Summer is Coming: A Look at Shabbat at Camp vs. Home
Summer is coming soon, and it’s all I can think about this Shabbat, when I am at home in D.C., dreaming of Massachusetts. Because out of all of the things I love about camp, it’s possible I love Shabbat the most. And as my countdown ticks down, my excitement riles up.
Creating Terrific Photo Opps, One Family at a Time
“I have a son with special needs. I would love to feel like there might be a place for him at Camp Harlam.” The words stood out to me on the page as if they were wrapped in neon lights.
How a DNA Test and a Dream Led Me to Judaism
I hired an ancestral DNA expert to analyze my Jewish blood but, frustrated with my demands for details, he sent a curt email I will never forget: “You’re either Jewish or you’re not,” he wrote. Maybe this search was as much about my faith as it was about my heritage. Maybe I really was a Jew at heart, too.
How Can We Combat the Scourge of Gun Violence?
The scourge of gun violence is one that has affected so many of our neighbors, and we are commanded by Jewish tradition to act.
In the Fields with Ruth on Shavuot
It was summer 2014, and Israel was at war. Tourists were sparse and so were volunteers. I was in a field outside Rehovot, picking daloriyot (butternut squash) alongside a dozen other visitors. And I was thinking of Ruth the Moabite.
In the Book of Ruth, which is read on Shavuot, Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem from their tragic sojourn in Moab, and Ruth goes to the fields to collect grain for herself and her mother-in-law. Leviticus (19:9-10 and 23:22) and Deuteronomy (24:19) state that the gleanings of the field belong to people who are poor, immigrants, orphans, or widows – and Ruth belongs to at least three of these categories. As a Moabite woman, whose husband died and who has arrived empty-handed in Bethlehem, Ruth is among the most vulnerable people in the land.
How to Join the Fight for Voting Rights This Summer
Saturday, June 25 marks the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case Shelby County v. Holder. With a 5-4 vote, the Court struck down a crucial component of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, opening the door for states and localities with a history of restrictive voting practices to change their election laws, without first seeking preclearance from the federal government.
Make Each New Song More Joyful than the Last
Recently, as I was leaving the sanctuary on Shabbat morning, a man who was a guest of the bar mitzvah family approached me. Warmly shaking my hand and thanking me for a “lovely service,” he asked several questions about the music I sang, during both the morning service and the Kabbalat Shabbat service the night before.
How Reform Judaism Got it Right with LGBT People
My Kids Have Lots of Questions about God
My little guy and his siblings, like so many children, are full of questions about God. All day, every day, their inquiring minds want to know: Where is God? Why is God? Who is God? And the most oft-heard question of all: Is God a boy or a girl? Or neither? Or both?