All Episodes
Shtender — 211 episodes
Despair is Not an Option
The Decade of Dehumanization
Restraint and Transcendence
Nature Abhors a Vacuum. Antisemitism Loves One
The Promises of Israel
How Repentance Really Works
Where The Oppressed Shed Tears
Bad Faith Broke Us. Only Good Faith Can Fix Us.
Everyone Has a Right to Sanctuary
Keep The Fires Burning
Korach and the Unfinished Business of 1776
Entropy and the Imposition of Order
Love, Loss, and the Book of Ruth
There Are Only Two Commandments…The Rest is Commentary
Guns and the Disregard for Human Life
Valar Dohaeris
When Elijah Comes to the Seder
Do The Dew
The City of Peace
A Practice for Moral Clarity
The Ring is Not Complete Without the Diamond
Train Local, Act Global
There’s More to Racism than Blackface. There’s More to Reconciliation than Resignation
A Rabbi’s Lesson from Guatemala- All Lives Have Equal Value
Soft Hearts, Strong Hands
Succeeding at Failing
Confronting Pharaoh
Ancestors and Ghosts
Know Before Whom You Stand
Pluralism and Power: A Hanukkah Story
God of Victory
Pulpit Swap: Rabbi Michael Knopf at Seventh Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Pulpit Swap: Reverend Hollie Woodruff at Temple Beth El
Let It Go
The Name You Earn
Love Just Because
Putting God Second
Praying for Rain and Reviving the Dead
Everything is Abel!
Embodying Gratitude, Elevating Joy
Don’t Just Repent. Vote
Think Different
The Responsibilities of Privilege
You Don’t Need Likes to Be Loved
The Torah’s Call for Civil Disobedience
What to Do When “We’re in Crazytown”
Just Walk Beside Me
Listen to Her Voice!
The Land of Israel: God’s Conditional Gift
The Most Counter-Cultural Commandment
Looking Backward to Move Forward
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Judah P. Benjamin
The World is Yours, But it Doesn’t Belong to You
A Kingdom of Priests
Not In Heaven
No One Invisible
God’s Spirit, Our Hands
No One Is Really Gone
What Will You Take With You?
Doubt, But Count
It’s Not “Passover”
Our Purpose is Peace
Melt Down Your Mirrors
The Real Sin of the Golden Calf
A Sanctuary From Weapons
No Other Gods
The Power Is Yours
Judah’s Journey
What Will You Take With You When You Go?
The Lulav and the Importance of Diversity
There’s No Sukkah Without U
Extremists for Love
Three Essentials to Pack for Your Journey
Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Teshuvah and the Challenge of Change
After Charlottesville, Be A Light
Teaching in Honor of Reb Sholom Brodt (z”l)
Pay Attention
Hope and Healing After Charlottesville
“I Believe” Reflection at Charlottesville Prayer Vigil
Only For Now
Difficult People
It’s What’s on the Inside That Counts
Do You Control Your Monuments, or Do Your Monuments Control You?
In Defense of Boredom
Twilight Of The Institutions
Heal the Leper, Heal the World
God’s Time, Our Time
Five Rabbis, Four Children, and a Yin-Yang
To God the Glory
Let’s Face Facts: The Torah is Political
What Jews Owe Refugees and Immigrants
Do You Believe in Miracles?
The Moral Message of God’s Sovereignty
My Body’s in Richmond, My Spirit’s in DC: Why I Protest
Your One Wild And Precious Life
Torah for the Post-Truth Era
The Brilliant Cognitive Dissonance of Yizkor and Simhat Torah
Redeem the Captive, Be a Blessing
True North
Escaping the Scapegoat
Doing Good Better
Remarks at 2016 Community Eid Dinner
Words Are Things
What To Look For In A Leader
How to Hear God’s Voice Today
In the Same Boat: A Message to the Class of 2016
The Gift of Presence
Are You All In?
Why Memory Matters
Shabbat and Leaving Egypt
The Question My Child Asks Me
The Questions Our Children Ask Us
Soul Food
How to Keep a Flame Eternal
Richmond City Council Invocation
Judaism and the Global Refugee Crisis
The Plague of Darkness
Can We Change?
Holy Impatience
What it Means to be a Child of Judah
Jacob Was a Refugee
Why Conservative Judaism Matters
Why Sodom Was Destroyed
A Better Lion, and a Better You
David’s Fallen Sukkah
The Sukkah and the Hurricane
The Sukkah as Spiritual Conditioning
In Every Direction
Bound Together
Our Kids
Mastering the Service of the Heart
The Diamond
Where They Are
Make Everything Torah
The Responsibilities of Luckiness
Show, Don’t Tell
Fake It Till You Make It
Israel – Loyal Opposition
Israel – The Fragile Miracle
How Prayer Works
Israel – Why It Matters
The Fools of Prophecy
Israel – The Agitator State
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
For the Charleston Nine
Cowed by How
Will You Marry Me?
Words Create Worlds
The Questions God Asks
Holiness, From Baltimore to Nepal
Let It Go
RE-JEW-VENATE RVA
Whole Bodies, Holy Souls
To Be Jewish is to March Together
To Hate Injustice Is To Be Jewish
To Doubt is to Be Jewish
Shabbat Salvation
Mooved to Empathy
The Purpose-Driven Life
Live Long and Prosper
Fair Trade
God’s Dwelling Place
Breaking Free of Fear
Planning Your Vacation (in Time)
Breaking Free of Materialism
Square Pegs
Breaking Free of Insecurity
Selfless Prayer
Breaking Free of Cynicism
Shalom From Shabbat
How Can I Stand Before Our Father in 2015?
Perfect Imperfection
Parenting from the Inside Out
Implicit Bias and Dangerous Silence
The Dawning of the Age of Jacob
Don’t Box Me In
The Spirituality of Welcoming
The Book of Torah
The Ideal and the Real
Happy Challahween!
Rabbi Knopf’s Installation
Will There Ever Be a Rainbow?
Why Sukkot?
An Edifice or an Act of Love?
The Quantified Life
Recipe for a Renaissance
Higher and Higher
The Internal Israel War
A House of Prayer for All People
Experiential Education
In Memory of Prof. Dov Zlotnick (z”l)
Consider the Parking Lot
Don’t Look Away
Does Power Corrupt
Conflict Resolution
Judge Yourself Fairly
Perspective and Reality
Ferguson and the Jewish Call for Justice
The Ebola Epidemic
Torah from the Jester, the Genie, and John Keating
Planting For Our Children
Keeping Up With the Steins
True, Important, Kind
The Secret of Jewish Survival
Get Up, Move
What You Can Do for Israel (And What You Can’t)
Judgment Free Zone
Oath of Office
#menschesofrichmond
Credo – The Last Har Zion Sermon
“The ‘Why’ Revolution”