Read + Listen / השראה
Parashat Shoftim / Elul 5785 / Aug 29
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Remembering What We Have Forgotten
As if torah wants us to know everyone forgets
You can be a moral paragon, God can lovingly respond to every single one of your texts,
You can be the first patriarch of the entire jewish project and still it does not matter
We all forget sometimes
We forget who we are and how needed we are by God
The question is what we do once we realize we have forgotten
Parashat Pinchas / July 18
Rabbi Noa Kushner
צְאִי־לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן / "Follow the tracks of the flock”: Moses, Fear and Death
Moses' central question is no longer
"מִי אָנֹכִי?” / “Who am I?” Or, How can all these things ever be accomplished through me?
But rather, “What about them?”
"Who will take care of them?”
"What will happen to them after I am gone?
Parashat Beha’alotcha / June 14
Rabbi Noa Kushner
What Needs Saving: Iran, Israel, and Us
If it is shabbat, and there is a fire
What is the minimum amount of Torah a person would need to save
That is, what is the minimum amount of letters a person should override shabbat
That is, break shabbat to go and save?
Parashat Emor
May 16 – On the occasion of the celebration of our new siddur with honored guests from around the world
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Return to Eden
Before there was anything
Or any one of us
There was a garden
God created a garden
The garden of Eden
And it is this garden
To which we can still return
Parashat Beshalach / Passover Day 7 / April 19
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Not to Ruin What Was New and to Repair What Was Old
This kind of event happened to me, actually to Asher and me, to us, in Jerusalem
It was an experience so simple and holy I am reluctant to give it words
But I cannot start here, for in order for you to understand I have to start earlier
Parashat Vayakhel / Mar 21
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Maybe We Should Pray
In that moment we just asked for something beyond what we knew,
from a source, from a God, in whom we did not yet believe
Parashat Terumah / Mar 1
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Wanted: God-in-Residence
You see, the rabbis don’t have the same sensibility as many of us today
They are not trying to sell participation in the Jewish project with pretty websites, trendy tie-ins and/or free trips
They are actually trying to discern who is ready to be a part of this "building a holy place” project
It is so serious, see, and so important
Nothing less than our collectively making room for God
For holiness in our world
That it requires some thought
Parashat Mishpatim / Feb 21
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Losing Our Song of Songs
But if you are ready
Without negating your own pain,
Whatever side you think you’re on,
I beg you, I beg us all, to consider recognizing the pain of another, the other
Not in a casual, it’s-all-the-same-pain-way, it really isn’t
Not in a way that absolves grown adults of responsibility
Not in a distanced, American, utilitarian, check-the-box way either —
But in a way that expands what you thought you were capable of
A way I believe is given to us by God
Parashat Vayechi / Jan 11
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Stealing From Yourself
We usually imagine ourselves as Joseph, the protagonist
Talented and beloved, well accessorized and victimized —
But it seems to me Torah wants us to see we can also be like these brothers
Who, through force or commerce or both
Push Joseph out of their frame of vision
Reinforcing the idea that there is not enough love to go around
Parashat Vayishlach / Dec 13
Rabbi Mark Sameth – Visiting Scholar
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long-time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now.
Parashat Vayetzei Yaakov / Dec 6
Rabbi Noa Kushner
A Rock Is Not Just A Rock
But then I looked at the torah for this week
And I realized that a key without a door is still a key
And sometimes doors show up, sometimes doors come out of nowhere
Parashat Lech Lecha / Nov 8
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Blowing Kisses at Pharaoh
And so, this shabbat
Rather than being furious that people, through this election, are still writing love notes to Pharaoh
Pantomiming, “I’ll call you,”
While God waits, incredulous holding the sea apart, looking at her watch, tapping her feet —
Parashat Ki Tavo / Sep 20
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Ready or Not
Perhaps now we can start to understand why it is our hands are mentioned
We can understand why the priest has to take the basket from our hands
It is because we cannot offer it all by ourselves
That is, to offer it ourselves is simply too much to ask of us
To grow something like that and then let it go without any help
Parashat Ki Tetzei / Sep 14
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Now You See Me, Now You Don't
“Sometimes what needs to be revealed begins with the not-finding.”
