High Holiday Sermons and Discussions

This page is devoted to Rabbi Moskowitz's High Holiday sermons and discussions. 

You can download a written copy of the sermon or discussion text by following the below links.  To listen to the sermon or discussion click on the podcast player.  If you prefer to download the audio files to your iPods then subscribe to the JCB podcasts through iTunes.

Sermons 5772

Rosh Hashanah Morning Day 1
Where We Are Going.  About the proposed alliance with Jericho Jewish Center. The virtues of a Reform and Conservative congregation sharing one building while maintaining their unique, individual identities.

• Where We Are Going

To read the remarks by our president Josh Werber and the sermon by Jericho Jewish Center's Rabbi Richardson about the wisdom of this proposed alliance follow these links.

• Josh Werber's Address

• Rabbi Richardson's Sermon

Yom Kippur Evening
Pursuing Peace.  The necessity of pursuing peace.  The biblical model of Aaron as it applies it in particular to the modern State of Israel and the need for Prime Minister Netanyahu to pursue peace.

• Pursuing Peace

Yom Kippur Morning
Turning Out.  The tendency, fed by 9-11 and the economy, to turn inward and the spiritual necessity of reaching out to others.

• Turning Out

Discussions 5772

Rosh Hashanah Evening
Who is Our Enemy.  A cautionary tale from Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 55b-56a about the dangers of sinat chinam, baseless hatred.

• Who is Our Enemy

Rosh Hashanah Morning Day 2
Genesis 21.  A discussion of the Torah reading for the first day which details the birth of Isaac and the subsequent banishment of Hagar and Ishmael by Sarah and Abraham.

• Genesis 21

Yom Kippur Martyrology
Creative Martyrology.  An original and creative service remembering our people's contemporary martyrs.

• Creative Martyrology

Yom Kippur Afternoon
Modern Readings.  A modern Israeli poem and Hasidic story about naming our enemies.

• Modern Readings

Sermons 5771

Rosh Hashanah Morning Day 1
Living to Fail.  Failures are part of life and make for stronger and more successful people.

• Living to Fail

Yom Kippur Evening
To Build or Not to Build.  The pros and cons of the Park51 Islamic Center project.

• To Build or Not to Build

Yom Kippur Morning
Everything is Borrowed.  Our souls need to learn the idea that everything is on loan.

•  Everything is Borrowed

Discussions 5771

Rosh Hashanah Evening
Israel's Declaration of Independence.  How can Israel mediate being both Jewish and democratic?

• Declaration of Independence 

Rosh Hashanah Morning Day 2
II Samuel: David and Batsheva.  Is King David a good model for repentance?

• II Samuel 11-12

Yom Kippur Afternoon
Mishneh Torah: Laws of Personality. Which character traits are best to cultivate?

•  Mishneh Torah, Chapter 1