Sermons

Are there any lessons that we should take with us when, please God, the pandemic is but a memory? Rabbi Cosgrove challenges us to appreciate our blessings, to pay attention to the problems that the pandemic has exposed, and to move forward with intention to live meaningful lives.

Returning from a rabbinic mission to Israel following the recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Rabbi Cosgrove delivers a mixed report of gloomy realities tempered by reasons for hope.

What if we threw a rally for Israel and nobody showed up? Rabbi Cosgrove speaks to the battle for the soul of American Jewry and the continued importance of investing in Israel’s future and well-being.

How do we come back from this past year’s tough times? Do we despair or do we respond with optimism that we can transcend our difficulties to craft a positive future? As Jews have done since the prophet Jeremiah, we can show resilience and choose the positive.

Does it matter if we are precise in our observance of mitzvot (commandments)? While always a balance between exactitude and right intention, Jewish living calls on us to be attentive to the sacred grammar of doing mitzvot.

How do we bring a person who has been isolated because of a dreadful disease back into community? How do we all reintegrate as a community after a year of isolation and disruption?

Can a miracle be difficult for God? Follow Rabbi Cosgrove into a sea of stories and interpretations as we discover how building a relationship is like making a miracle.

May we break Shabbat in order to keep Shabbat? The tension between working to make Shabbat and resting to have Shabbat is as old as Shabbat itself. Looking back over our pandemic year, Rabbi Cosgrove questions how our use of technology will affect how we keep Shabbat in the future.

Our Jewish lives or our support for the State of Israel? Rabbi Cosgrove reflects on the vituperative reaction of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox to last week’s Supreme Court decision regarding conversion and the uncomfortable choice faced by diaspora Jewry.

Is it better to make change from the inside or outside? On our annual UJA Shabbat, Rabbi Cosgrove looks to the Megillah for two models of leadership that can guide our choices today.