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Antisemitism & Immigration: A Messaging Guide for Jewish Clergy
When the fight against antisemitism is used to harm immigrants, rabbis and cantors can be powerful voices to describe what’s at play and advocate for and inspire action towards our shared safety.
“Zionism from Love and Zionism from Hate”: Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel’s Challenge for Our Times
Rabbi Jill Jacobs explores how Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel's words might form the basis for a new approach to Zionism and to Israel that can lead us toward a political solution.
Yom HaAtzma’ut: A Resource for Educators
This resource is designed to be adaptable for year-round use, offering educational tools, programs, and texts that support ongoing learning within your community.
Pursue Justice So That You May Truly Live
This week’s Torah portion contains one of the most famous justice-related verses in Torah: “צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף, / tzedek tzedek tirdof” — “Justice, justice shall you pursue!” Although the parsha begins with the injunction to establish judges, this instruction — to pursue justice — doesn’t seem to be aimed solely at those whose job it...
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From Racism to Liberation: Confronting Tzara’at in Our Society
In our parashah, we learn about the mysterious affliction tzara’at. Further on in the Book of Numbers, Miriam the Prophetess is stricken with tzara’at as a punishment for speaking against her brother Moses. Miriam and her other brother Aaron – we’ll have to save the question of why Aaron goes unpunished for another d’var Torah...
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Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
As my 8 month old son becomes more mobile and is more interested in engaging with his 2 ½ year old sister, the discussions about pushing and hitting have ramped up in my house. What’s most frustrating is that I know my daughter loves my son. She wakes up every morning wanting to know where...
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The Holiness of Blemishes
Those of us concerned for the basic human rights of the physically and mentally disabled can easily be dismayed by this week’s Torah portion, Emor. For while Leviticus promises universal access to the sacred, this portion seems to restrict direct access to God to an ever- smaller subset of a tiny priestly minority. This portion...
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The Holiness of Dwelling
“I am a nester,” my friend said just weeks before Pesach, as we pondered the ramifications of her house having been dismantled for mold remediation. Her home is sacred space for her, a place set apart to replenish herself. Normally, she would have been cooking up a storm in her house. Instead, we baked a...
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Sukkoth: Expanding Our Awareness of the Harvest
When does Jacob do teshuvah for swindling his brother Esau out of birthright and paternal blessing? Reading over the brothers’ reconciliation in Parshat Vayishlach, I am struck by all that is missing. How can the brothers truly reconnect if past hurts are left buried? As Esau approaches, Jacob’s actions show concern but not contrition. He...
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On Power, Hope, and Change
A Sermon for Rosh Hashanah, 5772 Rabbi Barbara Penzner I’d like to start by talking about the movies. Who here has seen “Moneyball”? Who is planning to see it? Good, that means that you may have some idea about the movie. It’s the story of Billy Beane, general manager of the 2002 Oakland Athletics....
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