a moral catastrophe, and it is a Jewish moral obligation to feed those who are hungry. I hope you’ll join me in support of this campaign.
Apr 8, 2024
Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/556558?editor=1
Apr 7, 2024
Kabbalat Shabbat dinner discussion with sisters Danielle and Galeet Dardashti from The Nightingale of Iran Podcast
Apr 7, 2024
This week we are entering into the new Hebrew month of Nisan. The rabbis debate whether this month or Tishrei (the month with Rosh HaShanah) are the beginning of the year. Some say both. Creation is a process. As we look ahead to the new month we also look back at the last six months - what seeds were planted that we can reap now? What seeds can we plant now to harvest something new in Tishrei? Let's get started.
Apr 1, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/554948?editor=1
Mar 31, 2024
A Priestly ritual offers a path toward spiritual preparation for Passover
Mar 24, 2024
Live, for a day, without all the answers, without all the assumptions about each other that cast a giant shadow over how we relate to one another. Who knows what kind of humanity might emerge from such a day, from such a world?
Mar 18, 2024
The Purim story reminds us that the real danger is when overt meets latent antisemitism. And in a culture steeped in antisemitism, literally no one is safe. The bulwark against authoritarianism is a multiracial, multifaith coalition, and that coalition is broken today, and risks being fractured beyond repair. We must sound the alarm.
Mar 17, 2024
Mar 15, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/551802?lang=bi
Mar 11, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/550092?editor=1
Mar 11, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/548331?editor=1
Mar 10, 2024
A conversation with Standing Together , a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice.
Mar 10, 2024
In a landscape of utter devastation, the spiritual work of choosing hope in the heartache.
Mar 3, 2024
When God threatens to wipe out the Israelites, Moses recognizes, in the subtleties of language, that history is on the verge of dangerously repeating. Moses must become a new kind of leader, one who does everything in his power to save the people from God’s wrath. Only then can healing begin.
Feb 29, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/546667?editor=1
Feb 26, 2024
We must reject the way of eternal war. The hostages must be returned to their loved ones. Humanitarian aid must reach the people of Gaza immediately. Israeli and Palestinian leadership must commit to a long term negotiated peace. There is another way, and saying so is not betrayal… it is love. Parashat Tetzaveh 5784
Feb 19, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/545191?editor=1
Feb 18, 2024
My reflections on a week spent at the U.S./Mexico border, witnessing up close the horrors that are happening every single day. We continue to make it nearly impossible for people seeking asylum to safely enter this country and with the numbers of displaced people around the world growing quickly, we need better solutions. The Torah's images of the keruvim (cherubs) offer us two versions - what will we choose?
Feb 11, 2024
If law is the ground upon which we stand, story must be the water that softens the soil. When law leaves story behind, it runs the risk of disregarding the human beings it's meant to protect. In the last year and a half, since Roe V. Wade was overturned, far too many women and people who need abortion access have been dangerously denied care. It’s time to tell their stories and protect the right to reproductive freedom.
Feb 5, 2024
It is precisely when the public square is consumed with fantasies of binary outcomes and our hearts are full of anguish that we honor those Israelis and Palestinians who are working in partnership to imagine a just and peaceful future. Rabbi Brous joins May Pundak and Dr. Rula Hardal, the Israeli and Palestinian co directors of A Land for All, to discuss their shared vision. Learn more about the vision, the work and the promise of ALFA here.
Jan 29, 2024
What happens when one memory is replaced by another, when a moment of discernment is replaced by an act of force? The people are free, but Moses is caught between past and future, and the consequences are tragic.
Jan 21, 2024
Lunch and Learn with author, Adam Mansbach who joins us to discuss their book The Golem of Brooklyn with Hillel Tigay. Due to technical difficulties, the beginning of this program was not recorded.
Jan 21, 2024
We must speak of the darkness that lives in some of our bodies and spirits, a darkness that sometimes manifests as depression, despair, and suicidal ideation, a darkness that may feel inescapable. I offer these words with great love and tenderness toward those who are holding fresh or age-old wounds of worry and grief. Today we’ll meet in the darkness.
Jan 19, 2024
Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/538397?lang=bi
Jan 12, 2024
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/536848?lang=bi
Jan 8, 2024
Join Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation with Rep. Katie Porter, who represents the 47th Congressional District in Orange County, California
Jan 8, 2024
There’s so much keeping us up at night. This war is breaking us. But even in the darkness, we can choose to embrace life. Joy. Love. And hope for a better future. What gets you up in the morning?
Jan 3, 2024
A medieval text cries out to us from the depths of Jacob’s anguished heart to our own: beware lest we see a whole world full of bloodthirsty predators. Adding grief to grief will never heal the broken heart. We don’t all need to love each other. But we absolutely must understand one another.
