What the New “Avengers” Movie Taught Me About Self-Worth The film got me thinking about how Judaism has affected my own “story arc,” particularly my…
Posts published in “Chavurah”
The Hostage Crisis in Iran and My Humanitarian Journey There Several months after the Iran hostage crisis began in 1979, I participated with other clergy…
See Something, Say Something: Having the Courage to Name Implicit Biases As a rabbi, who also happens to be a woman, I am living through…
How and Why I’m So Committed to Teaching My Kids to Value Diversity Now that I’m a parent, teaching my children about racism, classism, and…
How to Move World Jewry from Protests to Transformation An equal partnership between Diaspora and Israeli Jews is vital for a Jewish, democratic state. Creating…
A Letter to the Rabbi Who Jump-Started My Jewish Journey You probably knew back then that I wasn’t close to being ready to fully accept…
We Must Not Willfully Hide from a Truth In 2018, the Knesset adopted the “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” nearly…
Why It’s Imperative for Us To Vote On February 13, 2018, I turned 18. For the first time in my life, I had the right…
Sukkot, Diversity, and Unity: How Each of Us Is Like the Four Species While all Jewish holidays serve as great opportunities to practice audacious hospitality,…
We Are More Than Our Diagnoses: Speaking About Mental Illness with Compassion and Respect A psychiatric disease is not someone’s fault nor is a diagnosis…
Domestic Violence Awareness Month is Ending – but VAWA Has Yet to Be Renewed Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in April.…
How a New Ceremony Changed My View of Yom HaShoah Yom HaShoah is typically a somber time to reflect, and for me personally, to be angry…
Jerusalem: A City United, A City Divided There is the Jerusalem on high and the Jerusalem of below. The Jerusalem of Old and of New.…
5 Jewish Facts About the New Han Solo ‘Star Wars’ Movie Learn all the Jewish tidbits associated with the newest “Star Wars” movie, “Solo: A…
How to Increase the Divine Presence in the World On a recent Shabbat morning in Israel, a group of high school students experienced something extraordinary…
How to Create Synagogues That Welcome Our Truest, Most Authentic Selves Learn how individuals and communities can celebrate people who are their most authentic, truest…
Why Did You Deceive Me, Distant Lights? Visiting Kuchinate, I experienced overwhelming kindness from the women, Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers who had escaped horrible…
What’s Love Got to Do with Jewish Tradition? Tu B’Av – a minor Jewish holiday often understood to be the Jewish equivalent to Valentine’s Day…
Every Table Tells a Story What we do and say at the kitchen table, how we behave, and how we put down or lift up…
A Brief History of the Kol Nidrei Prayer For most North American Jews, the haunting melody of Kol Nidrei surely is the piece of liturgy…