10 Ways to Welcome Teens at the High Holidays
Looking for innovative opportunities to engage your teens around the High Holidays? These 10 ideas come directly from the source – youth professionals across North America.
“Sing with Liberty,” a Prayer of Immigration and Welcoming
This prayer/song is based on “New Colossus,” the sonnet by Emma Lazarus appearing on a plaque inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Those familiar with the sonnet will recognize the images and phrases reflected here; it was written as an antidote to attempted hijackings of the message of the Lazarus poem.
Gratitude for Work
This is a simple prayer of gratitude for having a job. It can be easy to take for granted at times, especially with a challenging job or a difficult boss.
This prayer appears in the Labor Day section of This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, along with a social justice prayer "Against Worker Exploitation," also very appropriate for this day.” Optional language appears in [brackets].
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.