What I Learned In Prison

About three years ago, I was called by the Head Chaplain of the Butner Federal Correction Institution located forty-five minutes north of my home in Raleigh, NC. This is the same penitentiary where (in)famous prisoners like Jonathan Pollard and Bernard Madoff currently reside. The chaplain’s message came with a southern drawl: “Rabbi, we have a...
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Parashat Bamidbar: The Imperative to Provide Refuge

My father’s family were refugees from Vienna, who fled just before World War II broke out, but not before my grandfather had been deported to Dachau. He remained incarcerated there from November 13, 1938, until January 19, 1939. He knew he had to leave Austria with his family. But leaving wasn’t easy. First, it meant...
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The Heart of the Torah

We often point to Kedoshim, The Holiness Code (Lev. 19 & 20), as containing the heart of the Torah, the mitzvah to Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18). Having recently retold the story of our liberation from oppression in Egypt at our Pesach seders, we might reconsider and look to Leviticus 19:33-34 as the...
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David Elitzer

David Elitzer (he/him) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion expecting to graduate in 2026. After graduating with a BA in Archaeology from Brown University, David was awarded a Marshall Scholarship to study wartime cultural heritage destruction. During this time, he received an MSc in International Public Policy from University College...
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Rabbi Joyce Galaski

Rabbi Joyce Galaski has been the rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Achim in Westfield, Massachusetts since September 2000.  She also serves as the Jewish chaplain at the Ferst Interfaith Center at Westfield State University.  She is a 1998 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Rabbi Galaski was the founding director of Jews Against Genocide in Bosnia from...
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Mimi Micner

Mimi Micner is currently a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. Before attending Hebrew College, she was the Senior New England Campus Organizer with J Street U, where she organized college students for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Before working at J Street U, Mimi was a union organizer with...
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Spotlight On: Rabbi Mira Rivera

Rabbi Mira Rivera is Associate Rabbi and Director of Pastoral Care at Romemu in New York City. She serves as a rabbi and mentor at Ammud: the Jews of Color Torah Academy and actively supports LUNAR: the Asian-Jewish Film Project.  She has co-chaired the rabbinical council of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and continues...
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