Rabbi David Baum

Can your heart break from across the world? I think we all know the answer to that question after the first night of Hanukkah as we heard about the horrific terrorist attack against the Jewish community of Australia on Sunday at Bondi Beach. I have a personal connection to the Jewish community of Australia. My grandfather Frank, of blessed memory, had a brother and sister who survived the Holocaust along with him. Whereas Frank went to America to build a family, his brother a

5th Year Rabbinical Student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, David Baum's Senior Sermon. Delivered on November 22, 2008, at the Women's League Seminary Synagogue. The parashah that week was Toldot. I welcome everyone here, family and friends who have come from near and far, and those watching at home (on videotape). In particular, I welcome our guests from Auburn Theological Seminary to our Synagogue. All of you have been my teachers, and it is an honor to repay you by ser

Rabbi David Baum Delivered on Parashat Noah, 2025/5786 Before we begin our Torah reading this morning, I wanted to share a story of this Torah cover that's in back of us right here, and the mitzvah that Audrey, the mother of our bar mitzvah boy, performed to turn it into a beautiful memorial to October 7th, 2023, and the two years that followed. Because it was here during Simchat Torah when we learned about the massacre. And after that day, we started wearing yellow ribbons;

Learning to practice joy during Sukkot 2025-5786, when our hearts are still in mourning but hope is on the horizon Imagine a time when you were happy, but had to feel sad, or a time when you were sad, but expected to feel happy. They are rare instances, but they happen from time to time in our lives. Judaism asks us to live in that tension all the time. We’re commanded to mourn when our hearts are full, and to rejoice when our hearts are breaking. For instance, it is one of t

Yom Kippur - 2025/5786 - Rabbi David Baum The day after I got back to shul after my summer vacation, I had a meeting set for 9:00 am...

Rabbi David Baum, Kol Nidre 2025/5785  In 2005, I was serving as a rabbinic intern in Norwalk, Connecticut, a small New England town with...