Rabbi David Baum

Yizkor Sermon - Shavuot 2025/5785 I was asked a very important question by a rabbinical student when I led the Flesh Family Sinai Temple...

Parashat BaMidbar 5785/2025 Anyone who took an American history class knows the story of the American flag, created by Betsy Ross, but...

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

Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 2025/5785 - Rabbi David Baum I have to share something I’ve never shared before. It was during the first...

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....

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...

Photo by Majkl Velner  on Unsplash After the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, my grandfather Frank z'l, a Holocaust...

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...

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...

Parashat Ki Tissa 2025-5785 We Are Not Boring: The Secret History Jewish America  by Rabbi David Baum Congregation Shaarei Kodesh...

Who in your life lit the flame of Judaism for you? Maybe it was a rabbi or a teacher, or it could have been a family member who didn’t...

Parashat Terumah 2025/5785 Shabbat Shekalim When I was 16, I stepped into the famous Krakow synagogue along with other teens on the March...

Parashat Mishpatim - Rabbi David Baum When we were in Israel this summer, we visited Israel's Library of Congress. As you walk into the...

This week, on Monday, January 27, we observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I reflected on a powerful message through a sermon...

One of the things I often hear from our chaverim/congregants who have made a connection with Shaarei Kodesh is a version of this...

Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh Shabbat Va-era 2025-5785 Early in the film Selma, which tells the story of the famous march...

This Shabbat is bittersweet, much like the book of Exodus. Today, we are overjoyed with the prospect that the hostages will be returning...

Parashat Vayehi - Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh Click Above to Watch What if you were the last Jew on earth? What if you...

During these past two weeks, we have seen the blessings of the fire as we lit our Hanukkiot, but we have also seen the destruction that...

Parashat Vayeishev, Rabbi David Baum December 21, 2024 - 20 Kislev 5785 (click on the picture above for the video version of the sermon...