Sickness and Sin (Parshat Tazria)

Commentary on Parshat Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59) In the world of Tazria, scaly, raw, and oozing pustules called tzara’at erupt on the skin and spread impurity through the camp. Those who suffer from this illness are isolated. The word used in Leviticus to describe this skin ailment is nega, which specifically means a plague sent by...
read more

How Darkness Immobilizes (Parshat Bo)

Commentary on Parshat Bo (Exodus 10:1 – 13:16) I am usually one to heed a call to mobilize for justice and human rights. I participated in a peace delegation to Israel and Palestine at the beginning of the Second Intifada and was at Standing Rock for the clergy action against the Dakota Pipeline. But lately,...
read more
Headshot of Rabbi Allan Berkowitz

Terumah: How Much is a Human Being Worth?

Theologically speaking, to be human is to be sacred. Full stop. During human engagement, when we remain mindful of the sanctity of the other person, we bring acknowledgment of our shared holiness and further elevate the other and ourselves.
read more

Julie Fishbach

Julie Fishbach (she/her) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, expecting ordination in 2026. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked as a counselor and Program Director at Camp Tawonga. She studied Sociocultural Anthropology and Theater at UC San Diego, and completed coursework in...
read more
Dr. Marc Dollinger

Marc Dollinger

Dr. Marc Dollinger holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. He has served as research fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College,...
read more

Sign up for updates and action alerts