Congregation Dor Hadash
San Diego's progressive, down-to-earth
Reconstructionist community, welcoming all,
including LGBTQ+ and interfaith families
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 RABBI YAEL RIDBERG'S HIGH HOLY DAYS SERMONS 5778

The Power of Vulnerability

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You might have seen Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update: Summer Edition, last month, on the heels of the horrific events in Charlottesville. “Wearing a University of Virginia sweatshirt, comedian Tina Fey, who graduated from the school in 1992, talked about the hatred on display in the place she loved, and the violence that had resulted from it. She talked about the President’s reticence: his baffling but also not entirely baffling reluctance to use his bully pulpit to unequivocally criticize the bigots who had marched on Charlottesville. >> more

Rosh Hashanah Sermon: Vulnerability in Community

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My previous congregation’s building was a former New York Public library. A square block of concrete, the building’s defining features were the nearly 12 foot windowpanes that encircled It. They were an excellent opportunity for synagogue advertising. One of the members used to take flyers of our events and have them blown up to affix them to the windows and announce what was happening at West End Synagogue.>>more

Kol Nidre Sermon: Vulnerability of Democracy
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Exactly one month after the election, I emailed the wife of Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center of San Diego. A mutual colleague introduced us, and Lalia and I met for tea one morning. I reached out to her because I sensed that the American-Muslim community was particularly vulnerable in anticipation of the incoming Administration, and I didn’t know any Muslims personally. Not one.
>>more

Yom Kippur Sermon: The Spiritual Challenge of Vulnerability

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​I am often asked about writing sermons for the High Holy Days: “Are there ‘pre-packaged’ sermons at the ready?” A veritable library of sermons to just pick one and deliver it? If there are such resources, I have never found them, and even if I did, I could never make them work. I have always needed to deliver a sermon that I myself need to hear.  >>more
Congregation Dor Hadash | Mailing address: PO Box 12768, La Jolla, CA 92039 | 858-268-3674