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It is hardly surprising that 2016/5777 was an interesting Rosh HaShanah for rabbis and sermons. I hope you will enjoy all these sermons and find them as meaningful as I did.

Climate change is more just an issue of the trees and oceans around us. There is a real human cost associated with the warming of our planet.

Typically, at some point in my work on this project, my wife will lean over my shoulder and ask me, in her own style, “So. How are the Jews this year?” Some years that is a difficult question to answer. This year the answer is clear: The Jews are afraid.

For children, traditions and rituals are significant; they provide predictability, support, and familiarity, while bringing families together and creating unity and a sense of belonging.

I consider myself a dedicated yet anxious Jewish mom. I’m dedicated because I would like my children to have a Jewish upbringing that connects them to our collective stories, history, and values – and I’m anxious because I’m never quite sure whether I’m accomplishing that goal.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, presented this sermon on Rosh HaShanah morning, saying, "We need to face something so odious that we will try to avert our eyes. But we must not."

Despite the long-held belief that there is no domestic violence in Jewish families, rates of abuse in the Jewish community mirror those in the general public.