Everybody’s Judaism
Are we willing to be vulnerable? To crack ourselves open a little? Are we prepared to challenge ourselves and grow? To be discomfited for the sake of insight; to be pushed for the sake of change?
Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz
About Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz
Posts by Rabbi :
Elul Sermon #2
There are few sights more moving than walking into a full synagogue on Kol Nidrey and seeing everyone wearing their tallitot, anticipating our holiest day of the year.
Elul Sermon #1
We bring ourselves into this preparatory month of Elul, at the threshold of the holy Season of the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe.
The Fragments and the Whole
We had gotten up before dawn, driving out to Salisbury under the grey cover of the British December night.
Erev Shabbat
The scent of fresh challah was timeless and unmistakable and was leading Jonah’s nose to the small bakery suitably wedged between a bookstore and a flower shop.
With the Sea at Your Back and the Wilderness Ahead
Sermon Last Days of Pesach 2023 My husband likes to teach that the Seder plate is a time machine: not only is the plate itself round like a clock, but the items placed upon it represent the driving narrative of the Exodus and the timeline it unfolds on. From the time of ‘karpas’ (greens) of […]
The Mission Statement of the Jewish People
Here’s an unexpected question: what is the commonality between synagogue governance and Matan Torah, Revelation at Sinai?
From Adversity to Gratitude
This week’s Parashah could be called, well, not quite ‘four weddings and a funeral’ but close enough: two funerals and two weddings.
One God or Less – Monotheism and the Quality of Mercy
If monotheism is assumed, it is also more challenging to step outside of that paradigm and reflect on why monotheism matters.
The Great and Awful Wilderness
During my summer vacation, I did that thing that rabbis are prone to doing: I attended services at another congregation.
