InLight: How Cross-Religious Encounters Can Light Up the Darkest Time of Year
During the current Hebrew month of Kislev (November and December), we will celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, and Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights, together here in southern Israel.
Celebrate a Social Justice Hanukkah
This year, from the evening of Sunday, December 6th, until the evening of Monday, December 14th, Jews worldwide gather together around the Hanukkah lights, spin the dreidel, eat latkes and jelly donuts, and celebrate the fe
For Those Whose Exodus Continues Today
For more than 3,000 years, Jews have gathered to retell the story of Passover and celebrate our deliverance from slavery in Egypt. In the Book of Exodus, we are not only told to observe Passover (Exodus 12: 17); we also are taught that, “In every generation all of us are obliged to regard ourselves as if we ourselves went forth from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8). We must not only gather for seder and replace chametz with matzah, but we also must take ownership of the Passover narrative and experience it anew each year.
Responding to Paris Attacks and the Escalating Refugee Crisis
Last week, Paris experienced disturbing terror attacks, shocking not just the French people, but entire world.
Reform Zionism: What Do the Four Children Have to Say?
The Land of Israel is a ghost throughout the haggadah, even as it is a constant presence in the background of the Passover story. Liberation isn’t solely freedom from Egyptian bondage; it’s also intentional direction toward Sinai and the ultimate arrival in the Promised Land. Yet Eretz Yisrael itself is rarely mentioned in the haggadah text.
Reflecting on Racial Justice during Passover
On Passover, we confront a central, inextricable tension: we must simultaneously hold the joy of our exodus from slavery in Egypt with the persecution we see all around us in the world. For many centuries, that persecution was directly experienced by Jews themselves.
Twenty Years Later: Reckoning with Rabin's Legacy
I do not I remember where I was when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated -- I was only two years old at the time.
Modeling Jacob: the Ability to Provide for our Families
For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased abundantly; and God has blessed me wherever I turned.
Moving Social Justice to the Center of Synagogue Life
A new URJ Community of Practice, “Moving Justice to the Center of Your Congregation,” will bring together clergy and lay leaders from 12 Reform synagogues to do what Or Ami did: to use the tools of community organizing to bring together your synagogue community to make the world more just.