On One Foot: Joshua Hammerman's Blog: TBE Photo, Audio, Video and Written Archives

In a society devoid of trust, how to rebuild in our personal and public lives and how the Jewish people need to regain a basic trust in the universe following the Holocaust.

2015 Kol Nidre sermon "Back to the Future"

"Back to the Future" Taking the long view in Jewish life

2015 Rosh Hashanah Day 2

The Amalek Within

2015 Rosh Hashanah Day 1

"Hugging Hitler"

2014 Yom Kippur sermon "Happy"

sermon on happiness, Mah hasdenu

2014 Kol Nidre "Our Stories"

What is our life? Judaism is the sum of our stories

Avinu Malkeinu

Return Again

2014 Rosh Hashanah Day 2

Where Are We (Ayeka)?

2014 Rosh Hashanah Day 1

Sermon: "What Are We?"

2013 Yom Kippur: Regret

Confronting regret - and embracing it

2013 Kol Nidre: The Better Story

We must never despair. For we are the instruments of God’s kindness and love, even when God appears silent. It is ours to share, to accept, to include, and to be vigilant in the pursuit of peace with our neighbors. To believe, despite it all. To be kind, despite it all. To be Jewish and gentle, to BE Judaism’s better story

Rosh Hashanah Day 2, 2013

Rosh Hashanah Day 2 sermon, 5774, by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman: "The Silence and the Lamb."

2013 Rosh Hashanah 2013

Sermon by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman for Rosh Hashanah 5774 Day 1"The New Normal" - on Sandy and Sustainability

1975 Junior Congregation Sermon KI

Sermon given as high school senior, for Kehillath Israel Junior Congregation at its annual service in the main sanctuary. Brookline, Mass.

2012 Rosh Hashanah Day 2 - Many Paths, No Shortcuts

There are many ways to be Jewish - but no shortcuts - and one Jewish people
Topics: pluralism, Jews of Barbados, conversos, Matisyahu, Akeda

2012 Rosh Hashanah Day 1 - The God Particle

Fighting despair on the eve of the Mayan Apocalypse of 2012

New England Jewish Music Forum: A Chasidic Evening featuring Reb Shlomo Carlebach and Cantor Michal Hammerman

Concert in mid 1960s featuring Reb Shlomo Carlebach, Cantor Michal Hammerman, cantor Alex Zimmer and others, taking place in Brookline Mass. at Congregation Kehillath israel
Topics: Shlomo Carlebach, Cantor Michal Hammerman, Congregation Kehillath Israel

2011 Kol Nidre 2011

"Engaging Pain"

2011 Yom Kippur

“Engaging the Other" Yom Kippur sermon

2011 Rosh Hashanah 2011 Day 1

"The Right Side of History" An exploration of the nature of evil as exemplified by Apartheid in South Africa and racism in America.

2011 Rosh Hashanah Second Day Sermon 2011

"The We of Me" How an African Safari can shed light on the question as to why we affiliate with a synagogue?

Dershowitz and Ben Ami: Harold Hoffman Memorial Lecture, Temple Beth El Stamford CT Oct. 7 2010

Harold Hoffman Memorial Lecture, Temple Beth El, Stamford CT, Oct. 7 2010 Alan Dershowitz and Jeremy Ben Ami of J Street in conversation with Rabbi Mark Golub: "Making Israel's Case: Who Speaks for American Jews" Introduced by Stephen Hoffman and Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

2010 Yom Kippur

When Everything Changes

2010 Kol Nidre

“Bearing Witness”

2010 Rosh Hashanah 2010 Day 2

"The Broomstick, the Bush and the Sh'ma" The iconic image of the past year - the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - the most powerful country in the world couldn't turn off a faucet. How the Sh'ma can help us to confront a world spinning out of control

2010 Rosh Hashanah Day 1

"Why Do They Hate Us?" Jews and Israel face an increasingly hostile world, how is one to respond? With love.

2009 Rosh Hashanah Second Day

The Mitzvah of Obligation

2009 Rosh Hashanah First Day,

"Bringing Mitzvah Back," an exploration into the deeper meaning of "mitzvah

2009 Yom Kippur Day

God's Tweet: Mitzvah and Mindfulness - delivered at Temple Beth El in Stamford

2009 Kol Nidre
Mitzvah and Money - sermon delivered in Stamford Connecticut at Temple Beth El

2008 Kol Nidre

Each of us has a self that has been lost, or simply has just been covered over by all the masks we wear. We now have a gift: 25 hours to get it back, to rediscover who we really are, to set new expectations for ourselves for the coming year, even if we know ahead of time that we won’t be able to keep those vows.

2008 Rosh Hashanah Day 2

"The Shadings of Dawn"

2008 Rosh Hashanah Day 1

"Power to the Peoplehood" One could make the case that Jews invented identity. We certainly invented the secret identity. It is said that the root of all fear comes from denying who you really are. And we Jews have had lots of reason to be afraid. And as Jews, we have so much to offer the world – we should celebrate just how special we are. And then, we need to roll up our sleeves, reach out our hand, find that first rung, and begin to climb the ladder.

2008 Yom Kippur Day "Leaping Souls, Intimate Numbness and Spiritual Audacity"

TBE Hoffman Lecture: "Will Israel Survive" Q and A

TBE Harold Hoffman Memorial Lecture: "Will Israel Survive?"

Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal speaks at Temple Beth El, Stamford, CT on September 24, 2009, at the 25th Harold Hoffman Memorial Lecture.

