I have never been a mountain climber, but I do know about “peak experiences”. What is a “peak experience”? Wikipedia defines it this way: “‘Peak experience’ is a term used to describe certain transpersonal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of euphoria,  harmonization and  interconnectedness [my emphasis]. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing [...]

Passover approaches. I lift my eyes to the top shelf of my bookcase, where lie many haggadot, some of them very familiar to me, others with spines unbroken. Each haggadah is a shard of refracted light, a piece of the spectrum of the Passover story that has journeyed through generations of editors, writers and artists, each of whom sought to [...]

On any given Shabbat morning, anywhere from a dozen to three dozen members of this community (and some interested non-members) gather for Torah study. Most do it “religiously”, building it into their weekend schedules as a not-to-be-missed part of their week and/or their experience of Shabbat. I have led Torah study in our congregation for the past twenty-two years. Over [...]

My father, Dr. Alfred Toby Lieberman (of blessed memory), was a physician. He was, to be precise, an “otorhinolaryngologist” (a word I learned to pronounce as a very young child)–an “ear, nose and throat” specialist. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati Medical School and went on to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to pursue his residency training, the first [...]

As I anticipate our nation’s observance of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the word “legacy” has been on my mind. One definition for that words supplies us with this: “anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.” The English word “legacy” is derived from the late 14c., "a body of persons [...]

I am Pre-Occupied. Which is simply another way of saying that I am playing catch-up on the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon as it is being played out here on Cape Cod, across our country and throughout the world. I have read essays and articles thoughtfully provided me by members of this congregation, I have spent time on the Occupy Wall [...]

Ushpizin is an Aramaic word used to describe the honorary guests whom we invite to spend time with us in our sukkah. Since they are honorary (and invisible) we can fit in as many as we might wish to invite! This is the premise upon which we conducted our first-ever Sukkah-A-Thon, to raise needed funds for the Housing Assistance Corporation [...]

I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that the Festival of Sukkot is my favorite Jewish celebration and despite the fact that I have, for many years, erected a sukkah at home, and despite the fact that I have, over the decades, always encouraged others to do so.....I have never spent an entire night in a sukkah. That [...]

Anticipating the arrival of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on our country, I began to look back through pieces I had written in the first days and weeks after that tragedy. I have reproduced below remarks that I offered at a memorial service on 9/14/01.   ~~~~~~~~~ “In Jewish tradition, the rhythm of our scriptural calendar brought [...]

The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray. When I look behind, as I am compelled to look before I can gather strength to proceed on my journey, I see the milestones dwindling toward the [...]