Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz News, Sermon Re'eh
The stars in the sky shone brightly and clearly and I could point out Orion and the Big Dipper to my children on our evening walk. The neighborhood was cast in darkness and we picked our way past downed trees and broken branches by the light of the stars and our flashlights.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Chukat-Balak
One possible approach to the notion of exceptionism is to do something that we Jews are so very good at: love critically.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Sh’lach Lecha
They locked eyes in the darkness and he could faintly make out the contours of her face. Her brown skin, a muted warm glow, framed by her dark tresses and red veil; all colors bled of their vibrancy by the pallid moonlight.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon beha'a lot'cha
“We are tired and we are hurting.” This heartrending statement is one I heard over and over again from our siblings of color; in the media, on the internet and in real life, as I find myself listening and reading and sitting with the force of this reality today.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon B’har-Bechukotai
There’s a Dutch saying ‘er op of er onder!’, which translates literally as ‘on top of it or underneath’, meaning that we will either succeed gloriously or fail spectacularly but we need to give it everything we’ve got because the time is now.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Acharei Mot, Kedoshim
The cruelty and mystery of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:1 cannot be understated. Embedded among cultic taboos circumscribing forbidden intimate relations in Parashat Acharei Mot, and juxtaposed with verses exhorting ethical conduct in K’doshim, stands the prohibition against ‘offering up offspring to Molekh’.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Tazria-metzora
Each of us is waging a war, fighting a battle. Each of us will have to contend with what this all means for our souls as well as our bodies.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Chol HaMoed
By the time I am giving this sermon, our Sedarim will have ended. Still, right now, I am seated at my dining room table, the scents of chicken soup wafting through the kitchen door.
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Sermon Tzav
Theology is not merely the futile exercise of debating how many angels dance on the head of a pin. Theology informs our world view and drafts our response to the moral issues of our day.