Dec 17, 2023
A seemingly unnecessary detail in the text hints at a multigenerational reminder: the generational transmission of hope is the most audacious and profound expression of spiritual resistance in a cruel and broken world. So lift your gaze to a future beyond the devastation of today. Imagine a different end to the story.
Dec 15, 2023
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/531708?lang=bi
Dec 4, 2023
A little jar with a remarkable journey tells a story desperately needed in this time of war. Perpetual violence is not inevitable. Never abandon the conviction that peace is our ultimate hope, and it can be found.
Dec 1, 2023
Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/528461?lang=bi
Nov 29, 2023
In the wake of the devastating attacks on southern Israel on October 7th, which resulted in so many taken hostage, murdered, and even more displaced, our hearts go out to all those affected. Kibbutz Kfar Azza, among the hardest hit, saw its members' lives entirely shattered. To honor the victims and support the survivors in their efforts to rebuild, we invite you to join a community memorial and fundraiser in a Zoom webinar with survivors from Kibbutz Kfar Azza in a conversation moderated by Rabbi Sharon Brous.
Nov 28, 2023
From Rabbi Panitz's class on 11.21.2023
Nov 26, 2023
When women’s voices are ignored, diminished and marginalized, everyone loses. Jacob loved Rachel, but he failed to take seriously her anguished voice. Thousands of years later, Israeli spotters—women in intelligence—were ignored… at the peril of the nation. Why we must center women’s voices in the quest for peace, and in the work for a better, safer world.
Nov 19, 2023
Nov 19, 2023
Nov 18, 2023
Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parsha Study. Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/525551?lang=bi
Nov 13, 2023
Trauma awakens our ancestor Yitzhak to the possibility of a third way. Third way people fight to see humanity, even when our own humanity has been denied, and insist on complexity in a world of simplistic certainties, and fluidity in a time of binaries. Perhaps we, too, can find one another in that spacious place, the place where hope is born.
Nov 11, 2023
Nov 5, 2023
In this moment it is so easy to be fully consumed by the constant news updates and horrors and the fear and uncertainty. And as we continue to try to show up and manage the raging world out there, we must also take of ourselves. We need each other for this long road ahead - what do we have to offer?
Nov 3, 2023
A recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly virtual parsha study class from 10.26.2023. Sign up for the class here: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A...
Oct 29, 2023
We are descendants of Abraham, Ivrim – Hebrews. Rooted in our identity is an ancient call to meet our family in sorrow, to act in solidarity, and even from the depths of our pain, to never, ever forget the humanity of the other.
Oct 27, 2023
A recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly virtual parsha study class from 10.26.2023. Sign up for the class here: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A...
Oct 21, 2023
A recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly virtual parsha study class from 10.19.2023. Sign up for the class here: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fikar-la.zoom.us%2Fmeeting%2Fregister%2FtJwrfuytrz4jGtMKB6cYx0bcGz7JmFw5rgUd&sa=D&ust=1697577720000000&usg=AOvVaw1yOKzqinM2sivSvIl6GPS9
Oct 15, 2023
After the atrocities in Israel on Simhat Torah, among the worst in Jewish history, we must remember the healing power of community, and the importance of compassion, solidarity and showing up.
Oct 13, 2023
A recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly virtual parsha study class from 10.12.2023. Sign up for the class here: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fikar-la.zoom.us%2Fmeeting%2Fregister%2FtJwrfuytrz4jGtMKB6cYx0bcGz7JmFw5rgUd&sa=D&ust=1697577720000000&usg=AOvVaw1yOKzqinM2sivSvIl6GPS9
Oct 13, 2023
The book of B'midbar is a book full of conflict. And so that was the book that Ezra Furman suggested we talk about. It's appropriate - she's a punk musician and B'midbar is kind of the punk book of the Torah. I think you'll find it interesting to hear a a side of Ezra that you won't always see on stage, a soft, reflective side. She will scream at you from the stage, but one on one, when she's working through ideas, she's very quiet and deliberate. You can tell that she believes everything she says and and believes that how you say it and when you say it are extremely important, too. Buy Rabbi David Kasher's book, ParshaNut . Best Book Ever is a co-presentation of IKAR and the Hadar Institute. Find us on socials @WeAreIKAR and @HadarInstitute. You can follow my Facebook page at Rabbi David Kasher or find me on instagram @DavidKasher to keep up with the show and everything else we’re getting up to.
Sep 26, 2023
How must we respond to the danger posed by Israel’s extreme, ultranationalist government? Walking away is not a moral choice. Instead, we must summon courage, imagination and moral clarity.
Sep 19, 2023
Engaging fully in the introspection of this High Holiday season can land us deep in shame and unable to move. But there is another way: be honest about our shortcomings, witness them and embrace them, and then transform them into something else entirely.
