Rabbi Perkins' most recent Shabbat sermons will be posted here.
Click on the sermon title to view the text as a pdf in a new window or tab.
You can also click on the speaker icon in the far right column to hear an audio file of selected sermons.
Other sermons can be found in High Holiday Sermons or Sermon Archives (1998-2010).
In addition, sermons by guest speakers can be found here.

2021
January 16	Va-era	Resisting the Influence
January 9	Shemot	Responding to Desecration: Cultivating Reverence
January 2	Vayechi	Moving Beyond "Hello, Louis!"
		Excerpt from So That Your Values Live On -- Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them, by Jack Riemer and Nathaniel Stampfer
2020
December 26	Vayigash	The Beginning of the End
December 19	Miketz	What are the lessons of the Joseph story for our own day and age?
November 21	Toledot	Guarding Ourselves - And Others - From Evil Speech
November 7	Vayera	"Truth from the earth will sprout"
June 20	Shelach Lecha	Juneteenth: What Really Happened - And Does It Matter?
May 23	B'midbar	"Get Back To Where You Once Belonged"
May 9	Emor	Keeping Time and Maintaining Holy Time
March 14	Ki Tissa	How to Respond to Uncertainty
March 7	Tetzaveh	Shabbat Zachor
February 1		Remarks before the Prayer for Our Country and the Prayer for Israel
January 18		Reflections on My Rabbinate
2019	Vayishhlach	A Difficult Week
2018
December 8	Miketz	"Do You Believe in Magic?"
December 1	Vayeshev	Even a Little Something Can Go a Long Way
November 17	Vayetzei	"Is Life Fair?"
November 10	Toldot	"Two nations struggling in the womb"
November 3	Hayyei Sarah	After Pittsburgh, What's Changed?
October 27	Vayera	Holy Chutzpah
October 6	Bereshit	Are Judaism and Evolution Compatible?
October 1	Shemini Atzeret	Just One More Day!
September 22	Ha'Azinu	Why Do We Sit in the Sukkah?
June 16	Korach	Korach the Populist
June 9	Shelach Lecha	"Forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement"
June 2	B'Ha'alotcha	A Life-Changing Experience
May 12	Behar-Behukkotai	Three Approaches to Economic Inequality
May 5	Emor	What's in a name?
April 28	Achrei Mot-Kedoshim	"Don't Stand Idly By!"
April 21	Tazria-Metzora	Another Kind of Malignant Speech
March 17	Vayikra	Let My People Come
March 10	Vayekhel-Pekudei	Completing Creation
February 17	Terumah	"When Adar Enters, We Increase Our Rejoicing"
2017
November 18	Toldot	Study Sheet - A Gendered Look at Looking Through a Window
October 28	Lech Lecha	Who Was Abraham?
July 1	Hukkat	The Politics of Anger
June 24	Korach	Korach the Demagogue - Source Sheet
June 10	Beha'alotcha	"Things Fall Apart"
June 3	Naso	Heroes Then and Now
May 20	Behar Behukkotai	"Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land, Unto All Its Inhabitants Thereof"
May 13	Emor	Expressing True Love Toward the Living and the Dead
January 28	Va'era	"Liar, Liar"
January 21	Shemot	"Is There a Blessing for the Czar?"
		Study Sheet: The Duty, Opportunity and Challenge of Praying for the Government
2016
December 24	Vayeshev	What Does the Joseph Story Have to Teach Us About Chanukah and Christmas?
November 26	Hayei Sarah	The Importance of Gratitude
November 12	Lech Lecha	Lessons for Our New President Elect from Abraham
May 14	Kedoshim	Refraining from Being a "Scoundrel Within the Bounds of the Torah"
April 9	Shabbat HaHodesh	Who Owns the Exodus? Who Owns the Seder? Who Owns the Haggadah? Who Owns the Hebrew language?
March 12	Pekudei	Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohein Kook
March 5	Vayakhel	Vayakhel: "And he Assembled." For Constructive or Destructive Ends?
2015
November 28	Vayishlach	Being Grateful Before, During and After Thanksgiving
November 21	Vayetze	Jacob the Refugee
November 14	Toldot	Sibling Rivalry and Religious Violence
November 7	Hayei Sarah	How and How Not to Read the Bible
October 24	Lech Lecha	It Isn't Easy
October 17	Noach
May 29	Naso	When Paying Attention is Hard To Do
May 9	Emor
February 28	Tetzaveh	Part 1
	Tetzaveh	Part 2
February 7	Yitro	Part 1
	Yitro	Part 2
January 24	Bo
January 3	Vayechi	Study sheet for Vayechi- Jacob's Blessings
2014
December 6	Vayishlach	Part 1
	Vayishlach	Part 2
November 29	Vayetze	Lessons from Ferguson, For Us and For Israel
November 22	Toldot
October 25	Noach
October 18	Bereshit	Are Curiosity and Religiosity Compatible?
September 6	Ki Tetzei	Labor Day and the Jews
June 21	Korach	Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons
June 14	Shelach Lecha	Are We Part of the "Evil Congregation"?
May 16	Behukkotai	"Que Sera, Sera!" v. "Do the Right Thing!"
April 12	Shabbat HaGadol	"Notes for Shabbat HaGadol drashah"
April 5	Mitzorah	"Maintaining Pure Homes"
March 29	Tazria	"Why Do We Eat Matzah?"
March 8	Vayikra	"Let's Celebrate"
March 1	Pekudei	"Looking Back and Looking Forward"
February 15	Ki Tissa	"The Importance of Character"
February 8	Titsaveh	"The Importance of Doing It All the Time, Every Day"
January 18	Yitro	"What Would Yitro Say?"
January 4	Parshat Bo	"Taking the Initiative: Reflections on Ariel Sharon"
2013
December 14	Vayechi	"What's So Special About the Number 17?"
December 6	Vayiggash	"A Tribute to Nelson Mandela"
November 2	World Series Reflections	"What They Said -- And What They Didn't Say"
October 12	Lech L'cha	"What Do Janet Yellen and Scarlett Johansson Have in Common?"