Israel / Palestine
Lech Lecha: Land, Safety, Peoplehood, Pain
Land, for Jews and all peoples, equals safety, security, and sustained fruitfulness. It is home. May we always be grounded in the knowledge that the gift of land and the blessing of home hinges entirely on the choices we make, day after day, to co-exist peaceably with others, as neighbors, as family.
more
Resources for Responding to Israel-Gaza War
We offer these texts as starting points for rabbis and cantors to speak to their communities after this first full week of war. When we have no real answers to provide people in this painful time of uncertainty, the best we can do is offer teaching that orients and grounds us.
more
Rosh Hashanah: Teshuvah, Tefilah, and Tzedakah in Israel
'On Rosh Hashanah, it is written and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed: How many will die and how many will be born? Who will live and who will die?' This is one of the most beloved and troubling of Rosh Hashanah prayers. But such is the power of great poetry.
more
Israel Resources for Clergy: High Holidays 5784
Resources for Jewish clergy preparing to talk and teach about Israel on the High Holidays.
more
Tisha B’Av: Making Reparations after Churban
It is not enough to mourn. Mourning must be accompanied by actions that end the harm being done.
more
Devarim: The Rights and Responsibilities of the Diaspora
Israel is too important for us to throw up our hands and turn away, just because it feels like we’re losing. Israel needs us and we need them.
more
Naso: “And the Woman Shall Say: ‘Amen, Amen’”
...being in Israel over the last several months has shown me almost daily how easy it is to defile something that’s important to us because of zealotry and jealousy.
more
Prayer for North American Jews on the 75th Anniversary of Israel’s Founding
A prayer by Rabbi Ayelet Cohen for the State of Israel.
more
Connecting Parshat Tazria-Metzora to the Moment in Israel
A resource for clergy speaking about Israel at 75.
more
Israel at 75 Resources for Clergy: Shabbat of April 21-22, 2023
As Jewish clergy we have an obligation to raise our moral voices against injustice being perpetrated at home and abroad.
more