Welcome to our community!

Rabbi Steven Sager is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He earned a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Duke University in 1989.

In addition to his duties as Rabbi of Beth El Synagogue, Rabbi Sager serves as a lecturer on the faculty of the Duke Divinity School. Rabbi Sager has taught many classes including “Psalms & our Daily Lives” and “Poetry as Parshanut”.

Summer 2007:

Hevra,

My derashot for this holiday season will be based on stories of the theme: “When Moses went up to the heavens…” These are all stories that take place at the top of Mount Sinai at the moment of the giving of the Torah. Moses ascends the mountain (Is the mountain heaven?) and disappears into the cloud while we—the people—stand at a safe distance. What happens within that cloud is revealed to us only through the imagination of the Sages. Of course, their imagination is fueled by their ideals, their fears, their hopes and aspirations.

I offer you more stories than I will use—six ancient tales and a seventh story that is a modern revision of the sixth story. I invite you to share your thoughts on these stories with me over the summer. As I did last year, I also invite you to select from each of your four favorite stories one line upon which the story turns, a line that you would choose to put on a card to hand out as a reminder of each story’s essential lesson.

Enjoy the stories.

Rabbi Sager