As Israeli citizens living abroad, we may now return to exercise our right and responsibility to vote in upcoming elections. Absentee ballots aren't available to us, though, so we had to return- though the logistics require persistence and patience.

As we enjoy this year’s sweet charoset, let us cherish and express our gratitude for the essential workers, medical professionals, everyday heroes, and others who provided the sweetness that helped temper the bitters we tasted this year.

Last Passover began the urgent quest to reinvent much of Jewish life, highlighting that some of the ways we “do” Judaism needed to be updated. This year has been a powerful catalyst to shifts in how we perform our holy work.

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all schools in Israel have been closed for most of the year, leaving students stuck at home and trying to complete their studies remotely. All of them are hurting – emotionally and socially.

Purim approaches, and like every other holiday we've observed during the pandemic, it will look and be different.

This is not yet the America most of us dream of, but it is an unavoidable part of our DNA. American equality and exceptionalism are checks that are still in the mail. If we truly love what this country is capable of, we must continue to speak the hard truth to power.

We know that religious freedom is not a lesson from ancient stories, but an ongoing quest even today. While many of us are fighting antisemitism in our home countries, we are also in solidarity with the Rohingya people, who have been persecuted for decades.

Today, comedy is a national vernacular, a social and cultural force. We communicate in memes. We look to late night to process the news. Good (and even dumb) comedy challenges and connects, activates and affirms.

Jewish Disability Advocacy Month is an opportunity to participate in working toward a more just world.