Sep 18, 2023
Some reflections on ending well, and what we pray will never end, offered on my father’s shloshim—the end of the most intense period of mourning. Read the full transcript: https://ikar.box.com/s/pk0nat9jcb3k3pk4uzken4ujdcrum1hb
Sep 18, 2023
Pastor Eddie Anderson, Reverend Zachary Hoover, and Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation to discuss the necessity of reparations for building the beloved community.
Aug 28, 2023
This summer, we’ve become a city of picket lines, with more than 100,000 workers out on strike. Though the particulars of each strike might differ, screenwriters, actors, hotel employees, and city staffers are unified in demanding greater respect from their employers and the right to a sustainable livelihood. The Torah is clear that the dangerous gap between the power of the employer and the worker necessitates our solidarity with the worker’s pursuit of dignity. Let’s make our voices heard.
Aug 21, 2023
Our Torah teaches clearly that during war you cannot cut down enemy trees. How does that impact our understanding of the fires ravaging Maui? The horrible toll of colonization and climate change is all around us, what are we called to do?
Aug 13, 2023
Within the story of a technical, 2nd century, out-of-the-box legal maneuver is a much greater lesson about the dangers of a fracturing social reality. It’s a cautionary tale about what’s at stake when a society is perilously far from its foundational ideals. A tale, sadly, as modern as it is ancient.
Aug 6, 2023
What if what changes us are not in the earthquake, the wind, the fire, but the tiny, almost indiscernible moments in-between? Heading into the holiest time of year, amidst so many rapturous challenges, let’s see what we can learn when we pay attention to the small stories.
Jul 30, 2023
When we say 'Hear O, Israel,' are we really listening?
Jul 23, 2023
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets protesting a proposed judicial overhaul that will dangerously reduce the power of the Supreme Court. Isaiah’s message today, on Shabbat Hazon, a Shabbat of vision, challenges to the people to take action and choose a path toward hope, not disaster.
Jul 16, 2023
The underexplored Jewish number of 42 traces our journey from slavery to freedom and deepens our relationship with God. What can we learn from Moshe’s experiences of that number to help inform our own journeys with God, freedom, and legacy?
Jul 9, 2023
There is no justice in answering violence with more violence. It’s not only that the death penalty is ridden with racism and gross inequity, and that every execution potentially risks the life of an innocent. It’s that all people—even those capable of great harm—have infinite worth, and we all—even those most set in their ways—possess the capacity for growth and change. None of us has the right to deny that to another.
Jun 26, 2023
What can Aaron’s rod teach us about this parashah, her person and our lives?
Jun 20, 2023
The sin of the spies sent to assess the Promised Land? These princes couldn't fathom sharing power. That failure of moral imagination cost a whole generation, condemned to wander, landless and vulnerable for four decades before entering the land. Like so many people of privilege after them, the spies preferred that everyone suffer rather than share the abundance equitably and fairly. Let us not make the same miscalculation.
Jun 12, 2023
(Trigger Warning: Discussion of teenage suicidal ideation. Save and share this number: 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for when you need it.) Those feelings of aloneness, or differentness, or social irrelevance are as old as time. In Aaron, something beautiful and eternal was born from the heartache. What about in us? The reminder that together we can beat back the darkness... by honoring the light that dwells within each of us.
Jun 4, 2023
So many LGBTQ+ people have been hurt by religious leadership and institutions. We have the power to offer healing.
May 29, 2023
Led by R' Morris Panitz, Jen Bailey, Alex Couto + Jessica Cabot
May 29, 2023
The Dynamic Way We Dance Ourselves into Being: Creation Revealed. Revelation Created. Led by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson.
May 29, 2023
Vera Blossom, Aimee Bender, Ann Bohrer, and Mel Weisberger in conversation, moderated by Lorne Buchman. How do we experience the dynamic of the creative and the revelatory in our work and how do we parse the difference between the two (if at all)? Can the dynamic itself shed light on how we might “prepare for Revelation”?
May 22, 2023
The mystics believe that every soul corresponds to a letter in the Torah. And, if a letter is missing, erased, or smudged, we can’t continue reading from the scroll until that letter is restored to its vibrancy. Anti-trans bills, including the two signed this past week, represent a conscious and coordinated attempt to erase trans and non-binary people from our communities and collective story. It’s time to move beyond the rhetoric of support and into life-saving action.
May 2, 2023
The word for brain isn't even in the Torah. But a lot of what is in the Torah presumes a functioning brain and even asks us to use it in certain specific ways. In particular, the brain is directly implicated by the whole realm that we call belief or faith. Judaism, like many religions, asks us to believe in certain things. Actually, in Judaism case, it doesn't just ask. It commands. We're commanded to believe in God, to believe there is only one God and to believe that that God is the one who delivered us from Egypt and then gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai. So how are we supposed to force ourselves to force our brains to believe in that stuff? Or you could ask a different question What is going on in our brains when and if we do believe in that stuff? That's what I wanted to know. Today, Rabbi David Kasher talks to neuroscientist and devout Jew, Mayim Bialik about the science of belief and holding both science and belief at once.
