Torah From Boca

Jim Morrison once sang, “When you’re strange, no one remembers your name.” This week in Parashat Eikev, I reflect on how the Torah commands us to do the opposite: to remember and to love the stranger, because we ourselves were strangers in Egypt. I share why this mitzvah is the most repeated in the Torah, how it speaks to today’s epidemic of loneliness, and what it means to build a Jewish community where no one is left unseen or fo...

This week, Torah, holiday, and my own life all aligned. Parashat Va’etchanan commands us to love God with all our heart, soul, and might. The Jewish calendar gave us Tu B’Av, our festival of love, and on top of that, it’s our 19th wedding anniversary.

In this episode, I revisit my original “Love Is a Verb” sermon from years ago, adding new insights from Jewish tradition, Steven Covey, Rabbi Shai Held, and the changes I’ve seen in r...

“Silence is complicity” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot lately — especially when it comes to Israel, Gaza, and our own Jewish community. But what if the real danger isn’t silence, but how we speak?

This week we open a new book of Torah, Deuteronomy, or Devarim. In the very first words of the book, Moshe offers a model: he delivers hard truths, but he does it in a way that protects dignity and keeps the community together.

In this epis...

War and Peace: What Aaron’s Staff Can Teach Us After the Twelve-Day War

In this episode of Torah from Boca, I reflect on the recent Twelve-Day War between Israel, the United States, and Iran—a conflict that many are already calling a modern miracle. But what does it mean to witness a miracle in real time? And how do we respond to it, not just with gratitude, but with responsibility?

Rather than focusing on the dramatic punishment o...

The Strength to Step Back: What My Shtender Taught Me About Leadership

Parashat Shelach Lecha 2025/5785

In this episode of Torah from Boca, I share the story behind my humble wooden shtender—purchased in a basement shop in Jerusalem—and the verse I had engraved on it: “Moses was very humble, more than any man on earth.” That verse has shaped how I strive to lead.

Drawing on Parashat Shelach Lecha, we explore how true leadership is ...

Torah from Boca – Episode Title: How a Two-Week Trip to Volunteer In Israel After October 7 Changed My Life with Yocheved Ruttenberg

In this powerful episode of Torah from Boca, Rabbi David Baum speaks with Yocheved, founder and CEO of the Sword of Iron Israel Volunteer Corp—the fastest-growing grassroots volunteer movement to emerge in the wake of October 7.

What began as a two-week mission—armed with 23 duffel bags of donated sup...

🎙️ Torah From Boca — Episode Title: Fear Builds Encampments. Love Builds Community; Our Choice Encampment or Community?

I originally planned to give this teaching in light of what’s happening here in the United States—the immigration raids, ICE deportations of undocumented individuals, and the protests that have erupted in response, some of which turned chaotic and violent. I wanted to bring Torah into that conversation, to explor...

Welcome to this week's Torah from Boca from Tel Aviv! 

In this special episode, I’m recording from Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. I had the privilege of joining a fellowship with rabbinical students from across denominations—Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and non-denominational—as part of an immersive experience that brings future Jewish leaders into dialogue with Israeli society, its challenges, and its soul.

While in Tel Av...

Ever faced an invitation you didn't know if you should accept? This week on Torah from Boca, I reveal a decision I've never shared publicly—turning down a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence during the first Trump administration. I had a good reason: it was my son's siddur ceremony (when he received his first prayer book) at his school.

But what if that meeting hadn't conflicted with my son's special day? Honestly, this podcast...

In this episode of Torah from Boca, I share a story I love—a hilarious (and surprisingly deep) tale of a silent debate between a pope and a Jew named Moishe. It's funny, yes—but like so many Jewish jokes, there’s truth beneath the humor.

Watching the world await the white smoke of the papal election, I felt something stir in me. Not jealousy, but what Bishop Krister Stendahl once called sacred envy—the ability to admire another ...

Why do I keep kosher? Why do any of us?

Why do I keep kosher—and why don’t so many Jews today?

In this episode of Torah from Boca, I share a story that says so much about modern Jewish life: a congregant once emailed me outraged that BaconFest was scheduled for Yom Kippur… because he wanted to go. It’s a funny moment—but also a real one.

We live in a culture that prizes indulgence and immediate satisfaction. Kashrut offers somethi...

Over the last two years, we’ve seen college campuses across the country erupt with cries for “liberation.” The word is everywhere—but I’ve been asking myself: Liberation toward what? And according to whom?

In this episode of Torah from Boca, I’m sharing a sermon I gave on the 7th Day of Passover—one of our tradition’s most powerful moments of liberation. But in Judaism, liberation is never the end of the story. True freedom only...

What does a small aleph in the Torah, the silence of a child at the Seder, and your Facebook feed have in common? In this episode, Rabbi Baum explores the power of silence in Jewish tradition—from the quiet humility of Moses to the child who does not know how to ask at Seder, to the challenge of raising thoughtful questions in a noisy world. As Passover approaches, discover how sacred silence might just be the invitation we need to...

🎙 We Are Not Boring: The Secret History of Jewish America

Has anyone here seen The Frisco Kid? A Polish rabbi, played by Gene Wilder, is sent to America in the 1800s—only to find that the joke isn’t on him, but on American Jewry itself. Before the Holocaust, Jewish scholarship and intellectualism thrived in Europe, while American Jews were seen as an afterthought, a punchline.

But here’s the twist: We built something extraordinar...

🔥 Who Lit the Flame of Judaism for You? 🔥

Who in your life ignited your Jewish spark? Was it a rabbi, a teacher, or a family member who lived out their Judaism in everyday actions? In this thought-provoking sermon, Rabbi David Baum explores the power of passing the torch—through generations, through mitzvot, and through the light of Torah. Drawing connections between the Olympic torch relay, the eternal flame of the Mishkan, and ...

What makes a synagogue truly holy? Is it the grandeur of its architecture—or something much deeper? In this d’var Torah on Parashat Terumah, given at his son’s bar mitzvah, Rabbi David Baum reflects on sacred spaces, personal experiences from the March of the Living, and a surprising insight from his own children. As his son, born and raised at Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, reaches this milestone, Rabbi Baum shares how meaningful i...

Empty Chair, Broken Promises

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In this deeply moving episode of Torah from Boca, Rabbi David Baum reflects on a powerful moment from his visit to Israel’s Library of Congress, where empty chairs, each holding a hostage’s favorite book, bear witness to the ongoing tragedy of October 7th.

Through the devastating story of the Bibas family and the Torah’s unflinching condemnation of kidnapping in Parashat Mishpatim, t...

On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Rabbi David Baum’s sermon for Parashat Vaera, Protecting Our Hearts: Confronting Evil Without Losing Ourselves, offers a profound reflection on the role of suffering, resilience, and the human heart in the face of injustice. Drawing parallels between the biblical Exodus, the civil rights movement, and the challenges of our modern world, Rabbi Baum invites us to confront...