Resources

A panel of pathbreaking organizers, including Ginna Green, Graie Hagans, Abby Lublin, Megan Black, Matthew David Hom, and Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, PhD, on how Jews can advance multiracial pro-democracy coalitions today.

The rabbis of the Talmud knew there would be times when we would have no choice but to build our sukkot beneath a thick shadow cast by mountains. They knew there would be moments when it would feel audacious to build a sukkah at all.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs explores the wisdom Judaism can offer in building free societies.

Unetaneh tokef grants us no illusion of covering up our failures, both of deed and of will. It says that we are counted and our deeds are measured, whether we like it or not. Our discomfort is what this day demands, not the easy promise of reconciliation and repentance.

[These High Holy Days,] may we ask hard questions. May we see ourselves from both the throne of din and the throne of rachamim. And may we, steeped in self-compassion and God’s compassion, do better.

We must continuously strive to implement justice, as it is so easy to backslide when our attention and our resolve falter. Even during a time of war, when we are at our most vulnerable, we must still check ourselves to see if our conduct is as moral as possible.

[The Torah] asks us to take seriously our power and ability to create change. It asks us to get off the couch, and to use the best of our spiritual and political wisdom to challenge the injustice of our time and transform the world.

In the wake of the events of October 7, 2023, many of us in the global Jewish community have found ourselves longing for liturgical language to speak to the sense of loss, hopelessness, and heartbreak we have felt over the past year. The following words are an adaptation of El Malei Rachamim (“God full of compassion”), a prayer traditionally recited over the dead at funerals and during Yizkor on Yom Kippur, created by Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, President of Hebrew College.

Our needs are not always primary. In fact, to be a good ally and a good steward of Creation, we must put the needs of others ahead of our own.

We all must work towards a more just society, understanding and accepting that we will never attain perfection.