Jonah’s Fear, Our Fear; Yom Kippur Sermon

by Rabbi Jill Maderer (delivered Yom Kippur morning, main sanctuary)

Picture an ocean.  Two waves approach the shoreline and share a conversation along the way.  The large wave reports to the smaller, “Trouble’s ahead!  I wish you could see what I see.  Then you would understand, that we have a problem!  Every time a wave reaches the shore, it crashes, and breaks apart.  The smaller wave replies, “There’s no trouble ahead!  I wish you could see what I see.  We do not have a problem.  You just need to understand:  We are not separate waves; we are all part of the same ocean.”  That smaller wave offered a life-altering perspective: “You and I are not waves, we’re water.”  

Awe: A Place Where Nothing is Old; Kol Nidre Sermon

by Rabbi Jill Maderer (delivered Kol Nidre “Alternative” service)

A story is told of 3 astronauts who went into space.  Upon returning, they were asked to reflect on the experience.  One said, “I kept thinking, the world looks so small from outer space—the universe is so vast.”  The second answered, “I was astonished to think how much had happened on that globe that I could see: all the wars, the loves, the dramas, all on that small orb.”  The 3^rd astronaut shrugged and said, “You know, all I could think was –why didn’t I bring a camera?!”  We take photographs and we take video, but do we pause to take a breath and to appreciate the wonder that surrounds us. Do we focus through our own lens, and open our eyes to the world.

Rosh Hashanah Morning Sermon: Our Social Justice Stories

A recently heard a story about a group of campers by the side of a river. They saw a body floating by. They all ran into the water, pulled the person out, performed CPR and saved the person. As they were packing up their tents, they noticed another body. Again they jumped into the water, and rescued the man. As they were getting into their cars, they saw another body come floating by. As they were saving this person, one person turned to another and asked: Maybe we better get up-river and see if we can find the source of this problem!

Yes, we’re good at attaining short term goals, but we don’t worry about what comes later. Like the campers, we’re good in a crisis, at saving people as they float by. When we see pictures of hunger on the T.V. and destruction on the front pages of our newspapers and magazines, we react. At these moments we’re good at providing food to fill empty stomachs. However, we don’t often ask what is happening up the river. We aren’t so good when the pictures disappear.  When the images are no longer in front of our eyes, we forget those that remain.

Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon: The Labyrinth of T’shuvah

I have always loved mazes.  When I was in Hawaii a few years ago, I visited the giant pineapple maze of the Dole Plantation.  When studying in England, I visited the amazing hedge maze of Hampton Court.  And while on recent trip to Montreal, I was thrilled to discover that an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront had been transformed into Le Labyrinthe.

Recently, however, I discovered a whole new type of labyrinth.  This summer, while at a wedding in the Texas Hill Country with my fiancée, Laurel, I came across the most wonderful thing.  It was a simple path of stones that wound though a circle in an amazing geometric pattern.  There were no choices of which direction to go.  No difficult riddles to solve or giant scary trolls waiting to capture me.  It was just a simple path to walk.  As I walked the path to the center of the circle and then back out again, I found my mind wandering.  Thinking of my life, how I had come to this place and where I was going.  I left the labyrinth feeling refreshed and renewed.