Photo of the author, Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Rosh Hashanah: Tears on the Altar

God hears the cries and responds to the tears of Jews and non-Jews alike. God even responds to the tears of characters elsewhere disparaged as evil.

Responsibility, Guilt, Teshuva

Sources and guiding questions to help inspire and support Jewish clergy as they bring the ethical teachings of our tradition to their communities this High Holiday season.

Ladino socialist publication La Bos del Pueblo. Credit: New York Public Library.

A MULTI-ROOTED MOVEMENT: Sephardic Activists and Horizontal Alliances in the Early 20th Century

New scholarly work on how Jews of past generations advanced groundbreaking multiracial coalition work, and what the tensions they faced — including racism within the Jewish community — say about conditions today.

Search Resources

The Torah of Repair and Reconciliation

by Rabbi Toba Spitzer
On its surface, Chayei Sarah is one of the tamer portions in all of the Torah. It is the only parasha in Genesis in which there is a complete absence of conflict and destruction. Yet there is an extremely rich subtext here, one that can be read in relation to the dramatic and disturbing events...
more

As Israel Ages, Is It Coming Into Its Own?

by Rabbi Ken Chasen
In this week’s Torah portion, we read the following words about the first Jew ever to set out for the land we call Israel:  “V’Avraham zakein ba bayamim” – “Abraham was old, advanced in years.”  Torah scholars point out that the phrase is redundant – if he’s old, we already know he’s advanced in years. ...
more

The Dead and the Living in Hebron

by Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman
For millennia, we Jews have been burying our dead outside the city limits, in caves, in fields and on hillsides. Just recently, for example, I stood with a crowd of people in a field, waiting to bury a friend, cousin, classmate, brother, son. Together we, the living, placed one of our own into the earth....
more

Sign up for updates and action alerts