Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein made aliyahaliyahעֲלִיָּה"Going up." The honor of being called to recite the blessings before and after the Torah reading. Also refers to immigration to Israel, to "make aliyah" to Israel; plural: aliyot. Lit. "Ascent." to Moshav Shorashim in the Galilee in 1990. For 20 years, he directed a nonprofit promoting pluralism and Jewish-Arab cooperation, and from 2009-2015 he served as head of the Israeli Rabbinical Program at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. His book on the struggle to define a Jewish state, Contested Utopia: Jewish Dreams and Israeli Realities, has just been published by the Jewish Publication Society. Rabbi Rosenstein's first visit to Israel was a high school student in the first cohort of URJ Heller High, formerly NFTY-EIE, in 1962.

Galilee Diary: The only thing we have to fear...

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

And you, my servant Jacob, do not fear; and Israel, don't be afraid; for I will redeem you from afar and bring your offspring from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return and live in peace and tranquility with none to make him afraid.
-Jeremiah 46

Galilee Diary: Seasons greetings

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me; for you will serve their gods - and it will prove a snare to you.
-Exodus 23:32-33

For years, the mixed neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas

Galilee Diary: The sound of silence

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

...There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind - an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake - fire; but the Lord was not

Galilee Diary: Coming of Age

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

How can a young man keep his way pure? By holding to Your word. I have turned to You with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commandments.
-Psalm 119:9-10

Recently a new Reform rabbi in a nearby town asked me if he could put up a poster at

Galilee Diary: Tunnel vision

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

The arid desert shall be glad, the wilderness shall rejoice and shall blossom like a rose. It shall blossom abundantly; it shall also exult and shout. It shall receive the glory of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon... And a highway shall appear there

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