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The Power of Words and the Power of Weapons

Honoring the lives and memories of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, z"l There are usually two ways to begin a sermon: with life, or with the text. Sometimes we start with a story, an experience, something real and close to home. Other times we begin with an idea—a concept from the parsha or our tradition—and work our way back to life from there. Today, I need to begin with the text. Sometimes grief is too raw to start with life. Beginning with an idea helps me ground myself before I can begin to speak about the pain and grief that I—and many of you—are carrying. The text gives me something to hold onto—and this week, what it gives us is a teaching about words. In this case, to make an oath or a vow—words that have the power to obligate us legally and morally. A reminder that the words we speak are important. But how do we understand the power of words? When we discuss this topic, many wise sayings from across ages and cultures come to mind. There is the classic debate topic, “I...
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When we talk about God in prayer, who are speaking to? A Kavanah for Ashrei

Ashrei and Psalm 145 Ashrei , in Hebrew, means “Happy” and it is the name we give to a prayer that many communities say at least 3 times a day. Apart from the first two lines and the very last line, Ashrei is taken from Psalm 145 “A praise of David.” From the fourth line onward, it is written out as an acrostic following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, (“ Aromimecha …”, “ Bichol …”, “ Gadol …”). It is, however, missing one letter. Although this psalm is about the importance of praising God, which is naturally relevant to prayer, nothing in the psalm itself indicates that this is about communal prayer. Nor is it specifically associated with Jews, as praising God is incumbent upon all nations, and indeed all of creation. It is only in the additional lines that we talk about people sitting in God’s house, that it is a Jewish context, and that praise is done by a community, a “we”, as opposed to an individual. Perhaps these verses were added to make this inspiring biblical poetry ...
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