![](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Julie-Danan-portrait.jpg)
Opening the Door at Passover
At the first Passover, we marked our doorposts with the blood of a sacrificial lamb to protect us from the Angel of Death (Exodus 12:23). Although that was a one-time ritual, doors continue to be a central symbol of the holiday. It is a symbol that seems more relevant than ever in an age when nativism...
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Elevating Our Hearts and Spirits Towards Justice
The Mishkan was not just a compound our ancestors built; it is a state of mind that we can inhabit.
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Walking Free: Democracy and Incarceration
Of all the places I have served in a rabbinic capacity, the maximum-security prison where I serve now is the most religious.
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![Rabbi Adir Yolkut](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Rabbi-Adir-Yolkut.png)
Yitro: The Jewish Case for Protecting Voting Rights in 2024
As inheritors of a multi-vocal Jewish tradition that welcomes dissent and minority opinions, allowing people the chance to freely, legally, and openly participate in the democratic process strikes me as very Jewish. So to look at some of these harsh policies that stifle the voices of the downtrodden contradicts so much of what we hold dear in Judaism.
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Reawakening the Justice of the Upper World: A Musical T’ruah
In this week’s parshah, Moses delivers a speech in the form of a song, marshaling the witnesses of heaven and earth to give ear to his words.
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![Rabbi Karen Bender and HUC student Samantha Thal](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Karen-Bender-and-Samantha-Thal.png)
Sukkot: Sukkot and the Human Right of Dwelling Safely
Perhaps Sukkot is the festival of understanding our journey, for journeys have no concrete and steel foundations, only earth and sandy feet. And the yearning that should come out of this collective memory must be a passionate commitment to end homelessness everywhere, physical, spiritual, or national.
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Every Person Counts? (Parshat Bamidbar)
Commentary on Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20) Our Torah portion opens with the taking of another census of B’nai Yisrael – the Children of Israel – this time “listed by their clans, ages 20 years and up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms…” (Num. 1:2) This is census number three since the...
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Those who served their time deserve a second chance (Shabbat Nachamu)
A d’var Torah on Shabbat Nachamu Clarence Office, Jr., of Miami, FL, served in the U.S. Army for three years in the 1970s and was honorably discharged. Like many veterans, Clarence tragically fell into drug use and was arrested for drug offenses. He served a prison term and paid his debt to society. Clarence now...
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Each Person, A Letter of Torah
Rabbi Kimberly Herzog Cohen writes on Bamidbar and making every person count.
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