Galilee Diary: The Neighbors
Whoever saves one life in Israel [i.e., of a Jew] is as if he had saved an entire world.
– Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5
Whoever saves one life is as if he had saved an entire world.
President Obama's Call for Assad to Relinquish Power Welcomed by Reform Movement
Pelavin: "We welcome President Obama's call for President Assad to step down. We agree that it is the only path that will allow the Syrian people to pursue a peaceful transition to a democratic government."
A Year of the Arab Spring: How Far Have We Come?
A year ago this week President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia resigned in the face of public protests, a month after the self-immolation that inspired unpreceden
Ki Teitzei: When You Go Out as a Warrior
Parashat Ki Teitzei includes a rich and varied collection of directives that serve as a partial blueprint for behaviors and norms to create the emerging covenantal culture. As Professor Adele Berlin notes, “Issues pertaining to women are prominent in this parashah. . . .
One Year Later, World’s Newest Country Faces Atrocities
Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the referendum that established South Sudan’s independence. It was a historical day when 98.8% of South Sudanese voters elected to secede from the North.
How Tikkun Olam and Pikuah Nefesh Will Help Me Prepare: A #BlogElul Post
Last week I had lunch with a rabbi friend who told me he’s in the midst of preparing four different sermons for the upcoming High Holidays.
Syrian Refugees
With more than 500,000 people displaced to neighboring countries by the violent civil war in Syria, the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR) has opened a fund to provide humanitarian aid to the refugees.
The State of the Union and Reproductive Rights
Strange Fruit
After seeing the infamous 1930 photograph by Lawrence Beitler, which depicts the mob lynching of two young black men, a Jewish high school teacher named Abel Meeropol wrote a haunting poem titled "Strange Fruit." The poem was first published in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magaz