URJ Resolution on Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism is itself an ancient phenomenon and a remarkably resilient form of hate. In its most terrible manifestation, anti-Semitism led to the Shoah and the murder of 6 million Jews. In the aftermath of this genocidal tragedy, the world said “never again.” Yet despite this pledge, we now see acts of anti-Jewish hatred on the rise.
Ki Teitzei: When You Go Out as a Warrior
Parashat Ki Teitzei includes a rich and varied collection of directives that serve as a partial blueprint for behaviors and norms to create the emerging covenantal culture. As Professor Adele Berlin notes, “Issues pertaining to women are prominent in this parashah. . . .
To Delight in Life
This week's Torah portion presents a seemingly endless litany of blessings and curses. These blessings and curses seem to follow a simple equation: follow God's commands and you will receive blessing; ignore or transgress them and you will receive curses.
Standing Together, Standing Apart
The Hebrew month of Elul invites us into a period of preparatory self-reflection and contemplation, calling us to center our thoughts on our own t'shuvah.
Standing Together, Standing Apart
The Hebrew month of Elul invites us into a period of preparatory self-reflection and contemplation, calling us to center our thoughts on our own t'shuvah.
Moses’s Last Lecture
Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
Let the earth hear the words I utter!
May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass.
(Deuteronomy 32:1-2)
Ki Tavo: What Is Success?
"Success" is a song sung by the immigrant Jew, Tateh, in the Broadway play Ragtime. In the song, a father sings to his young daughter that "hope is in the air." They have journeyed to America, the new Promised Land, so that he can give his daughter a better life.
Strange Fruit
After seeing the infamous 1930 photograph by Lawrence Beitler, which depicts the mob lynching of two young black men, a Jewish high school teacher named Abel Meeropol wrote a haunting poem titled "Strange Fruit." The poem was first published in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magaz
The Fugitive Aramean and You
". . . My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation" (Deuteronomy 26:5).
Dealing with Our Terrors
Focal Point
The life you face shall be precarious; you shall be in terror, night and day, with no assurance of survival. (Deuteronomy 28:66)