D'var Torah
The Weeping Mother Speaks: On Tisha B’Av, Remembering the Pain of Separation
Tisha B’Av reminds us: You know what this awful pain feels like. First, every year, we are supposed to practice feeling the excruciating dissonance between the way things are and the way they should be. We have to feel the deep outrage and pain of the crying mother. But we must also be Rachel, weeping not only for her children, but naming the more compassionate way of being that we know, that we remember is possible.
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We Are Unstoppable/Another World Is Possible
Rabbi Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg reflects on her visit to the San Diego-Tijuana border with T'ruah and HIAS.
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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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Not Striking the Rock Again (Parshat Chukat)
For Parshat Chukat, Rabbi Benjamin Barnett writes about the challenges facing Israel's Bedouin.
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Lessons in Leadership and Conflict (Parshat Korach)
Conflict is an element of leadership. As the ultimate example of rebellion among the Israelites the core question is this: How are we to deal with conflict when — not if — it arises?
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Saying Yes When Others Say No (Parshat Sh’lach-Lecha)
Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz writes about Parshat Sh'lach-Lecha.
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Feasting on Choice, Dining with Dignity (Parshat Beha’alotecha)
We all crave food – but equally, we crave the dignity of being able to choose what, how and where we eat.
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When Ignorance Brings Words that Sting: Finding Guidance in the Priestly Blessing (Parshat Naso)
Commentary on Parshat Naso (Numbers 4:21 – 7:89) Here in DC, the last couple of months have been pretty rough. In March, DC City Council member Trayon White claimed that the Rothschilds control the weather and the government, and then ducked out early from a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that had been...
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