D'var Torah

A resource for clergy speaking about Israel at 75.

As Jewish clergy we have an obligation to raise our moral voices against injustice being perpetrated at home and abroad.

In a time when modern day Pharaohs are seeking to peddle fear, to oppress, and to erase transgender people, we can take our direction from our brave matriarchs.

This year I want to be a wise child who asks: “Can I be brave enough to go out and see who is suffering for my freedom?"

To stand for human dignity means not only insisting on the right to basic survival needs, but the right to live fully — to experience joy, pleasure, love, friendship, beauty.

The Mishkan was not just a compound our ancestors built; it is a state of mind that we can inhabit.

Anger is like fire that, when used productively, can power engines of change but when mishandled can consume anything in its path, including us.

If America is to be the land of the free, a melting pot of diversity and equality, it too must clear the stones from the proverbial roads and build up pathways for immigrants, especially refugees and asylum-seekers.

CIW’s Fair Food Program beautifully illustrates Deuteronomy’s call of zachor, to remember to push back against those who oppress the rights of others.

Our basic freedoms are under attack. The authoritarian extremists pushing these laws are saying that only they qualify to be in the Mishkan.