Post-Election Message from Rabbi Jill Jacobs

April 10, 2019 Dear Friend, How do we maintain hope in times of uncertainty, or even despair? One midrash (rabbinic expansion) offers a surprising suggestion about how Moses inspired the Israelites toward freedom: “Moses would bring the Book of Job and show it to the elders of Israel enslaved in Egypt so that they would...
read more

We refuse to despair

Dear friends, Over the last two weeks, we have watched with horror as Russia launched an unprompted and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, attacking and besieging major cities, resulting in 2 million people fleeing their homes. Many of us worry about family, friends, and acquaintances there. For those of us with roots in the region, the...
read more

The Stranger in our Story

We are creatures of story—it’s how we make sense of ourselves in the world. So it is with purpose that Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah, begins with our shared story. Our individual stories define our individual identities; our group story, delivered here by Moses, defines us as a People. What seems...
read more

Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?

As my 8 month old son becomes more mobile and is more interested in engaging with his 2 ½ year old sister, the discussions about pushing and hitting have ramped up in my house. What’s most frustrating is that I know my daughter loves my son. She wakes up every morning wanting to know where...
read more

T’shuvah, Hope and the Struggle for Justice

It’s hard to hope for peace these days. The ceasefire in Gaza holds but there is no political breakthrough; President Obama has just announced a new and complex military action against a brutal enemy in Iraq and Syria; Ukraine is bleeding, and anti-Semitism in Europe has turned ugly and violent. Here at home, the suburbs...
read more

Repetition, Compulsion, and Night Vision

Many of us are war-weary and disheartened this week as we open the final book of Torah—Devarim or Deuteronomy. The Rambam called this book Mishneh Torah (repetition of Torah), because so much of it contains Moshe’s retelling of the stories that our ancestors lived out in the 40 years’ walk through the Wilderness. The aged...
read more

The Essential Human Right

“Sticks and stones,” the nursery rhyme says, “may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The intent of this pithy statement is probably to help children solve disputes with words rather than physical violence. Its message does, however, raise serious doubts. Words can and do hurt us. Words can trivialize, words can insult,...
read more

The Human Right to Have a Child

Commentary on Rosh Hashanah Torah and Haftarah readings. Reproductive rights have been hijacked. When someone mentions the phrase “reproductive rights,” the first things that usually come to mind are either birth control or abortion. However, the ability to prevent pregnancy is only part of reproductive rights. What about the right to have a child? This...
read more

Lessons for Democracy from the Holocaust

A d’var Torah for Yom HaShoah. In many respects, World War II seemed like a triumph of democracy. When the Allies defeated the Axis powers, the world celebrated that democratic nations had been victorious against fascism. On May 8, 1945, Victory Day, Americans danced in the streets and threw confetti from the rooftops to celebrate...
read more

The Daughters Who Roared and Were Heard

If the wood gatherer teaches us about the threat of a raid on the commons, the sisters reinforce the lesson by anticipating a more subtle version of it. Consider what would have happened had the daughters not acted. In short, Zelophehad’s brothers likely would have fought over who should get their brother’s land. At the extreme, if all it takes to inherit land is to be the last brother standing, we face the dire prospect of a fratricidal free-for-all.
read more

Sign up for updates and action alerts