May 1, 2023
Despite the many challenges the Jewish people face today, many believe that our greatest difficulty is our inability to coexist peacefully among ourselves. In our studies, we will focus on the theme of embattled siblings, which pervades the book of Genesis. We will draw a line from these narratives to the Jewish people today, noting, and suggesting possible responses to, the enduring affliction of fractiousness among “siblings.”
Apr 24, 2023
It’s the presence and prospect of death in our midst that makes life so precious. It’s the awareness that there’s a thin line separating it all that summons us back into life. The lungs that breathe with you, the heart that beats for you, the blood that sustains you defines both the beginning and the end of our stories. They belong to each other- just as death belongs to life and grief belongs to love.
Apr 19, 2023
Reparations Now: A Conversation on the CA Reparations Task Force's Findings and Proposals with Member Dr. Shery Grills, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen and Reverend Eddie Anderson.
Apr 16, 2023
For millennia, we’ve tried to understand how Aaron, Moshe’s brother, remained silent, even acquiescent after suffering unimaginable loss. Some say his heart turned to stone—he simply could no longer feel. Prophetic grief, in contrast, is born at the intersection of heartache and fury, and rages against reality. When experienced by not only by individuals but by the collective, bursts of prophetic rage and grief—while imperfect political movements—have the power to overturn world orders. Some reflections on my recent trip to Israel and the meaning and potential of this protest movement.
Apr 14, 2023
Three times a year, the Torah instructs, we’re meant to drop everything and set off on a collective journey to a sacred destination. While these pilgrimages have disappeared from our practice, it’s worth wondering why the Torah selects this religious behavior as the primary way to capture and reanimate the core values of these holidays. Pilgrimage, it turns out, is the ideal way to tell the story of Passover.
Apr 10, 2023
In Pirkei Avot, we read that "A free person is one who studies Torah." How can the study of Torah help us understand and appreciate what it means to be free?
Apr 3, 2023
Rabbi Kasher’s farewell sermon, a pre-Passover reflection on the role of mitzvot in Jewish life.
Mar 26, 2023
Right now we find ourselves approaching Passover where we are reminded of our oppression and slavery in Egypt and our eventual path toward freedom. This year it's coinciding with proposed new national policies to turn away more asylum seekers are our borders. How can we reconcile what is happening now with our own central narrative as a people who left everything to seek freedom? What lessons can we learn about how to use our voices to fight for more justice?
Mar 23, 2023
Spring is springing and the month of Nissan is coming! What will your renewal and regeneration look like this year?
Mar 13, 2023
How our artists—then and now—transform even the deepest suffering into worlds suffused with beauty. Celebrating Betzalel, Robert Russel, and the artist within us all.
Mar 9, 2023
Astrologer Chani Nicholas joins Rabbi Kasher to discuss astrology in the Torah and one of the greatest Jewish thinkers who just happened to be an astrologer himself. They discuss Ibn Ezra, the intersection of Judaism and astrology, the implications astrology has for concepts like fate and freewill, and so much more.
Mar 6, 2023
After a week of violence, we must hear the torah of the streets of Tel Aviv. Brief reflections on the heartache and the hope.
Mar 5, 2023
Purim summons us to joy, but how do we access that joy when our hearts hurt from the shameful display of excessive violence this past week in Huwara? Our tradition pleads with us to linger in grief before we get to Purim, to mark a solemn day of fasting and course correction. For, the only road to real joy travels first through grief.
Feb 28, 2023
Parashat Terumah 5783 Entering Adar with hearts heavy from hate, our tradition reminds us of the messages embedded from the past, and their subversive claims on our future.
Feb 24, 2023
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from February 23, 2023
Feb 17, 2023
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from February 16, 2023
Feb 12, 2023
Throughout the Book of Exodus, one Hebrew word- in its many forms- pops up again and again, pointing to the core message of this master story. Life can feel unbearably heavy, but you are never alone. With each other’s help, we can transform an overpowering weight into a way forward.
Feb 5, 2023
Parashat B'shallah - 02.04.2023 Israel is barreling toward an unrecognizable future. Let us not sleep through the revolution.
Jan 29, 2023
Jan 29, 2023
Any one of the plagues could have been the one that changed everything. But each time, just as the threat receded, so too did Pharaoh’s will to change. We, too, are addicted to the allure of the status quo. And the shootings and the police killings persist. We must be stubborn in our pursuit of progress. Unyielding. May the memories of those whose lives were taken by violence this week stir us to work toward a more just and loving world.
Jan 16, 2023
Reflections on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Jan 9, 2023
In honor of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 50th yahrtzeit, we revisit the central claims of his theology, exploring how wonder and a personal relationship with God can reorient our approach to a meaningful life. Wonder reminds us that we are recipients of a gift, summoning us to the ultimate question: what are we to do with this gift?
