Jewish Journeys
Recently, I visited Israel as part of an intergenerational group of American Reform leaders, thanks to the hard work and generosity of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and several partner organizations, including ARZENU, the WZO, and KKL. One day, we stopped at Sarona Market in Tel Aviv for a quick lunch. I found a vegetarian pasta stand and perused the menu. The person at the cash register, I presume because he noticed my kippah (yarmulke), kindly let me know the restaurant did not have a kashrut certificate (indicating the restaurant adheres to Jewish dietary... Read More
Growing up, my family was proudly, secularly Jewish. We worshipped and revered our cultural achievements, if skimping a little bit on the religious ones – our heroes were Adam Sandler, not Aaron; Larry David, not Leah; Saul Bellow, not Saul. We were Seinfeld Jews, not Solomon Jews. Sure, we got presents for Hanukkah, read the Haggadah at Passover, and broke the fast on Yom Kippur, but our Judaism was more grounded in a worldly set of values, a strong sense of our history, and a genuine pride in the artistic, literary, scientific, and political contributions of Jews all over the world.... Read More
I pleaded with the Eternal at that time, saying, “O Eternal God, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal! Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country, and the Lebanon.” -- Deuteronomy 3:23-25 Often, Black women in America must shift who they are at the door when they enter white dominant spaces that set the standards for beauty, etiquette, and overall societal norms. This week’s Torah portion, Va’et’chanan, made me... Read More
I have a story to tell you. It’s about a tiny bird. But I’ll come back to that. Tishah B’Av has been set aside as a day for the Jewish community to remember the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple two thousand years ago. Traditionally, this day is observed with fasting, prayers of lament and rituals of mourning. Two thousands years is a very long time, however, and grief abates. So if Tishah B’Av no longer compels, what’s to be done with it? Earlier this week, while I was trying to figure this out, I took my dog for a walk. Not 10 feet outside the front door, we encountered a... Read More
In the late 1980s, when same-sex marriage was just a dream, and no one asked for or volunteered their pronouns, friends and acquaintances who were Jewish lesbians told stories of family members sitting shiva when they came out. On my East Coast university’s campus, there was both a Hillel and a Lesbian and Gay Student Alliance, but not one organization spoke to the intersection of both Jewish and LGBTQ realities. Into this world of ours, someone brought the news that somewhere out west, there was a gay synagogue. The news was repeated in cadences of awe and hope. As both Jews and... Read More
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