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Preparing for the Days of Awe
During the year I spent studying in Jerusalem as a rabbinic student, it was impossible to escape the upcoming High Holy Days.
Ghetto: A Poem
the path that we now follow / is the Exodus our ancestors never chose / flooding with pain they died not to swallow / the past spills into the river and flows
The Bitter and the Sweet: Observing Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut This Year
We at the URJ are working with you, our congregations, to instill a love of Israel, make it central to the identity of Reform Jews, and advance efforts toward ensuring that it is a nation of equality, tolerance, pluralism, and justice.
America Needs a Just and Equitable Immigration Policy: If Not Now, When?
It is difficult to imagine anyone not moved by the scenes of children seeking asylum at our southern border.
On Yom HaShoah, Hear the Message of the Saved Remnant
My mother’s answer to hate is love. When I asked her what she wishes for herself and for the world, she said, “For myself good health, so I can be good to others. For the world, peace not war. No bad person wins in the end. What did Hitler achieve?”
How do Reform congregations commemorate Kristallnacht?
Kristallnacht, which literally means, “the night of broken glass,” occurred on the night of November 9, 1938, and marks the beginning of the Holocaust. On Kristallnacht, Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses were destroyed by the Nazis and the streets in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe were covered with glass from the shattered windows of synagogues, Jewish homes, and businesses.
Lessons in the Mirror
Late in the evening of September 28, 2009, following very introspective and rewarding Yom Kippur services at Congregation Ohabai Shalom in Nashville, I took a hot shower and then stood, wrapped in a towel, in front of the bathroom mirror. As I brushed my teeth, I reflected on my experience of this most prayerful of days, when Jews throughout the world come to grips with their mistakes and seek atonement.
Wrestling with Forgiveness
It is very hard to say you are sorry – and even harder to really mean it. It is not any easier to truly forgive.
Sounds of Kol Nidrei
The melody that stirs the heart of Ashkenazic Jews is of unknown origin, but is part of a body of music known as "MiSinai melodies" that emerged in Germany between the 11th and 15th centuries.