Jan 3, 2023
Dec 26, 2022
Much of the time it feels like we're on a different path than what we hoped for or asked for or dreamed. What can Joseph and Betzalel teach us about the gifts of two very divergent paths? What do we learn from a path that is both short and long?
Dec 18, 2022
Dec 18, 2022
The candles in our window don’t just remind us of the miracles our ancestors experienced… they invite the world into our story. See us! we say. See our trial and our triumph, our struggle and our survival. Our story becomes real when it is held with care. And that may be the real gift, one we can give each other every day.
Dec 11, 2022
What would happen if we approached life with a posture of fullness rather than one of scarcity?
Dec 6, 2022
Rabbi Sharon Brous and Ari Wallach in conversation from 12/3/2022
Dec 5, 2022
Even decades after Jacob stole the birthright from his brother, he sees himself, fundamentally, as a liar and a thief. When we don’t believe we can change, we invest in subverting the truth and inverting reality. Our country is in the grips of a multi-generational obfuscation, entrenching in a dangerous lie that we cannot reckon with the past, that healing is not possible from past wrongs. But individuals and nations need not be defined by our moral failings. There is another way.
Nov 28, 2022
Source sheet here: https://ikar.box.com/s/t1tfkt5grb10t96zuxakm00j3iq0qnjo In perhaps the most heartbreaking verse of the Torah, Esav cries out to his father for a blessing just like his younger brother had received. To understand these tears and the tragic arc set into motion by this moment, we turn to a surprising source for insight: The Book of Esther. Uncovering the hidden conversation between these two texts implores us to love expansively and without limits.
Nov 20, 2022
There’s nothing brave about regurgitating antisemitic lies. That’s not truth to power, it’s unwitting support of white power. It’s time to deconstruct these narrative fallacies, and tell a new story.
Nov 18, 2022
Join us for a conversation between Rabbi Sharon Brous and leaders from Breaking the Silence , an NGO providing discharged Israeli personnel and reservists a means to confidentially recount their experiences in the Occupied Territories. This is a Q&A and discussion that surrounded a screening of Mission Hebron , a short documentary by Rona Segal based on the testimony of Israeli soldiers who served in the West Bank. To see the documentary, visit our YouTube channel here.
Nov 13, 2022
How can we understand so called religious people aligning with a regressive politics that relishes stripping rights rather than expanding them, that honors guns over humans, fetuses over hungry children, incarceration over restorative justice, environmental devastation over stewardship? Our core theological commitments must manifest in the reality we seek to build, a society of compassion and wakefulness, love and justice. One that honors the divine image in every person.
Nov 7, 2022
Love matters most when our family is in danger. A love that reminds you how far you’ll fallen, a love that helps you walk away from the path of self-destruction. Avram exhibits that kind of love towards his nephew Lot, and we must too towards Israel, as they walk an increasingly dangerous path.
Nov 7, 2022
Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard, spiritual leader of Word of Encouragement Community Church, joins Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation on recent racist and anti-Semitic incidents and how true friendship and allyship is the only way to overcome bigotry.
Nov 6, 2022
There is a direct line from the 1995 murder of Yitzhak Rabin to the ascendance of right wing, ultranationalist extremists in Israel today. The election this past week has me revisiting a question that has haunted me for more than 25 years: did the assassin murder a man or a movement?
Nov 4, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from November 3, 2022
Oct 30, 2022
Rabbi Kasher shares a surprising teaching from his new book on Torah commentary.
Oct 23, 2022
Rather than turn against one another, we must turn toward each another. Rather than assume that your gain is my loss, your representation is my disenfranchisement, your liberation is my oppression… we must recognize that your liberation is essential to my own. We must trust that the only way to build beloved community is together. This is the moral message of the Torah: we are our brothers’ keepers.
Oct 21, 2022
A new cycle of reading through the Torah! A new book! And a new season of Best Book Ever!
Oct 21, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from October 20, 2022
Oct 20, 2022
These are our stories, stories told by IKAR community members about how it feels to struggle with the high cost of affording a place to live. For some of us, housing instability was caused by the breakup of a relationship we had to leave, for others, because of an illness or disability, and for some, simply because the rents keep going up and pay is not keeping pace. We’re telling these stories because we at IKAR are committed to working together for systemic change in our housing policy. Homes end homelessness, and homes are what we all need to feel a measure of safety and security. We hope you’ll feel inspired to share our stories with friends and we hope that you’ll join us in our work for building more homes.
Oct 19, 2022
We think of the Bible as a fixed book, but an ancient debate amongst the Rabbis reveal how close Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) came to being left out of the canon. What’s so dangerous about this book of the Bible, and why is crucially important that it found its way in?
