On Sermon Writing (Parshat Bo)

Writing a dvar torah with academic and moral integrity

Israelites' departure from Egypt

Week 15: Exodus 10:1 - 13:16

• Haftarah Portion: Jeremiah 46:13 - 28

• Summary: The final plagues on Egypt, the commandment of the Passover, and the Israelites' departure from Egypt are highlighted. The Haftarah predicts the downfall of Egypt and its neighboring nations, emphasizing the consequences of opposing God's people.

• Thematic Connection: Liberation and Consequences

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By Rabbi Patrick Beaulier

Fifteen weeks of writing sermons on the Darshan Yeshiva Substack is nothing compared to dealing with ten plagues, particularly the death of the first born child.

But as our PunkTorah friend Rivka said to me years ago: just because you have first world problems does not mean they aren’t your problems.

Every spiritual leader has a style.
And they never want to admit it,
but they do.

The hippie.
The social justice type.
The academic.
The funny one.
The plagiarist.
The one who quotes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l) or Reb Zalman (z”l) and calls it a day.

(You know who you are.)

I’d like to use this space and this parshah to explain my writing process, and truthfully my spiritually process, and I’d appreciate your thoughts. Hopefully this will be a window into my style.

Here it goes.

If you want to know how I approach all this, it’s trifold.

First, these were real people.
Second, these were real experiences (even if the events were not).
Third, they wanted to tell you something, and that needed to last a while.