Rabbi Karen Bender and HUC student Samantha Thal

Sukkot: Sukkot and the Human Right of Dwelling Safely

Perhaps Sukkot is the festival of understanding our journey, for journeys have no concrete and steel foundations, only earth and sandy feet. And the yearning that should come out of this collective memory must be a passionate commitment to end homelessness everywhere, physical, spiritual, or national.
read more
Photo of the author, Rabbi Alanna Sklover

Tzav: We Are the Stranger

We know the heart of the stranger and we cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of these people, or allow statistics to blur them and their lives into a faceless “issue.”
read more

Building Beloved Community…Creating Rewarding Conclusions

In Parashat VaYechi, Jacob is reaching the end of his life, yet the opening words quantify his life. “Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.” (Genesis 47:28) Most commentators see this statement as a recognition that finally, Jacob is...
read more

Sara LeMesh

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sara LeMesh (she/her) is a cantorial student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (‘26). Sara earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Rice University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Bard College-Conservatory of Music. After graduate school, Sara relocated to San...
read more

We’re here for you

March 20, 2020 We’re about to enter Shabbat on what, for many of us, was our first full week staying at home, as we collectively try to slow the pace of this terrifying pandemic. I’m thinking of those of you who are coping with your own illnesses or those of family and friends. And, of...
read more

A personal note in the midst of COVID-19

March 13, 2020 I’m writing first to send love and good wishes to everyone in the T’ruah community. I know that all of us are feeling a heightened sense of anxiety as we hunker down at home, quarantine ourselves, cope with our own illnesses or those of friends and family, and mourn the chance to...
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