Cleaning up the mess together
One of my favorite programs at my synagogue is our B’nei Mitzvah family retreat. At the beginning of the summer, we take our incoming seventh grade families to camp for the weekend. It’s remarkable: relationships between kids change, parents get to know each other, and, after the Bar or Bat Mitzvah, we keep most of...
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Promises Broken, Promises Kept
In Parshat Vayera, we are reminded of the crucial role water plays in the life of all human communities. In Genesis 21, we read about the banishment of Hagar and Yishmael from their home, and how God revealed a well of water in Hagar’s moment of despair. Immediately following this, the Torah describes a negotiation...
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Pesach: No One Is Free Until All Are Free
How can we take on our own “marking of the doorposts” for this moment? What am I prepared to do, or say, to help bring this cursed war to an end? How might I “mark” myself as someone committed to the collective liberation of Palestinians and Israelis?
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Kedoshim: Love Thy Neighbor, Not Thy Empire
How we love our neighbor is by fighting for a society in which we would be glad to live no matter how little privilege we had.
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In This Stormy Moment, We Must Make Room For Everyone On The Boat
This week's Torah reading of Parshat Kedoshim questions us about our human relationships, how we treat our siblings, and how we relate to our neighbors to make this world a better place to live. So here I go back to the beginning. When I read in Kedoshim, "Do not stand before the blood of your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:16), I feel the moral obligation to shout that it is not nationality that makes a life something sacred and that we have the responsibility to watch over our neighbors.
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Yom HaShoah: Human Rights Require Human Enforcement
We are born in the image of God, but we must accept that this God-given status exists only within the framework of human enforcement.
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Vayakhel: Every Letter, Every One
Commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, we understand that if we fail to see a member of our community, it is because we are not looking for them with enough love.
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Embracing Our Inner Nachshon
Things can only change if we have the faith to believe in possibilities that we currently cannot imagine.
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