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Rabbi Perkins' Sermons

Rabbi Perkins' most recent Shabbat sermons will be posted here.
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Other sermons can be found in High Holiday Sermons or Sermon Archives (1998-2014).
In addition, sermons by guest speakers can be found here.

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2022

     
June 11 Naso  
June 4 Bamidbar

Notes for Torah Discussion " The Significance of the Wilderness"

Why was Torah Given in the Wilderness?

May 28 Bechukotai Swords, Spears, and Other Weapons
May 21 BeHar Why Teach the laws of Shmittah at Mount Sinai?
May 14 Emor May Our Bread Never Grow Stale
May 7 Kedoshim Yom HaAtzmaut: From "Tikvateinu" to "Hatikvah"
April 30 Achrei Mot

It Wasn't the First Time: Plagues in Jewish History

April 23 Pesach 8 Yizkor: What Kinds of Memories Does it Evoke?
April 22 Pesach 7 Turning Points on the  Struggle
April 16 Pesach 1 What Would Ahad Ha-Am Say About the Historicity of Moses?
April 9 Metzora/ Shabbat HaGadol

Why Sunflowers Belong on the Seder Plate This Year

April 2 Tazria/ Shabbat HaChodesh  
March 26 Shmini/ Shabbat Parah Celebrating 100 Years of Bat Mitzvah
March 5 Pekudei  
February 26 Vayakhel  The Message(s) of the Lev Shalem Siddur
February 19 Ki Tissa

Moses: An Effective Speaker with Impeded Speech (In Observance of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month)

February 5 Terumah Amnesty for Whoopi Goldberg
January 29 Mishpatim Jewish Perspectives on Abortion
January 22 Yitro Lessons in the Wake of Colleyville
January 1 Va'era What if the Exodus Never Happened?

2021

     
December 25    
December 18 Vayechi A "Torah of Hesed" on Hesed shel Emet
December 4 Hanukkah How Will We Re-dedicate Ourselves?
November 27 Vayeshev Accepted -- For Who We Are
November 20 Vayishlach Two Jews Who Lived Exemplary Jewish Lives -- in Two Very Different Ways
November 13 Vayetzei God is the Place
November 6 Toldot A New Look At Esau
October 30 Chayei Sarah What Was Isaac doing in the Field?
Study Guide to What Was Isaac Doing in the Field 
October 23 Vayera Posture Makes Perfect
Notes for D'var Torah  on "Posture Makes Perfect"
October 16 Lech Lecha To Go Where No Man - Or Woman -- Has Gone Before
October 9 Noach Moving Beyond Regret
October 2 Parashat Toldot  
September 11 Vayeilech/
Shabbat Shuvah
From Lech Lecha to Vayelech
June 26 Balak  
June 19 Chukat The First Juneteenth
June 12 Korach  
May 29 Beha'alotcha The Evolution of the Menorah
May 8 Behar/ Bechukotai Standing Up Straight? or Demonstrating Humility?
May 1 Emor A Disaster Strikes
April 24 Achrei Mot/Kedoshim The Power of the Bystander
April 17 Tazria-Metzora  
April 10 Shemini Why Do We Keep Kosher?
March 27 Shabbat HaGadol What are Three Questions raised by Pesach, Matzah and Maror?
March 20 Vayikra Love the Stranger
March 13 Vayakhel We are not Biblical Jews -- Especially on Passover
February 26 Purim "Who Knows?" on Purim and Passover
January 30 B'shallach Taking That Critical First Step   
January 16 Va-era Resisting the Influence   
January 9 Shemot Responding to Desecration: Cultivating Reverence   
January 2 Vayechi Moving Beyond "Hello, Louis!"    
    Excerpt from So That Your Values Live On -- Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them, by Jack Riemer and Nathaniel Stampfer  

