Rosh Hashanah 5787 || September 12, 2026 This morning, I want to talk about the people you didn't choose. Not the people you chose as friends. Not the people you fell in love with. Not even the people you chose to sit next to here in the sanctuary. I mean the people who somehow became yours. The person you don't know very well, but whose name you know because they had surgery last month. The family whose kid you barely know, but you find yourself looking for

Rabbi Jodie Gordon Erev Rosh Hashanah 5787 || September 11, 2026 Even on that day, I think I imagined this one. Not exactly this one. But some distant day in the future when I would remember where I was on that day. I was twenty years old on September 11, 2001, just a few weeks into my senior year at Brandeis. And I was intoxicated by how much I thought I knew about how the world worked. I had it all figured out. The future seemed like a series of decisions waiting for me to

A Sermon for the End of Summer What a full and heady time of year. It’s Elul. School is back in session. It’s Labor Day weekend. And a week from tonight, we’ll gather here in this sanctuary to welcome the new year, 5787. There are so many voices speaking to us right now. The voice of Jewish tradition, reminding us that Elul is a time for introspection and return. The voice of the calendar, reminding us that it is time to transition: from pool days to raking leaves, from long