"Our security comes in our solidarity. Our safety comes through our democracy."
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center, made the following remarks at the 2019 URJ Biennial in Chicago.
How Can We Start Experimenting with Change in a Big Way?
"I’m here to tell you that we – as a Movement, as leaders of Reform congregational life in North America – are going to have to want change, want to change, and all of us will need to lead that change."
A Post-Biennial Round-Up: The Addresses You Want to (Re-)Read
Whether you want to re-read your favorite addresses from the Biennial or will be experiencing them here for the first time, we're doing our best to get everything online and available to you. Stay tuned all week long as we continue to update this list with links to additionall addresses.
Why I View My Career as a Fundraiser as Holy Jewish Work
We live in difficult times, and as a progressive Reform Jew who cares deeply about injustice and human rights, I sit in frustration and horror at the atrocities unfolding daily. I wonder, like so many others, what can I do?
Teens Connect to Judaism Through Justice
Words Not Spoken . . . Words Not Heard
Words are powerful. In Genesis, chapter one, God creates through words: “God said, ‘Let there be light!’—and there was light. . . . God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,’. . . . God now said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image,’ ” (Genesis 1:3, 6, 26).
Why the 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre Should Matter to Jews Today
It distresses me that so many Americans are just now hearing about this troubling moment in our history - not through our education system, but through a superhero TV show.
The Challenge of Righteousness
The wording of the verse gives rise to this debate. The text states that “Noah was a righteous man,” but immediately follows with the phrase “in his generation, he was above reproach. . . ” All of us, including the ancient Rabbis, are left to wonder if Noah is exceptional or not, if his righteousness would be universally righteous or simply righteous in his time.
In Ishmael’s House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands
How did Jews and Muslims interact in lands under Muslim rule, from Afghanistan to Morocco?
"For Me, the Personal is Always Political"
Editor's note: The text that follows was presented before a live audience at the 2019 URJ Biennial on Thursday, Dec. 12.