RJ Blog

by Rabbi Barry Block The disconnect is striking. “The Jewish vote,” we were told last year, is all about support for Israel. But here I am at the Consultation on Conscience.  Israel is on the agenda, to be sure. But it’s a crowded agenda. And our friends in Washington seem to “get” that better than the pre-election press. The Consultation’s keynote was a conversation between Rabbi Rick Jacobs and Ambassador Susan Rice. They talked about Israel. But they also struggled with Sudan and Syria. They emphasized international LGBT human rights. Senators and members of Congress of both parties are poised [...]

We read in Proverbs, “Train up a child in the way the child should go, and even when the child is old, they will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).  This idea speaks not only to the importance of education in the Jewish tradition, but to carrying out that education in a way that teaches children to be just and compassionate. Thus it should be of particular concern to us as a community when our youth are educated in unequal environments. The Boys Scouts of America (BSA) has long been an example of a concerning environment. Despite the camaraderie, the [...]

by Rabbi Everett Gendler An e-mail arrived from the indefatigable Art Waskow reminding us that April 4th was the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The reminder included a photo from a demonstration at the Arlington National Cemetery along with valuable excerpts from King’s prophetic remarks about Vietnam delivered at Riverside Church. The photo showed Rabbi Heschel to one side of King, and this prompted me to look at another photo of that demonstration. In this fuller one, King is flanked on the other side by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath carrying a Torah, [...]

This is one eventful weekend! We have the start of Black History Month, Groundhog Day, the Super Bowl, and to top it all off, the first weekend of Jewish Disability Awareness Month. How will we possibly survive all the excitement? What were they thinking when they planned all of this for just a few short days? Luckily, Jewish Disability Awareness Month gets to spread the love all month long. And, lucky for you, I’ll choose not to overload you today with a blog post packed with 4 events, but just focus instead on one (can you guess which?). If you [...]

If any one concept best summarizes Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message, it is that of justice. Justice for oppressed individuals, justice for persecuted people, and justice for the broader society. In the era of MLK, the fight for justice was synonymous with the civil rights movement: the quest for equality for people regardless of their race. While in many ways that fight is not yet over, the social justice advocates of the 1960s – including both Martin Luther King Jr. and the RAC – were successful in changing policies and legislation to reflect the justice that they so vehemently desired.

by Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann I can’t forget the Hebrew anniversary of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s death—it’s also my dad’s. This year, their yahrzeit fell at New Year’s, coincidentally also my dad’s birthday. Death beside birth; wisdom for the ages next to a clean page.  Evocative juxtapositions.  In a few days, we’ll have another historic juxtaposition: President Barack Obama will take the oath of office as we celebrate the birth, life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Rabbi Peter Rigler As a rabbi, I believe that we need to recognize the sanctity in same sex marriages and monogamous relationships in the strongest possible way. The key issue in the sanctity of a relationship is a commitment to exclusivity and to elevating the relationship to a state of kedusha, holiness. When two individuals arrive at that point in their relationship when they have felt the bonds of love, they deserve a place under the chuppah in the presence of a rabbi and in the presence of community to celebrate that love. The joy they share will, we [...]

When we stepped into the election booths on Tuesday (or mailed in our ballots anti-climactically two weeks ago), we were finally alone—there was blissful silence from the seemingly never-ending campaign commercials, a lack of fliers and posters and bumper stickers, no friends telling us which way to vote, and no camera phones posting our opinions to Facebook. But we did bring in one thing: our values. Let’s look at some ways in which religion and religious values played an appropriate role in this election cycle. Houses of worship have emphasized the importance of voting, regardless of the candidate. 52% of [...]

by Rabbi Marci Bellows Story A: After a long day of work, the woman paid her fare and sat in an empty seat on the bus. As the bus traveled along its route, more and more seats filled up. The bus driver approached the woman and demanded that she move towards the back of the bus so that the people entering the bus could sit. Three passengers near the woman did as they were told and moved back. Yet, this day, the woman was asked, “Why don’t you get up?” She responded. “I don’t think I should have to stand [...]

On August 6th, 2012, Wade Michael Page – identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as having ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations – open fired at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights responded yesterday by holding a public hearing on “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism.” This hearing came after the Sikh Coalition mobilized over 150 organizations – including the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and several other Jewish groups – to write to the committee and request [...]

Ariella Marsden is a hero. This brave 15-year-old girl from the town of Beit Shemesh recently won a landmark court case that shook the ultra-Orthodox world. One day, riding home from school on a public bus, Ariella took a seat in the front of the bus. A few ultra-Orthodox men also boarded the bus and stood next to her. Then the bus driver asked her to move from her seat in the front to the back of the bus where she had to stand for the duration of her journey.  Seeing the sign posted on the bus saying that passengers [...]

by Nechama Namal I’ve never been much of a rebel. Instead, when I feel strongly about something, I do my best to act wisely, sensibly, and sensitively to show my support. I have found that in Israel, opportunities arise frequently for me to advocate for Reform Judaism, social justice, plurality, equality, and respect for all. Today was one of those days to speak my mind without saying a word. My friend Diane (also an olah chadashah who made aliyah with her husband on the same day as my husband and me) had been in touch with the Israel Religious Action [...]

If any of you have ever made a hotel reservation online, you know how important the rating system can be. If you are going someplace new and you have no first-hand recommendations to help you, seeing how many stars other guests have given a hotel is often all you have to inform your decision. The Orthodox Rabbinate here in Israel is trying to help people pick hotels with their own rating system, but this system is not based on price and customer service. Instead, it uses intolerance as its benchmark.

As two recent college graduates with many friends who are unemployed or working as unpaid interns, we are all too familiar with bleak employment and financial prospects. It’s disheartening to know, though, that even as the economy begins to recover, statistics show that Katharine might still be paid an average of 77 cents on every dollar that Ian makes, simply because she’s a woman. This disparity is widened for minorities. Paying fair wages is a cornerstone of our Jewish tradition. Leviticus 19:13 commands, “You shall not defraud your neighbor, nor rob him; the wages of he who is hired shall [...]