Oct 9, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from October 6, 2022
Oct 6, 2022
I spent the summer reading banned books. Here’s what I learned: empathy poses the greatest threat to tyranny. Art is the antidote to numbness. And Torah is the most dangerous book of all.
Oct 2, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 29, 2022 that has been edited for brevity. Watch the full class on IKAR's YouTube channel.
Oct 2, 2022
Some lessons we learn just once, but the deeper wisdom we learn over and over and over. This summer was my coping with prostate cancer and surgery. And the old lessons were there to greet me on the other side: the world is prepared for us, it takes (and we are) a village), we are marinating in love.
Sep 28, 2022
Culture change always starts with stories. And we aren’t the only living beings with stories to tell. The Earth’s chorus of voices demands moral engagement, a new approach to our planet in peril.
Sep 28, 2022
Our world is crying out for a subversive sequel, a redemption narrative. It’s time to write a new and better, more just and more inclusive version of our story. We must plant seeds for the future now, before it’s too late.
Sep 26, 2022
During this time of cheshbon hanefesh or accounting of the soul, are we keeping our corner of the body of the Jewish people healthy with communally, unified practice? I believe, it's time to create a liberally minded halacha (practice of Jewish law) to meet our sensibilities of the day yet remain true to the commandments of our tradition.
Sep 21, 2022
Living in exile with God (as if such a thing could be.)
Sep 19, 2022
The warnings famously issued in this parashah are not Biblical fantasy—they are living reality. When we allow powerful people to deceive, mock and instrumentalize those most vulnerable, when we cede to a norm of heartlessness, indifference and the perversion of justice, there is no end to the cruelties that will permeate our society. It’s time to wake up—to recognize this moment and movement for exactly what it is.
Sep 15, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 15, 2022
Sep 13, 2022
Where does our national story begin? With a wandering Aramean, according to the story told in this week's parsha. But exactly who that Aramean was is a matter of great debate.
Sep 12, 2022
Sifting through a dense catalog of state regulations in search of some inspiration for the High Holy Days - with some help from the Ba'al Shem Tov and Abraham Maslow.
Sep 9, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 8, 2022
Sep 9, 2022
Buried in the laws of inheritance is a subtle reference to one of the most tragic stories in the Torah - one that we usually miss.
Aug 30, 2022
We live in a vast, complex world. It’s beautiful, but wracked with devastation and suffering. Infinitesimal in the face of it all, one wonders how they could possibly make a difference. The first four words of Parshat Re’eh teach us that each individual’s presence does in fact have an impact on the wider community, and a single action can even tip the whole world toward good. Let’s choose to live like every single one of us matters, like the way we live can bring us closer to a healed, redeemed world.
Aug 22, 2022
As we prepare to bring our oldest to college, I feel for Moses, struggling to say goodbye to his own children, poised to enter the Promised Land on a part of the journey they must take without him. Somehow, amidst the confused, rambling contradictions of his farewell speech, Moses helps b’nai Yisrael remember what matters most, and reminds us just what we need to hear as well.
Aug 22, 2022
The Torah warns us against someone - maybe even someone very close to us - who might come try to entice us to worship other gods! But when we look a little closer at the commentators, we begin to wonder if the real enticement might be coming from… a higher source.
Aug 19, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from August 18, 2022
Aug 16, 2022
The legends of the magical Clouds of Glory.
Aug 14, 2022
Stories from Rabbi Kasher’s early prayer days. A rabbinic list of ten types of prayer. And a prayer reframe from the Sfas Emes.
Aug 11, 2022
How knowing God is a revelation of ourselves.
Aug 7, 2022
Tisha b’Av is a day of communal grief-- we fast, lament and hold the memory of the greatest catastrophes the Jewish people have endured. The danger in revisiting the tragedies of generations past is that our rituals foster a distorted self-perception, a feeling of eternal victimization. Instead, we must remember because grief is an expression of love, because there is an urgent moral message in the stories of our suffering that we must hear today, and because we are drawn again and again, through our collective grief, into community.
Aug 5, 2022
Who does Moses remember as his greatest enemies?
Aug 3, 2022
If Moses speaks for God and the People of Israel, what happens when he decides to speak for himself?
Jul 31, 2022
What’s the first step of a spiritual journey? According to the Me’or Einyaim (18th century Hasidic Master), it’s not a grand gesture or a dramatic departure. Instead, it’s the recognition that we’re disconnected, spiritually dehydrated and yearning for something more. Once that realization is acknowledged and felt, the journey has already begun. We’ll find the water we need.
Jul 28, 2022
Moses has a problem. This is an edited down recording of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha studies class from July 28, 2022.
Jul 26, 2022
The last stop in the itinerary of the Israelites' desert journey has a very strange name. And a heartbreaking story.
Jul 24, 2022
The Legend of Serah bat Asher. And a commandment we too often overlook.