With the moon that sets
Or even, is hidden in the sky
Because the not-finding reminds us of our longing
That as much as we love the light of the moon, we desire more than the moon
Parashat Shoftim / Sep 6
Rabbi Noa Kushner
עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙ / Eye to Eye
If I accept that this giant swath of the Israeli population,
Many of whom are grieving personal family members and friends,
Including the hostages and hundreds of soldiers who have been slain,
If I accept, as Netanyahu suggests, that this giant swath of the Israeli population are all Hamas sympathizers —
And the only other choice I am offered is continuing to fight Hamas, which requires life after life after life
More war and force
Accepting this kind of cheap truth, cheap choice
Would be as preposterous as choosing between one of my two eyes
Any way I choose will blind
Parashat Ekev / Aug 23
Rabbi Noa Kushner
We Are Marked
The mark, the reminder in the Torah is that we left Egypt once and so we will leave it again
That even this plague will end
That even this slavery will end
That even these oppressions will end
Because we will work to end them
Parashat Devarim / Aug 9
Rabbi Noa Kushner
What Took Us So Long
It's not that we are back here again
It's that we're standing in the spot where our parents made their biggest mistakes
Where our parents were presented with what seemed inconceivable at the time — and good
But they could not overcome their own lack of חזון / vision
They just couldn’t see it
Parashat Bechukotai / May 31
Rabbi Noa Kushner
The rock on the mouth of the well
We cannot move this kind of stone with blame
We cannot move it with force
We cannot move it with power alone, it does not matter how powerful we become
We cannot even move this kind of stone with demonstrating our victimhood, by accruing power based in real pain
If anything, the more we fight it, the more fixed it gets, the more set in its place
Parashat Aharei Mot / May 3
Rabbi Noa Kushner
וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ / The twins were struggling in her womb: Israel and Palestine there and here
?אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִנֹ֑וּ / Why are we here?
I want to suggest that we have now really tried the answer of self-protection and violence
And as much as I have stood by Israel in her need for self-defense and will
I want to suggest this moment requires another kind of answer
Another kind of way to get from here to there
And in order to find this new answer
we will need more discipline than we have exhibited in this country
Parashat Metzora / Shabbat HaGadol / April 19
Rabbi Noa Kushner
How to prepare to be free
People have been confiding in me that they're afraid to have Passover seder
They're afraid of destroying friendships and family over the arguments see
Because in recent years we have all taken on a polarized, untrusting mentality
We’ve become afraid to say what we think lest we are cancelled by our own friends
This is truly where we are
And this mentality is hard to break
Maybe, they tell me, better to not have seder this year
Parashat Shmini / April 5
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Those of Us Left Behind
Who was Moses fooling anyway?
Wasn’t he also shattered by the deaths of these young men, his brother’s children?
Couldn’t he have just sat with his older brother, quietly, for a little while?
Parashat Tzav / March 30
Rabbi Noa Kushner
?מִ֣י זֹ֗את עֹלָה֙ מִן־הַמִּדְבָּ֔ר / Who is she that arises from the desert?
Maybe it is the prayer that cannot be classified
We don’t know what it is for
It doesn’t fit neatly into a category
Maybe it is an unwieldy prayer for things to just get better
Maybe it is a prayer born from confusion or fear about our world
Maybe it is prayer concerned for those we love
And even for those in distant, far away places, empathy and love for those we don’t know, will never know
Maybe it is prayer born out of exhaustion, a prayer not fully formed, a prayer without all the proper words
Parashat Pekudei / March 16
Rabbi José Rolando Matalon
The Mishkan as a new Creation: Restoring a home for God and for humans in the world
Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long-time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Listen to our past visiting scholars’ drashot here.
