250+ Rabbis and Cantors to Israeli Ambassador: Stop Settler Violence
February 10, 2022 Dear Ambassador Herzog, In recent months, we have seen an alarming increase in frequent and violent attacks on Palestinians by settlers. A recent study shows that the majority of incidents take place in areas near outposts that are considered illegal even by Israeli law. As Jewish clergy and members of T’ruah, a...
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What’s So Bad About the Golden Calf?
In this d'var Torah for Parshat Ki Tisa, Daniel Handler struggles with symbols that become more important than morals.
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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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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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A Commitment to Justice Means Remembering Our Tribes
But whether or not the Sinai wilderness was ever ownerless as the midrash suggests, in North America, the so-called wildernesses never have been. Those places — and indeed every square mile of North America — have always been, and continue to be, the home of specific tribes of Indigenous peoples.
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Building Structures to House All Images of God
It is incumbent upon us to create spaces for God to come into the world. I would add, if we are not doing everything we can to create structures to house all holy human beings, then we are not doing our part in imitating godliness.
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A New Way of Experiencing Ancient Texts
My Torah for this week urges each of us to walk into the unknown. Let our written lines, mixed in with the words of others--ancient and contemporary--make a path, embodied.
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