Found In Translation: Weekly Divrei Torah and Sermons from the BJ Rabbis and Guest Teachers

Former Rabbinic Fellow, Rabbi Dara Frimmer, reflects: when religion becomes spectacle, Torah calls us back to what matters most: humility, accountability, and shared responsibility.

Rabbi Roly Matalon shares that too often language is misused, especially in the name of what is holy. Drawing on the wisdom of our tradition, he reminds us that on Shabbat we are called to be especially mindful of our speech. What would it mean to carry that consciousness into every day, using our words not as tools of harm, but instead as vessels for elevating one another?

Rabbi Deena Cowans reflects on the awe that arises when we stand before something vast and unknown. From the fire of the Mishkan to astronauts circling the moon, these moments remind us that fear and joy often arrive together when we encounter the sacred.

In a special pre-Passover conversation, Rabbi Roly Matalon and Rabbi Felicia Sol explored how the Haggadah’s questions about freedom, responsibility, and compassion resonate amid war, rising antisemitism, and moral challenges in our own times.

What does it mean to be a witness to God in the world? Rabbi Roly Matalon and Reverend Dr. K Karpen explore this question while reflecting on the enduring partnership between BJ and the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew.

In a moment when the world feels profoundly broken, Rabbi Felicia Sol reflects on how Jewish tradition teaches us to respond: by gathering together, giving to one another, and searching for sparks of light even in the darkest times.

Some truths lie beyond reason. Through the strange ritual of the red heifer, Rabbi Shuli Passow invites us to see mystery not as a problem to solve, but as a path toward faith and peace of mind.

How do we preserve our humanity when the primal fear of an existential threat drives us to blot out our enemies? Rabbi Becca Weintraub explores this crucial and delicate balance urging us not to abandon our moral clarity and succumb to our darkest impulses.

In this week’s D’var Torah, Rabbi Felicia Sol reflects on the tension between the sanctuaries we build and the sanctuaries we are meant to become. She challenges us to consider whether our institutions expand our moral imagination or quietly make us too comfortable in narrow places. The Mishkan, she teaches, was both gift and concession: the truest dwelling place for the divine is the fragile, ope...

Rabbi Roly Matalon reflects on moments when fear and moral truth collide, drawing a powerful parallel between the awe and terror of revelation at Mount Sinai and the unsettling realities of our own time.

Rabbi Becca Weintraub’s sermon this past Shabbat centers on intergenerational belonging and sacred responsibility, arguing that when children are held at the heart of community, we are better able to meet a fractured world with care and moral clarity.

This past Shabbat, Rabbi Deena Cowans reflected on BJ's recent Teen Civil Rights Trip and Parashat Bo, urging us to resist spiritual numbness and to choose solidarity and moral courage even in moments of darkness.

When people can’t tell the truth about power, they turn on one another. This past Shabbat honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., guest speaker Eric Ward explored how anti-Blackness and antisemitism operate together to weaken democracy—and what it will take to safeguard against it.