Yearning to Breathe Free…
This weekend, hundreds of synagogues across North America and around the world will mark National Refugee Shabbat. The event is organized by HIAS, the storied organization founded more than a century ago and responsible for the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees. Today, HIAS is on the front line of organizations advocating for […]
When Religion Died: A Fable
I’ve never been a religion pusher. People are sometimes surprised by this. After all, I am a rabbi and people assume that pushing religion is my job. They figure: drug dealers push drugs; dentists push electric toothbrushes; shouldn’t rabbis push religion? Delivered at Kol Nidre at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD, Sept. 24, 2023. […]
Anti-Semitism: Not Just About Us
One of my first jobs in the Jewish community was as the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Washington D.C. I started the job in 1984 (an eerie year, for sure, if you are a fan of George Orwell). The top priorities of the community relations field at that time were: the […]