Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

January 28, 2026

What Is a Miracle?

This is the D’var Torah I gave on Parashat Beshalach, including the crossing of the Sea of Reeds into freedom, in 5773 (2013). One day, little Noah comes home from Religious School, and his mother asks him what he learned. Noah says: Today we were learning about how the Israelites left Egypt. His mother says: Continue reading

Beshalach, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Exodus, Parashat Hashavua, Torah
January 14, 2026

Exodus Is the Foundation of Everything (Parashat Shmot 5786)

This was my D’var Torah on Shabbat for Parashat Shmot, January 10, 2026. It has been a week, from Iran to Venezuela to my hometown the Twin Cities. And it has also been the week of Parashat Shmot, the opening of the book of Exodus, the most important book in human history. If you have Continue reading

Antisemitism, Books, Current Affairs, Equality, Exodus, Freedom, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Pesach, Shmot, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
January 6, 2026

Love Is a Form of Sweet Labor (Parashat Shmot 5779)

This was my D’var Torah for Parashat Shmot in 5779 just before New Year’s, at the turn of 2018 into 2019. I have come to love the hinge between the book of Bereshit (Genesis) and the book of Shmot (Exodus). The sense of something coiled up and about to uncoil. My rav at the Seminary, Continue reading

Calendar, Love, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Torah
January 6, 2026

Brotherhood, Evolving (Parashat Shmot, MLK Weekend 5783/2023)

This is excerpted and adapted from a D’var Torah I gave in January 2023, when MLK Weekend began on Shabbat with Parashat Shmot, the opening reading in the book of Exodus. Here I’ve omitted the (long) opening, which is very similar to most of the other words I have posted about those opening chapters of Continue reading

Civil Rights, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Ethics, Exodus, History, Inclusion, Justice, MLK Day, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
January 1, 2026

Carrying on After the Golden Age (Parashat Vayechi)

I wrote this D’var Torah in the early 2000s originally for a Jewish website called socialaction.com, whose weekly Torah teachings I helped edit and sometimes wrote. All of that content including this teaching is now at myjewishlearning.com, which you should make sure to have bookmarked for all things Jewish. This is about Parashat Vayechi, the Continue reading

Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Parashat Hashavua, Tzedek, Vayechi, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
December 31, 2025

Across the Generations (Parashat Vayechi 5785)

This is the D’var Torah I gave for Parashat Vayechi, the last reading in Genesis, on January 11, 2025. This is an original first album of Peter, Paul and Mary from 1962. Does anyone else here have one of these? I would say if you listed the release years of the music that was played Continue reading

Education, History, Jewish Education, Parashat Hashavua, Serach bat Asher, Torah, Vayechi, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
December 25, 2025

Not a Christian Nation, Mr. Vice President, But Yours and Mine

I published this post on Facebook on December 22. 2025, to much positive reception, so I am posting it here too. Sometime around when my family was lighting our last Chanukkah candles last night, the Vice President of the United States proclaimed in a speech at the Turning Point USA convention that the United States Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Freedom, History, Holidays, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Leadership, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult
December 25, 2025

The Ice Bucket Challenge and the Menorah: Sustaining Light (Shabbat Chanukkah 5786-Parashat Mketz)

This was my D’var Torah for Shabbat Chanukkah coinciding with Parashat Miketz in 5786 (December 20, 2025). Do you remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? In the summer of 2014, people began sharing videos of themselves getting ice cold water poured over their heads and asking people to donate money to support people with ALS, amyotrophic Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Holidays, Miketz, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Tzedakah, Tzedek
December 25, 2025

When Life Is Commodified (Parashat Vayiggash 5779)

This is my D’var Torah for Parashat Vayiggash in 5779, December 15, 2018 — during thick of the season of gift giving and shopping. In 1912, Francis Collins published The Boys’ Book of Model Airplanes: How to Build and How to Fly Them. It was about a decade after Kitty Hawk, the first successful flight Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Economics, Money, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Vayiggash, Youth
December 25, 2025

Negotiations and Love Songs (Parashat Vayiggash 5782)

This was the D’var Torah I gave for Parashat Vayiggash in 5782, on December 11, 2021. Some of what I said then was specific to that moment in the Covid-19 pandemic, but I’m leaving that in now as an example of the broader themes and messages of my D’var Torah. On Paul Simon’s 1983 album Continue reading

Anger, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Negotiation, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Torah, Vayiggash
December 25, 2025

Retelling Our Stories (Parashat Vayiggash 5785)

This was the D’var Torah I shared for Parashat Vayiggash, a culmination of the story of Yosef (Joseph), on January 4, 2025. My father has a number of go-to sayings, one of which is: The story is never over. Another is a quote from possibly Mitch Album quoting someone else who said: There is no Continue reading

Current Affairs, Foregiveness, Israel, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Vayiggash
December 14, 2025

Hope From the Pits

This is the D’var Torah I shared on Shabbat, December 13, 2025, for Parashat Vayeshev just before the first candle of Chanukkah 5786. On Thursday, I spent a good part of an hour staring at images of specific chanukkiot. It’s a bit early to be doing that — Chanukkah doesn’t start until tomorrow evening — Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Holidays, Hope, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, USA, Vayeshev