Words of Torah | Seeing the Light: Torah for Hanukkah
12/14/2020 04:01:50 PM
Seeing the Light: Torah for Hannukah. Words of Torah, and Hanukkah, from Rabbi Marc from Shabbat morning services on December 12, 2020.
Read more...Words of Torah | Wrestling with Nuance: The Torah of Tiferet
12/07/2020 01:18:06 PM
Materialty vs Spirituality - Which camp are you in? Words of Torah from Rabbi Marc as we prepare for Chanukah from Shabbat morning services on December 5, 2020
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Race and Religion | Conversation with special guest Rev. Pedro Silva in conversation with Rabbi Marc
11/20/2020 02:25:21 PM
Race and Religion | Conversation with special guest Rev. Pedro Silva and Rabbi Marc
View the conversation here:
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In Memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
11/20/2020 02:25:21 PM
In Memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l
By, Rabbi Marc Soloway
My mother reminded me of the story of when she was flying back from Israel to London after Passover and shortly after my father died. When she landed at Heathrow, she struggled a little getting her bag from...Read more...
Racial Confessions | Rabbi's Reflections from Yom Kippur 5781 (2020)
11/09/2020 09:12:45 AM
I imagine, if we're honest, we all have memories of the past that bring a sting of shame and remorse as we face aspects of ourselves at different ages.
Hear powerful Words of Torah from Rabbi Marc from Yom Kippur 5781. 2020 has been a challenging year in so many capacities but we must confront our feelings on race and racism. Perhaps these words can serve as the beginning of your awareness of the need to stand up and name...Read more...
Racial Confessions | Rabbi's Reflections from Yom Kippur 5781 (2020)
10/20/2020 03:40:44 PM
I imagine, if we're honest, we all have memories of the past that bring a sting of shame and remorse as we face aspects of ourselves at different ages.
Hear powerful Words of Torah from Rabbi Marc from Yom Kippur 5781. 2020 has been a challenging year in so many capacities but we must confront our feelings on race and racism. Perhaps these words can serve as the beginning of your awareness of the need to stand up and name...Read more...
Rabbi's Reflections from Rosh HaShanah 2020 | Welcoming 5781
09/22/2020 05:05:23 PM
As we welcome 5781 and look back, it has been a challenging year. Here are Words of Torah and Rabbi's Reflections from Rosh HaShanah 2020.
Erev Rosh HaShanah - Angels of Friendship
Rosh HaShanah Day #1 - Yes to Life!
Rosh HaShanah Day #2 - The Master Key
Read more...What Kind of Pesach is it Going to be this year?
04/02/2020 05:11:11 PM
It’s pretty hard to believe that this time next week it will be Passover when it feels like the world as we know it has changed so much as we face our fears, our solitude, our anxiety, our sadness and so much more. How is this Passover different to all other Passovers? Well, in just about every way possible. So, how do we deal with all this change and still celebrate this holiday that is important and precious to so many...Read more...
Podcasts of 5780 Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur Sermons!
10/18/2019 05:14:43 PM
UpA few people wondered if my sermons were available to listen to, so now my Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur talks are available as podcasts for those who want to hear them.
Episode 97 – Trees, Animals and the Weather
Episode 98 – Beyond Selfie
Episode 96 – Standing Up!
You can listen on soundcloud here or on itunes here
Since Rosh HaShanah, the community has planted over 1800...Read more...
Standing Up - Yom Kippur 5780
10/09/2019 05:18:52 PM
Moments before jumping into the narrow, rocky chute, Dave, my laconic guide who has skied these steep mountains in Taos, New Mexico for almost forty years, each run like a pulsing vein in his own body, warned me “if you fall with your head facing downhill, you have just seconds to get yourself turned around and stick your boots, your hands, your poles, whatever you can in the snow to stop your fall, otherwise you will slide all the way down...Read more...
Beyond Selfie - Kol Nidre 5780
10/08/2019 07:47:11 PM
Social media. Oy. Hate it, love it, use it, abuse it; for many of us, me included, it can suck away a lot of time and trigger plenty of instant, strong emotions, often of outrage! I am fairly new to the party and, yet I created a new hashtag recently, without even really understanding what that means – #shofie, a selfie of me blowing the shofar. I posted two or three of these videos on instagram and then some others out there posted...Read more...
An American Teshuvah - 2nd Day Rosh HaShanah 5780
10/01/2019 07:49:45 PM
Once upon a time in a Synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, the congregation, inspired by their Rabbi and Cantor, were collectively deep in contemplative prayer. During Musaf, it was as if the Gates of Prayer were swung open, and everyone had a private audience with the Creator. Much like any given Shabbat at Bonei Shalom, the intensity of the davening was so profound, not even the Cantor would dare sing a word, as the whole of the congregation were at...Read more...
Trees, Animals, and the Weather - Rosh HaShanah 5780
10/01/2019 03:34:08 PM
Trees by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts...Read more...
A Eulogy for Carl Herbet - Kalman ben Yosef v'Dora z"l
08/22/2019 03:39:28 PM
Carl Herbet – Kalman ben Yosef v’Dora 
May 1st, 1921 – August 18th, 2019
“Aizeh hu gibor? Who is strong?” asked Rabbi ben Zoma in Pirkei Avot, “hacoveysh et yiztro, the one who controls his passions.” Carl Herbet was physically strong,...Read more...
