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?IKAR

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.IKAR

Sermon from Shemini atzeretIKAR

The only way forward is one broken heart next to another, crying together, awakening to the reality that grief is our common bond.IKAR

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 …

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.IKAR

Hope doesn’t die, and despair is a privilege we cannot afford.IKAR

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 tr…

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.IKAR

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 soldi…

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.IKAR

We say Psalm 27 100 times in the High Holy day season. Why?IKAR

Ki Seitzei (5784) - Teshuva Until My Neshama Reveals Itself to MeRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Ki Seitzei (5783) - The Shofar's Plea to Spare the Life of Moshiach Ben YosefRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Ki Seitzei (5784) - Dip the Apple in the Honey and the חטא עץ הדעת טוב ורעRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Ki Seitzei (5782) - Shiluach Haken, Gittin and פקידת עקרותRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Ki Savo (5781) - Bikkurim Rosh Hashana Kayin and Hevel the Mabul and the Cries of the ShofarRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

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.IKAR

Shoftim (5784)Rabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Shoftim (5783) - Penimiyus of Hafrashas Challah - Separating Eretz Yisroel From Chutz La'artetzRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Re'eh (5784) - Rosh Hashana - The Spiritual Transformation from נקבה to זכרRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

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 …

Re’eh (5784)Rabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Re'eh (5782) - The Shechita Grand Finale and the ShofarRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Re'eh (5781) - The Greatest Zechus on Yom Hadin - Unlocking the World of 'כל-ישראל'Rabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Re'eh (5780)Rabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5784) הביטו אל שרה תחוללכם -The Beauty of Sarah and Yosef Changed the WorldRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5784)Rabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5783) - Sarah Imeinu is the Root of All GeirimRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5782) The Zechus of Davening Before Eating - מדקדקין עד כזית ועד כביצהRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5780) - Moshe is the Source of Techias HameisimRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5781) - The Earth Shattering Drasha of Rebbe Akiva - את ה' אלקיך תירא -רבות תלמידי חכמיםRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

Eikev (5782) - A Lesson in Hilchos Brachos - Seeing Hashem as the Ikar and Myself as the TafelRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein

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.IKAR

Vaeschanan (5781) Iyov Vs. Moshe-Eitz Hadaas Vs Eitz HachayimRabbi Yehoshua Rubenstein