Galilee Diary: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke
…So I know the sea was not split in vain Deserts not crossed in vain – If at the end of the story stand Daddy and the kid Looking forward and knowing their turn will come. -from "The Kid of the Haggadah" by Nathan Alterman (trans. Arthur Waskow and Judy Spelman)
The Passover Order
I did not grow up in a kosher home. In fact, I refer to the home in which I was raised as “glatt treiff.” My becoming a bar mitzvah in 1973 coincided with my mother’s personal liberation.
My Musical Haggadah: Israeli Music Retells the Story of Our Exodus
Conservation from Farm to Fork
Last Sunday marked the 42nd annual Earth Day, a celebration of our natural world and recognition of the important role humans play in protecting it by living within our means.
Social Media is No Place for the Real Work of Repentance
I have a hard time believing that, however good the intentions may be, typing "Please forgive me if I hurt you" into our browsers can create change.
Go Ahead, Post Your Yom Kippur Apologies on Facebook
If posting an apology online serves as a starting point for follow-up conversations, I say go for it. How could that ever be a bad thing?
For the Sin of Abandoning My People
I vowed that if Israel survived, I would never again abandon my people, never again be indifferent to Israel’s fate.
Kol Nidre: All Vows and One Haunting Melody
Perhaps the most familiar melody we hear each High Holiday season is Kol Nidre – the introductory prayer recited before sundown on the eve of Yom Kippur.
When Yom Kippur Coincides with National Coming Out Day
As we begin the year 5777, let us commit to putting greater inclusion, equality, and acceptance of all God’s children front and center.
My Alphabet of Failings: A New Ashamnu
Each year on Yom Kippur, I join my congregation is reciting the Ashamnu, an alphabetic acrostic of sins for which we repent. And each year, it occurs to me that most of the sins named in the Ashamnu don’t hit me in the heart I’m beating – and so, I wrote my own version of the prayer.