Resources

Take heart and courage in the words of movement elder, poet, and essayist Aurora Levins Morales.

Prayerful words for democracy by Michelle Dardashti.

Just as human choices brought about the flood and built the Tower of Babel, our choices in the election will determine where we go from here. And though the possibility of the bet-lamed of destruction is surely out there, so too is its opposite, lamed-bet — heart. In all of the anxiety, we can bring love to bear on the choices before us.

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.

Can we sing our longings this year in a way that lets all the feelings come through? Can we allow our heartbreak to summon us toward something new?

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.