10/23/2026
Shalom Chaverim!
This Shabbat, we have the joy of celebrating Aviv Falchook becoming a bar mitzvah. Mazal tov to Aviv and the entire Falchook family! As we read Parashat L**h L**ha, I’m also thinking back to our son Avi’s bar mitzvah, four years ago. There is something special about returning to the same Torah portion each year and realizing how much has changed in our lives since we last read it.
Before Avi’s bar mitzvah, I wrote a Yom Kippur sermon in the form of a letter to him and all of our children becoming Jewish adults: A Letter to Our Bnai Mitzvah Children: Dream Big and Cultivate Your Names. Drawing on Abraham’s journey, I reflected on the dreams we have for our children and the names they will earn through their own actions. We give our children names, but becoming a Jewish adult means beginning to take responsibility for what those names will mean. I invite you to revisit that letter as we celebrate Aviv’s next steps on his own journey.
I’m also sharing Elaina Aronoff’s Dvar Torah from last week’s Pink Shabbat, No One Survives a Flood Alone: Elaine Aronoff's Breast Cancer Journey. Elaine spoke about her breast cancer diagnosis and the people who helped carry her through it: family, friends, neighbors, our community, and Sharsheret. Drawing on the story of Noah, she described how, as her own floodwaters rose, an ark began to take shape around her through meals, rides, messages, prayers, and people showing up when she needed them.
Her words reminded me of what it means to be a kehillah kedoshah, a sacred community. We cannot prevent every storm that enters someone’s life, but we can build an ark together, a place where people feel held and know they do not have to face those storms alone. We build that ark through the things we sometimes think are small: making a phone call, bringing a meal, offering a ride, or simply being present.
Thank you, Elaine, for sharing your story and reminding us of our responsibility to one another. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen.
Finally, I hope you’ll join me for my new adult education series starting next week: Text Messages: How to Write and Deliver a D’var Torah/Sermon. This is a class I’ve wanted to teach for a long time. After putting in my 10,000 hours over the last 17 years at CSK, I want to share what I’ve learned and help you bring your own Torah to our community.
Watch my invitation here, and see the flyer below for details!
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi David Baum
Email from Congregation Shaarei Kodesh Parashat L**h L**ha - Bnai Mitzvah, Breast Cancer Awareness, and More Shalom Chaverim! This Shabbat, we have the joy of celebrating Aviv Falchook becoming a bar
