Resources

We are responsible for one another. A society cannot call itself just while the sick are impoverished. It cannot call itself prosperous while the vulnerable are denied basic health care.

This “regulated world” is only idyllic if you are the monitor and punisher of “deviation,” not the monitored and punished. For [the monitored and punished,] the longing instead is for a world that affirms the dignity of all people.

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

...we can no longer afford to be strangers within the healthcare system.

The lesson of Matot-Massei is very simple: If we want to move forward, we must first begin to acknowledge the people behind the comforts and luxuries of our everyday lives. We must acknowledge that our healthcare system is no longer truly about care, but about profit.

To create meaningful and lasting change in our world, we can never dilute the messages we so believe in. Instead, we must work hard to make those messages accessible to people of a variety of social and political backgrounds, relying heavily on our most sacred tactic: the “miracle of translation.”

The window – where the dove returns with an olive branch –  is about hope and connection. The window is an escape from the crushing waves of the endless news cycle of fear and violence. The window is a possibility of change – of redemption.

The fast of Shiva Asar B’Tammuz (the 17th of Tammuz) begins an annual period of mourning in the Jewish calendar culminating with Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av), which marks the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, as well as other tragedies of Jewish history. Rabbinical Student Frankie Sandmel created this 17th of Tammuz...

The supplement offers a discussion activity for the Four Children and a reading to deepen the significance of opening the door for Elijah.

A prayer for Shabbat Vayakhel-Pekudei 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.