Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Relationship Between Domestic Violence and Gun Violence
It sometimes feels that we’re constantly in the aftermath of another instance of gun violence. In October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we have an opportunity to shed light on a population that is particularly vulnerable gun violence.
Suicide Prevention and Awareness Is Our Communal Responsibility
Elul is upon us. The sound of the shofar reminds us that this silent epidemic must be addressed. Its cries echo those left in the depths of sorrow, feeling alone, believing that those who love them most would be better off without them. Our fear of mental illness must be replaced with a resolve to educate ourselves and others.
Domestic Violence: No More Family Secrets
Despite the long-held belief that there is no domestic violence in Jewish families, rates of abuse in the Jewish community mirror those in the general public.
Meet the 2016-2017 Eisendrath Legislative Assistants
The beginning of the program year is always an exciting time at the RAC, as we begin a new cycle of tikkun olam work.
Coming Together Against Anti-Semitism: What Will You "Go to the Wall" For?
More than 300 residents, clergy, law enforcement, civil servants, and community dignitaries joined at cemetery of Temple Beth Shalom, which was desecrated with signs of hate – swastikas and rhetoric embraced by Nazis
Meet the 2021-2022 Eisendrath Legislative Assistants
Hate Crimes Continued to Rise in 2020: Will the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act Give Us Hope for the Future?
A Bite into Reproductive Health
The Zika virus is not only an officially-declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern
The External War and the Internal War
This week's Torah portion is called Ki Teitzei — meaning literally, "When you go out." It is a reference to violence and war. "When you take the field [literally, "When you go out"] against your enemies, and the Eternal your God delivers them into your power and you take some of them captive ... " (Deuteronomy 21:10).
This sentence is but a tiny portion of more than a thousand verses in the Tanach that deal with war. Our Holy Scriptures came into history in a world in which fighting was a normal and often necessary activity. The ancient communities of the Middle East were governed according to tribal custom and law, and each ethnic community was in a combative relationship with its neighbor. There was no United Nations in those days, no European Union designed to administer diverse people according to collective rules and laws. Some tribal federations such as the twelve tribes of Israel pooled their resources, but that was for protection rather than for advancing peaceful relations with the rest of the world. The harsh social-economic and political reality of the ancient world often triggered violent and deadly conflicts between communities and peoples, and it is rare that we read a comment such as is found in Judges 3:11: " ... and the land had peace for forty years."
Learning Lessons From and With God
In many ways, Parashat Noach is filled with as many theological problems as answers. Chief among them is why after creating the world and all living things, God destroys "all that lives under the heavens" (Genesis 6:17). The reason that God gives is the "violence" or "lawlessness" (chamas) of humankind. Yet what about such godly virtues as patience, love, and forgiveness? Apparently, God possesses less of them than one might wish. Does saving Noah, his family, and a male and female of all living species in order to ensure continued reproduction make up for God's actions? Is saving them a sign of mercy or of pragmatism?