Rabbi Jack Bieler

KMS is indeed fortunate to have as its Rabbi a distinguished educator and scholar, Rabbi Jack Bieler. Rabbi Bieler was raised in Bayside, Queens, and attended local public schools. Following graduation from Yeshiva College and the James Striar School for Jewish Studies in 1969, he attended Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel in 1969-71. Rabbi Bieler then returned to Yeshiva University where he was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and received an MA in Jewish Education from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Education in 1974. Following graduation from Yeshiva, Rabbi Bieler served on the faculty and was Chairman of the Talmud Department of the Joseph H. Lookstein Upper School of Ramaz from 1974-1988. During his tenure at Ramaz, he was awarded a Gruss Outstanding Educator award in 1984. Concurrently, Rabbi Bieler served on the faculty of the Adult Education Institute of the Lincoln Square Synagogue between 1971-1977, and as permanent scholar-in-residence of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun from 1977-1988. In 1985, he received a Jerusalem Fellows fellowship and spent the year with his family in Jerusalem. In 1988, Rabbi Bieler assumed the position of Lead Teacher and Chairman of the Judaic Studies Department at the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington, now the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, MD. He became the Upper School Assistant Principal in charge of Judaic Studies in 1991. In 1993 he was appointed as Rabbi of the Kemp Mill Synagogue. He has published numerous articles on Jewish education and on issues facing Judaism today, especially concerning Modern Orthodoxy.

Below are some of his recent Divrei Torah. Older ones are archived here.

A Series of Articles on the Shabbat Prayers from Kol Mevaser

Jewish Year 5768

"A vision of a modern orthodox Jewish eduction"
For links to some other papers, see here. For copyright reasons, you need to obtain a username and password from Shiri Swissa at the Mandel Leadership Institute (shiris@mli.org.il) to access these other resources and the full site.
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Behar, 5768: "It Might not Matter What I Call a Rose"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Bamidbar, 5768: "Spiritual Lessons of the Desert"
Dvar Torah from Shavuot, 5768: "Yom Hakahal: One day per year, or every day?"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Korach, 5768: "The Nature of Kehilla (Community)"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Masei, 5768: "Don't Let Things Get Old"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Chazon, 5768: "Sometimes, Tora Study is not an Option"
Dvar Torah from Elul, 5768: "Were there a Third 40 Days?"

Jewish Year 5769

Dvar Torah from Sukkot, 5769: "Doing mitzvot joyfully, not intellectually"
Dvar Torah from Shmini Atzeret, 5769: "Prolonging the Mitzva of Sukka Virtually if not Physically"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Lech Lecha, 5769: "The Trials of Avraham"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Toldot, 5769: "Change in the Blink of an Eye"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaYetze, 5769: "The ups and downs of others are our own"
"Yirat Shamayim and Prayer", an article that appeared in YU Torah Online.
Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaYigash, 5769: "Self-Control and Religion"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Shemot, 5769: "Gratitude"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaEra, 5769: "What You Don't Do Can Be More Powerful Than What You Do"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Bo, 5769: "Making the Invisible Visible"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Beshalach, 5769: "The Halachic Significance of TU B'Shevat"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Mishpatim, 5769: "Listening to Mitzvot"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Terumah, 5769: "Dynamism and Stability"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Tetzaveh, 5769: "A Personal Attribute that can Cut Both Ways"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaYikra, 5769: "Stealing Another's Self-Respect"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Kedoshim, 5769: "Parashat `Spirituality'"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Emor, 5769: "Parashat Emor and Spirituality"
Dvar Torah for the "3 Weeks", 5769: "The Three Weeks: A Time for Rachamim"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Vaetchanan, 5759: "Love and Fear"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Eikev, 5759: "Cleaving to God"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Re'eh, 5769: "Children to Hashem"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Nitzavim-Vayelech, 5769: "Making Choices"
"A vision of modern orthodox education"

Jewish Year 5770

Dvar Torah from Rosh Hashana, 5770: "Renewing the Ability to Experience and Express Oneself"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Shuvah, 5770: "The Importance of Engaging in Personal Inventories"
Dvar Torah from Shmini Atzeret 5770: "Showing Up"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Vayera, 5770: "Listening for Spiritual Melodies"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Chayei Sarah, 5770: "Eliezer as Shaliach"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Toldot, 5770: "Raising `Difficult' Children"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Vayetze, 5770: "Taking Sensible Risks"
Dvar Torah for Chanukah (from Kol Mevaser), 5770: "Oil explorations"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Miketz, 5770: "When Paths of Individuals Cross"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Vayigash, 5770: "Yaakov and Yosef"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Bo, 5770: "Haiti and Theodicy"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Teruma, 5770: "Feeling and Acting as Part of a Greater Community"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Tetzave, 5770: "Clothes Make the Man"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaYakhel-Pekudei, 5770: "On again, off again"
Another Dvar Torah from Shabbat VaYakhel-Pekudei, 5770: "The Mishkan and Tora U'Mada"
a recent article from Jewish Action magazine: "A New and Potent Curriculum for the Jewish Day School"
Dvar Torah from Pesach, 5770: "A variety of Pesach greetings"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Shmini, 5770: "Eating Meat"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Tazria-Metzora, 5770: "Silver Linings"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Acharei-Kedoshim, 5770: "Holiness and Purity"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Behar-Bechukotai, 5770: "A Covenental Partnership"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Naso, 5770: "Blessing One Another Presumes Loving One Another"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Beha'alotcha, 5770: "One Size Does Not Fit All when It Comes to Avodat HaShem"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Shelach Lecha, 5770: "Misguided Foci Resulting in Major Miscalculations"
Response to presentation of an award from Israel bonds
Comments on a Torah dedication for the US Armed Forces
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Balak, 5770: "How Blessed were Bilaam's Blessings?"
Dvar Torah from Shabbat Matot-Masai, 5770: "Personal Challenges Generated by Divine Symmetries"