RJ Blog

by Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder “Passport, name, purpose of your trip?” are ritual questions asked by customs agents. They are routine and familiar to anyone who has entered another country. However, when one thinks about “customs,” it can raise important questions about belonging and “why are you here?” is not always the most welcoming of questions. One does not, of course, need a passport to enter a synagogue, NFTY, or Jewish summer camp. But as much as we would like to think of these and other key Jewish institutions as warm and welcoming, the same questions that cause anxiety at passport [...]

by Lacey Schwartz I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who was planning on enrolling her daughter in a local Hebrew school, a decision she is now reconsidering. Why? After meeting with the school’s principal and expressing her concerns about the unique challenges of race in this setting, the principal smiled and earnestly told her not to worry, “We have had African-American kids before. We are truly a colorblind school.” A nice gesture, but most thoughtful people know color blindness to be negative – and not just for traffic lights and fashion choices. Though well intentioned, [...]

by Noah Leavitt Congregation Beth Israel, in Walla Walla, WA – about 10 miles from Oregon and 100 from Idaho – is the outpost of Reform Judaism in rural, politically conservative, southeast Washington. Our congregation, which has been in existence for more than 70 years, has about 30 member units, owns our own synagogue (a converted neighborhood grocery store), and keeps our Torah scrolls in a fireproof John Deere gun safe which we purchased a number of years ago from a local farm supply store. It is frontier Judaism at its best. CBI is also unquestionably the most welcoming congregation [...]

Judaism commands us to “be fruitful and multiply.” Many couples and individuals fulfill this commandment through adoption, providing loving homes to children who desperately need them. Welcoming Jewish families enlarged through adoption into your congregation requires sensitivity to the unique issues they face. Here are 18 ways your congregational community can welcome and embrace adoptive families. Like most contemporary family stories, adoption is not new to the Jewish people and there are many examples in Torah. Share this information with your teachers when planning meetings and in-service training for Religious School, Early Childhood and Day School. Encourage your teachers to [...]

A recent study shows that approximately 87,000 Jewish households identify as “multiracial or nonwhite”… in New York alone! What is your congregation doing to ensure that Jews of color feel welcomed into, rather than isolated from, your community? Interracial families and families of ethnic diversity should expect to be welcomed into your congregation just like any other family into your community. Here are 18 ways your congregational community can welcome and embrace interracial families. Let all families know they are welcome before they even walk in the door. Use photographs on your website to highlight the racial and ethnic diversity [...]

When my partner and I were adopting our first child, the adoption agency required that all families it worked with take a class. The class was about becoming a multi-racial family. At one session, the presenter, an adoptive parent herself, prepared us for some of the questions we would be asked, often by perfect strangers. As two white men planning on adopting an African-American child, we knew we were in for it. We have gotten just about every sort of reaction. At my pulpit, one congregant actually asked if we were going to raise our son as a Jew. Did [...]

by Erika Davis My path to Judaism is similar to most Jews by choice. After years of spiritual searching and longing, I turned toward Judaism because of the tradition, because it is the seed of monotheistic religion, because it’s where I was able to connect to G-d in a real and powerful way. My excitement was met with trepidation: Having grown up Christian with minimal contact with Jews, I wasn’t sure if I’d fit in. I saw only pale faces and felt out of place, unsure how I would be accepted with my brown skin. Doing most of my research [...]

by John HirschTemple Beth El, Great Neck, NY So much has happened in my life – more by chance than design. After graduation I couldn’t get to New York City fast enough. I finished school in January and arrived just after the snows of 1967. At 22, I knew I was gay, and I had come-out to my parents while still in college – rare in those days; New York was a perceived safe (and fun) place for gays. It was fun but hardly care-free or safe. But I arrived with plans to become rich and famous, but so much [...]

This past Shabbat I sat on the bima during Shabbat Service as the Board of Trustees representative.During this service, a young man was being called to the Torah for the first time – he was the bar mitzvah boy. Sitting there, observing the family and friends of this young man, as well as the congregants who had gathered to worship, made me once again realize the beauty of belonging to a Reform shul. Why?Because of the richness of the people who are engaged in creating a Jewish community.  The young man celebrating his bar mitzvah was a mensch. He read [...]

by Deborah GreeneTemple Beth Tikvah, Roswell, GA(originally posted on Puzzled) “Two great things you can give your children: one is roots, the other is wings.”(Hodding Carter) It is said that, “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” (Havelock Ellis) It is, to be sure, a balancing act for every parent. We wish to give our children the opportunities to grow, to become more independent and forge out their own path in this world. Yet, we want to protect them, keep them safe and shield them from harm, hurt and the inevitable [...]

by Maggie Anton ParkhurstBeth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles, CA When asked to write a post about my “experience belonging to a diverse community” for the RJ Blog, I took this as asking for my experience as a straight woman at Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), the world’s first gay synagogue. Although more than 90% of the congregation identifies as LGBT, my husband and I, along with my daughter and son-in-law, have been members since 1999, making us the “odd man out.” So what are we doing here? What Jews do in other synagogues – only more so, because for many of our [...]

by Stan NotkinBeth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles, CA The June 1969 Stonewall Inn riots in New York’s Greenwich Village jump-started the modern gay/lesbian rights movement. (Now, in part to commemorate Stonewall, Gay Pride Month is celebrated every June.) Shortly thereafter, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) was founded in Los Angeles in 1972, and two years later the fledgling congregation joined the UAHC, now the URJ. While the Stonewall riots put an end to the police raids of gay bars in New York, enactment and enforcement of anti-gay laws continued elsewhere, including Los Angeles. Plainclothes police still entrapped unsuspecting victims, who were [...]

The other night I went to the middle school orientation for incoming fifth-graders. I still cannot believe that my son, Avi, is going to be in fifth grade. The school offers a wonderful after-school program in which students can play sports, take fun classes and get their homework done. I picked up an application form on my way out of the school building. At home that night, I looked over the brochure and began to fill out the application. Before I could even put pen to paper, I was asked for the names of Avi’s mother and father. Now, for [...]

by Rabbi Eric Yoffie(originally posted on Huffington Post) Shavuot is a much neglected holiday. Mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a harvest festival and enjoying equal status with Passover and Sukkot, Shavuot is of shorter duration than her sister festivals and has fewer distinctive rituals; as a result, observance of the holiday has tended to be minimal. Nonetheless, it is undergoing something of a revival. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, Shavuot has been identified as the time at which the revelation of the Torah to the Jewish people occurred on Mt. Sinai. With the growth of serious Torah [...]