This Bar Mitzvah Boy Raised a Whopping $10,000 for ALS Research
I never though that I, a normal 13-year-old boy, would be able to make a difference in the greater community.
How to Help Combat the “Perpetual Stranger Status” of Jews of Color
Jews come in all colors, and our diaspora is beautiful and vast! North Africa and the Middle East are among the places from which Jews originated, and we have lived on every continent. We’re a global, multiracial people that’s growing more racially and ethnically diverse through interfaith and interracial marriage, conversion, and adoption.
Spice It up with Shabbat La Vida Loca
In 2010, I watched two dynamic Argentine cantors, Gaston Bogomolni and Ari Litvak, create an incredible Shabbat evening service called “Davenin’ La Vida Loca,” which translates loosely as “Praying the Crazy Life.” Filled with music in the Argentinean style of Friday night worship, together with compositions from Latin American composers, the worship was so well received that Bogomolni and Litvak were commissioned to create a series of Latin American anthologies. The first one, Ruach Hadarom, Anthology of Congregational Melodies from Latin America, Volume I: Shabbat, will be available soon, with anthologies for the High Holidays, festivals, and weddings to follow.
A New Chapter in the Pursuit of Racial Justice
“History repeats itself.”
This statement is often uttered despondently, conjuring up repeated human suffering caused by tragic or misguided events, wars, and choices. But perhaps it also should inspire us.
Israel: Making it Meaningful for All of Us
Most of you have heard by now that the Israeli government just approved the creation of an enhanced egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall which, for the first time, will be under the authority of non-Orthodox leadership. Our Reform Movement was instrumental in leading this change, in a coordinated effort with Women of the Wall; the Conservative Movement, both in Israel and in North America; and the Jewish Federations of North America. Join me and our Movement's leaders in Israel for an update via conference call on Thursday, February 4, at 12:15 p.m. Eastern.
Are Chinese and Yiddish Mutually Exclusive?
I ask you, is this a sheyn punim (a pretty face)? I’ve been dying to say those words for the past four years, ever since I came to China to work as a teacher of oral English at Nanyang Normal University.
Super Mitzvah 50: Rival Cities Make a Football Bet for Charity
Who will dominate this year's Super Bowl? Reform rabbis in Denver and Charlotte have created their own version of (very polite but also very funny) trash-talking videos... with the proceeds going to charity, of course! Congregations in the rival cities have started an online fundraiser that, as of Monday morning, had raised more than $2,500.
Relationship Status: It's Complicated
It is February so let’s talk about love.
What is love? How do you define a relationship? Do you call her nicknames like “The Homeland” or “Zion” or maybe even “ha’aretz (the land)?”
Parashat Mishpatim: Welcoming the Stranger
As we read Parashat Mishpatim (Rules) from the book of Exodus this week, we are presented with many rules and moral imperatives that we must live by, culminating the process of creating the coven