The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East
For Jews of a certain age, June 5, 1967 is and always will be a date as familiar as one’s own birthday. It was on that day that Israel launched a preemptive strike in response to the mobilization of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.
Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War
In 1938, Hank Greenberg came three home runs shy of eclipsing Babe Ruth’s record of 60 homers in a season.
Then They Came for Me: Martin Niemöller, the Pastor Who Defied the Nazis
German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller is best known for his celebrated confession. These oft-quoted words at Holocaust commemorative observances might lead you to believe that Niemöller was sympathetic to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. Not true.
Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception
Judy Glickman Lauder’s photographs in Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception are so masterfully crafted they make us feel as if we ourselves are on the train tracks approaching Treblinka, behind the barbed wire fence at Majdanek, at the entrance of Dachau under the sign Arbeit Macht Frei, outside a gas chamber at Auschwitz. Faced with these images, we can’t help but imagine what it must have been like for the millions of innocents who entered these passageways, in most cases never to return.
Behold, America: The Entangled History of "America First" and "The American Dream"
Many American Jews shuddered as Donald Trump proclaimed, “The American Dream is dead!” and “America first!” to rally crowds during his 2016 presidential campaign. We remembered how, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, these slogans were an open call for virulent anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi sentiment, white supremacy, xenophobia, and nativism.
Jewish End-of-Life Care in a Virtual Age: Our Tradition Reimagined
The pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives, even the way we become ill and the way we die.
Those Who Are Saved
A Blessing for Going Off to Summer Camp
Every year we venture back to the place we were before
And though our lives may differ we share a bond forever more
All year we sit in classrooms and we have to wonder why
Our summers are so special at OSRUI.
Remembering From Where We Come: A Prayer for the LGBT Community
This piece of liturgy was originally written for the interfaith prayer service held prior to Los Angeles Pride Parade.The prayer memorializes those who have employed the various ways individuals can and have made a difference in promoting justice for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
A Prayer Amid Gun Violence
Guardian of life, liberty, and the promise of peace, may our nation always merit Your protection.