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Where Have All The Flowers Gone
“Where have all the flowers gone.” For a host of reasons, I hate loving this song: especially at this time of year. I look forward to loving this song, when it will no longer speak to me. This song is about the cycle of life and death. Our life cycles are a normal part of...
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Take With You Words
I do a lot of driving and often listen to sixties music while in the car. Like many people, I do not always pay attention to the lyrics, but lately every time I hear “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire I find myself listening more carefully, lamenting the fact that humanity has not made as...
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Controlling Anger
I never saw my beloved teacher, Abraham Joshua Heschel, lose control as he stood up for some of the most urgent issues of his time, civil rights for all, ending the war in Vietnam, and liberation for Soviet Jews. His words burned with passion as did his actions. His presence, the intense look in his...
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![Rabbi Ian Chesir-Teran](https://truah.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Rabbi-Ian-Chesir-Teran-Portrait.png)
Vayeshev: No to Nekamah
This Chanukah, let’s choose to follow the examples of Joseph and Tamar, and say no to nekamah. When the time comes to say the “Al Hanissim” prayer, let’s skip the vengeful words “nakamta et nikmatam.”
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Praying With Our Feet
“Praying for freedom never did me any good ‘til I started praying with my feet.” – Frederik Douglas “On the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, a sacred occasion. You shall do no work.” – Leviticus 23:2-3 (Parshat Emor) We are blessed to live in a thriving democracy. Though American and...
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Real Leadership
Rabbi David Ackerman on Pinchas' two distinct visions of leadership, and two sharply divergent paradigms of proper behavior on the part of a leader.
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“The Part About The Stars”
The girl who will become bat mitzvah in my shul on Parshat Lech Lecha has noted that her special day falls a week before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, which members of her family witnessed. So she requested I let her leyn her portion from the Czech “Shoah” scroll in our ark. Those who possess such...
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Velcro, Leather, & String: Towards A New Understanding of Gender and Embodied Mitzvot
“And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, YHVH your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant…” (Deuteronomy 7:12) “Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead…” (Deuteronomy 11:18) “That shall be...
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