CantorMichalHammermanKolNidre1971

Cantor Michal Hammerman Kol Nidre Live from Kehillath Israel, Brookline, Mass. 1971

Cantor Michal Hammerman RH Musaf

Live From Kehillath Israel, Brookline, Mass. 1971

2007 Kol Nidre

"Rules for the Road" Rites of Passage as we wander through the wilderness

2007 Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day

"Invasions of Privacy" The yarmulke is perfect in that way, it tells people a lot about us, but it also says, loud and clear, that there are places that no one should see. There is always a need for private space. When we are engaged in sacred activity, there is always some part of us that is covered up – and not just any part – but the head, the part that is closest to heaven. That is the beauty of the yarmulke – for men and for womenTopics: privacy,

1991 Yom Kippur sermon

Yom Kippur sermon 1991, "From a Distance." Temple Beth El, Stamford CT A "Hands On" sermon, as an earth ball is passed around to nearly 2,000 in attendance. "The beautiful intricacy of the human organism is matched only by the equivalent beauty of the organism we inhabit: the system known as earth."

1997 Rosh Hashanah Day 1 "The Turning 40 Thing"

1997 Yom Kippur Day Sermon

"Coming of Age" We're not dying, but the corner deli is. We're not, but the Jewishness of the bagel is. We're not, but the self-deprecating Jewish comedian is. We're not, but the negative stereotypes of Jewish women are. We're not, but checkbook Judaism is. We're not, but performance Judaism is. We're not, but our reticence to accept converts is. We're not, but our fear of what the gentiles will think about us is. We're not, but a Judaism based solely on vicarious experience

2006 Kol Nidre sermon

"The Compassionate Life" We explore the steps we can take to better love our neighbor as ourselves

2005 Yom Kippur Sermon

"In God's Image." My entire trip to Israel was framed, at the beginning and at its end, with the lingering mantra, at first playful and now haunting: “Titzalem oti.”

2005 Rosh Hashanah Day 1

"Tears by the River" - a discussion of the meaning of home, post Katrina and the Gaza withdrawal, with Dorothy's glass slippers and letters from camp thrown in

2005 Yom Kippur Sermon

15 step plan for Jewish Living

2004 RH Day 2 Sermon

"The Jewish Stain" There is something indelible about Judaism, something eternal, something that goes far beyond these shores and far beyond our lifetimes. There is no more humbling thought than that, that we are part of it and it is part of us. All we have to do to tap into that inconceivable power is to follow the advice of the prophet Micah: “And what does the Lord require of you – but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God."

2004 Kol Nidre Sermon

"Fear Itself" Over the years, we have developed interesting strategies to deal with what scares us. Tonight I’d like to talk about a few of them, and how we might develop our own authentically Jewish approach to confronting fear itself.

2003 Kol Nidre Sermon

"Smashing Idols" Why are we so reticent to challenge our faith? Are we afraid of exacerbating divisions among ourselves? Jews couldn’t be more divided than we are already. Perhaps the one thing that we all have in common is this heritage of chutzpah. Are we afraid of what others will think of us? You should know that one thing that many non Jews have told me they admire about Judaism is its intellectual honesty. We’re, at heart, skeptics. And that is how it should be.

2003 YK Day Sermon

"Finding Nineveh: The Band of Brothers." It’s interesting that just as in English, the words “other” and “brother” are almost identical, so in Hebrew, the word “brother” is “ach,” and the word “other” is “acher.” There is so little that really separates an enemy from a friend.

2003 RH Sermon 2

Power and its Limitations" In light of Iraq War, a massive power blackout and a trip to Yellowstone

2003 RH sermon day 1

"The Invisible Fence" The ironic thing is that now that he has been restricted to the area within the fence, my dog Crosby has been liberated – and he’s happier than ever. He can run free all over the yard, while before he had to be on the leash. And while he might occasionally look forlornly at the green grass on the other side of that invisible barrier, he leaps and barks far, far away from the dangers of Roxbury Road.

2003 Sermon for Yom Kippur 2003

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Sermon for Yom Kippur 2003 "Finding Nineveh: The Band of Brothers" Temple Beth El, Stamford CT

2001 Sermon for Rosh Hashanah 2001, Day 1: "Getting to Yes" Temple Beth El, Stamford. Just a week after 9/11, a nation rises from "shiva." "For although we are tired and shaken, although we are fearful, we are unwavering. And in the end there will be no more fear, no more terror, and we shall dwell as nations at peace. And a new world will be born. Today that world IS born - Amen."

2002 Rosh Hashanah Day 2:

“Apocalypse Later"

2002 Kol Nidre Sermon

"Forgiving and Forgetting" We need to rediscover the power of words within our families in order to expand this gift to the world – we live in a cliché-infested universe where the words have lost their meaning. We must rediscover the creative and healing power of words, because without them, too many family members end up not speaking to one another.

2002 RH Day 1 sermon

"A New Light On Zion" We pray every morning, “O cause a new light to shine upon Zion.” Never has that prayer carried more urgency than now. During terror attacks of 2nd intifada

2002 YK Day Sermon

"First Times" The key is to make every encounter like the first.

TBE Photo, Audio, Video and Written Archives

Vintage TBE Videos:

Rabbi Hammerman Installation Sept. 11, 1992, Rabin Memorial, Nov. 5, 1995, and Mel Allen Funeral, June 1996

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