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

BJ Rabbinic Fellow Iliana Brodsky takes a troubling passage from Leviticus and turns it into something beautiful — a reflection on what allows us to truly trust and connect with one another, even across every difference.

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, open human heart.

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.

Rabbi Felicia Sol reflected on the challenge of living through a time marked by rage, despair, and moral uncertainty. She asks us to consider how we might deepen our understanding of redemption seeing it not as a reward for suffering, but as a call to renewed moral responsibility.

We live in a moment that mirrors Yosef’s contradiction: a time in which we are both vulnerable and powerful, both threatened and influential, both capable of grace and capable of harm. We know about pits, betrayal, exile, suffering, and survival. We know that antisemitism is alive and on the rise. And we also know what Jewish power and rage can do. We know what it means to be part of systems that determine who lives and who suffers.

In this sermon, former BJ Senior Rabbinic Fellow and current Director of Rabbinic Leadership Programs at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Rabbi Sarit Horwitz explores hunger, brokenness, and hope in Parashat Miketz, showing how physical and spiritual longing are deeply intertwined—and how hope can emerge even when we feel utterly shattered.

As we kindle our menorahs this year, Rabbi Becca Weintraub reminds us that even in the depths of despair -- whether that is Joseph in the pit or the Beautiful Six in captivity in Hamas tunnels -- sacred light still has the power to shine.

We were honored to welcome the lead finalist in our rabbinic search, Rabbi Alex Braver. In his d’var Torah, he reminds us that spiritual life isn’t about perfection, but about return — again and again, to what matters most.

Rabbi Roly Matalon urges us to remember that Judaism doesn't merely compel us to survive, but to rise. Of course, we must work to ensure our safety as a Jewish community, but we cannot stop striving to nurture our moral and spiritual lives.

In a moment when fear, pain, and fragmentation run deep, Rabbi Felicia Sol examines the detrimental effects of inherited, unhealed trauma and how we might find the courage to wrestle our way into a new narrative.

In a moment when Jewish fear, pain, and fragmentation run deep, Rabbi Felicia Sol examines the detrimental effects of inherited, unhealed trauma and how we might find the courage to wrestle our way into a new narrative.

Rabbi Shuli Passow reminds us that Jewish resilience means taking the long view. Maybe things won’t change in our lifetime — but they will change. So we keep choosing hope, keep doing mitzvot, and keep showing up. That is the story of our people.

Rabbi Becca Weintraub explores the contrast between Sodom’s callous treatment of others and Abraham and Sarah’s radical hospitality—reminding us that true abundance comes not from what we have, but from how we care for one another.

Rabbi Felicia Sol reflects on 2025 NYC mayoral election and her hopes for moving forward. In a world ablaze with division, we must cling to our compassion and refuse to pour oil on the flames.

In his D’var Torah on Parashat Noah, Rabbi Roly Matalon reflects on a different kind of flood, one of fury, fear, and division in our community, city, and world. The world wasn’t saved because of Noah’s righteousness, but because of his compassion. Noah was transformed through the daily, difficult work of feeding the animals in the ark, as we learn from the Midrash. Roly asks: What might shift if we led with that kind of care? If we listened to each other with the humility to know that our own view may not be the whole truth?

With the final living hostages home and a fragile ceasefire holding, we’ve entered a new chapter. But we can't go back to the way things were before. Rabbinic Fellow, Joe Blumberg asks: How do we begin to build a new world — not from a clean slate, but with renewed purpose?