Shabbat Sermon: Parashot Ḥukat-Balak: A Divine Lesson in Employing Perspective to Overcome Life’s Emotional & Interpersonal Difficulties with Guest Speaker Michael Rosemberg

What does it mean to be blessed without knowing it, especially in a period permeated by suffering and perceived meaninglessness? Today, reading these two parashot together yields some incredible insights into how we can reframe our perspectives, cultivate gratitude, and actively build a better reality for ourselves.

About Michael Rosemberg

Michael Rosemberg is a rising senior in the Joint Program between the Columbia University School of General Studies and List College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Economics-Political Science at Columbia and in Jewish Ethics at JTS. His academic interests include political theory, American politics, Jewish pluralism, Jewish theology, and Jewish relations with non-Jews. At Columbia, Michael is a member of the Honor Society of the School of General Studies and the Mu Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society. At JTS, he is a List College Fellow and will be completing an undergraduate thesis that explores the Latin American Jewish community’s response to the surge in antisemitism following October 7th. He has completed a selective fellowship for promising Jewish leaders in Columbia/Barnard Hillel’s Alexander Jewish Leadership Institute. He has also taken part in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Jewish Teen Fellowship. Beyond his academic pursuits, Michael is deeply involved in Jewish communal life and leadership. He serves as the co-president of the Challah For Hunger student group at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, and he frequently leads services for various minyanim, most notably leading this past year’s High Holy Day Services at Temple Emanuel. Michael feels humbled and is very grateful for the opportunity to share Torah with all of you.