RJ Blog

Sirens were sounded throughout Israel at 8 PM on Sunday night and 11 AM this morning in Israel, in memory of the more than 25,000 fallen Israeli soldiers and terror victims. As the Jewish state ushered in Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, the nation, and indeed the Jewish world, paused to reflect on the cost of freedom. In a solemn address during a national ceremony, Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Monday, “We salute the fallen, our loved ones, the heroes of the State of Israel. May they rest in peace.”

Celebrate Israel’s birthday with the Reform Movement! You’re invited to join friends from across the world for a special celebration of Israel’s 65th Birthday, broadcast live from Kehillat Yozma in Modi’in, Israel. On Monday, April 15th, ARZA and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism will host a special online “Havdalah” ceremony to mark the conclusion of Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror and begin Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) celebrations. The program, led by Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon and Rabbi Nir Barkin of Kehillat Yozma, will be done in both Hebrew and English. It will include prayers and [...]

by Jacki Hart and Stephanie Rotsky Still relatively green as parents, choosing a school for our then-4-year-old and nearly-6-year-old felt like a major “grown up” responsibility. What would they learn; how would they be taught? Would the school nurture their nature? And could the school selection influence who they might become? The emphasis on social justice and the mission of tikkun olam, repair of the world, drew us to Rashi, a Reform Jewish day school in the Boston metropolitan area for kindergarteners through 8th graders. Little did we understand, six years ago, that Tamchui, Rashi’s unique annual community social justice [...]

Each year, as the grocery stores begin to display their Pesach foods, I, without fail, think to myself “Passover time already?!” Each year, we are commanded to “regard ourselves as if we ourselves went forth from the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:8) so that we can feel how sweet freedom is.

Each year during Passover tradition tells us to rid our houses of chametz (items that are not Kosher for Passover) and stock up on Kosher for Passover foods like macaroons, fruits and vegetables, and of course matzah. We all know that matzah can be purchased by the box or case, but did you know that you can actually make your own matzah?

This post is part of our Passover series, in which we think about the application of our age-old Passover story and traditions to the crucial issues we face today. For ways to infuse your seder with social justice, see our holiday guide. When 30,000 Americans die each year due to gun violence, it is time to acknowledge that we are suffering from a modern plague. When schoolchildren are gunned down by single shooter with a high-capacity magazine, we suffer from a modern plague. And, when criminals can buy weapons without having their backgrounds checked, we suffer from a modern plague. As [...]

by Eugenie Rosenthal Somaly Mam was just 14 years old when a man claiming to be her grandfather took her from her village and sold her into slavery in a Cambodian brothel. After years, she escaped and has since secured freedom for tens of thousands of other young girls enslaved Southeast Asia’s brothels. She has been called the “modern Harriet Tubman.” Might she be considered in some ways, a modern Moses? More people live in slavery today than at any other time in human history, 27 million according to the United Nations. This is more than the populations of New [...]

by Robin Messing Bogdanoff It started in August 2011 with, of all things, a shirt pocket. It was a very small pocket on a child’s striped tee shirt that caught my eye, because the shirt had been miraculously reinvented into a tote bag. What an inspired idea, to turn an iconic T-shirt into a bag! Strong and compact, yet expandable, colorful, playful, infinitely useful – and not difficult or expensive to make. For my $10 purchase, Massachusetts textile artist Crispina ffrench included instructions on how to make more bags and gave me permission to share the instructions with our synagogue community [...]

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 [...]

Happy New Year! While our Jewish New Year happened months ago, we can use this “secular” new year as an opportunity to set some goals for ourselves, recommit ourselves to the issues that we deem most important and focus on our relationships with our loved ones. How can the RAC help you achieve your goals in 2013? My resolutions (besides my annual vow to not eat as much chocolate, which I’ve already broken) include holding my representatives accountable to all of the issues that I care about – not just the ones that I think are likely to move in [...]

by Marjorie Freeman My husband attended a Southern Baptist Church with his grandmother as a small child, and then a Methodist Church with his parents and with his first wife. We married, and the wise Reform rabbi who married us, Rabbi Robert Rothman of the Community Synagogue in Rye, NY, suggested that my new husband bring a brown-bag lunch and join him once a week to learn about my Jewish background so he would be able to understand me better. After a year or more, my husband felt that Judaism made more sense than the Christianity he grew up with, and converted. But [...]

by Rabbi Ira Youdavin My plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport last Wednesday evening, four days before I would be joining the Jewish Council for Public Affairs National Leadership Mission, and 72 hours before the first night of Hanukkah. The early arrival was different from my usual pattern. Normally, I speed from the airport to some meeting, with a quick meal, shower and sometimes a few hours of sleep squeezed in. On this trip, I wanted to spend some quality time with friends in Jerusalem and also in Tel Aviv, a city I visit only infrequently. That whirlwind would begin [...]

by Julie Unger December is a tricky month for many interfaith couples and their families. It evokes nostalgic childhood memories and family traditions that are deeply rooted; so you’re bound to have a little conflict. To respect both sides and to minimize conflict, it’s important to discuss the December holiday plans and practices early on in your relationship. After about a year of dating, Matt and I decided that Thanksgiving would be spent with Matt’s family in Seattle, Washington, and Hanukkah/winter break would be spent with my folks in Safety Harbor, Florida. We seriously discussed this setup while we were [...]

by Jordan Peck Make sure you are helping your partner get what they need. This was a simple yet powerful concept my fiancée and I learned while participating in the free ‘Inside interfaith Relationships’ workshop through Reform Jewish Outreach Boston. Emily is a self-described “C and E” (Christmas and Easter) Congregationalist Protestant, I grew up Conservative Jewish but starting in college I became a “Y, C, and P” Jew (Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Passover). Despite our different religious upbringings we fell in love and became inseparable quickly and only small things reminded us of our different upbringings. During the first three [...]