This week, I’m facing my newest challenge: composing my first-ever 30-minute sermon, to be delivered on Erev Shabbat Service this coming Friday. To keep things simple for me, Rabbi Stan has told me to simply expand on my Torah commentary for this coming Sabbath.
I’m blessed that it’s coming this particular week, as I’ll have a chance to cover one of the meatiest parashahs in the entire Torah cycle: B’resheet. This will give me a chance to talk about creation, the fall of man, and the first murder – the story of Cain and Abel.
What I would like to do, I think, is concentrate all 30 minutes on Friday on creation and the fall of man, and make the Torah commentary all about Cain and Abel. I’m not intimidated by the challenge of filling up all this time, but about keeping it all within the time limit, since these five-plus chapters of B’resheet are so full of meaning and significance, I could easily envision – someday – doing several weeks on just these passages alone.
I have plenty of textbooks and source material to draw from, ranging from intelligent design writings to the musings of the sages. I’m really looking forward to this one!