Reform Movement 2016 Social Justice Resolutions
As we begin 2016, we reflect upon the successes and challenges of last year, and many of us embark on fulfilling our new year’s resolutions. We at the RAC have made our own social justice resolutions for the New Year.
#SOTU 2016 Recap
As what I call a “New Yorker-in-diaspora,” State of the Union nights remind me that Washington, D.C. is a great city-fit for me, because you can pretty much guarantee that all bars will be playing the speech or that a friend or a friend of a friend is hosting a watch party.
Killing a King: Revisiting the Lessons from Rabin’s Assassination
The publication of Dan Ephron’s Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel is timely, coinciding with both the 20th anniversary of Rabin’s assassina
Sports vs. Values: What are We Teaching Our Children?
What do we teach our children when we seek entertainment in the spectacle of two human beings each trying to maim the other or render her senseless? And yet, should we be surprised? After all, we live in a country where mass murder occurs on a regular basis.
My Father’s Journey on a Freedom Ride Bus
Jewish activism in the 1960s civil rights movement gained momentum when four Reform rabbis participated in the first Interfaith Freedom Ride on a Greyhound bus traveling from Washington, DC, through South Carolina, to Tallahassee from June 13-16, 1961. Freedom rides tested interstate public transportation hubs for racial segregation. The rabbis, Israel Dresner, Martin Freedman, Allan Levine, and my father Walter H. Plaut, were joined by eight white Protestant ministers, including prominent theologian Robert McAfee Brown, and six AME black ministers and NAACP activists.
MLK Day: It's On Us to Heal the Wounds of Time
Rather than waiting in vain for time to heal all wounds, let us resolve to heal the wounds of time. May we heed what Dr. King called “the urgency of now.” And may we go from celebrating Dr. King’s legacy today to working for it tomorrow.
Deciding the Future of Tribal Sovereignty
What do an American Indian tribe, a multi-billion dollar corporation and the U.S. Supreme Court all have in common? These three bodies are all embroiled in a case that could have wide implications for one of the most complicated aspects of our legal system: tribal sovereignty.
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S.2123), Explained
Next Tuesday, January 19, Reform Jews will join together to call on the Senate to bring the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123), also known as SRCA, forward for a floor vote.
How My Texas Congregation Led the Way to Support Immigrant Families
Our congregation in McAllen, TX, is the go-to congregation for donations in support of immigrant families; the response from the Reform Jewish community has been amazing.