Portrait of an American Rabbi: In His Own Words
On June 30, 2008, Professor Marc Saperstein, the world’s leading scholar of sermons and rabbinic addresses in the Jewish tradition, gave a talk to a gathering of rabbinic graduates of the Leo Baeck College in London. He began by asking a disquieting question “Is the sermon on its deathbed?” His comments were subsequently published in European Judaism (March 2009); and although he tactfully did not answer his own question, Saperstein ended with the following recommendation: “So I urge all rabbis: whatever you write, keep your papers safely stored away for future use, and leave instructions that the texts of your sermons not be tossed into the rubbish bin, but sent for safekeeping to an appropriate archival collection.” He then provided a gratifying rationale. “The sermons you give,” he assured his audience, “plant seeds in the minds and souls of your congregants, but they are also part of the historical record of our people.”
This book is an attempt to comply with Saperstein’s dictum by providing a published record of select sermons and articles I wrote during my twentyone years as Senior Rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel (KI) in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, from 2001 to 2022. Far from the complete record suggested by Dr. Saperstein, they are hopefully representative of the many themes and literary genres that constituted the core of my rabbinic work and writing during the second half of my career.