Being Different Is What Being Human Is All About
As we welcome guests this Sukkot, the sole label we should place on each other is an inclusive one: we are individuals with diverse needs.
A Sukkah of Peace
I have had the pleasure of writing about some very unique holiday experiences that took place in my home when I was growing up.
No One Should Live in a Sukkah Year-Round
As we celebrate Sukkot—when we contemplate fragility, shelter, and resilience—let us remember the people of Haiti, who have endured unimaginable destruction from Hurricane Matthew.
Family and Medical Leave Denied to Same-Sex Couples in Non-Marriage Equality States
Four More Passover Questions for the Whole Family
Is Seeing the Same as Believing?
For most of our congregations, the procession of Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah will begin with a textual reminder that Israel "knows" that Adonai is God.
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)
What a House Is
The home-repair season is drawing to a close in my part of the country, and I still have not fixed my roof. That omission weighs on me. I want to protect my household and my house; I think each of us does. So we build our roofs and our walls and try to live safely. But Rav Kook is right: That is not enough. Destruction can still come, whether by flood or by poverty or by airplane. Sukkot reminds us of the vulnerability with which we live.
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.