Beth El of Manhattan, Two-Testament Synagogue
Maelezo ya Kituo
Beth El of Manhattan, Two-Testament Synagogue
Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen’s sermons at Congregation Beth El of Manhattan – an unaffiliated Conservative Synagogue of "Two-Testament" Judaism in the Upper East Side of New York City – where Jewish people and “People of Calling” (not born Jewish), and Interfaith couples come together in Manhattan since 199...
Vipindi vya Hivi Karibuni
285 vipindi
Love & Love ... And Love
This week's Torah portion "Mishpatim" contains an exquisite rhapsody on resisting the very human urge to attack and exploit weakness. It takes us to s...
God Ideas vs. Good Ideas
Revelation from God interferes with things coming naturally to humans: hurtful or wrongful deeds we often reflexively do. The 10 Commandments go to th...
Saved To The Uttermost (on "Shabbat Shirah")
In this parasha Beshalach on "Shabbat Shirah" – "The (Red Sea rescue) Song-Shabbat" – we hear sung, "And you have become my salvation." This salvation...
Becoming A Marvel
In this week's Torah portion we see the Exodus from Egypt being accomplished with miracles involved in the process. The words used for what God did we...
The Name Above Every Name
What does it mean that we have been given awareness of, access to, use of, and right to "stand within" The Name Above Every Name? The name of Yeshua T...
And They All Lived Happily Ever After
The Haftarah with this week's Torah portion "VaYechi," closing out the book of Genesis, shows King David at the end of his life cleaning up loose ends...
Mercy Is The Air We Breathe
God's very Name in which we are told to trust (Isaiah 50:10) is "Rakhum V'Chanun" – Compassionate & Merciful. We see the traits in this Name surface e...
Dysfunction Junction
How do we go about rightly being fallible Human Mortals following and effectively accessing the Perfect God among Imperfect Humans in A Stormy and Uns...
Going On While Bereaved
This week's Torah and Haftarah are both about the endgame of human existence. Everyone ages and passes away - and for the aging and the bereaved, the...
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Choice-making narrows our world. Choosing to be a long-distance runner has inherent in it the choice to be often alone. The story of Noah gives us a s...
HaBai'yitah (Home)
The Hebrew word "HaBai'yitah" (Home) has been rich in the news as the remaining living Israeli Hostages in Gaza were returned home to Israel. "Home" i...
The Honey AND (Not OR) The Stinger
We are commanded to rejoice exclusively for seven days, and yet we are conscious of the Hostages still in Gaza as we rejoice, like background radiatio...
We Can't Deliver Perfection To God Or Each Other
Since we cannot deliver perfection to God or humankind in our actions or ideas ... how can we live with reasonable "shalom" in a world filled with err...
The Mercy Of Return (with Special Musical Treat At End)
Fresh from "Tashlikh," we are full of consciousness of God's mercy that leads to relationship with Him in this world (Olam Ha'zeh), and eternity with...
Newness From Here And Now
How do we get to "new" from where we are now? With all swirling about us in the news and our own human life-journeys, how do we genuinely walk in the...
Rise And Shine. Or ...
The Haftarah for the Torah parasha Ki Tavo this week exhorts, "Rise, and shine!" This means someone is needed to arise, and some darkness needs light...
Othering: Am I My Brother's Keeper? - Part 2
[FYI - Sermon is only 11 minutes in length.] Continuation of the theme of "Ahavat Adam" ("love of all humankind) from recent sermons, "do not look out...
The Sure Mercies Of David
In this week's Haftarah, God promises those who come to Him for guidance the same mercies given to King David, himself. What hope do we have of meriti...
Haftarat "Nachamu" Reading
On the 2nd Saturday of every month, we have an abbreviated Shabbat morning service with no Torah Service or Sermon, so after services the synagogue's...
Right For Me, Right For Us - Part 2
We continue this Shabbat with the theme of interwovenness: how our decision-making is guided by balancing what Scripture calls "our own interests" wit...
Boundary-Making (with "Messiah Morsel" After Sermon)
We learn this week how "me" is balanced by "we."
This week's parasha "Matot/Maasei" continues our learning from the situation of...
God Remembers Devotion
God, Himself, declares, "I remember your devotion in your youth, the way you followed Me into a wasteland with no life in it." What grace! God remembe...
Daily Bread
Everything is not relative. That perspective can affect accuracy of understanding is genuinely an important consideration; but still, there are still...
The Song of "It Can't Be Done."
In the parasha, "Shelakh" we see what became our synagogue's logo: the Two Spies carrying the "Eshkol" (cluster of fruit). They saw the "land flowing...
The Shining (God's Name Placed Upon Us)
The "Aaronic Benediction" is described by God in the verse following it as "how you (the Aaronic Priesthood) shall put My Name on the children of Isra...
A Promise, Not A Command
The statement in the opening of this week's parasha is in the Hebrew future tense, which can read as either a statement of a future event, or a comman...
A Place For Us
Rabbi Bruce's first sermon back from his six-month sabbatical. [NOTE: Please forgive the sound quality: the air conditioner above the podium was mista...
The Fleas Come With The Dog
In this sermon for the weekly Torah portion "Terumah" (Voluntary Offering), Rabbi Bruce explores in deep detail and with personal examples how to repl...
Heartbreak
Starting from the Haftarah for this week in Isaiah chapter 6, our own heartbreak and that of others is pondered for wisdom and appropriate engagement/...
"Hard Hearts, Soft Hearts"
During last Shabbat (8 Feb 2025), the service leader made reference to Rabbi Bruce's sermon "Hard Hearts, Soft Hearts" given on 18 January 2006. Since...
Hineini Again
We present ourselves to God ... what happens then? How does it unfold? What results?
The Interrupted Conversation - Pilot: "I was there when it happened."
During the rabbi's sabbatical, every 2nd Shabbat of the month is not recorded so the congregation can have after services an on-site "Nosh & Drash" in...
Relationship Rupture and Repair
A mental health-care professional gives us a very insightful glimpse into the relational dynamics presented by the Biblical scenario of our patriarch,...
Hanukkah - Messiah As The Ultimate Shamash
Hanukkah is Hebrew for "dedication" – and dedication as service to God and to Humankind is role-modeled for us by Messiah Yeshua, who was "The Light o...
"Hated"
Joseph was an ethically better and exponentially more capable man than his eleven half-brothers; and they hated him so much for it, they conspired to...
God Invites - Will We Accept?
Sermon from streamed service on 7 December, not In-Person Service. That sermon will be podcast next week. Enjoy, and may it all be for shalom!
Overflowing
A very personal sermon built around an actual recent experience of a long-prayed prayer suddenly being answered.
On The Edge
God, at times, puts us out on the end of a ledge – and then causes the ledge to evaporate under our feet. As we start to fall, with nothing visibl...
"Lech Lecha" - Go To Your Very Self
A stirring look at the utter disruption of a family's entire status quo, leading to greater self-realization, long-unfulfilling goals – and challenges...