Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Parashat Acharei Mot 2019 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Aftermath  ‘ Vayidom Aharon ’ – ‘and Aaron was silent’. Thus the Torah tells us, three parshiyot ago, before Parashat Tazria, Metzora and even our Parashah today, Acharei Mot. In Parashat Shemini, we read the chilling account of the death of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. In a cryptic incident, they offer ‘aish zarah’, ‘alien fire’ upon the altar. Many commentators condemn them for defiling the newly-inaugurated Tabernacle through an unaccounted offering. Some commentators, like the Ohr haChaim, praise their initiative of religious enthusiasm and devotion. Be what may, God strikes the two young Priests down. Moses offers a strange response to the tragedy: “This is what the Eternal meant when God said, ‘through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people’.” (Lev. 10:3) Was Moses offering words of consolation or criticism? Was he channelings God’s condemnation or approval of the ‘...

Friday Night Sermon Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz A Torah of Life: Post-Pittsburgh Thoughts Brothers and sisters, acheinu v’achyoteinu , In our weekly reading of the Torah, we are approaching the center point, the fulcrum, of the book of Genesis. Parashat Chayyei Sarah focuses on chapters 23 to 25 and deals with the aftermath of Sarah’s death. The Midrash suggests that Sarah died a traumatic death after hearing about her son Isaac’s near-sacrifice on Mount Moriah. As we can see, this is part of Genesis that addresses some of the experiences, concerns and questions that we are sitting with as a community tonight: death, mourning, trauma, fear, healing, celebrating life, honoring, rebuilding. Love, hope, legacy, vision, future. In fact, the portion is capped by the two deaths of our giants: Sarah at the start of the reading and Abraham at the end. In between, we witness a match being made between Rebecca and Isaac and reconciliation being found at the fo...

Vigil for Louisville and Pittsburgh, 30 th October 2018, Iowa City Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Shir la’amot  – A song of ascents. Essa einai el he’harim – I lift my eyes to the mountains Me’ayin yavo ezri – from where will my help come? Dear brothers and sisters,  I’m an immigrant. Unlike many American children, I did not grow up watching ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’ as a child. I was blessed to discover Mr. Rogers’ television ministry of humanitarian kindness as an adult and it has given me succor during turbulent times.  Mr. Rogers’ mythical television neighborhood – a place of hope and love - was set in Squirrel Hill, the Neighborhood where the  Etz Chaim – Tree of Life – Synagogue stands.  There is a now-famous story that Mr. Rogers would share the comfort his own mother gave him. He said: “’Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words,...

Sermon: 8 th Day of Pesach, Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Pour Out Your Wrath/Love What do we do with anger?  Anger is an important and defining emotion in the Hebrew Bible and we might be inclined to recoil from it. The Israelites get angry, Moses gets angry, God definitely gets angry. In our contemporary politeness, we may not always know how to meet that anger and there may be a real philosophical disconnect between the source of anger and its expression.  God identifies as ‘El Kana’, a zealous God, and this may only layer onto our discomfort with the notion of anger and retribution. What human behavior merits God’s wrath? I suspect all of us here would reject such toxic theology outright. We scrub and sanitize our texts or obfuscate their meaning. But how intellectually honest is it? Meanwhile we sit with the anger radiating off the pages of our tradition. By ignoring or dismissing anger, we are not examining its sacred mechanism. Just like in the human psy...