High Holy Day Sermons 2020/5781

These sermons, written and delivered in the fall of 2020, the beginning of the Hebrew year 5781, are mainly written with the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of our congregants have been in their homes since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Some families have lost loved ones to Covid-19 years before they imagined. Some of our congregants are also front-line workers, including grocery store workers, ICU and ER nurses and doctors, and other areas of the economy where they have been in contact with the public. Some have lost their jobs and are less financially secure than they were pre-COVID. All of us have spent a lot more time on the internet than we have in the past. During these last six months. Many have expressed fears for their lives, our country, humanity, and the world. Our congregation has held services on Zoom since the beginning of the pandemic, with a few in person, outdoor, opportunities. Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, we learned that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lost her battle to cancer. I delivered a sermon in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (called Shabbat Shuvah) on the lessons we learned from Ruth Bader Ginsburg z’l.

Our High Holy days this year were held almost entirely on Zoom in order to ensure the health and safety of our congregants and clergy. You can read about all of our offerings by visiting www.cskboca.org.

I hope you find these sermons meaningful and if you have feedback, please email me at rabbibaum@shaareikodesh.org.

Here are some helpful tips to navigate this document and some background information

You can view videos of the sermons by clicking on the picture at the top of the sermon page.
The videos were not recorded on the holidays as they were delivered to the congregation, but before and/or after the holiday.
To go directly to the sermons, go to the table of contents on pages 3 - 4 and click on highlighted link.
Sermons will also be found on my blog at www.rabbidavidbaum.blogspot.com. Feel free to share them!
Video clips can be found on this YouTube playlist. You can also share the clips on social media.
If you see a blue underlined line or word, click on it and it will take you directly to the source, although footnotes are included.