11 Ways to Celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month in Your Synagogue
In honor of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month, we offer a few suggestions to help congregations adopt further awareness and understanding of disabilities.
Communal Aid: How to Ensure No One Falls Through the Cracks
When we made aliyah in 1990, arriving at Shorashim, the community was a moshav sheetufi, a commune of 30 families. The economy was similar to a kibbutz – all salaries, whether from communal businesses or from work “outside,” went to the common bank account; each family received a house to live in and a monthly allowance based on family size. But not anymore.
Red and Blue and White: Being an American and a Jew
I know from conversations I have had with Israelis, they find it difficult, if not impossible, to understand how Jews can feel so at home, so safe, so self-assured in the United States. For so many of our co-religionists—those who were forced to flee from oppressive regimes in the former Soviet Union, or Ethiopia, or those whose parents and grandparents fled from or grew up in the ashes of state-sanctioned hatred—they cannot possibly understand how we can live so calmly and unafraid in this nation. They can’t quite understand what it means to be an American and a Jew.
My Son May Be Sheltered Now, But That Won’t Last Forever
For better or for worse, my son doesn’t yet know how scary this world can be – and I’m not eager to break it to him.
We Can Make an Impact for Immigration Reform
In the Machon Kaplan (MK) program, I have received a total crash course in Jewish social justice in Washington, D.C.
Next Year at the Kotel
(((Echoes))) Send Anti-Semitic Reverberations Through the Internet
Members of the alt-right, a politically conservative movement where white nationalists and anti-Semites have found a virtual home, developed a symbol to target Jews online.
After This Sermon, I Refuse to Be Indifferent
At a recent Friday evening Shabbat service, my rabbi spoke to the congregation and, without singling me out, told me I was indifferent. I wasn’t angry at him for saying so – I was angry at myself because he was correct.
Celebrating the Reform Movement's Summer Opportunities
You can have your summer destinations of Nantucket, the Hamptons, or Lake Michigan. I’ll take Kunkletown, Zionsville, and Oconomowoc! Some head to the beaches or the mountains; I head to camp.
More than 14,000 young people are leaving home this summer, immersing themselves in new environments and connecting to Jewish community in a URJ summer program. The midrash tells us that if we can open ourselves up to new experiences, we can discover inner clarity. These young people are discovering themselves – what motivates them, what matters to them, what challenges them. They return home – and to our congregations – with a new sense of identity and purpose.
The GOP is Playing a Dangerous Game with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Republican Party's platform excludes language for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, a serious divergence from a quarter century of U.S. foreign policy — and the GOP's previous platform in 2012, which stated explicit support for two states.