Giving Thanks for #GivingTuesday
Thanksgiving used to be a day unto itself; now we have a whole Thanksgiving season! Americans' shopping habits brought us catchily-named, add-on "holidays" like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.
Unplugging to Connect to the Outside World, Jewishly and Otherwise
There’s an unavoidable irony inherent in tabling on a college campus for the National Day of Unplugging: namely, the majority of students who ignore me as they pass me by with headphones in their ears and glowing smartphones before their eyes.
To This Moment: A Poem about Joy
On the day before Purim, in the Hebrew month of Adar, Jewish musician Neshama Carlebach posted the following on Facebook:
Planting a Seed
By Joshua Weinberg
“And when you come into the Land, and have planted all manner of food bearing trees… (Lev. 19:23) The Holy one Blessed be he said to the people Israel: Even though you have found [the land] full of plenty, you shall not say: We shall sit and not plant, rather proceed with caution in your planting… For as you have entered and found the fruits of others’ labor, you so shall plant for your children. (Midrash Tanhuma)
If you’re like me, then you may remember that pivotal moment of Jewish education when you received your very own Jewish National Fund (JNF) certificate for a tree planted in Israel. Whether it was for a birth, birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, or in memory of a loved one, a tree was planted in Israel to mark the occasion. The message was clear: with every passing milestone we want to connect Jews to the Land of Israel and to the Zionist enterprise. All of us who were the fortunate recipients of such trees knew in the recesses of our mind that somewhere in that strip of land, in some forest, was our tree, our little piece of Israel. As the certificates read, the JNF wished us the following: “We wish you the fortune of seeing it grow with much pleasure and ease.”
Green Eggs and Hamantaschen: Creative Purim Gift Bags Bring a Community Together
Purim at Or Chadash, in Flemington, N.J., includes many of the usual traditions: putting on a Purim spiel (play), using boxes of pasta as gragers, baking hamantaschen with our students, reading the Megillah, and hosting a spectacular carnival that features Esther’s Salon, Mordecai’s March Madness, a photo booth, and plenty of prizes and food.
Celebrate Purim with the Green Adar Challenge: Eco-Mishloach Manot!
Unmasking the Use of the Death Penalty
Purim as a Call to Action to End Economic Inequality
For Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals, Gender Expression isn’t a Purim Costume
On Purim, Exploring the Intersections of Reproductive Justice and Criminal Justice
On Purim, we celebrate a time of transition for the Jews, from “grief to joy and from mourning to a festive day—to make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (Megillat Esther 9).