The Power of Bearing Witness
Balaam models being an independent and critical thinker... He refuses to stoke the hot coals of fear that demonize the other.
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The Torah of Criticism
Rabbi Micah Liben calls us to resist complacency and to remain vigilant when our rights are in danger.
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Transformation Will Only Come Through Honesty About Our Past
Nowhere do we see God and the people in a real process of engagement with their history and what is broken in their relationship. With so much left unsaid and unresolved, we should not be surprised to see the same issues in their relationship emerging again and again.
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Matot-Masei: Seeing the Good Through the Lens of Our Own Identities
...let us strive to learn from Zelophechad’s daughters, seeking good wherever we can find it.
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What Does Shavuot Have to Do With Justice?
The best way to celebrate the sixth of Sivan might well be to engage in some activity on behalf of the poor or the stranger or in some justice-oriented project or endeavor. That’s what I plan to do.
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The Holiness of Blemishes
Those of us concerned for the basic human rights of the physically and mentally disabled can easily be dismayed by this week’s Torah portion, Emor. For while Leviticus promises universal access to the sacred, this portion seems to restrict direct access to God to an ever- smaller subset of a tiny priestly minority. This portion...
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Proclaim Release Throughout the Land: A Service of Hope
Join T’ruah for a service of hope to mark the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War. We will mourn all Israeli and Palestinian victims of the last fifty years of conflict; pray for a better future; and commit to taking action to bring about a secure, democratic and Jewish state of Israel, an independent...
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How Ritual Grounds Us For Activism
Without the structure of community and the grounding of ritual, my action, based on the heat of my emotions, would be like a wildfire rather than a well-tended altar.
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