What College Has Taught Me About the Power of Shabbat
Growing up, my family didn’t usually celebrate Shabbat at home. Only when I went away to college did Shabbat become truly meaningful.
This Tu BiShvat, May We Begin with the Trees
May each of us, at this Tu BiShvat – the New Year of the Trees – refuse to be complacent in accepting the ills and sorrows of our lives.
The Flint Water Crisis and Us
We can do better than this. We must do better than this. But it will take all of us to be brave and to speak up.
Do You Have to Believe in God to Be a Jew?
When people tell me that they don’t believe in God, I understand completely. I don’t believe in the God of the Bible or of the medieval rabbis either.
How the Supermarket Reminds Me Tu BiShvat is Coming
In my past life as a cantor in Los Angeles, I was always facilitating the concept of “Jewish time” for others. Here in Jerusalem, it just sort of happens on its own.
Let My People Stay: Engaging in Civil Disobedience to Demand a Clean Dream Act
This blog post is adapted from remarks as prepared for delivery ahead of the January 17, 2018 Jewish Action for the Dream Act, in which 85 rabbis and other Jewish leaders and activists were arrested while singing 'Olam Chesed Yibaneh' and demanding a clean Dream Act. The Religio
Let My People Stay: Engaging in Civil Disobedience to Demand a Clean Dream Act
There is no time to waste. Every day that passes, about 122 more Dreamers lose their status and protection.
Roots and Branches of the New Year of the Trees
In college, being outdoors and celebrating the natural world was an important part of my spirituality, so I sought out hints that other Jews felt the same way.
Trees and Hope: A Tu BiShvat Reflection
The wind and the smell of smoke woke us. We stumbled out of bed, joining neighbors in the cul-de-sac to stare at the red glow lighting up the hills behind our houses.
How Golda Meir Helped Make the State of Israel Possible
In January 1948, Golda Meir gave a speech in Chicago that, as David Ben-Gurion later wrote, “got the money which made the Jewish state possible.”