Oh my goodness, are you so tired? I am so tired. Like, my leg bones ache, so tired. And oh good heavens, there is only a month left until the High Holidays begin. Between the start of the school year and the political situation and just getting to the grocery store so we can have something that vaguely resembles food in the house, I bet you might feel the same.
So let’s just get straight to it. Here are some sermon starters for family service sermons, using non-traditional picture books as the jumping off point. Hopefully, one of these will resonate with you (and make things just a bit easier)
Oh No, George!: Maimonides’ Laws of Repentance
Central sermon question: What do we do when we make mistakes? What constitutes true repentance?
Jewish texts you could use:
- “Who is truly repentant? The one who, when the temptation to sin is repeated, refrains from sinning.” – Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 86b
Modern References:
- Our colleague Rabbi Paul Kipnes wrote a blog post on 6 Steps of Teshuva
Emma’s Poem: Privilege and Tikkun Olam
Central sermon question: How do we use the blessings we have to help repair the world?
Jewish texts you could use:
- “Hillel said: Do not separate yourself from the community” – Pirke Avot 2:5
- “[Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it.” – Pirke Avot 2:21
- 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:16-19
Modern References:
Having a hard time talking about privilege? Here is one interesting, accessible resource.
Pout Pout Fish: Yom Kippur as the Silver Fish
Central sermon question: Can we choose happiness?
Jewish texts you could use:
- Selection of references asking the Divine countenance to shine upon us: Numbers 6:22-25, Psalm 31:16, Psalm 67:1, Psalm 80:3, Psalm 119:135, Daniel 9:17. “We pray for God to change Her/His face; are we capable of doing the same? Can we find a way to see the positive in a situation we originally considered negative?
- Shammai says:… meet every person with a pleasant countenance – Pirke Avot 1:15
- “Just as the hand, held before the eye, can hide the tallest mountain, so the routine of everyday life can keep us from seeing the vast radiance and the secret wonders that fill the world” – Chasidic, 18th Century (p. 3, Gates of Repentance)
Modern References:
Gretchen Rubin’s podcast “Happier”
Knuffle Bunny Too: Second Chances
Central sermon question: Can forgiveness and empathy help form new, meaningful friendships?
Jewish texts you could use:
- “Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows” (Ben Zoma) – Pirke Avot 4:1 – Learning how to do this healthily can be hard!
- Yehoshua ben Perachia says, “Make for yourself a mentor, acquire for yourself a friend and judge every person as meritorious.” – Pirke Avot 1:13
Modern References:
- TED Talk about the Grant Study at Harvard (Crunched for time? Skip to about 6 minutes in)
The Thank You Book
: Blessings
Central sermon question: What are blessings?
- Blessings are an expression of gratitude; an opportunity to remind ourselves of what is truly important in our lives – the food we eat, the people we love, the existence of rainbows and wonders (maybe not in that particular order). What are you grateful for? Who are you forgetting? Is it someone or something that you take for granted so much that you need to break the fourth wall in order to thank?
Do you have any other favorite non-traditional children’s books that you love to use as sermon-starters? Join the conversation in the comments below!
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Rabbi Lauren Ben-Shoshan, M.A.R.E., resides in Palo Alto, California with her lovely husband and their four energetic and very small children.
