Park Avenue Synagogue Podcast

As we go from Yom Kippur to Sukkot, Rabbi Zuckerman explains that we must use the inward reflection of Yom Kippur to move outward differently, because if we do not know and tell our own story, others will tell our story for us. 

On the second day of Sukkot, Rabbinic Intern Claire Davidson Bruder explores Rabbinic texts about the holiday and its rituals, uncovering Sukkot's call for Jewish unity even in times of strife.

As Yom Kippur draws to a close, Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that life is fleeting and none of us knows how long we will have. He urges us to live today so that were it to be our last day, we would have no regrets.

Rabbi Koffman discusses the very Jewish messages of this Broadway show, and how its teachings are especially appropriate for Yom Kippur.

Recalling moments from the Torah and Jewish history, Rabbi Zuckerman highlights the need for a broader Jewish historical imagination, one that remembers our moments of vulnerability without forgetting our moments of courage - because while trauma has a way of traveling through generations even when no one speaks about it, courage depends on someone telling the story.

What do we leave behind when we are no longer in the picture? Through the life and legacy of his mentor, Michael Brooks, Rabbi Cosgrove explains Yizkor not merely as a time to remember those we have lost, but as a call to carry forward their values, their work, and their love.

Doing teshuvah – and, for that matter, making changes of any kind – is tremendously difficult. As Rabbi Pink explains, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is shift your mindset from "no" to "not yet."

In the year of Leonard Cohen's tenth yahrzeit, Rabbi Zauzmer honors him not only as the singer-songwriter we all know, but as an inventor of Jewish ritual. His powerful story is a reminder that ritual is how we make holy that which we cannot control.

What does it mean to take responsibility for our lives? From Genesis to September 11 to the confessions of Yom Kippur, Rabbi Cosgrove explores Judaism’s insistence that grievance never absolves us of agency, challenging us to stop asking who is to blame and start asking, What is mine to do?

As we enter 5787, Rabbi Zuckerman reflects on the Jewish American experience with a story about Jonas Philips, a Jewish figure in the American Revolution, and discusses how the Jewish calendar is one of the most powerful communicators of Jewish identity that we possess.