Jul 21, 2022
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha Studies class from July 21, 2022
Jul 19, 2022
It's one of the most difficult problems in theology: does God know everything we're going to do, or do we have free will? This week, we consider an answer by Judaism's most deterministic thinker: Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Mei HaShiloach, and a response by his most illustrious student.
Jul 13, 2022
If Bilaam is really so bad, that brings us back to our original question - what is he doing in the Torah? What are we reading this bizarre story at all???
Jul 10, 2022
The Red Heifer. Supposedly the greatest mystery of the Torah. Our Sages have puzzled over it for centuries. But isn’t this just a distraction from the main events of Parshat Hukat: the deaths of Miriam and Aaron!
Jun 30, 2022
Every June, we turn our attention and love to the LGBTQ+ community at IKAR. For many years we have taken the opportunity during PRIDE month to stories from LGBTQ+ folks and their family members. We're excited to share a compilation of the past three year's stories.
Jun 29, 2022
This week, the Angel of Death showed up twice.
Jun 26, 2022
“There were four judges in Sodom, and they were named for their actions: Shakrai , meaning liar, Shakrurai , habitual liar, Zayfai , forger, and Matzlei Dina , perverter of justice” (Babylonian Talmud). In our grief and rage for the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, it is clear that we are living through the return of Sodom. But, Sodom and subsequent corrupt societies were undermined and ultimately destroyed through clarity of conscience and determined action, both of which are urgently needed today.
Jun 24, 2022
Ours is a tradition of stories. We see this from the flawed humanity of Adam and Eve through the tangle of relationships in Genesis and the struggle and redemption of Exodus, to the creative rabbinic interpretations of Midrash and Talmud, to the spiritually rooted Chasidic tales. Stories are essential to understanding one another and informing how we make sense of and choose to live in the world. Right now, we need to be telling and hearing our abortion stories.
Jun 21, 2022
The Israelites have begun complaining. They say they miss the meat and melons they had back in Egypt. Really?! After God freed them from slavery and is raining down manna from heaven?! These ungrateful wretches! Disgraceful. But, then again…are really they so different from us?
Jun 17, 2022
God gave us the law. Now we're giving it back.
Jun 15, 2022
Someone must have slipped something into my drink. I’m reading my Torah late one night and, suddenly, the letters start to run backwards...
Jun 9, 2022
Today's episode is a bit later than usual because of Shavuot.
Jun 7, 2022
Thoughts on the dangers and the blessings of flag-waving
Jun 2, 2022
In such a turbulent time we need to remember what love looks like. The unique mutual devotion of the biblical heroines Naomi and Ruth teaches us that our interpersonal relationships can have transformative and healing power — for us, our descendants, and the human community.
May 30, 2022
Three striking midrashim help us understand how the Hebrew name for this fourth book of the Torah can help frame our journey through it.
May 24, 2022
After the tragic shooting in Buffalo rooted in White Supremacy and hate, we look to the Omer, a time on the Jewish calendar associated with mourning. The themes of Lag b’Omer offer some guidance on what our society needs.
May 20, 2022
Pop Quiz: What Biblical verse is on the Liberty Bell? This is an edited version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Study class from 5/19/2022
May 15, 2022
A Jewish response to the recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion intending to overturn Roe v. Wade. Find the transcript on our website: https://ikar.org/sermons/im-a-private-person
May 13, 2022
How did counting the Omer become so much more than numbers? This is an edited down version of Rabbi David Kasher's weekly Parsha Studies Class from 5/12/2022.
May 11, 2022
Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we can receive the Torah, we must learn Derekh Eretz - how to live together in harmony with all human beings. One of the greatest Jewish philosophers, the mighty Maharal of Prague (famous from the legend of The Golem!) called this course of study "The Path of Life."
May 9, 2022
Right in the middle of the first major list of the Jewish holidays comes a major interruption.
May 8, 2022
This is the first session from Rabbi David Kasher's five-part series that began on May 2, 2022. As we return to our yearly tradition of studying Pirkei Avot, and learn to walk the Path of Life with the Maharal as our guide. Between Passover and Shavuot, Jews all over the world devote themselves to the study of Ethics (Pirkei Avot). This custom follows the famous rabbinic teaching that before we can receive the Torah, we must learn Derekh Eretz - how to live together in harmony with all human beings. One of the greatest Jewish philosophers, the mighty Maharal of Prague (famous from the legend of The Golem!) called this course of study "The Path of Life."
May 6, 2022
Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from May 5, 2022
May 4, 2022
This podcast was produced while standing on our heads. The rest is commentary.
May 2, 2022
Reflections after a recent trip to Israel.
Apr 30, 2022
Uncovering the familial sexual prohibitions of Leviticus.
