hope — Rabbi Adam Lavitt — Sermons & Writing

Opening to the Twilight: Creativity’s Power to Activate Hidden Possibilities

In order to find out...what around us is yet to have its creative potential unlocked...we need to peer into the twilight – the murky, ungraspable space between day and night. We attune to this space by activating it within ourselves, tapping into our own inherent creativity in order to open our eyes to the world of the in-between so we might...draw out what is waiting for us at the world’s twilit margins. Pen to paper, brush on canvas, fingers working knitting needles or clay, wood or stone, we awaken something from its slumber, dormant from the dawn of creation until this moment. As we engage in the creative process, we ask the materials before us “what else can this be?”

articleAdam LavittDecember 21, 2022creativity, hope

Retelling our Story (Shabbat HaChodesh)

The war in Ukraine is hitting many of us harder than other global conflicts; the Pale is deep in the Jewish psyche. As I look at pictures of my relatives, I’m compelled to imagine how challenging their lives must have been: people were poor, life often interrupted by anti-Semitic violence. But this region also became known as the birthplace of some of the greatest Jewish creativity of all time.

sermonAdam LavittApril 2, 2022hope, memory, family stories

Approaching our Inner Pharoah (Shabbat Bo)

Torah tells us to meet God we must first meet Pharaoh right here. Who is Pharaoh? He is essentially recognizable by his heart, repeatedly described as “hard”, or “heavy”.… At first, Pharaoh sets his own course. But, with every plague, it becomes more difficult for him to change. His reactions become engrained in habit, until his heart closes completely. Maybe we recognize this in ourselves. Can see Pharaoh’s hardened heart right here in our midst.

sermonAdam LavittJanuary 8, 2022hope, Pharoah, compassion

Telling Your Most Life-Giving Story (Shabbat Vayigash)

At times we all feel overwhelmed by the challenges we are facing. But when we can take a step back and tell our fullest story – though it’ll include moments of challenge, they will only be a part, not the entirety of our story. When Joseph meets his brothers, he tells a full story: “Do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me [into slavery]; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you” (45:5). Joseph acknowledges what his brothers did, but what happened to him is only part of his story.

sermonAdam LavittDecember 10, 2021hope, Joseph, story-telling, faith, pandemic

Prayer Not Despair (Shabbat Toldot)

As “two separate peoples” striving against each other, we, too, are in existential pain, hindered in our ability to emerge from pandemic, or find clear ways to prevent climate catastrophe. But Rebecca, in her pain, does not despair. Rather, the Targum says, “…she went to pray before God in the House of Study...”. Rebecca goes to her community and prays. Only as she comes face to face with her Source…that Rebecca finally finds space for all the conflicting thoughts and feelings inside of her.

sermonAdam LavittNovember 6, 2021prayer, hope, uncertainty, community, parenting

The Blessing of Imperfection (Yom Kippur Day 5782)

During the rest of the year, while we may have moments of transcendence from time to time, we mostly muddle through each day’s measure of joy and pain. More often than I like to admit, I speak and behave in ways I later regret. I get impatient and defensive, and am misled by my desires. The last year and a half of the pandemic has broken our hearts and distorted our self-image - we feel more self-conscious about our bodies, and struggle with what we might consider normal social interactions. We are less certain about who we are, what we believe, and where we belong.

sermonAdam LavittSeptember 16, 2021angels, mortality, transformation, teshuvah, hope

A New Year’s Resolution for the Earth (Erev Rosh Hashanah 5782)

Just as resting is the way the world begins, endlessly working the land will be the way the world ends. We watch anxiously as droughts and wildfires plague the West Coast and wider world. Extreme weather, hurricanes and floods, predicted to happen once a century now happens every few years. Our society demands we prove our value through doing; but it consistently fails in its capacity to invest in being. Our ancestors knew how dangerous this could be - how easily it could lead us to create vast inequalities between the haves and the have-nots, devalue elders, and cause us to exploit each other and our planet.

Adam LavittSeptember 7, 2021climate change, hope, activism, Rosh Hashanah, Shmita

Moving from Certainty to Possibility (Shabbat Nachamu)

We can all think of times when our own dire predictions did not come true, right? When healing and transformation came from unexpected places. Isaiah encourages us this week to let go of our certainty, and instead open to possibility…. Negative predictions provide us with a false and dangerous surety — distract us from what we can do to build the just and loving world our grandchildren, and their grandchildren are counting on us give them. As we approach a new year, and all we hope to see and do, Isaiah reminds us that the future is still in our hands.

Adam LavittJuly 24, 2021Nachamu, comfort, hope, uncertainty

Choosing Life (Shabbat Korach)

Still reeling from the sting of the community’s rebellion, and despite his allegiance to his brother, Moses Aaron defends the people against the plague:

וַיַּעֲמֹ֥ד בֵּֽין־הַמֵּתִ֖ים וּבֵ֣ין הַֽחַיִּ֑ים וַתֵּעָצַ֖ר הַמַּגֵּפָֽה׃ / And Aaron stood between the dead and the living until the plague stopped. (Num 17:13)

Imagine him on the front lines, putting himself at risk for those he could easily consider his enemy. In the face of death and adversity, he chooses life and peace.

Adam LavittJune 11, 2021hope, justice

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