On this page you will find audio files of midrashim, sermons, Torah readings with translation and commentary, and Kol Nidre music.
Midrashim (Jewish Legends based on Biblical Themes) – Audio Files unless otherwise noted
- “Punishing One Who Helps” by Rabbi Robert Barr YouTube Video
- “Isaac Challenges Abraham” by Rabbi Laura Baum YouTube Video
- “Abraham Seeks To Save Sodom and Gomorrah” by Rabbi Robert Barr YouTube Video
- “What is Righteous?” by Iah Pillsbury, rabbinic intern YouTube Video
- “Perspective” by Rabbi Laura Baum audio file – and YouTube video
- “Alone” by Rabbi Robert Barr audio file – and YouTube video
- “Generations Collide” by Rabbi Robert Barr audio file – and YouTube video
- “Relativism” by Rabbi Laura Baum YouTube video
- “Death of a Spy” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “The Anger of Joseph’s Unknown Wife” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “Joseph, Trapped in the Cell” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Joseph Interpreting Dreams” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Joseph Tormenting His Brothers” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “A Life Not Well Lived: Jacob’s Personal Struggle” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Joseph, You’re a Dreamer” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “At the River: Rachel Encourages Jacob” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “Not Wanting the Journey to End: Moses and the Promised Land” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Aaron Remembers Moses” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “A Little Bit of Jacob and a Little Bit of Esau in Each of Us” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “The Way of Tradition: Birthright and Women” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Moses Exposes Himself” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Moses’ Obsession with Shoes” by Rabbi Ana Bonnheim
- “Rebecca in the Shadows” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Isaac Reflects on Fatherhood” by Rabbi Ana Bonnheim
- “Mourning the Deaths” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Secular Moses Standing on Sacred Ground” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “Moses and Joshua’s Final Conversation” by Rabbi Laura Baum
- “Moses Looking at the Promised Land” by Rabbi Robert Barr
- “What were Aaron and Moses Thinking? A tale of Two Brothers” by Rabbi Mark Rothschild, PhD
Sermons For the High Holidays – Audio Files unless otherwise noted
- Rabbi Laura Baum’s 2015 Rosh Hashanah Evening Sermon: Resisting Busyness YouTube video version here
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s 2015 Rosh Hashanah Morning Sermon: Some are Guilty – All Are Responsible YouTube video version here
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s 2015 Yom Kippur Evening Sermon: Heresy in One Age – Normative Thought in Another YouTube Video here
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s 2015 Yom Kippur Morning Sermon: New Language for a New Age YouTubeVideo here
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s 2011 Rosh Hashanah Evening Sermon: Losing Faith (audio) – YouTube video version here
- Rabbi Laura Baum’s Rosh Hashanah Day sermon: Saying what we Mean and Meaning what we Say (audio) – YouTube video version here
- Rabbi Laura Baum’s Yom Kippur Evening sermon: Embracing Fear (audio) – YouTube video version here
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s Yom Kippur Day sermon: Standing Still is Not an Option YouTube video
- Rabbi Robert Barr’s sermon: Social Entrepreneurship, Jewish
- Rabbi Laura Baum’s sermon: Why Should We Care about Judaism?
- Rabbi Laura Baum speaks on Sweet Dreams and Hopeful Aspirations.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on Women in Charge: The 21st Century Made Better.
- Rabbi Laura Baum speaks on social justice and the tensions we feel.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on personal struggle…facing the unexpected.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on the legacies we create.
- Rabbi Laura Baum speaks on a third dimension to the Jewish experience. It’s not your grandparents’ Judaism.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on “The Time to Act is Now!” Change, creativity, and forward-thinking are essential in Judaism. We stand at a pivotal moment in Jewish history. How will we respond?
- Rabbi Barr speaks on “Sacred Texts-Not Really” and discusses a liberal Jewish approach to the Bible. He argues we must become the voices of reason.
- Rabbi Baum discusses the legend from the Torah that Moses never reached the Promised Land. She encourages us to stop seeking an elusive Promised Land and instead encourages us to focus on our journeys.
- Rabbi Robert Barr discusses what it means to stand on sacred ground as he discusses his recent visits to Auschwitz and to the American Military Cemetery in Normandy.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on “Stepping Outside of Ourselves.” Yom Kippur calls us to recalibrate ourselves so that we see what is happening around us and the ways we affect and touch the lives of others.
- Rabbi Laura Baum speaks on the rational and non-rational components of religion. As we enter the New Year, may we allow ourselves to be enriched by our human potential and a sense of wonder– as our minds flourish…and our hearts soar.
- Rabbi Robert Barr speaks on finding sanctuary during troubling times.
- Rabbi Ana Bonnheim discusses Israel and its physical environment.
- Rabbi Robert Barr encourages us to tease apart our realities and our self-perceptions. He calls upon us to pierce the myths that we live by – about ourselves as individuals, as Jews, as Baby Boomers, and as Americans.
- Listen to Rabbi Mark Rothschild, PhD, as he provides three sequential answers to the question, “What, if anything, does Progressive Judaism say about changing ourselves and changing our world?”
Torah Reading with Translation and Commentary – Audio Files unless otherwise noted
- Rosh Hashanah Morning 2015 Torah: Rabbi Baum reads from Genesis 18 YouTube video version
- Yom Kippur Morning 2015 Torah: Iah Pillsbury, rabbinic intern reads from Genesis 19 YouTube video version
- Rosh Hashanah Day 2011 Torah: Rabbi Barr reads from and interprets verses from Numbers 13:24-28 – and YouTube video version
- Yom Kippur Day 2011 Torah: Rabbi Baum reads from and interprets verses from Numbers 13:30-33 (YouTube video)
- Rosh Hashanah Day 2010 Torah: Rabbi Barr reads and interprets verses from Gen. 39:19-21 and 40:1-3.
- Yom Kippur Day 2010 Torah: Rabbi Baum reads and interprets verses from Gen 41:1-4 and 14-16
- Rabbi Laura Baum reads Genesis 32:25-31 (the struggle between Jacob and another being) and provides commentary and a perspective on the biblical theology.
- Rabbi Robert Barr reads the final verses of the book of Deuteronomy and provides commentary including such issues as who wrote the Bible.
- Rabbi Laura Baum reads Genesis 25:21-27 and explores myths about Jacob. See how Jewish legends build on and respond to one another.
- Rabbi Ana Bonnheim reads from the Torah starting at Exodus 3:2. She reads, translates, and provides commentary on the scene where Moses encounters the Burning Bush.
- Rabbi Ana Bonnheim reads the story of Jacob trying to steal his brother’s blessing from his father Isaac. She begins reading at Genesis 27:21.
- Rabbi Laura Baum reads Deuteronomy 34:1-7 (the end of Moses’ life) and provides commentary and translation.
