Rabbi Robert Scheinberg's page

This was a Yom Kippur sermon from 2008 .... but as I was looking over it I decided I liked it enough to put it on my blog. One of the themes of Yom Kippur seems to be making lists:  lists of categories of vows that get annulled in Kol Nidrei; lists of sins to which we confess in Al Chet; lists of loved ones who have died, whom we remember at Yizkor; and perhaps most importantly, the lists we make inside our minds:  Lists of people to apologize to and to reconcile with, and lists of changes we pledge to make in our lives during the coming year. List making is in vogue this year in a big way.  Look at recent or current best selling books like “101 Things to Do Before I Die,” and “1000 Places to See Before You Die.”  These books address the phenomenon of “life lists” - lists of things that people want to accomplish at some point in their lives.  It’s a practice adapted from bird watchers who keep lists of the varieties of birds they have seen and aspire t...

Ten years ago, two experimental psychologists at Harvard, named Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, created what has become one of the most famous experiments in the behavioral sciences. Before you read further, you may want to try this demonstration:  The participants in this study in the study were given a simple task. They just had to watch a brief video that included several people passing basketballs back and forth to each other. Three of these players were wearing white shirts, and three were wearing black shirts. The task was simple:  watch the ball that was being passed among the players with the white shirts, and count how many times the basketball was passed. This was not such a difficult task - most people came up with the right number. But then, the participants were asked: did you notice anything unusual about this video?  A majority of participants said, no, not particularly.  But - if you watch the video again -- you see that ri...

(photos are by Rabbi Will Berkovitz and Rabbi Suzanne Singer) Baruch atah adonai - eloheinu melech ha-olam - ha-gomel la-chayavim tovot - she-g’malani kol tov. "Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who bestows favor upon the undeserving,  and has bestowed favor onto me." Several minutes ago, I invited you to join with me in reciting this blessing - all those who recovered from illness, or had surgery, or extensive travel, or who had endured any other brush with danger during the past year.  It’s the traditional blessing of thanksgiving -- - the Birkat ha-gomel - that is recited upon such challenging moments of life. More than 12 years ago, I recited this blessing in this congregation after I was attacked on a subway platform and realized how grateful I was to have survived the attack.  And ten years ago, many of us remember how - on the first shabbat after 9/11 - every single person who came up to the torah for an aliyah - a torah honor - recited this Birkat ha-Gom...

At our synagogue -- as at many synagogues -- the most powerful moments of the High Holy Days are connected not only with words, but with music. If  you're joining us for the High Holy Days in Hoboken this year and you want a refresher of some of the melodies we will be singing, click on the links below.  We'll add more sound clips as time goes on. Mekhalkel hayyim be-hesed  -- the special high holy melody to this passage from the Amidah Avinu Malkeinu  -- perhaps the most well-known congregational melody for the High Holy Days Hayom  -- 'hayom' means 'today.'  We sing this rousing prayer at the conclusion of the morning service on each day of Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur.  The words (actually, 'word') are very simple to sing along. Kevodcha malei olam  -- New for our synagogue this year.  This melody was composed by my colleague Cantor Ken Richmond, with whom I served on the Mahzor Lev Shalem Editorial Committee.  The words are...

Thoughts I shared with my community today by email: Today is being observed in Israel and throughout the world as Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.  I have pasted below the comments that I made at the Jersey City Yom HaShoah commemoration yesterday.  Our Learning Center students in grades 4-7 will participate in a Yom HaShoah educational program tomorrow. Also today, we are focused on the fact that one of the most fearsome people our world has known since Hitler has been killed.  After 9/11, I remember thinking - and sharing with this community - that whereas comparisons between contemporary figures and Hitler are always overblown, in the case of Bin Laden the comparison is not inappropriate.  It seems oddly fitting that he was killed by American special forces not only on the day of Yom HaShoah on the Jewish calendar, but also on the anniversary of the date on the secular calendar when Hitler killed himself.   Thinking back to thos...

At many Jewish weddings, the recitation of the Sheva Brachot (Seven Wedding Blessings) is done not by the wedding officiant but by family and friends. Here is a copy of the Hebrew / English / transliteration of the Sheva Brachot , together with sound files (which can be downloaded one by one, or all together in one zip file). If you find these resources useful and are not from the United Synagogue of Hoboken community, please go to www.hobokensynagogue.org and send me a quick note -- and mazal tov! http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_english_hebrew_and_translit.pdf http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_mp3s.zip -- all the mp3s below in one zip file http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_1_borei_pri_hagafen.mp3 http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_2_shehakol_bara_lichvodo.mp3 http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_3_yotzer_ha-adam.mp3 http://www.scheinberg.net/rabbi/sheva_brachot_4_asher_yatzar.mp3 http://www.scheinberg.net/ra...

This is a modified version of an email that I sent to my congregation yesterday. The news reports of the damage from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan just keep going from bad to worse to unimaginable -- with the death toll now revised at over 10,000, several villages and cities reduced to rubble, and the possibility of nuclear disaster. David H., a member of our synagogue, has numerous direct connections to this tragedy and asked me to send the following reflections to you.  David lived and worked for many years in the town of Shichigahama, in the area that was hardest hit by the tsunami.  This town of more than 20,000 inhabitants is now mostly destroyed.    David's words help to communicate in very personal terms how devastating this situation is.  Below David's remarks are some suggestions for how we can assist.  (If you wish to contact David, you may contact him through me.) Friends, By now, I am sure you have seen the horrific...