Bringing weekly Jewish insights into your life. Join Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz, Rabbi Michelle Robinson and Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger of Temple Emanuel in Newton, MA as they share modern ancient wisdom.
Shabbat Sermon: Finding Light Where It's Hardest to See with Guest Speaker Millet Ben Shabat
Drawing on her experience surviving October 7th and her ongoing journey of healing and advocacy, Millet explores what resilience truly means. Through personal stories and practical reflections, she shares how letting go of what we cannot control can help us rediscover our strength, accept support, and find meaning in community.
The talk invites us to embrace vulnerability, adapt to uncertainty, and focus our energy where we can make a difference in our everyday lives.
About Millet Ben Shabat
Millet Ben Shabat, 30, is married to Yakir and a psychotherapist in training. On October 7th, she survived the Nova music festival massacre. Since then, she has been active in international advocacy, supported the efforts to bring the hostages home (BH all home now), combating antisemitism, and helping her community through its ongoing healing and recovery. Committed to share truth, light and love.
17 Oct 2026
Talmud Class: AI Scandal and What Our Tradition Has To Say About Judging Others
Every once in a while you read a story in the newspaper that feels like it should have been published in The Onion.
The other night, I couldn't wait to read this story (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/us/college-professors-administrators-ai-dartmouth.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IlE.xGzg.Rf6qTUO89x-x&smid=nytcore-ios-share) to Solomon. Apparently, Dartmouth is investigating its provost, Dr. Santiago Schnell, after a Semafor investigation, and subsequent investigation by the student newspaper, The Dartmouth, revealed that much of his academic writing and recent op-eds, including a recent Washington Post op-ed about the problem of AI cheating in a university setting, were written largely by AI.
Here is a direct quote from the article in The New York Times that made me laugh: "Dr. Schnell told The Dartmouth in a statement that he used A.I. 'for language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization and making writing processes more efficient.' The newspaper then ran Dr. Schnell’s statement on his AI use through an AI detector, which flagged the statement itself as apparently written by AI Dr. Schnell did not respond to a request for comment."
When I brought this story to Solomon, he did not laugh the way I had. Instead, he raised important questions. If all of the ideas in the article were Dr. Schnell's, and AI makes it easier for him to share those ideas with others, what's the problem with using AI? And even though this technology is purported to be completely accurate, are we sure that it can it effectively determine whether someone has used AI to write or whether they have only used AI to proofread?
Solomon's questions made me realize how quick I was to judge Dr. Schnell, and how willing I was to laugh at his expense without pausing to question the situation more fully.
What does our tradition teach us about judging people when we don't have the full story? (https://shulcloud-images-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/7772/uploads/Benefit%20of%20the%20Doubt.pdf)
10 Oct 2026
Shabbat Sermon: Born on Page 2 with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz
Imagine you have a friend who cannot stop raving about a book. "I love this book. You have to read this book.” One day an Amazon package sits at your front door. Inside is the book, along with a note from your friend: "I hope you find this book as life-changing as I do." You cannot wait to begin. But the moment you open the book, you notice something strange.
There is no beginning. No page 1. The book begins on page 2. There is only an ongoing story.
That is true of Judaism's most foundational text. Open any one of the sixty-six tractates of the Talmud and you will notice that there is no page 1. The first page is always page 2. There is only an ongoing story.
And it’s not just true of the 66 tractates of the Talmud. The same thing happens a 67th time in our Torah this morning. As generations of commentators have observed, when the Torah tells the creation story, it does not begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, alef. It begins with the second letter, beit. There is no page 1. There is only an ongoing story.
What is true of our sacred texts is true of our lives. None of us is born on page 1. All of us are born on page 2. Each of us enters a story already in progress.
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Contact From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life
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