Rabbi Julie’s sermon for Parshat Ki Tissa and Purim, March 15, 2025

It may or may not come as a surprise to you that I identify with Queen Esther, the heroine of our Purim Megillah story.  It’s not because I have an Uncle Mordecai, though I do have an Uncle Michael.  And it’s not because I am under the false impression that I could compete against women from regions equivalent to 127 provinces in the Persian Empire and win a beauty contest.  Though I have a positive self-image, feminine beauty has never been my primary source of power, nor would I want it to be.  (more…)

Rabbi Julie’s sermon for Parshat Yitro, February 15, 2025 (more…)

Rabbi Julie’s sermon for Parshat Vayechi, February 6, 2025 (more…)

Rabbi Julie’s sermon for Parshat Bo, February 1, 2025

Exodus 13:9, 16

“And it shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead – in order that the Teaching of the Lord may be in your mouth – that with a mighty hand the Lord freed you from Egypt…And so it shall be a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the Lord freed us from Egypt.” (more…)

Rabbi Julie’s sermon for Parshat Vayechi, January 11, 2025

When I was in college, my grandmother would write to me every few weeks. Her letters were handwritten on stationery in an elegant, loop-filled cursive that embodied a penmanship common for someone born at the turn of the century, in the early 1900’s. Though my hand-writing was a paltry simplification of hers, I knew how to write a handwritten letter. (more…)