Temple Beth-El of City Island

Yom Kippur 5779/2018 – The Vision Before You

By Rabbi David Gmar chatimah tovah. It is so good to see each and every one of you on this holy vision-quest day of Yom Kippur. Vision is this year’s spiritual theme. On Rosh Hashanah we explored Judaism’s core truth that what’s invisible often is more real than what’s visible, …

Kol Nidre 5779/2018 – Ta Chazi! Come and See (The Future)

By Rabbi Shohama Good Yuntif, everyone. It’s so good to see you. And seeing – you, me, God, and how we live, is our spiritual theme this year, and what I’m going to talk about. But first, a little background. In December of 1986, shortly after I was ordained as …

Rosh Hashanah 5779/2018 – Holy Vision: Seeing and Being Seen

By Rabbi Shohama Shanah Tovah, everyone. How do we see our lives and how are we seen by others and by God? The great French writer, Marcel Proust, wrote this: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” How do we get …

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5779/2018 – Holy Vision and Optical Delusion

By Rabbi David Shanah tovah. It’s so good to see each and every one of you. In 1952, Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, visited the U.S. on a fundraising mission. Fresh off Israel’s miraculous War of Independence victory over seven invading armies, Ben Gurion arrived to a standing ovation …

Don’t Just Sit There: Feel Something

By Rabbi David Here’s a radical idea that I wish weren’t radical: if you consistently feel nothing in the Jewish community, it’s time to take notice and ask why. And a corollary: if you serve the Jewish community, a keystone goal should be to encourage authenticity, depth, and safety of …