Yair Robinson Parashat Shemini 2026 4/10/26   There is a famous, apocryphal story about Henry Kissinger, when he was serving in the White House, that an aide, allegedly Winston Lord, brought him a briefing paper, or a speech, or a memo, and Kissinger asked him, “is that the best you...

Parashat Veyeira 2025 Source Sheet by Yair Robinson  בראשית כ״א:א׳-ז׳ (א) וַֽיהוה פָּקַ֥ד אֶת־שָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמָ֑ר וַיַּ֧עַשׂ יהוה לְשָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽר׃(ב) וַתַּ֩הַר֩ וַתֵּ֨לֶד שָׂרָ֧ה לְאַבְרָהָ֛ם בֵּ֖ן לִזְקֻנָ֑יו לַמּוֹעֵ֕ד אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃(ג) וַיִּקְרָ֨א אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֶֽת־שֶׁם־בְּנ֧וֹ הַנּֽוֹלַד־ל֛וֹ אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָה־לּ֥וֹ שָׂרָ֖ה יִצְחָֽק׃(ד) וַיָּ֤מׇל אַבְרָהָם֙ אֶת־יִצְחָ֣ק בְּנ֔וֹ בֶּן־שְׁמֹנַ֖ת יָמִ֑ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃(ה) וְאַבְרָהָ֖ם בֶּן־מְאַ֣ת...

Rabbi Yair Robinson Chanukah 2024 Recently I got to see “Leopoldstat” in Washington DC, for which my sister served as the associate director and a cast member. The show opens with an intermarried and assimilated Jewish family in Vienna working on trimming a Christmas tree, much to the consternation of...

Rabbi Yair Robinson Chanukah 2024 Recently I got to see “Leopoldstat” in Washington DC, for which my sister served as the associate director and a cast member. The show opens with an intermarried and assimilated Jewish family in Vienna working on trimming a Christmas tree, much to the consternation of...

Parashat Vayeira: Laughter Against The Dark Plaut p. 132 Source Sheet by Yair Robinson     Genesis 21:1-7   (1) יהוה took note of Sarah as promised, and יהוה did for Sarah what had been announced. (2) Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at...

Or HaGanuz: The Hidden Light Bereshit 5785 Plaut p. 19 Source Sheet by Yair Robinson     Genesis 1:1-5 (1) When God began to create*When God began to create Others “In the beginning God created.” heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface...

Rabbi Yair Robinson  Sukkot 2024  Why yes, we are, in fact, in the midst of another holiday. The Jewish month of Tishrei is a marathon and a sprint, with one observance or celebration after another. So here we are, after all the drama of the High Holy Days, finding ourselves...

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785 What is your Beth Emeth story? Tonight, we begin the new year, and we have come to this place. I suppose we could be someplace else, at a different congregation, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal, unaffiliated, or something else. We could, in this day and age...

Vayelekh 2024 Plaut p. 1388 Source Sheet by Yair Robinson     Deuteronomy 31:10-13 (10) And Moses instructed them as follows: Every seventh year,*the year set for remission, at the Feast of Booths, (11) when all Israel comes to appear before your God יהוה in the place that [God] will...

Eikev: Gratitude as a Moral Choice Plaut p. 1230 Source Sheet by Yair Robinson   It’s wonderful to be back from camp, and anyone who has spent any amount of time in Jewish camping knows that we end each meal with some version of birkat hamazon, the grace that we say...