Rabbi Robert Scheinberg's page

I offered these comments immediately before the Yizkor memorial prayers on Yom Kippur 2020, which took place on the street in front of our synagogue. ========================================================= Take a moment to ask yourself: who are the currently living famous people for whom you have the greatest respect, who embody the very best of humanity? Now -- imagine if someone had asked you this question at the beginning of Rosh HaShanah 5780, in September 2019 - the beginning of the Jewish year that has recently come to an end. Who would have been on your list at that time? I know that my list of the very finest people alive last year at this time, the most deserving of emulation, would have included Representative John Lewis, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, all of whom have died in the last few months. I would like to share a brief reflection on each of their lives that can guide us as we go forth into this new year. Representative John Lewis in hi

Yom Kippur 5781:  What to do when “the entire people has erred” I know I have already commented about how unusual it is that our service is upstairs, we have readers zooming in from around the country, we have participants zooming in from literally around the world, and now we just said:  “Now let’s go live to President Jeremy Morley  standing by in his home!”  And then -- “Let’s go live to Rabbi Scheinberg in his office!” Then again, I realize that even in a normal year, our High Holy Day services may have the feel of a TV studio, as we switch from location to location and time period to time period.  You know that any good book is an exercise in time travel - and I definitely think that’s true about the Mahzor, which sends us back to biblical times, sends us back to review our year, sends us to our childhoods and the lives of people who have influenced us.    And so -- considering this, Let’s -- go live to our correspondent at the Temple in Jerusalem, 2500 years ago, where the High P

  Do you remember -- back in March?  Yes, I know it seems like several years ago.  Way back when in March, when the health crisis was so abominable in this area, people in various New York neighborhoods, and here in Hoboken, started an apparently spontaneous practice of stopping whatever they were doing at 7pm each night and applauding for health care workers.  Apparently this practice started near hospitals where shifts tend to change around 7pm,  so such a salute could be heard by health care workers as they left or arrived at the hospital. We clapped and cheered, some of us used other homemade materials to make noise, generating a brief daily feeling of togetherness and solidarity.  A few days after this practice started, I got a question from someone in our congregation, a question of Jewish law: "In the file of questions I never thought I’d need to ask my rabbi...  in the event of a global pandemic and a community’s desire to honor first responders by making lots of noise, wo

I don’t need to tell you that every aspect of these High Holy Day services are a new ex perience for me: just 14 people in the sanctuary, everyone wearing masks, and giving sermons in my office. These are among the many ways that this Rosh HaShanah is different from every other Rosh HaShanah.  And then there are the more trivial differences:  For example, I have never before given a sermon inspired by a refrigerator magnet. For many years we had a refrigerator magnet on our refrigerator that I picked up at a Jewish book store many years ago, because it intrigued me and it sounded like it would be very useful for our family at the time.  It was labeled  סגולה למציאת אבידה segulah li-m’tzi’at avedah , a ritual or charm to bring success in finding lost objects.  At that time with several young children at home, we were losing things all the time,and I thought I should take whatever help I can get. So even though I am not most attracted to the parts of Jewish tradition that focus on mystic