Recent Sermons
Moral Audacity – A Sermon by Rabbi Davis – January 18, 2020
Moral Audacity 21 Tevet | Shemot | January 18, 2020 Rabbi Alexander Davis Two Jews were walking through a neighborhood one evening when they noticed they were being followed by a pair of hoodlums. “Dovid,” said to Shmuel, “we better get out of here. There are two of them, and we’re alone!” Sometimes it feels like we are all alone and they’re all out to...
read moreSweet Words – A Weekly Letter From Rabbi Davis – January 17, 2020
Shalom Chaverim, A little over a week ago, there was a remarkable event in the Jewish world- Siyum Hashas. Hundreds of thousands of Jews gathered around the world in synagogues, yeshivot, social halls, even sports stadiums to celebrate concluding their study of Talmud. The tradition began about a hundred years ago to promote Talmud study by encouraging students to study one page of Talmud per...
read moreTribute To A Rabbi, A Friend – A Weekly Letter From Rabbi Davis – January 31, 2020
Shalom Chaverim I’d like to dedicate this letter in memory of two rabbis who died a few weeks ago. In Pirkei Avot 1:6 we are taught: “find yourself a rabbi, acquire a friend.” Find yourself a Rabbi Rabbi Joshua Stampher was the rabbi of Neveh Shalom, the large Conservative synagogue in Portland where I grew up. Rabbi Stampher died at age 98. Just a few...
read moreVote! – A Weekly Letter From Rabbi Davis – January 24, 2020
Shalom Chaverim My eldest son, Yonah, is spending his gap year between high school and college in Israel. He is on program run by USY called Nativ in which he spends the first semester studying in Jerusalem and the second semester volunteering in Tiberas. Yonah is having an amazing time- making new friends and exploring Israel. There has only been one upset phone call. Once...
read moreOn My Mind – A Weekly Letter from Rabbi Davis – January 10, 2020
Shalom Chaverim The process of making tefillin is complicated and detailed. One of the first steps in the process that fascinates me is making the letter shin on the head tefillin. The leather is embossed with a special press. Why do we put a shin on the tefillin? Some explain that its gematria, 300, represents the number of days a year tefillin are worn. But...
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