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Israel is more than what makes the headlines. It is also filled with people who will reach across the divide and give you the opportunity to be in community together.
I call Israel the land of a thousand emotions because, regardless of the day, the country always evokes a kaleidoscope of feelings in me.
We count the Omer every night...
To bake, you need sugar, butter, and flour, a little faith, a lot of hope, and some vision, too. It helps if you’ve also got the Torah of generations that preceded you.
Learn about Rabbi Reuven Greenvald, the Union for Reform Judaism’s director of Israel engagement, and what he brings to the table when it comes to this critical work.
Israelis recently elected an assortment of representatives to parliament, but a coalition could not be formed, so the country will hold new elections in September.
In the 1940s, two Israeli pioneers created a new Jewish holiday specifically for agricultural settlers who were bringing the Jewish people back to working the land.
In a forthcoming book, two rabbis address the aspirational ethical treatment of all the inhabitants of the land of Israel as detailed in its Declaration of Independence.
David Broza, singer-songwriter, peace activist, and Israel’s native son, has been charming audiences worldwide with his folk and rock music for more than four decades.
Every June, we mark World Refugee Day. Today refugees are a part of the global conversation and the human experience in almost every country in the world.
Weeks after I prayed at the Western Wall at the start of the new Hebrew month of Adar II, I still struggle to find meaning in the concept of Jewish peoplehood.
As a recent volunteer in Israel, I tutored students in English, both middle school students in south Tel Aviv and nursing-field students at a youth center in Bat Yam.
Young American Jewish Zionists have something to say to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and we’re doing our best to make sure our voices are heard.
I recently explored some sites in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (parliament) building. A friend works there, and I was excited to learn from her on a guided tour.
Growing up, Israel was a far-away, exotic land that demanded only monetary donations and tree plantings. Recently, I seized a chance to see the country for myself.
Although Israel is filled with many religious people, most supermarket visits don’t come with a side of checkout-line-blessings like the ones I witnessed recently.
On Shabbat a group from Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the only Israeli non-profit allowed to enter Gaza, goes to the West Bank to offer a mobile medical clinic.
In a recent New York Times op-ed, Michelle Alexander simplified the endlessly complicated Israeli Palestinian conflict – the same mistake right-wing voices make.
Six years ago, my husband and I (and our cat) made aliyah, moving from Los Angeles, where we had lived and worked for 25 years, to begin creating new lives in Jerusalem.
On the Shabbat before Purim, many congregations will read Parshat Zachor (Deuteronomy 25:17 - 20). In the three short verses of this parshah, we are commanded not once but twice to...
Israeli poet Adi Keissar’s description of the world – the messed-up world – rings true in her own country and in the world at large.
Despite a nasty response as the Reform community celebrated the ordination of the 100th Israeli Reform rabbi at the Kotel, we persisted, dancing with our Torah scrolls.
A song – and its sentiment of humility and gratitude – wove its way through a recent trip with my classmates to the Negev desert here in Israel.
I love the sounds of Jerusalem. The voices, noises, and music all tell stories that are unparalleled in the Jewish world – and perhaps in the world at large.
In the world there are a number of beautiful things:
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Growing up in an active Jewish community in America, I learned about Lag BaOmer as “a bonfire holiday.” As a typical Hebrew school kid, my reaction was “Great! Who doesn’t love s’mores?!”
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“Ben Yehuda” is more than the popular central street in Jerusalem. It honors Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the man who, nearly single-handedly revived the Hebrew language.
Lag BaOmer was completely off our radar when we lived in the United States. We never had any real exposure to it until we made Aliyah, and now its approach is easily recognizable by kids...
When Usumain arrived in Israel after years of searching for a safe place to call home, he was desperately in need of a country that would open its arms to him.
For secular kibbutzniks, the Four Questions let them express ideas about living on a collective, challenges of Zionist settlement, and the state of Jewish life worldwide.
It’s election season in Israel, a country whose vibrant democracy is different than that found in either the U.S. or Canada. Let’s explore some of these differences.
As the “Cabaret” cast assembled for rehearsal, we understood that now, more than ever, our production reflected part of our own milieu in which anti-Semitism is real.
The desert is not as desolate as it seems.
Over 20 years ago, shortly after we arrived in the Galilee and I got involved in organizing encounters for visiting Jewish groups with the local Arab population, a friend told me about the newly...
In a forthcoming book, Rabbi Eric Yoffie and Dr. Ruth Gavison parsed what is at the heart of Israel’s Declaration of Independence’s aspirations, vision, and principles.
It was May 13, 1948 and the new Jewish State was to be declared the following afternoon, but David Ben Gurion didn’t yet have a Declaration of Independence.
Recently, a bully breached the fence surrounding Congregation Natan Ya, a Progressive synagogue in Israel, and stuck a water hose through a window to flood the sanctuary.
What makes this holiday a favorite among secular Israelis, while it is almost forgotten by Jewish kids in the Diaspora?
It is February so let’s talk about love.
What is love? How do you define a relationship? Do you call her nicknames like “The Homeland” or “Zion” or maybe even “ha’aretz (the land)?”
Last week, Israelis re-elected Benjamin Netanyahu to an unprecedented fifth term as prime minister. What does his re-election mean for Reform Jews?
In 2018, the Knesset adopted the “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” nearly ignoring one-fifth of the country’s citizens – Arab-Palestinians.
In Israel, “separate but equal” is used to justify limiting women's access to, and participation in, the public sphere. Often, such separation is tragic, painful, and illegal.
As the sorrow and mourning of Yom HaZikaron give way to Yom HaAtzmaut’s jubilation and pride, we understand that we cannot have one without the other.
We read in Pirkei Avot, “Be among the disciples of Aaron – seek peace and pursue it.” One of our highest aspirations as Jews is to establish peace within our homes, within our communities, and in...
In Israel's 70th year, few, especially in the progressive camp, are expecting a jubilee-type liberation – but we must redouble our efforts to promote a just Israel.
Driving across the Jezreel Valley these days, you can't miss the biblical echoes of the landscape. On Pesach we are to eat only cereal products made from the last year's harvest, baked with no...
As a queer rabbinical student, I felt that recent comments by an Orthodox rabbi were inaccurate at best and, at worst, possible incitement to hatred or violence against LGBTQ+ Jews.
Here are seven ways North American Jews can show support and love for Israel – even if they cannot vote in Israeli elections.
The Prayer for the State of Israel expresses two main wishes: the care for its physical well-being and for its souls’ well-being. There are additional messages implicit in the prayer that I find...
Monday was Memorial Day for the fallen – in the Israeli army, in the pre-state undergrounds, and in terrorist attacks. It is the day before Yom Ha’atzma’ut (to emphasize the connection), and is...
