Election Days are Jewish Holidays While Jews have not always been afforded the right to vote, voting encompasses several Jewish values. 8/15/2018 Rabbi Joel Mosbacher…
Posts published in “Chavurah”
How I Learned to Blow the Shofar Recently, I dusted off my shofar and have been brushing up on my shofar-blowing skills to prepare for…
The Gift of Suffering In February 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now that my treatment is over, I search for the meaning in…
Wonder of Wonders: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s (People’s Stage) Yiddish version of Fiddler on the Roof is now…
My Journey to Judaism and to Jewish Art As a gay kid growing up in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood of Boston, I felt alienated and…
Our Spiritual Fate Depends on Progress Toward Racial Justice This essay about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. written a year after the civil rights leader…
In Israel, Finding Value in the Voices of the “Other” I love the sounds of Jerusalem. The voices, noises, and music all tell stories that…
My ADHD Doesn’t Define Me – but It Does Drive Me Jewish wisdom says every human being is deserving of dignity and respect – and that…
Mrs. Maisel Offers Comedy, Resilience, and Hope in a World That Needs It Midge Maisel’s defining characteristic – and her appeal – is her refusal…
An Old Jewish Story, a Modern Elephant Sanctuary, and a Lifelong Lesson Weeks after my return from Elephant Nature Park, I still hold the memory…
What God Is and What God Is Not People often ask me: How could a good God allow the Holocaust to happen? The best answer…
4 Ways a Semester in Israel Prepared My Daughter for Life URJ Heller High integrates academic, social, and emotional learning, powerfully transforming teens’ Jewish identities.…
The Language of LGBTQ Pride in Israel In Israel, not only do traditional religious norms create challenges to LGBTQ rights, but so does Hebrew –…
The Things Other People Say to Small-Town Jews I have many friends in town, but most are not temple members. They’re unaffiliated Jews, church-goers, or,…
Why We Are Bearing Witness at the Border I’m here in El Paso this weekend because I worship a God who is impatient with injustice,…
3 Things You Can Do Now to End Immigrant Detention We must continue to express moral outrage, hold our government accountable, and insist that immigrants…
Raising a Prophetic Voice for Immigrant Justice As Reform Jews, we have a unique obligation to care for the immigrant because we, too, were immigrants.…
High Holiday Lessons from ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Recuperating from a broken ankle this summer, I had time to catch up on my binge…
Buon Anno, Shanah Tovah, Happy New Year: My Rosh HaShanah in Milan Although my husband, Don, and I have lived in Jerusalem for six years,…
Kol Nidrei: A Poem I heard Kol Nidrei on a violin tonight. They should take all legal documents and set them to music. All vows…