On Friday, June 5, we observe Wear Orange Day, a national day of awareness about the scourge of gun violence in the United States. We wear orange to call attention to the epidemic of gun violence facing our country, and to fight for a future free from gun violence. 

To honor the uncounted women in the Book of Numbers and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S. this year, Rabbi Carole Balin, Ph.D., has crafted an “alternative Book of Numbers” for her weekly Torah commentaries for Ten Minutes of Torah.

My career path wasn't always clear, and certainly not straight, but I recently discovered that I can draw a direct line from my current role (and my entire worldview around gender conditioning and Judaism) to the guiding Jewish values of my upbringing. 

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted nearly everyone across the globe, and the Jewish community is no exception. Those of us who are Jews of Color – comprising approximately 12 percent of the U.S. Jewish community – feel a particular sense of isolation and anxiety.

As humanity recovers from this crisis, we have the opportunity to build a more sustainable, just society that promotes both our health and the health of our planet. 

The Book of Proverbs instructs us to “speak up for those who cannot speak...to raise our voices on behalf of the vulnerable and downtrodden.” (Proverbs 31:8-9). The individuals who make up America’s prison population are isolated, vulnerable, and voiceless.

If we are to heed the call of freedom that Passover offers us, we must not close our eyes to the degradation currently taking place right outside our door.

I carry the trauma of my ancestors, who were kidnapped and enslaved, who survived post-abolition racist terrorism, and who survived devastating Jim Crow laws. I also carry the history of the Jewish people, who have survived countless acts of violence, forced conversion, and genocide.