April, 2017 | Geeky Rabbi

Have we Abandoned God? (Yom HaShoah)

A few thousand years before the Holocaust, our people suffered under Pharoah. Lots of troubling comparisons can be made that show similarities between Pharoah and Hitler. Both subjugated and enslaved our people. Both refused to see us as equals, as God’s children. As the Torah says, *Pharoah knew not Joseph.* (Exodus 1:8) The Pharoah refused to see and know Joseph and the Isaraelite people as fellow human beings. We are painfully aware of just how true this was for Hitler and the Third Reich, as our names were stripped from us, replaced with numbers tatooed on our arms

Apr 21, 2017

Judaism and Religion

What has God Done for Me Lately? (Shabbat, Passover Chol HaMoed)

Moses seeks reassurance. As the 12th century commentator Rashbam explains, Moses says go God, I know you said you’d send an angel to protect us, but I would much prefer if it was you, yourself.

This behavior hearkens back to the Moses we meet at the beginning of Exodus, the Moses that doesn’t want to lead the Israelite people, the Moses that thinks of excuse after excuse as to why he isn’t the right person for the job.

Apr 14, 2017

Judaism and Religion

Eat Your Matzah (Except When you Can’t) (Shabbat before Passover)

How is a good sermon like a piece of matzah?

They both should take less than 18 minutes!

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Matzah. It’s the bread of affliction, the afikomen, the basis of the Hillel sandwich. It represents the ferver of excitement as the Israelites were on the cusp of freedom. There was so much to do, so much to prepare, that the bread did not have time to rise.

Apr 7, 2017