2020

     
December 26 Vayigash The Beginning of the End   
December 19 Miketz What are the lessons of the Joseph story for our own day and age?  
December 5 Vayishlach Who Is the Victim in the Dinah Story?  
November 21 Toledot Guarding Ourselves - And Others - From Evil Speech  
November 7 Vayera "Truth from the earth will sprout"  
June 20 Shelach Lecha Juneteenth: What Really Happened - And Does It Matter?   
May 23 B'midbar "Get Back To Where You Once Belonged"  
May 9 Emor Keeping Time and Maintaining Holy Time  
March 14 Ki Tissa How to Respond to Uncertainty  
March 7 Tetzaveh Shabbat Zachor  
February 1   Remarks before the Prayer for Our Country and the Prayer for Israel  
January 18   Reflections on My Rabbinate  

2019

Vayishhlach A Difficult Week  

2018

     
December 8 Miketz "Do You Believe in Magic?"  
December 1 Vayeshev Even a Little Something Can Go a Long Way  
November 17 Vayetzei "Is Life Fair?"  
November 10 Toldot "Two nations struggling in the womb"  
November 3 Hayyei Sarah After Pittsburgh, What's Changed?  
October 27 Vayera Holy Chutzpah  
October 6 Bereshit Are Judaism and Evolution Compatible?  
October 1 Shemini Atzeret Just One More Day!  
September 22 Ha'Azinu Why Do We Sit in the Sukkah?  
June 16 Korach Korach the Populist  
June 9 Shelach Lecha "Forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement"  
June 2 B'Ha'alotcha A Life-Changing Experience  
May 12 Behar-Behukkotai Three Approaches to Economic Inequality  
May 5 Emor What's in a name?  
April 28 Achrei Mot-Kedoshim "Don't Stand Idly By!"  
April 21 Tazria-Metzora Another Kind of Malignant Speech  
March 17 Vayikra Let My People Come  
March 10 Vayekhel-Pekudei Completing Creation  
February 17 Terumah "When Adar Enters, We Increase Our Rejoicing"  
       

2017

     
November 18 Toldot Study Sheet - A Gendered Look at Looking Through a Window  
October 28 Lech Lecha Who Was Abraham?  
July 1 Hukkat The Politics of Anger  
June 24 Korach Korach the Demagogue - Source Sheet  
June 10 Beha'alotcha "Things Fall Apart"
June 3 Naso Heroes Then and Now  
May 20 Behar Behukkotai "Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land, Unto All Its Inhabitants Thereof"  
May 13 Emor Expressing True Love Toward the Living and the Dead  
January 28 Va'era "Liar, Liar"  
January 21 Shemot "Is There a Blessing for the Czar?"
    Study Sheet: The Duty, Opportunity and Challenge of Praying for the Government  
       

2016

     
December 24 Vayeshev What Does the Joseph Story Have to Teach Us About Chanukah and Christmas?  
November 26 Hayei Sarah The Importance of Gratitude  
November 12 Lech Lecha Lessons for Our New President Elect from Abraham
May 14 Kedoshim Refraining from Being a "Scoundrel Within the Bounds of the Torah"  
April 9 Shabbat HaHodesh Who Owns the Exodus? Who Owns the Seder? Who Owns the Haggadah? Who Owns the Hebrew language?  
March 12 Pekudei Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohein Kook  
March 5 Vayakhel Vayakhel: "And he Assembled." For Constructive or Destructive Ends?  
       

2015

     
November 28 Vayishlach Being Grateful Before, During and After Thanksgiving

November 21 Vayetze Jacob the Refugee
November 14 Toldot Sibling Rivalry and Religious Violence  
November 7 Hayei Sarah How and How Not to Read the Bible
October 24 Lech Lecha It Isn't Easy  
October 17 Noach  
May 29 Naso When Paying Attention is Hard To Do  
May 9 Emor  
February 28 Tetzaveh Part 1
  Tetzaveh Part 2
February 7 Yitro Part 1
  Yitro Part 2
January 24 Bo  
January 3 Vayechi Study sheet for Vayechi- Jacob's Blessings  
       
Tuesday, March 19 2024 9 Adar II 5784