Hanukkah Reconsidered: A Split in the Jewish Soul
I grew up loving this holiday – until I learned the dark side and felt like a kid discovering that there’s no Santa Claus. It turns out Hanukkah is, in part, a tale of Jew vs. Jew.
Reclaiming the Public Square with Hanukkah Lights
According to Rashi, we light Hanukkah candles to “publicize the miracle.” What exactly is the miracle we’re publicizing – and what’s the best way for us to do so today?
The Saga of the Citron
URJ Receives $5 Million Gift From Heller Family To Enhance Transformational NFTY-EIE High School in Israel Program
New York, NY, October 19, 2016 – The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) announced today that the Heller family of Scotch Plains, NJ, has made an endowment gift of $5 million to fund the NFTY-EIE High School in Israel Program, which is being renamed URJ Heller High: Isaac and Helaine Heller EIE High School in Israel. This is the largest gift in EIE history, and the URJ’s largest non-capital gift.
Teaching Children about Asking Forgiveness (Slicha)
We're a Multiracial Jewish Family; We Don't Have the Answers, but Here’s a Place to Start
Including Jews of Color or multiracial families for the point of “checking it off the list” needs to bite the dust. Multiracial families do not want to be ignored, but neither do they want to be seen as a way to achieve some sort of board directive
We Need to Be Reminded of Life on the Edge
As we celebrate Sukkot this year, our world is experiencing a fierce progression of refugees and migrants who are wandering and homeless, nationless, and destitute, encased in fear and uncertainty, fleeing the ills of civil war, natural disaster, poverty, and political insurrection. Indeed, for massive numbers of people in our world, wandering and the impermanence of temporary shelter are all they have.