When the Entire Community Is Guilty

...as we learn from Leviticus, for communal sin there can be expiation. The process begins not with bringing a bull to the sanctuary, but with a commitment to learn history, and a commitment to ensure that history is learned by others.
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Vayikra: Mincha and Roses

To stand for human dignity means not only insisting on the right to basic survival needs, but the right to live fully — to experience joy, pleasure, love, friendship, beauty.
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Headshot of Rabbi Andrea Goldstein

Ki Tisa: Democracies and Holiness Require Open Space

Only from an open and spacious heart can I experience a connection to what is holy. When I am focused on what I want and need, or when I am filled up with my own sense of righteousness, then what I have created within is actually a Golden Calf instead of my own small sanctuary.
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Photo of the author, Rabbi Ariel Tovlev

Emor: Peace Has No Sides

The path of peace is not an easy one; it cuts through the binary of right or wrong, victim or oppressor, hero or villain, us or them. The path of peace does not choose favorites, does not leverage one over another, does not create hierarchies. The path of peace has no sides.
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Bring Human Rights Shabbat to Your Community

On Human Rights Shabbat, we celebrate the deep intersections between Judaism and human rights. Since 2008, nearly 500 communities have joined this celebration. Human Rights Shabbat is observed on the Shabbat closest to International Human Rights Day, December 10, which is the anniversary of the UN’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We...
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Nathan Roller

Nathan Roller is a third year rabbinical student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at The American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He is originally from Marin County, CA. He recieved his B.A. in Religion from Whitman College where he also served as co-president of the campus Hillel. Before going to rabbinical school, he...
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Sarah Krinsky

Sarah Krinsky is a second year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She grew up in Los Angeles, California and went to Yale University, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in 2012. At Yale, she was very involved in the Slifka Center for Jewish Life (which houses Yale’s Hillel), serving as the...
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Rabbi Ali (Sagadencky) Lawton

Ali Sagadencky is a third year rabbinical student at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California. Ali was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at Pepperdine University, receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts as well as a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis on Early Childhood...
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Sienna Lotenberg

Sienna Lotenberg is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, expecting to graduate in 2023. Born and raised outside Washington, DC, she fell in love with Judaism at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, VA. Prior to rabbinical school, Sienna lived in Providence, RI, while earning her bachelor’s degree in History and...
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Ze’evi Berman

Ze’evi Berman is a cantorial student at Hebrew Union College ‒ Jewish Institute of Religion, Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, and anticipates being ordained in 2022. They grew up at Temple Shalom of Newton, Massachusetts and at URJ Eisner Camp during the summers. They earned a BA in Vocal Performance from Bennington College. During...
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