Resources

When someone like Kenneth Smith is praying even as he is lying on a bed of death, how can we pass by once we are made aware, awakened to God's presence there?

Down the line, we may trace the origin of the hunger for power contested between the tribes of Israel.

By listening to human narrative, and even re-visiting what’s challenging, chesed recognizes k’vod habriot in each soul and makes an opening for teshuvah.

Welcome, it appears, does not end at the door. It is a commitment to walk with vulnerable guests as they emerge from the protection of our homes and enter the public square.

Of all the places I have served in a rabbinic capacity, the maximum-security prison where I serve now is the most religious.

I can imagine a situation where Noah’s gut instinct was to just follow God, but I cannot fathom how he just sat there as the rain started to fall and didn’t do anything to try to save anyone. 

As the world has moved on, and as precautions have dropped, high-risk disabled folks are increasingly feeling an existential isolation, not just a physical one.

The work of pursuing justice, healing this world, feels at moments like a desert without a clear destination. The journey is hard and long, but when in the desert, when in the midst of suffering, when in despair, we are commanded not to lose hope.

In our tradition, from any place on earth, even in a prison cell, there is always the possibility of teshuvah — a return.

Five chaverim share thoughts on a social-justice-themed sermon they might give in the upcoming High Holiday season. We hope that their insights will move your intellectual gears as you prepare to deliver sacred messages to your community.  Each chaver will share a topic, the text they are basing their sermon around, and the takeaway they...