Proximity for Consolation and Deliverance

July has been a hard month. Elie Weisel passed away. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were senselessly shot and killed by policemen. Women wearing tallit, kippot, and tefilin while praying with the Torah were shouted down and called “Amalek” by fellow Jews at the Kotel. Eight police officers, five in Dallas and three in Baton...
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Parashat Bamidbar: The Imperative to Provide Refuge

My father’s family were refugees from Vienna, who fled just before World War II broke out, but not before my grandfather had been deported to Dachau. He remained incarcerated there from November 13, 1938, until January 19, 1939. He knew he had to leave Austria with his family. But leaving wasn’t easy. First, it meant...
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My trip to Immokalee

CONGREGATION SHA’AREI KODESH 2nd Day of Passover MARCH 27, 2013 ©  RABBI LOUIS RIESER   Hag kasher v’Sameah. I want to thank Rabbi Baum for this invitation to speak about my experience in Immokalee with T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.  In January I joined 9 other rabbis to learn first-hand about the conditions...
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The Holiness of Dwelling

“I am a nester,” my friend said just weeks before Pesach, as we pondered the ramifications of her house having been dismantled for mold remediation. Her home is sacred space for her, a place set apart to replenish herself. Normally, she would have been cooking up a storm in her house. Instead, we baked a...
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Tefillat HaDerekh from Montgomery, Alabama

  Written during the T’ruah delegation to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, January 26-28, 2020 Rabbi Nina H. Mandel Bo Bo el Par’oh Come after the oppressor Join the trouble Muster your strength Gird your loins Mobilize your anger Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt Watch for bias Cry out for truth Soften...
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Messianic Vision in a Zealous World

Zeal—In this day many of us are fired up. It is easy to see the injustice. It shouts at us every time we open our Facebook feeds, its red face looks up at us from the newspapers at our feet. We march, we sing, we chant. We scream out in agony demanding change. A while...
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Hunger: Edom or Israel?

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...
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Rabbinic Letter Against Asylum Seeker Deportations

The following letter, organized by T’ruah, the New Israel Fund, HIAS, and Right Now, was delivered to two Israeli embassies and seven consulates on January 30, 2018. Over 900 rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical/cantorial students signed it; the names below represent the initial signatories. Click here for the original URL and to add your name.  ...
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Encountering Nature Demands Responsibility (Parshat Yitro)

Commentary for Parshat Yitro (Exodus 18:1 – 20:23 ) and Tu BiShvat “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” — John Muir One of my ideological inspirations, John Muir, was one of the world’s most...
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He Shall Then Remain (Parshat Mishpatim)

Commentary on Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1 – 24:18) So, we’re free from bondage! We’ve accepted our lot as God’s chosen people! Now we eagerly move on to… a list of regulations for a hypothetical society we cannot build yet? Why is Parshat Mishpatim here? The essential clue, I think, is in the first topic: rules...
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