Krakow - Saturday & Sunday Morning
11/14/2018 04:42:51 PM
Saturday Night in Krakow – November 10th, 2018
Here they have Cheder and Chevre and Hamsa; bars, cafes and restaurants; the locals pronounce that ch like cheese, cheddar, rather than Hebrew or Yiddish for a room, a gathering space, a school.
I wandered across the square for services in the ancient synagogue of the Rema (Remu here), as Shabbat was beginning.
Every restaurant is...Read more...
Auschwitz-Birkenau - Block 19 C Lager
11/08/2018 04:45:21 PM
Block 19, C Lager, Auschwitz II – Birkenau – November 8th 2018
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On the Train from Warsaw to Krakow
11/07/2018 04:47:11 PM
2018On a train. A Jew watching the Polish forests flying past the window
In silent knowing; as if their deep roots and dying leaves have never stopped
Holding memory and telling stories.
Hard to push away images of Jews in cattle cars seeing the same landscapes
On a forced journey to their deaths
Or the Poles watching indifferently perhaps, seeing through their tram windows
A people brutalized,...Read more...
Rabbis' Civil Rights Tour in Alabama
10/19/2018 04:49:52 PM
Montgomery to Birmingham, Alabama
Last week I found myself eating lunch next to two black police officers at an Indian restaurant in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, a scene that would have been impossible just fifty years earlier in this state when the local police force included no people of color and was part of the horrible, systemic violence perpetrated against blacks. [The first black policeman in Birmingham was Leroy Stover...Read more...
Won't You Be My Neighbor? Kol Nidre 5779
09/19/2018 04:54:35 PM
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood!
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you
So, Let’s make the most of...Read more...
Memory & Legacy - Yom Kippur 5779
09/18/2018 04:56:33 PM
Let us tell tales
All the rest can wait
All the rest must wait
Let us tell tales
That is our primary obligation
Commentaries will have to come later
Lest they replace or becloud what they mean to reveal
Let us tell tales
So as to remember how vulnerable man is when faced with overwhelming evil
Let us tell tales
So as not to allow the executioner to have the last...Read more...
Truth & Justice - Rosh HaShanah Day 1 5779
09/13/2018 04:59:55 PM
The story is told that the raven and the nightingale once had a competition to decide which of them had the sweetest voice. All the animals gathered to listen and the pig was appointed judge. The nightingale sang so sweetly, the raven cried out hoarsely, and the pig, whose decision was final, ruled that the raven was the winner. As agreed, the raven pecked out the nightingale’s eyes and flew away triumphant. A...Read more...
Threatened by Teshuva - Rosh HaShanah Day 2
09/12/2018 05:01:09 PM
A man goes to a psychologist, “I need your help. My brother is crazy. He thinks he’s a chicken.” “Describe his symptoms” the doctor says. “Maybe I can help.” “Well, he bocks a lot, he pecks at the rug and the furniture, and he makes nests in the corners.” The doctor thinks for a moment then says, “It sounds like a simple neurosis to me. Bring in your brother-in-law. I think I can cure...Read more...
A Eulogy for Doris Small
09/04/2018 05:02:57 PM
Doris Small – Devorah bat Moshe v’Hinde Miriam z”l
July 20th 1923 – September 3rd 2018
There has always been something about this time of year that I associate with Doris. It seems that her falls, her time in hospital, rehab and nursing homes have so often been around Rosh HaShanah, and when I would visit and often blow the shofar for her, as I did on Sunday the day before she left...Read more...
A Eulogy for Irene Rosenschein
05/18/2018 05:04:15 PM
Irene Ilona Rosenschein – Yitta bat Yisrael v’Bluma Hendel
Delivered at Bonai Shalom on May 18th 2018, Sivan 4, 5778
Who here does not feel richer and a little more complete through knowing Irene Ilona Rosenschein, who has left the most extraordinary legacy to every...Read more...
Reflecting on Israel at 70
04/19/2018 05:06:11 PM
I met my old friend Rebecca in the remarkable and exquisite setting of The American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, a surprising haven of tranquility in a divided city. After our meeting, I walked through the streets of this part of the city, so different and unknown to me compared to West Jerusalem, whose streets are as familiar to me as an old friend. Not so many tourists here, just the Arab/Palestinian population living their...Read more...
A Eulogy for Beverly Goodman
01/21/2018 09:24:35 AM
Beverly Helen Goodman (Silverberg) – Chaya Breindel bat Shimshon v’Shaindel
August 19th 1937 – February 19th 2018
“Olam chesed yibaneh – The world is built on hesed, on loving kindness” says The Book of Psalms (89:3). Hesed is the biblical Hebrew for which the English word lovingkindness was invented by bible translator Miles...Read more...
In the Image of the Divine - Rosh HaShanah Day 1 5778
09/24/2017 09:26:17 AM
What a world! What a beautiful, broken, tragic, painful, confusing world. What are we doing here? What words can I possibly offer to make sense of anything? I want to talk about all of it; hurricanes, floods, earth quakes, fires, our changing climate, 65 million refugees and displaced people around the world, anti-Semitism, Israel, racism, privilege, dreamers, the Rohingya in Myanmar, gun violence, North Korea and...Read more...
On Loan - Rosh HaShanah Day 2 5778
09/23/2017 09:27:44 AM
It’s late on Shabbat afternoon and Rebbi Meir is teaching in the beit midrash, the house of learning. Meanwhile back at home, his two sons pass away.Their mother, Beruria, lays them down on their bed and spreads a sheet over them.
As Shabbat is ending, Rebbi Meir comes home from the beit midrash. He says to Beruria, “where are my two sons?” “they went to the beit midrash.” “I expected them at the beit...Read more...