Now Is the Time to Step Forward to Protect Reproductive Rights
With the 44th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision approaching, let’s turn to a page in history that led to legal abortion.
Why Firstborns Are Such a Big Deal in the Torah
The research abounds: birth order has an impact on development. The Internet teems with articles on expected personality traits for firstborn and later-born children and, in a rare moment of consensus, experts agree that birth order matters.1 It influences a child’s need for attention, interest in interacting with adults versus peers, reactions to challenge and pressure, and relationship with parents. As the mother of two young sons (and a firstborn myself), I see evidence of this research daily and often wonder how birth order will affect my children’s lives.
Birth order matters in Parashat Bo, too. Bo begins with the final four plagues, culminating in that infamous, horrifying last plague: makat b’chorot, the killing of the firstborn. God takes this concept to its extreme, condemning every single firstborn — whether human or animal — to perish. The Israelite firstborns were saved by placing lambs’ blood on their doors.
Our Choice: Roe v. Wade at 44
Sunday marked 44 years since the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, recognizing that the constitutional rights to privacy and liberty protect a woman’s right to choose whether to have an abortion.
Prop 1: Gun Violence Prevention on the Ballot in Nevada
After a long election cycle, it is so important to take stock of – and build on – the victories we’ve had this November.
At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, a Virtual Encounter with a Syrian Refugee
Omar is in his late 20s. He's participating in an exhibition at the museum, "Genocide: The Threat Continues," and we're conversing, face to face, via video chat. I'm in D.C. and he's at the cafe in Germany's capital.
North Carolina's HB2 Challenges Us to See Equality as a Long Game
Joseph’s story is a reminder that justice does come. For the transgender community, and the LGBT community at large, each step forward is met with significant barriers, but that doesn’t mean the fight is any less vital.
Radical Inclusion at Sinai
We have arrived. All of the stories; all the of the generations between Adam and Eve, and the matriarchs and patriarchs; and 400 years of slavery in Egypt now culminate in the Israelites’ triumphant redemption. They all lead to this singular moment: the Revelation at Sinai. In Parashat Yitro, Moses guides the Israelite people to Mt. Sinai where they encounter God, experiencing all the drama and glory of Revelation.
Biblical commentators consistently note that one of the exceptional aspects of the Revelation at Sinai is that it is a communal revelation. Every previous moment of revelation in the Torah consists of God speaking privately to an individual or two — Noah, Abraham, Moses, and so on. Private revelation is the most common in other religions as well: an individual experiences God and then shares that revelation more broadly.
An Inspiring New Facebook Group Brings Live Music to Thousands
Two Jewish musicians recently launched Harmony in Unison, a new Facebook group that offers live original music, five nights a week, performed on a virtual stage for an audience of 8,500 Facebook users – and growing.
A Recommitment to Our Enduring Values on this Momentous Day
Today is a momentous day. Whichever candidate we voted for in the election, today marks the beginning of a new period in our shared history.