Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

September 16, 2026

Spiritual Finders and Keepers — Rosh Hashanah D’var Torah First Day 5787/2026

What do telephone booths make you think of? Ancient times…. Superheroes? Phone booths make me think of a particular superhero named Joy Cousminer, a Jewish New Yorker who founded a credit union in the South Bronx in 1970 in a phone booth. Joy was teaching single mothers for their GED, and she discovered they had… Continue reading

9/11, Calendar, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Hashavat Aveidah, High Holidays, Holidays, Hope, Israel, Rosh Hashanah, Talmud, Temple Beth Abraham, Tikkun Olam, Torah, USA, Yamim Noraim
September 16, 2026

Teshuvah, Tzedakah, and… Tefillah (Prayer)? Rosh Hashanah D’var Torah Second Day 5787/2026

I have been responsible for leading High Holy Day services start-to-finish in some way almost every year since 1988, when I was not far from here, south of Worcester in Webster, Massachusetts. So my High Holy Day career is even longer than my rabbinic career. For about the first half of that longer career, the… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Dreams/Dreaming, Elul, Ethics, High Holidays, Holidays, Israel, Middot, Prayer, Rosh Hashanah, Spirituality, Theology, Tikkun Olam, Yamim Noraim
September 7, 2026

Looking Up (Rosh Hashanah 5780/2019)

This was one of my Divrei Torah for Rosh Hashanah in 2019 (5780). When I was 22 years old, a man looked up at me, and changed my life. This was connected to the thing that I thought was going to change my life that year, which was a Wexner Graduate Fellowship to go to… Continue reading

Calendar, Equality, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, High Holidays, Holidays, Leadership, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Teacher-Student Relationship, Torah, Young Jewish Adult
September 6, 2026

Atalanta (How To Approach the Metaphor of God as King)

This is a D’var Torah I shared in Shabbat services a few weeks before Rosh Hashanah on September 10, 2022. This is a reflection on the metaphor of malchut (kingship or royalty) for the Divine, which features so centrally in the prayers of the High Holy Days. The week I wrote this was also the… Continue reading

Calendar, Feminism, High Holidays, Holidays, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Theology, Yom Kippur
September 3, 2026

What I’ve Learned (So Far) About Teshuvah From “The Good Place”

This is what I said in an episode I recorded for our podcast Tov! about the TV show “The Good Place” and Jewish ideas, just before Rosh Hashanah in 2023. You can listen to this specific episode on the Tov! website here or on YouTube here. Or find Tov! on any favorite podcast app. Hey!… Continue reading

Calendar, Ethics, High Holidays, Holidays, Jewish Education, Maimonides, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah, Torah, Tov! Podcast, Yom Kippur, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
August 27, 2026

Get Up and Shine, For Your Light Is Coming — Beyond the Cliche (Ki Tavo 5785/2025)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tavo, and specifically the haftarah from Yeshayahu (Isaiah) chapter 60. I shared it on Shabbat morning, September 15, 2025. This is my very favorite Haftarah. I remember the first time I heard it, not in a synagogue but at the Twin Cities performance of the Hasidic Song… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Blessing, Community Relations, Hasidism, Israel, Ki Tavo, Music, Parashat Hashavua, Shabbat, Torah
August 18, 2026

Being Here in the Digital Age (Rosh Hashanah 5774/2013)

This was my Dvar Torah for the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 2013. Though some of the specific examples are dated in 2026, it stands up even in the age of Instagram and AI. Over the past couple of years, I have developed a nagging but interesting physical issue. It’s a tingling sensation I… Continue reading

Calendar, Current Affairs, Ethics, Friendship, High Holidays, Holidays, Love, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Science, Social Theory, Technology, Teens, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
August 5, 2026

Even the Bitter Part of the Watermelon (Parashat Re’eh 5784/2024)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh on Saturday, August 31, 2024. When I was at my parents’ home for a week in July, they had in the fridge a container from the store with perfect precut slices of watermelon. Vertical wedges, like carrot sticks sort of, and the container contained the perfect amount… Continue reading

Devarim, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh, Theology, Torah
July 17, 2026

Four Takes on the Book of Deuteronomy (Shabbat Chazon, Devarim 5782/2022)

This was my D’var Torah on August 26, 2022 for Parashat Devarim, the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy. When you look at the Torah in the scroll or even in a book, it all looks the same – the stories, the laws, the recipes for meals at the altar, the census lists and travelogues,… Continue reading

Books, Brit, Calendar, Devarim, High Holidays, History, Holidays, Jewish Education, Leadership, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Prophets, Simchat Torah, Study, Synagogue, Teshuvah, Torah
July 10, 2026

Solidarity Is an Extra Oath (Mattot/Mas’ei 5781/2021)

This was my D’var Torah for July 10, 2021, Parashyiot Mattot-Mas’ei. The opening refers to the phase of the Covid-19 pandemic we were in at the time. About six weeks ago, I flew to Minnesota to see my parents. Laurie and I made calculations, which we’re pretty strict about — about sitting crunched between two… Continue reading

B’midbar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Ethics, Inclusion, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Middot, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, USA, Youth

Solidarity
July 10, 2026

Preserving Our Soul in Wartime (Mattot 5774/2014)

This was my D’var Torah on Saturday morning, July 19, 2014, Parashat Mattot. I am uploading this online this 2026, as wars involving Israel, the U.S., Hamas, Hizbollah, and Iran continue in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. The specific references from 2014 are important and the message is still germane. This week is another… Continue reading

Antisemitism, B’midbar, Current Affairs, Ethics, Gaza, Israel, Jerusalem, Mattot, Middot, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Peace, Torah

Rav Kook
July 10, 2026

Moshe the Uncompromising? (Mattot/Mas’ei 5779/2019)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashiyot Mattot-Mas’ei on August 3, 2019. As you’ll quickly see, it’s a monologue in the voice of Moshe. Sam Waterston. In the role of New York City Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on Law and Order. That’s who would play me, Moshe, and that’s exactly how he would play… Continue reading

Anger, B’midbar, Ethics, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Middot, Miryam, Moshe, Negotiation, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Peace, Torah

Aharon