We Choose To Keep People Hungry. We Don’t Have To.
Abby Leibman analyzes our attitudes towards hunger in this d'var torah on parshat Vayigash.
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Arts of Losing: Joseph and His Brothers, Religious Nationalism, and Democracy
Joy Ladin applies the 'art of losing' to Joseph, his brothers, and religious nationalists in this d'var torah for Parshat Vayechi.
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Freedom Means Thinking for Oneself, Too
In this week’s d’var torah on Parshat VaEra, Bard College President Leon Botstein asks just what kind of freedom Moses was demanding.
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How Teshuvah Can Inform Our Thinking on Slavery and Reparations
In a d’var Torah for Parshat Bo, Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari suggests teshuvah may provide a framework for thinking about reparations.
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Chester Hollman III Has a Lot of Torah to Teach Us
Chester Hollman III understands what it means to endure the trials and tribulations of the wilderness while dreaming of the Promised Land.
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Democracy: Remembering Where We Are Going
A d’var Torah for Yitro (Ex.18:1-20:23) by Rabbi Gordon Tucker. The Book of Eikhah (Lamentations) contains this apparently oxymoronic phrase when speaking of how ancient Judea had lost its moral way: “It did not remember its future” (1:9). What could it mean to remember something that is not in the past? The usual ways of...
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T’ruah FAQ on the U.N. Database of Businesses that Operate in Israeli Settlements
The U.N. released a database of 112 businesses currently operating in West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal according to international law.
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Choosing a Life-Giving Narrative
In this week’s d’var torah on Parshat Mishpatim, Judith Plaskow notes that it is easy to focus on those passages in the Torah that are inspiring and uplifting, or to depict US history as a continuing march toward equality and freedom, passing over in silence the aspects of both narratives that are troubling or oppressive.
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When We Make Art Together, We Dream a Better World Into Existence
A d’var Torah for Terumah (Ex.25:1-27:19) by Caroline Rothstein. I am an artist. That’s been my identity, purpose, and path since I was three years old and slid on ballet shoes to dance across a recital stage. Then came poetry. And nonfiction prose. Then came singing, acting, musical theater, jazz and modern and hip-hop dance,...
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