OPEN FOR INVENTORY
A Sermon in Preparation for the High Holy Days
September 10, 2004
A JEWISH MAKEOVER
A Selichot Sermonette
September 11, 2004
Five Questions In Search of An Answer*
WHY BE JEWISH?
A Sermon for Rosh HaShanah Day 5765
September 16, 2004
CAN WE MAKE IT BETTER?
A Sermon for Atonement Eve 5765
September 24, 2004
WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD?
A Sermon for Yom Kippur 5765
September 25, 2004
WHAT OUTLIVES LIFE?
A Memorial Address for Yom Kippur 5765
September 25, 2004
HIGH HOLY DAYS PULPIT
THEME FOR 5765
Why Questions? "That's an easy
one", says Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn. "The posing of questions has
ever been at the heart of our Judaism. Our youngest child is
honored to ask the four questions at the seder table each year.
Our rabbinic literature is fashioned around the question and anwer
format. Moreover, not on ly the Talmud but also the Bible itself
poses penetrating and heart-stopping questions to which you and I and
every living soul ought to be busy attempting to respond. The
High Holy Days are the perfect occasion to ask ourselves some weighty
and necessary questions."
"Let's say that I will offer some
possible responses and will encourage each 'Jew in the Pew' to continue
the process of formulating his or her own personal reply. I use
the phrase "In Search of An Answer" because the questions themselves
are eternal," Rabbi Cohn continued.
"No one has ever accused me of being
wishy-washy. I'll try to do my very best to forcefully and
candidly offer my own conclusions tothe fullest extent of my thinking,
but I will then invite our congregants to continue the dialogue in the
context of their own lives long after these sermons have been
delivered. That's what a real sermon ought to do, anyway.
And besides, in a world where people typically hunger for the
simplistic answer, the Jew has always placed greater emphasis and value
upon the incisive and thought provoking question. In total, this
series could amount to a Jewish makeover, and eager and welcoming
invitation to us all to become the Jew that is in you!"