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Reflecting on our Jewish Identities, Safety, and Belonging

Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas
As a Jew, do you feel welcomed and safe to express your authentic self in all aspects of your life? As an educator, I've championed identity safe classrooms, based on research that indicates when students’ identities are affirmed, they perform better in school.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a Human Right

Yolanda Savage-Narva
As we prepare to commemorate Juneteenth this year, we must pause and realize that we must constantly work to maintain our freedoms and liberties. If not for us, then in service to our descendants and their descendants.

Extraordinary Ordinary Heroes

Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen
Simcha Blass, Helen Suzman, Eddie Jacobson, and Abby Stein all contributed to our world in different ways. Yet, they shared traits - commitment, integrity, resolve and an inner sense that they could make a difference.

Women of Valor: Revisiting Biblical Role Models

Michele Braun
Focusing this contemporary lens on Deborah and Yael reveals a story of women acting so outside of expected norms that I stand in awe and am compelled to magnify their adventures for our own times.

Breathe Bravely

Tani Prell
This reflection on the theme of bravery explores the ways that the author's mixedness, Jewishness, and range of emotions are tied to what it means to her to be brave.

Supporting Colleagues with Disabilities

Stephanie Gertz
Each February, we observe Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month. Up to 25% of people live with a disability, which means many of your colleagues have visible or invisible disabilities.

Crypto-Foods: the Triumph of Survival

Crystal Hill
During the Spanish Inquisition, there were plenty of ways that one could be identified as a Jew. One way people would identify their neighbors as Jews was observing whether they would eat non-kosher food that was popular with the Christian population such as pork, sausage, or fish without scales.