Park Avenue Synagogue Podcast

Sermon – Rabbi Neil Zuckerman – Time to Leave the Ark – October 9, 2021

Life is meaningful when it is shared with others, when we are in relationship with others. Just as God told Noah, “get out of the ark,” it is time to venture outside, and it is time to remind others that when they are ready, it is safe to do so.

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – Purple Rain – October 2, 2021

What is the theme of our people’s story? As we open the Torah to read once again about the beginning of humanity, Rabbi Cosgrove teaches that our history is a story of persistence in response to setbacks. Faith in the future and in ourselves is as essential today as ever.

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – After the Fast – September 18, 2021

Where do we go from Yom Kippur? Rabbi Cosgrove reminds us that resetting our moral compass is not a “one-and-done” task, but a lifelong challenge that we meet by a day-after-day commitment toward becoming our aspirational selves.

Sermon – Rabbi Steven Philp – This Pride, No Equivocation – June 26, 2021

Our tradition teaches us to search for the truth that can be found on both sides of a disagreement. Yet when it comes to the dignity of other people, there can be no equivocation. In celebration of Pride, Rabbi Philp challenges us to create communities that welcome our LGBTQ friends and neighbors.

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – Rabbi Dr. AaronPanken, Z"l – September 19, 2018

Taking inspiration from his friend and colleague Rabbi Aaron Panken, z”l, Rabbi Cosgrove enjoins us to make the values of our loved ones meaningful in our own lives.

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – From Pandemic to Purpose – June 19, 2021

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.

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – Fault Lines– June 5, 2021

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.

Dialogue - Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser: How We Talk About Gender – June 7, 2021

How We Talk About Gender

In honor of Pride Month, the How We Talk About team discusses gender – how we can affirm the presence of a truly diverse and inclusive Jewish community by sharing pronouns, offering alternatives to gendered and binary Jewish rituals (such as bar/bat mitzvah), and thinking about alternative ways to form groups or teams instead of boys vs. girls. What is the important conversation that we need to have about gender in the Jewish community? Jen Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser are joined by Dubbs Weinblatt, the Associate Director of Education and Training for Metro New York at Keshet and the Founder and Executive Producer of Thank You For Coming Out, a podcast and live improv show celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. Weinblatt is currently undergoing a physical transition to better affirm their gender identity and embarking upon a journey to their adult B-mitzvah, a gender-neutral approach to the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. Listen for advice and guidance about how to have these important conversations about gender.

Discussion and Reflection Questions

• What are ways you have made your classroom inclusive regarding gender? What is the next step to make your learning environment more inclusive?
• Is there a time when you used gendered language when, in hindsight, you could have used different language?
• Question from Dubbs Weinblatt: Think of a time when you were able to bring your full self into a space – fully celebrated and fully affirmed. What did that feel like? How did you know that you were fully affirmed? How did that moment of authenticity affect your relationship with the community you were in? And how can you take that feeling and bring it back to your classroom/learning space/community to help create the same space for others to belong?

Sermon – Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove – Showing Up for Israel – May 22, 2021

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.

For more information about services and programs at Park Avenue Synagogue, visit our website at https://pasyn.org.

Dialogue - Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser: How We Talk About Ability– May 19, 2021

One in five. That’s the number of people with disabilities in the United States today. Today on How We Talk About, Jennifer Stern Granowitz and Erin Beser speak with Dori Frumin Kirshner, Executive Director of Matan, a Jewish non-profit working toward inclusive classrooms and communal and spiritual aspects of Jewish life. What more can we be doing to support learners with special needs and their families? Listen for concrete suggestions and language for talking about learning differences in the classroom and in the world around us.

 

Discussion and Reflection Questions

• Am I doing everything I can to partner with students and ensure they are getting what they need?
• What am I doing to make inclusion a reality, particularly when I am in Jewish communal settings? Am I really thinking about this and stretching myself to become part of the solution?