What Weddings Can Teach Us About Community
Mishpachah (family). K’dushah (holiness). Ahavah (love).
25 Years of Pride: My Journey as a Gay Reform Jew
As the site of this year’s 25th Annual Long Island Gay Pride Parade and Festival, Huntington, Long Island, was a bright, sunny, and joyful place on Saturday June 13th.
A Waiting Psalm
In these days awaiting decisions on Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act from the Supreme Court, I share this psalm I've written as we wait.
The Eternal Conversation: An Interview with Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Alfredo Borodowski: Rick, you are going to share your views of God with a lot of Jews. Are you concerned, maybe nervous?
A Sacred Journey: The Biographical Theology of Passover
In the weeks leading up to Passover, I think about the imperative embedded in the Hagaddah: B'chol dor vador chiav adam lirot et atzmo k'ilu hu yatza mi-mitzrayim, "In each and every generation, a person is obligated to see oneself as if he or she exited from Egypt." I share a personal s
Motivated and Ready to Work: Mechina Prepares NFTY’s Leaders for the Year Ahead
The past several months have been very profound; the Charleston Church shooting, the attack on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on the heels of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the Pope’s encyclical on climate change, the ruling by the Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states, just to name a few. Our children’s world is shaped by a mix of crisis and opportunity. After attending NFTY’s Mechina, the four-day leadership training event for regional leaders held at URJ Kutz Camp, I remain hopeful. I’m hopeful because I got to meet, study and pray with amazing teens who are ready and willing to wrestle with the important issues of our time and the Reform Movement has what to offer to help them with that important task.
Carrying On the Social Justice Torch for Voting Rights
51 years ago, on June 21, 1964, civil rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner were abducted in Neshoba County, Mississippi and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner had been in Mississippi preparing and registering African Americans to vote as part of Freedom Summer. The three men were executed on the side of a dark road in Mississippi, and it took 44 days for their bodies to be found. Their deaths fueled support of the civil rights movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an Act that we are trying to strengthen and support again today.
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Reflections on Pride Month
This month, we celebrate LGBT Pride, which occurs every year in June. This month is my fifth year celebrating Pride Month as an out gay man, and this year I have a lot to be proud of.