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.”
Former Congressman Andy Levin A former member of Congress, union organizer, human rights activist, workforce policy expert and green energy entrepreneur, Andy Levin brought his unique expertise to the halls of Congress as the proud representative for Michigan’s 9th District from 2018 to 2022. While in Washington, Andy authored, cosponsored, and helped pass legislation drawing...
Our Torah is a unique holy book and it is like none other. The torah takes us on a journey towards the Promised Land, but we never get there. The people who are in charge of our journey fail in their attempts at leadership. Our Torah portrays our leaders as fallible, mortal, and prone to...
We are creatures of story—it’s how we make sense of ourselves in the world. So it is with purpose that Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah, begins with our shared story. Our individual stories define our individual identities; our group story, delivered here by Moses, defines us as a People. What seems...
This week’s Torah portion is Yitro, named for Moses’s father-in-law, a non-Jew. It is in this parashah that we receive the Ten Commandments and make our covenant with God. So, how could the Rabbis have decided to name such an important parashah after a gentile? In today’s climate of polarization, it is more important than...
This week’s parshah opens with the command, “Give yourself judges and administrators to carry out just decisions…” (Deut. 16:18) On the face of it, this seems to be about how society should be ordered. It needs police, judges, lawyers, and a whole mechanism of justice in order to function rightly. Rather than each individual carrying...
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...
If you’re like me, the intractable status quo between Israel and the Palestinians is really getting you down. Ever since Yitzhak Rabin’s handshake with Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn nearly 24 years ago, my heart has been given over to the Oslo accords. An Israel and a Palestine, existing side by side in...
There were three hundred and sixty five thoroughfares in the great city of Rome, and in each there were three hundred and sixty five palaces; and in each palace, there were three hundred and sixty five stories and each story contained sufficient to provide the whole world with food. (Talmud Bavli Pesachim 118b) With less...
Commentary on Parshat Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19) Laws concerning women’s sexual misconduct are grim testimonies to women’s experiences in cultures where the lion’s share of power and privilege goes to men. But before we can know what to do with these laws, we must clarify what they say and to whom they apply....