How Music Can Help Us Make Connections in Difficult Times
The Hamilton craze is sweeping the nation, and even the Jewish community isn’t exempt. Case in point: Recently, at the annual convention of the American Conference of Cantors and the Guild of Temple Musicians, several cantors led a Shacharit (morning) service that included several prayers set to tunes from the smash hit by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
And it wasn’t the only secular music to take center stage. Just two days earlier, a few colleagues and I had led a Maariv (evening) service that included “Be Here Now” by Ray LaMontagne and “Grateful” by John Bucchino.
What is it that makes secular music useful and appropriate in a service setting? Or is it?
Why I Spent a Week Learning with Muslims and Christians
It troubles me that I live in a socially segregated community, so when my professor announced that he would be co-teaching with a Protestant preacher and a Muslim imam a week-long summer intensive called Building Abrahamic Partnerships, I immediately signed up.
We See Ourselves in the Syrian Refugee Narrative
Each of us had different reasons for taking part in the recent mission to Berlin sponsored by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. We care deeply about the refugee crisis and wanted to learn so that we could share the story, engage our congregants and communities with this issue, and be part of an effective response.
Monotheism and the Problem of Truth
"You shall have no other gods beside Me!" This is the first of Aseret HaDib'rot, literally the "Ten Declarations" or "Ten Commandments" found in this week's parashah, Va-et'chanan (see Deuteronomy 5:2-18; we recited a slightly different version earlier in the year in Parashat Yitro, Exodus, chapter 20). Aseret HaDib'rot lays out the central terms of an exclusive covenant between God and Israel. After a brief prologue in which God self-identifies as the One who freed Israel from Egyptian bondage, the first declaration occurs in the form of a command that Israel take no other gods in addition to the God of Israel: "You shall have no other gods beside Me!"
Immigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights: The Ten Plagues
The following is an excerpt from “Immigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights,” a haggadah created for Jews United For Justice’s 11th Annual Labor Seder.