![](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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My trip to Immokalee
CONGREGATION SHA’AREI KODESH 2nd Day of Passover MARCH 27, 2013 © RABBI LOUIS RIESER Hag kasher v’Sameah. I want to thank Rabbi Baum for this invitation to speak about my experience in Immokalee with T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. In January I joined 9 other rabbis to learn first-hand about the conditions...
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Peering Outside the Camp
“Joseph’s master had him put in prison…but even while he was there in prison, God was with Joseph.” -Genesis 39:20-21 Bulletproof glass separates me and my congregant. David [not his real name] and I sit opposite one another, in identical, soundproof, cinder-block visiting cubicles at a prison an hour’s drive from my home. He’s wearing...
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![](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Kalisch.jpg)
Paying Priests, Paying Parents
This past weekend, many of us celebrated Father’s Day to honor the important work our dads do. A month ago, we did the same thing to honor our mothers: BBQs and brunches, phone calls and cards in the mail, “Number 1 Mom” mugs and “World’s Best Dad” baseball caps. As a congregational rabbi, I spend...
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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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![](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Moral-Torah-frame-55.png)
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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