Cooking with the Sisterhood: Balsamic Marinated Strawberry Trifle
My mother-in-law, Bette Jo, has been an active member of her synagogue for years, and some of her closest friends are those she met participating in her temple sisterhood.
Rio Roots: On Being Jewish in Brazil
My grandparents came to Brazil from Europe in the 1920s, and my parents were born in Brazil. My mother's Brazilian roots were in the northern state of Maranhão, which had a very small Jewish community.
The FDA's MSM Bans: Another Form of Discrimination
If your loved one was lying in a hospital in need of a blood transfusion, would you care about the sexual orientation of the donor whose blood is going to be given to your loved one? Chances are your biggest concern would be that the blood donor is healthy, not their sexual orientation.
A Nice Place to Visit, But…
There are people with hearts of stone; there are stones with human hearts.
-The Wall, by Yossi Gamzu
Holding My Father's Prayer Book
Guila remembers holding the prayer book for her father, who had cerebral palsy, every Yom Kippur. "What many might imagine to have been a dreary religious obligation was, for me, a highly emotional, touching experience."
This Yom Kippur, Try a Little Tenderness
Thirty years ago, Rabbi Motti Rotem, the first sabra (Israeli-born Jew) to be ordained as a Reform rabbi in Israel, addressed his congregation from the pulpit before Yom Kippur.
Bitten by the Anti-Malaria Bug
One of the best parts about my job as an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is constantly meeting people who are passionate advocates for the causes they believe in.
On Being a Diaspora Jew, In More Ways Than One
Merriam-Webster defines “diaspora” as “a group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived.” Because I am Jewish yet living outside of Israel, I am already labeled a Diaspora Jew, but should we coin a new word for someone who quali
Confession: A Poem for the Vidui
Although we may not think of Judaism as a religion of confession, we often are called to profess our sins – privately, between oneself and God.