Liturgy as Devotional Prayer

Biblical Foundations: The Patriarchs, Sarah and Assuming the WorstPreacher: Rabbi Dr. Joshua BrumbachDate of Sermon: November 7, 2026Did Sarah die of shock when Abraham came home from Mount Moriah alone? Our sages thought the two events were connected.The Akedah is often read as a story that ends well, yet Abraham comes down the mountain without Isaac, and the relationship between father and son is never quite the same. The ancient rabbis read Sarah’s death right alongside that moment, because chapter and verse breaks didn’t exist yet. Those divisions came centuries later, and they can shape how we read without our noticing.In this Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, Rabbi Brumbach asks what the rabbis saw when they read these two events as one story, and what happens when we jump to conclusions before hearing the whole story. He then continues the Biblical Foundations series with how to interpret the Bible well: the move from the universal to the individual in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what the word Torah really means, and how the order of the books shapes the story each tradition tells.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

 The Akedah, Sacrifice, and the Ultimate Offering Preacher: Rabbi Eric Meiri Date: October 31, 2026Abraham bargained with God to save Sodom, but when told to sacrifice Isaac, he stayed silent. Why?The binding of Isaac is one of the hardest passages in Scripture. God’s command seems to contradict His own promise that the covenant would come through Isaac, and the text gives us no hint of what Abraham was thinking or feeling. Jewish interpretation wrestles with it in deep and creative ways, while Christian readings tend to move straight to the Messiah. Both leave us with real questions.So what did Abraham know in that moment, and what is God asking of us? In this Parashat Vayera message, guest speaker Rabbi Eric Meiri looks closely at the Hebrew of Genesis 22, at Abraham’s quiet confidence that he and Isaac would return, and at what Hebrews, James, and John 3:16 add to the picture. He then asks what the Akedah means for our own lives, and what we are willing to sacrifice in response to God’s covenant faithfulness.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

Biblical Foundations: Abraham’s Calling, Translation, and Textual CriticismPreacher: Rabbi Dr. Joshua BrumbachDate of Sermon: October 24, 2026Lech lecha isn’t God politely inviting Abraham to come along. The doubled Hebrew means get out, go, leave now.Pick up three English Bibles and you’ll find three different renderings of those two little words. Hebrew doubles a word for emphasis, plays on sounds, and uses idioms that don’t carry over cleanly, so every translation is also an interpretation. And even before anyone translates, the manuscripts themselves were copied by hand for centuries, and small differences crept in.So how do we read Scripture thoughtfully without losing our trust in it? In this week’s Torah portion, Lekh Lekha, Rabbi Brumbach looks at Abraham’s calling to leave everything familiar and step out in faith. He then shows how comparing translations and manuscripts, including what the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed about the text’s transmission, helps us become better students of the Word and better disciples of Yeshua.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

Biblical Foundations: Noah, Redemption, and Literary Genres Preacher: Rabbi Dr. Joshua Brumbach Date of Sermon: October 17, 2026Noah’s ark and Moses’ basket share one Hebrew word, used only twice in the Tanakh. That’s no accident.Most of us read the Bible as a single book, but it’s really a library: many authors, many genres, and a span of over a thousand years. The Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament contain the same books in a different order, and that changes the story each one tells.So what is the Bible, and how should we read it? In this Torah portion on Noah, Rabbi Brumbach follows the word tava from the flood to Moses, both of whom emerge as redeeming figures. He then steps back to explore the literary genres of Scripture, the Tanakh and Septuagint orders, and why the word of God still requires interpretation.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

Mountain Top Experiences Dorothy Gitelman August 15, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays.What does it really take to meet God on the mountain?Moses climbed a mountain to meet God, and so did Abraham and the disciples. It wasn't quick and it wasn't easy. Dorothy shares what her summer trip through the Alps taught her about mountaintop moments in Scripture, and what it looks like to prepare our hearts as we enter Elul.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

Liturgical Contexts and the Outpouring of the Spirit Rabbi Dr. Joshua Brumbach August 8, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays.Can the Holy Spirit really move in the middle of set liturgy, or only when things are unscripted?Rabbi Joshua takes on the idea that liturgy is dull and the Spirit only shows up in spontaneous worship. He walks through Solomon's temple dedication, Acts chapter 2, and Numbers 11 to show the Spirit moving right in the middle of structured, liturgical worship, and makes the case that what matters isn't the form of worship but the state of our hearts.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

God's Spirit and His Kingdom Rabbi Dr. Joshua Brumbach August 1, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays.Did you know the Holy Spirit shows up all over the Tanakh, long before Acts chapter 2?Rabbi Joshua walks through example after example, from creation to Bezalel to Gideon to Ezekiel's dry bones, to show the spirit at work well before the New Testament. He then looks at what it means to be filled with the spirit today, and unpacks the difference between the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit and why both matter for the community.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

The Whole Point of Devarim Tom Esposito July 18, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays.Are we so busy watching the wolf that we're missing the real story?Tom uses the three little pigs to make a point about Devarim: it's easy to get distracted by the danger in a story and miss what's actually being said underneath it. He walks through why God chose Israel, what it means that we've entered a renewed covenant through Yeshua, and the purpose we've been given to show God's character to the world.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

40th Anniversary Celebration Stewart Weinisch July 11, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays.What does it actually look like to follow God fully for 45 years straight?This week is Simchat Yisrael's 40th anniversary celebration, and we welcomed back guest speaker Stewart Weinisch, the congregation's first leader, to bring the word. He takes us through the story of Caleb, the spy who trusted God's promise about the land and then waited decades to see it happen, and what it means to follow the Lord fully and be led by the spirit.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org

Liturgy as Devotional PrayerDorothy GitelmanJune 27, 2026As we enter Elul, we're using this season of preparation to catch up on messages from the past few months, works we don't want anyone to miss before the High Holidays. What do you actually mean when you say the words of a prayer you've said a hundred times?Dorothy walks us through why we all walk into shul carrying different backgrounds, habits, and default reactions, and how that shapes the way we pray together. Using the Sim Shalom blessing as a case study, she digs into what peace really means in the text and how putting our own hearts into the fixed words of the siddur can turn recitation into real devotion.For more information visit www.simchatyisrael.org