Remembering Emma Lazarus, A Legacy in Reform Liturgy
Most people, if they’ve heard of her at all, connect Emma Lazarus to the most famous phrases of her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” written to help raise money for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal fund in 1883. But poems she translated and composed before that generated another kind of legacy.
My Alphabet of Failings: A New Ashamnu
Each year on Yom Kippur, I join my congregation is reciting the Ashamnu, an alphabetic acrostic of sins for which we repent. And each year, it occurs to me that most of the sins named in the Ashamnu don’t hit me in the heart I’m beating – and so, I wrote my own version of the prayer.
How the High Holidays Are Like a Charles Dickens Tale
Whether you prefer the 1843 book or any of the many movie versions made since, there is no question that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a classic.
Now, despite the season for which Dickens wrote it, A Christmas Carol is a Yom Kippur story if there ever was one.
Yom Kippur Wasn't Always the Holiday It Is Now
As the summer passes its midway point, rabbis begin to think seriously about the coming Days of Awe.
Yoga and Torah Study: What Do They Have in Common?
For six years, I have led a diverse group of about 25 individuals in a weekly “Lunch and Learn” Torah study session. As we wrestle with the text through the lens of our contemporary lives, some parashiyot (weekly portions) resonate more than others, but we are comfortable enough in our study to question everything – including God – without diminishing our faith.
Tuning in to the Power of Psalms
It was a blessing for me to study Psalms with mentors at Hebrew Union College and Vanderbilt Divinity School. Now, I study Psalms almost every day.
How Israel is Defying the Global Water Shortage
The U.S. government predicts that 40 states and 60% of the earth’s land surface will soon face alarming gaps between the supply and growing demand for water. Israel stands in defiance of this water emergency.
What Can We Learn from the Pfeffermans?
Most people have at least heard of Amazon’s groundbreaking television show, Transparent, which along with transgender actress Laverne Cox of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and movies such as Tangerine, are pushing transgender stories from the margins into the mainstream. But to single out Transparent simply for highlighting a topic that’s still taboo in most of the television world is to overlook the other half of the show’s DNA – its significant reliance on Jewish themes and customs to weave its tale. It may seem an arbitrary combination, as the show is based in part on creator Jill Soloway’s own Jewish family and transgendered parent, but advocacy for LGBTQ rights has a long history among progressive Jews.
How We Engaged Older Adults and Transformed Temple Life
There are 550 lifelong learning programs like ours across the country, but what sets us apart is that all the others, to the best of our knowledge, are attached to a college or university. TILLI may be the first one connected to a religious institution.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Notorious in a Good Way
In Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a lively look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, co-authors Shana Knizhnik, a law student, and Irin Carmon, a reporter for MSNBC, mix chatty