

What Will They Say About You When You’re Gone? Living A Memorable Life
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
4 days ago11 min read


The Shattered Vow of Never Again, The Enduring Promise of Never Forget©
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...

Rabbi David Baum
4 days ago9 min read


As If for the First Time: Rediscovering Life, Death, and Prayer on the High Holidays©
Rosh Hashanah Evening Day 1 - 5786 - 2025 Rabbi David Baum Photo By Annie Spratt from Unsplash Elul, the month leading up to Rosh...

Rabbi David Baum
Sep 257 min read


Don’t Be Brutal. Don’t Be Naïve. Be Jewish. ©
First Day of Rosh Hashanah 2025 - 5786 Rabbi David Baum I’m sure many in this room have seen a war movie, but have you ever felt war?...

Rabbi David Baum
Sep 2417 min read


It’s All Of Us, Whether You Like It Or Not: Judaism, Zionism, and Peoplehood©
Parashat Nizavim 2025/5785 - Rabbi David Baum I was interested in watching Hacks — I’d heard good things. But after the Emmys on Sunday...

Rabbi David Baum
Sep 246 min read


Help Us Remember by Rabbi David Baum
Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash Help Us Remember© By Rabbi David Baum Preamble: I Wish I Could Remember 9/12 By Kathryn Bosley "I...

Rabbi David Baum
Sep 113 min read


Mass Shootings and Strange Rituals: Why Every Life Still Matters©
Parashat Shoftim 2025/5785 Does anyone here like zombie shows? I’ll admit, when they first became popular, I thought it was just a fad. A...

Rabbi David Baum
Sep 27 min read


Breaking the Silence Without Breaking Each Other©️
Parashat Devarim and Tisha B’Av Three weeks can feel short, but a lot can happen in that time. Think about the three weeks between the...

Rabbi David Baum
Aug 38 min read


War and Peace: What Aaron’s Staff Can Teach Us After the Twelve-Day War©
Parashat Korach 2025/5785 Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh Let’s say you experience a miracle. Do you think you would...

Rabbi David Baum
Jul 17 min read


The Strength to Step Back: What My Wooden Book Holder (Shtender) Taught Me About Humility and Leadership©
Parashat Shelach Lecha 2025/5785 Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh In 2002, while I was studying in Jerusalem after my...

Rabbi David Baum
Jun 257 min read


🎙️ Torah From Boca — Episode Title: Fear Builds Encampments. Love Builds Community; Our Choice: Encampment or Community?
🎙️ Torah From Boca — Episode Title: “Fear Builds Encampments. Love Builds Community; Our Choice Encampment or Community?” I originally...

Rabbi David Baum
Jun 171 min read


Never Forget, Never Again: Why We Return to Traumatic Places©
Yizkor Sermon - Shavuot 2025/5785 I was asked a very important question by a rabbinical student when I led the Flesh Family Sinai Temple...

Rabbi David Baum
Jun 65 min read


More than Colors: Israel's Flag and Our Shared Future©
Parashat BaMidbar 5785/2025 Anyone who took an American history class knows the story of the American flag, created by Betsy Ross, but...

Rabbi David Baum
Jun 69 min read


Less Facetime, More Face Time
Rabbi Baum's Annual Meeting Address - June 4, 2025 There are some places in the world that are just different from others. For example,...

Rabbi David Baum
Jun 53 min read


Breaking Bread with the Enemy: When Should We Talk, and When Should We Walk?©
Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 2025/5785 - Rabbi David Baum I have to share something I’ve never shared before. It was during the first...

Rabbi David Baum
May 137 min read


Not Handed, But Earned: The Ongoing Story of the Silver Platter©
One of the poems I always read on Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day, is called "The Silver Platter" by the Jewish poet Natan Alterman....

Rabbi David Baum
May 14 min read


You Are What You Eat—and What You Don’t: Keeping Kosher in the Land of Bacon-Wrapped Everything©
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Parashat Shemini 2025/5785 Why do you keep kosher? Why don’t you keep kosher? Why is it hard for...

Rabbi David Baum
Apr 306 min read


Why We Remember, Why We Fight, Why We Live: Yom HaShoah U’Gevurah Reflections
Photo by Majkl Velner on Unsplash After the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, my grandfather Frank z'l, a Holocaust...

Rabbi David Baum
Apr 245 min read


No Liberation Without Revelation: The Crisis of Moral Clarity in the Age of Campus Activism©
I want to begin with a quote and gauge how you all feel about it. Would you ‘like’ it if no one knew? On a base level, maybe you hope...

Rabbi David Baum
Apr 227 min read


What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk: Silence At The Seder©
Parashat Vayikra/Leviticus - 2025/5785 Click here for the Video Version on YouTube Moshe says to his friend David, "I've been doing a lot...

Rabbi David Baum
Apr 88 min read