Rabbi Louis Sachs explores how we remember those we have lost without allowing the way they died to become their whole story.

Drawing on Israeli poetry written after October 7th, the traditions of Yizkor and Kaddish, and the meaning of Shemini Atzeret, the sermon reflects on memory, grief, and the power of simply showing up.

We cannot erase tragedy or explain every loss—but we can remember the fullness of a life, stand beside those who mourn, and ensure that grief never has to speak into silence.

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Delivered on Shemini Atzeret morning, October 3, 2026.

Torah Outside the Box is a podcast where Rabbi Louis Sachs shares sermons, stories, and reflections that bring Torah beyond the walls of the synagogue.

Rabbi Louis Sachs explores what artificial intelligence, grief bots, and our longing for those we have lost can teach us about memory, mortality, and teshuvah. Drawing on Jewish teachings about the names we create through our lives, the story of Honi and the carob tree, and the words of Psalm 90, the sermon asks what it really means to leave something behind. Technology may someday imitate our voices, but it cannot repair our relationships or change how we lived. Only the living can still grow.

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Delivered on Yom Kippur morning, September 21, 2026.

Torah Outside the Box is a podcast where Rabbi Louis Sachs shares sermons, stories, and reflections that bring Torah beyond the walls of the synagogue.

Thoughtful, heartfelt, and occasionally a little provocative, each episode explores how Jewish wisdom speaks to modern life—because Torah belongs not just in the synagogue, but in our lives.

Rabbi Louis Sachs asks what kind of Jewish identity we are building in a time of rising antisemitism, fear, and uncertainty.

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Drawing on Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s distinction between the machaneh—the camp that protects us from threats outside—and the eidah—the congregation built around shared purpose and covenant—Rabbi Sachs argues that Jewish survival, while essential, cannot be the ultimate goal of Jewish life.

Antisemitism may remind our children that they are Jews. Only we can teach them why being Jewish is a gift.

The sermon asks how we can move from a Judaism focused primarily on defending itself to one filled with meaning, practice, community, joy, and responsibility—and how we can give the next generation not only a Judaism worth protecting, but a Judaism worth living.

Delivered on Rosh Hashanah at Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto, September 13, 2026.

Torah Outside the Box is a podcast where Rabbi Louis Sachs shares sermons, stories, and reflections that bring Torah beyond the walls of the synagogue.

Thoughtful, heartfelt, and occasionally a little provocative, each episode explores how Jewish wisdom speaks to modern life—because Torah belongs not just in the synagogue, but in our lives.

⁠⁠⁠⁠www.BethSholom.net⁠⁠⁠⁠