Sermons from a Southern Rabbi

Every Shabbat in synagogues around the world and across America, sermons from the local rabbi are an important component of worship. This book brings together thirty-five sermons preached to the congregation of a typical small southern city, Lake Charles, Louisiana. Included are several sermons based upon the weekly parashah (assigned biblical portion from the Pentateuch), a series of messages brought during the high holy days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) of 2007, three funeral sermons, a special Yom ha-Sho'ah (Holocaust-memorial) address, and a short talk about freedom, given on July 4, 2008. Each message represents the author's attempt to link the concerns of the modern world back to the classical, biblical roots of the Jewish faith, thereby invoking the principles of biblical faith to serve as guidelines in the twenty-first century.

Charles David Isbell holds four university degrees, including a PhD from Brandeis University. During his fifty-year career (University of Massachusetts, Ecumenical Theological Seminary [Detroit], Louisiana State University), Isbell has taught Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian; Bible (history, literature, theology), rabbinic thought, and anti-Semitism. He has published 250+ journal and encyclopedia articles and ten books, including How Jews and Christians Interpret Their Sacred Texts (Resource Publications). For more information, see cdisbell.online and LivingLargeLate.com.