Dreaming the World Into Being

Tuning into the news these days can feel like we’re trapped in a bad dream. The rollback of protections for the most vulnerable, the closing of our shores to refugees, the use of xenophobic, misogynistic, Anti-Semitic, homophobic speech by those in power and the resulting violence this has incited (to name just a few of...
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Powerful Kings and Degraded Hallelujahs

Right now, our society is in the middle of an important discussion about how we deal with sexual harassment and assault, especially from our leaders and other public figures. With the grossly inappropriate conduct of media moguls, actors, comedians, celebrity chefs, professional athletes, news anchors, business executives, clergy, politicians, and other powerful men coming to...
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Education: The Building Blocks of Justice and Understanding

“In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if [they are] denied the opportunity of an education,” U.S Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren declared in the famed case of Board v. Board of Education, almost 64 years ago. Decades later, in 2009, Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan...
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Midwifing Resistance

For Pesach 2018, T’ruah offers this short, text-and-photos conversation starter about Jewish women’s resistance over the centuries. Bring it to your seder for use with the Four Children, the story of the Israelites’ enslavement, or a springboard for discussing the #MeToo movement.
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Justice and Compassion (Parshat Shoftim)

Commentary on Parshat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9) Parshat Shoftim opens with the injunction of setting judges and officers within your gates (Deut. 16:18). The proximity of Parshat Shoftim to the month of Elul has given way to an interesting inner connection, brought by several Hasidic masters (Avodat Israel, Devarim, Shoftim 1 ; Sefat Emet,...
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Is Three a Magic Number? (Parshat Vayera)

Commentary on Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1 – 22:24) This edition of Torah from Truah is sponsored by Dale Gardner in memory of her sister Rhonda Kolarik. “Three is a magic number.” One can surely ascribe meaning to almost any number or any letter of the alphabet. But let’s consider the number three for a moment....
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The Binary Brothers (Parshat Toldot)

Commentary on Parshat Toldot (Genesis 25:19 – 28:9) This week’s Torah portion, Toldot, tells the story of twin brothers who were labeled from the moment they were born, and the consequences have reverberated throughout our history. Jacob, the heel-grabbing younger brother who tried to prevent his sibling from emerging from the womb first was the...
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The Triple Lives of Refugees (Parshat Shemot)

Commentary on Parshat Shemot (Exodus 1:1 – 6:1) The opening lines of the book of Exodus serve as a bridge between a family history and the birth of a nation. Somehow, in an infinitesimal span, the progeny of one man becomes an entire people: the Israelites. And a very prolific one at that. The new...
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