Photo of the author, Rabbi Alicia Harris

Pesach: Cleanse the Spiritual Chametz this Pesach

This is the work before us this Pesach. We must abandon our worship of the false idol of correctness. We have to start with what we know. We know that all people need peace to survive. We know the liberation of Israelis is bound up with the liberation of Palestinians and vice versa. We know being traumatized is not a way to live. We also know that clinging to the crumbs of winning an argument only takes us further away from peace.
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Kelly Whitehead

Kelly Whitehead is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (’24). Kelly grew up in New York City before moving to Washington DC, where she graduated from American University (BA History ’15). Prior to rabbinical school, Kelly worked as the Youth Engagement Specialist at Temple Sinai in Washington D.C. Kelly’s love of the...
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David Behrman

David Behrman is President & Publisher of Behrman House Publishers. Prior to joining Behrman House, he was a consultant in the New York office of McKinsey & Co., serving clients in the financial services, professional services, food, and transportation industries, as well as several prominent museums in New York and Washington DC. Prior to that...
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Aliza Schwartz

Aliza Schwartz (she/her) is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, expecting to graduate in 2024. She is an incoming Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) in New York City. Before rabbinical school, Aliza was based in Boston. Her spiritual and political home in Boston is Kavod, a multi-ethnic, multi-racial community...
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Rabbi Lester Bronstein

Lester Bronstein has served as rabbi of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains, New York since 1989. He has served in leadership roles with the Westchester Board of Rabbis, the White Plains Religious Leaders Association, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the UJA-Federation of New York, the JFNA Rabbinic Cabinet, the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education,...
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Rabbi Max Reynolds

Max Reynolds is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he moved to New York in 2003 for an MA in Philosophy of Religion at Union Theological Seminary. Max has over 10 years experience in direct services, primarily within LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities, including Callen-Lorde Community Health Center...
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Hannah Ellenson

Hannah Ellenson (she/her) is a fourth year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She was raised as an active member of the Jewish communities in Los Angeles and New York. After graduating from Wellesley College in 2008 with a B.A. in History and Jewish Studies, she earned her M.P.P. from Tel Aviv...
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Sarah Berman

Sarah Berman is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, expecting to graduate in 2020. She comes to rabbinical studies after a career in the arts. For more than a decade, Sarah researched the broad permanent collections of the Seattle Art Museum, specializing in provenance (the history of ownership...
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