Apr 27, 2022
John Destler was born in Berlin on October 13, 1931. One of his earliest memories is watching from the balcony of his family’s apartment as Hitler and Mussoilini drove by in a motorcade. In the week of Yom HaShoah, we welcome John to our community to talk about his unique experiences, trauma, and challenges. Including a life long battle with addiction that he was able, at the age of 72, to face and heal. (From Samara Hutman's Intro) In partnership with Righteous Conversations Project.
Apr 18, 2022
Our Passover story was made possible by a quiet revolutionary spirit manifested through four female archetypes.
Apr 4, 2022
What's the connection between gossip and skin disease?
Apr 3, 2022
One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that we have all become better readers of Leviticus.
Mar 31, 2022
Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from March 31, 2022
Mar 28, 2022
Can a house get sick? The Torah seems to think so.
Mar 27, 2022
Reflections on mourning from Moed Katan and Parshat Shemini. In memory of Steven J. Kasher, Z"L.
Mar 25, 2022
Mar 22, 2022
You know the cycle. Front page headlines retreat to the back pages and eventually disappear from both the paper and our attention. Even the most horrifying headlines, those emerging from the brutal war in Ukraine, risk being ignored in the frenetic pace of our news cycle. We must not turn away. Even in the absence of a clear political path forward, we need to keep our hearts open to the stories, pleas, and suffering of the Ukrainian people, responding with empathy, advocacy, and resources.
Mar 21, 2022
This week, we receive the first major list of kosher laws. But why are we supposed to keep kosher? There are some classic answers. But Rabbi Kasher's got a theory of his own.
Mar 21, 2022
In this drasha we explore how Esther and Moses overcame their resistance to action, when that action involved risk; Serah bat Asher and Ruth's capacities to draw strength and purpose from the past and imagine themselves as agents of a better future; and how all their stories shed light on our lives and world today, particularly in relation to our responsibility for the children in the LA County Foster Care system.
Mar 11, 2022
Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from March 10, 2022
Mar 8, 2022
The Book of Leviticus spends a lot of time explaining what to do once we have committed sins. But how did we get there in the first place? What drives us to sin? For that, we turn to the great commentary of the Kli Yakar.
Mar 7, 2022
To maintain that only certain expressions of humanity are sacred, that some lives are inherently more valuable than others, is fundamentally incompatible with the truths of our tradition and the core principles of a moral society. As we face the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine alongside a growing refugee crisis worldwide, we must heed the call of our tradition to love the stranger, opening our hearts and borders to all those in need of safe refuge. We are all made in the image of God, interconnected and morally accountable to one another.
Mar 4, 2022
Parsha study with Rabbi David Kasher from 3/3/2022
Mar 1, 2022
As we close out the Book of Exodus, a 13th century Spanish preacher helps us, finally, make sense of all the details.
Feb 28, 2022
A sermon on our relationship to technology (in which Rabbi Kasher gets his dates confused and accidentally adds a year to the pandemic!)
Feb 27, 2022
We pray for the safety of all the people of Ukraine as they face the terror of war and for the wisdom of our own leaders to guide our country to a response rooted in justice.
Feb 25, 2022
Feb 21, 2022
Who knows how to take the prophet's heavenly vision and bring it down to the ground? The Shadow knows!
Feb 20, 2022
What if the redemption our tradition intended was not that of some cataclysmic historical shift, but was about brief and fleeting moments of goodness and light that shine within the chaos and darkness that invariably surrounds us. Real moments with real meaning, and that neither could nor should last forever.
Feb 14, 2022
Moses has just come back down from speaking with God. And he's glowing.
Feb 13, 2022
Wandering through the library of Jewish legal texts, the careful observer may take notice of a curious trend. For reasons unclear, many of the classic books of Jewish law take their titles from - of all things - the various pieces of the High Priest's clothing.
Feb 7, 2022
Our reluctant protagonist just wants a week off.
Feb 6, 2022
We aren’t just shaped by the past . It isn’t a one-way street, dead ending in the present. Our tradition asks us to continue to be in active relationship with our loved ones even after they die. Caring for the deceased means advancing their core values, their life work, and dreams. And it means upholding our responsibilities, both as individuals and a community, in the moments of most profound loss. #hevrakadisha #mourningrituals #yahrtzeit #love&loss
Feb 4, 2022
Parsha Study with Rabbi David Kasher from February 3, 2022.
Jan 31, 2022
On my final shabbat before sabbatical, we explore the connection between na’aseh v’nishmah —doing and discovering—and shmita , a periodic break in the rhythm of doing to digest lessons learned and deepen our roots as we prepare for the next chapter of our flourishing.
Jan 28, 2022
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/379209?lang=bi
Jan 24, 2022
"This week," says Rabbi Kasher, "we are going to look at an idea that seems so far outside of mainstream Jewish thought that if I came up with it myself, they’d kick me right out of Judaism!"
Jan 23, 2022
Jewish vulnerability is rooted in the enduring awareness of those who want to do us harm. And the world is full of goodness. We must learn to hold both.
Jan 7, 2022
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