A Prayer for Safety During This School Year
As young people and their teachers return to school, to campus and to class, we pray for a year that proves safer than those before. Grant, O God, that houses of learning from daycare centers to graduate schools are places free from havoc and harm
The Season of Healing
The High Holidays are a time of introspection and self-assessment in anticipation of repentance, forgiveness, thanksgiving and rejoicing. It is a season of healing.
A Prayer for Simchat Torah
“Rejoicing in the Torah” doesn’t require us to find joy in every verse. It doesn’t mean that we concur with every choice made by the people in it.
Unless You Know: A Poem for Yom HaShoah
Unless you know
what it is to look
at black & white proof
at lambs led to slaughter
at herds of the lost
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Tazria: Where and How Do We Heal?
This week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs teaches us from Parashat Tazria in the book of Leviticus, asking where we start when we need healing.
Four ways to tune in:
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Metzora: Shabbat HaGadol
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, wonders if asking questions during a Passover seder is a religious mandate, or if it is actually demanded of us, and whether eating kosher for Passover bagels is really in the spirit of the holiday.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Pesach
Passover means matzah, and this week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, talks about how, love it or hate it, eating the “bread of affliction” might actually teach us about empathy.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Special Edition: the Jewish Calendar
In this week's special edition of On The Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, talks about the Jewish calendar, including how we mark time and how we find meaning.
Three ways to listen:
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Acharei Mot II: The Boundaries of Innovation
Passover may have just ended, but it’s not too early to talk about Yom Kippur and second chances. This week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs talks about making mistakes and the sometimes-negative consequences of innovation.
Four ways to tune in:
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Vayeilech: The Sacred Art of Letting Go
Parashat Vayeilech is read between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a time of transition for all of us. We've brought in the new year with hopes, prayers, and the shofar, and we look toward Yom Kippur, where we are tasked with letting go of the last year and moving forward.