From Haman To Huwara
The Shabbat before Purim is known as Shabbat Zachor, when we unpack the story of a blood feud between Israel and Amalek which stretches from the time of Moses through […]
What If We Are The Egyptians In The Exodus Story?
At our Friday Night service on January 27th, following a painful week of mass shootings, Rabbi Deena delivered a drash on this week’s parsha from Exodus comparing its plagues of […]
Where It Began…
At Mishkan’s 5783 Yom Kippur service, Rabbi Deena Cowans delivered a sermon inviting us to bravely begin new things, even (especially!) if we aren’t very good at them at first. […]
How Do I Console Someone Who Is Suffering?
The seven weeks leading up to the High Holidays are all about consolation. In Rabbi Deena’s drash from our August 19th service, we learned how to model G-d’s method of […]
Passover: What Does Freedom Even Mean?
Passover is a story about freedom. But what even is freedom? Rabbi Deena breaks it down ahead of Mishkan’s virtual Passover seder. This sermon was originally delivered at the Saturday […]
The Great Pesach Bake Off: The Joys of Spiritual Spring Cleaning
As many Jews around the world get ready to prepare their kitchens for Passover, Rabbi Deena explores the spiritual wisdom of Judaism’s baking and spring cleaning traditions. This sermon was […]
To Life, to Life, L’chayim?
Rabbi Deena’s sermon from Erev Rosh Hashanah 5782 In her book “The Art of Dying Well”, journalist and motivational speaker Katy Butler writes that Western medicine has become focused on […]
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5781: There Can Be Miracles When You Believe
In the winter of 2018, I was sitting with my weekly “spirituality and recovery group” at the Exodus Transitional Community, a center for people recently released from prison. As their […]