Our guest teacher this week is Rabbi José Rolando Matalon of B’nai Jeshrun and founding co-director of Piyut North America, a partnership between B’nai Jeshurun and Hazmanah Le-Piyut in Israel, which is dedicated to the dissemination of liturgical music from Jewish communities around the world.
Parashat Pekudei / March 15
Rabbi José Rolando Matalon
The innermost place in the Mishkan is the empty space in the human heart
Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long-time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Listen to our past visiting scholars’ drashot here.
Our guest teacher this week is Rabbi José Rolando Matalon of B’nai Jeshrun and founding co-director of Piyut North America, a partnership between B’nai Jeshurun and Hazmanah Le-Piyut in Israel, which is dedicated to the dissemination of liturgical music from Jewish communities around the world.
Parashat Ki Tisa / March 1
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Notes on Jerusalem
He said, "Peace has to come with honor and dignity — and not humiliation"
Parashat Terumah / February 16
Rabbi Michael Lezak
Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long-time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Listen to our past visiting scholars’ drashot here.
Our guest teacher this week is Rabbi Michael Lezak, staff rabbi at the Glide Center for Social Justice in San Francisco. Listen to his drash on Parashat Terumah below.
Parashat Yitro / February 3
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Divine Recognition
One family told me that on Kol Nidrei when we were in lockdown —
They got dressed up in white and feeling a bit self-conscious, It was all so strange, they turned on their computers and stood near their window to pray
But as they neared their window, onto a porchThey heard something across the park where they lived — they heard Kol Nidrei And they looked out and across the park…
Parashat Bo / January 19
Rabbi David Kasher – Visiting Scholar
Midnight in מִצְרָ֑יִם / Egypt: God’s Relationship to Time
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long-time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Listen to our past visiting scholars’ drashot here.
Our guest teacher this past shabbat was Hadar’s Rabbi David Kasher.
Parashat Shemot / January 5
Rabbi Noa Kushner
שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הוָה / To Live in the House of God
Pharoah’s Egypt and all its modern imitators try to insist that to help another person, to help ourselves, to have faith standing by a river, to ask for help from an unlikely source — any of these are fools' errands,
Better to stay in our lanes, say the Pharaohs of the world
Don’t risk, don’t trust, don’t save anyone, least of all yourself
But our Torah insists otherwise
Parashat Miketz / December 15
Rabbi Noa Kushner
לְעֵת מְצֹא / In the Time of Finding
The rabbis say this phrase means a person who has not given up hope
In other words, someone who prays לְעֵת מְצֹא
“In a time when God can be found”
Means a person who did not stop hoping for something
until they truly knew, without a doubt, the end of the story
Shabbat Drashot
High Holiday Drashot
Yom Kippur 5785
Rabbi Michael Lezak
Retaining the Scent of Heaven
Rafi called us. He said, ‘I know you are passing the rolling fields on your way to Beersheva. Please tell Michael about ‘Adom Darom’ the festival in February where thousands of people make pilgrimage to our kibbutz and the surrounding area to see expansive acreage of blooming Kalaniot / red anemones, the Israeli national flower. Tell Michael that the kalaniot will bloom again…and so will we
Kol Nidrei 5785
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Four Entered the Orchard, One Returned in Peace: The פַּרְדֵּס of 10.7
In fact, it seems to me
All four of these rabbis, and their perspectives
Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Akiva
are within each of us
And so, if we want to find our way through this severe chapter in Jewish history,
this particular orchard, what I am calling the פַּרְדֵּס of 10.7
We will need to go with them, to see their versions of the פַּרְדֵּס just as they see it
To go and, in the end, like Akiva, try to return whole
→ Click here to read & listen to the full drash
Rosh Hashanah 5785
Rabbi Noa Kushner
אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן / God of Mercy: Being Jewish in San Francisco, 2024
One thing, however, got very clear
There was no denying our involvement in the Jewish project
or even our involvement in Jewish history
because, like it or not, we were and we are, unmistakably, a part of it
Music
High Holiday Melodies
A series of prayers all about mercy and forgiveness recorded Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy.
