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# Rabbi Sid Schwarz

Rabbi, social entrepreneur, non-profit CEO, author

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.rabbisid.org/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://www.rabbisid.org/blog/)
- [Korach and Jewish Lessons on Leadership](https://www.rabbisid.org/korach-and-jewish-lessons-on-leadership/) - One of the more dramatic stories in the Bible occurs in Numbers, chapter 16, when Korach, a Levite, along with two members of the tribe of Reuben, Datan and Abiram, foment a rebellion against Moses and Aaron as the Israelites are journeying through the desert on their way to the Land of Israel. The challenge
- [Judaism, Gender, and the Seeds of Prejudice](https://www.rabbisid.org/give-me-your-tired-2/) - This year, I read the opening passages of the Torah portion of Tazria (Leviticus Ch. 12) with a different lens than I have in the past. I’ve long believed that the meaning of any Biblical passage lies in the realm between the words in the text and the life experience of the person reading the
- [“Give me Your Tired, Your Poor…”](https://www.rabbisid.org/give-me-your-tired/) - “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.“Keep, ancient lands, your
- [Exodus and the Legacy of MLK](https://www.rabbisid.org/exodux_and_the-legacy_of_mlk/) - How fitting it is that, in our annual cycle of Torah reading, some part of the Exodus narrative always coincides with the celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Some call the Exodus story the “master narrative” of the Jewish people because it tells the story of m’avdut l’herut-how a people can
- [One Day…](https://www.rabbisid.org/one-day/) - This is a sermon about not giving in to despair. I know: You can’t imagine how I came up with this as a topic for my annual, Kol Nidre sermon. Here is a Jewish “despair” joke. A Jew accidently falls into a deep hole and can’t climb out. A philosopher walks by and says, “My
- [Jewish Communities of Meaning: An Emerging Trend](https://www.rabbisid.org/jewish-communities-of-meaning-an-emerging-trend/) - I have spent a considerable amount of time over the past 20 years in the synagogue transformation space. I currently direct CLI, a two-year fellowship for rabbis on visionary thinking and change management. On our website, we curate a monthly synagogue innovation blog which includes some truly transformational ideas that are re-imagining synagogues for the
- [World Jewry, Zionism and the State of Israel](https://www.rabbisid.org/world-jewry-zionism-and-the-state-of-israel/) - The relationship between world Jewry, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel has never been simple and it has a long history. In 1897, Ahad Ha-Am (aka, Asher Ginzberg) published an essay in Ha-Shiloah, the Hebrew monthly he edited from Odessa, entitled, “The Jewish State and the Jewish Problem”. In the essay, Ginzberg argued
- [Listening for Angels](https://www.rabbisid.org/listening-for-angels/) - Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about angels. That may sound surprising coming from a Reconstructionist rabbi. After all, I have said many times from this bima that I do not believe in a supernatural God as described in the Bible—a God who can suspend the laws of nature, who is all-knowing, all powerful and ever-present. It
- [Tyranny, Democracy and the Jewish Mandate](https://www.rabbisid.org/tyranny-democracy-and-the-jewish-mandate/) - When Yale historian, Timothy Snyder, published On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century soon after Donald Trump assumed the U.S. Presidency in 2017, there were some who thought that this was yet another example of the political left overreacting to the election of a Republican president. Snyder’s less than subtle parallels between the rise
- [Doubling Down on Jewish Innovation](https://www.rabbisid.org/doubling-down-on-jewish-innovation/) - Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network emerged from the publication of Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future in 2013. The lead essay in the book argued that, while legacy Jewish organizations are on the decline and, it seems, American Jewish life is deteriorating, there is a countervailing process on the Jewish landscape of
- [Israel Post 10/7: Learning Humility](https://www.rabbisid.org/learning-humility/) - I always learn the most from Israeli cabbies. The views they share are raw, unvarnished. On most of my organized visits to Israel I hear from all kinds of experts — academics, journalists, heads of NGOs, members of Knesset, etc. — but what stays with me for months after each trip are what I hear
- [Pour out your Wrath on the Others (who are your enemy)/<em>Shfoch hamatcha al haGoyim</em>](https://www.rabbisid.org/pour-out-your-wrath/) - This year, we need to set a higher bar for the wise child. It is not enough to celebrate this child because s/he dutifully participates in the Seder ritual, unlike her siblings. I am thinking of the line in the Haggadah that instructs us to pour out our wrath on the “others”, who are our
- [Israel: Is “Purification” Possible?](https://www.rabbisid.org/is-purification-possible/) - I just returned from my first, post 10/7 trip to Israel. A widely held view in Israel, that I heard expressed in a variety of different ways is: everything has to be re-thought. Included on that list are: the ability of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to keep Israelis safe; the belief in the Israeli
- [Yearning to Breathe Free…](https://www.rabbisid.org/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](https://www.rabbisid.org/when_religion_died/) - 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.
- [The Work of Redemption](https://www.rabbisid.org/work_of_redemption/)
- [Anti-Semitism: Not Just About Us](https://www.rabbisid.org/anti_semitism/)
- [How a People Survives](https://www.rabbisid.org/how-a-people-survives/) - When I get asked on how/why I chose to become a rabbi, I always cite a formative experience that I had in the summer between my junior and senior year in high school. I participated in a program sponsored by USY, the Conservative Movement’s youth movement, called Eastern European Pilgrimage. I went in the summer
- [Sukkot: The Power of Cooperation](https://www.rabbisid.org/sukkoth/) - Jews ascribe a lot of value to meritocracy and competence, sometimes, obsessively. It might be for that reason that I so look forward to Sukkot. It gives me a chance to revel in my incompetence. I built my first sukkah when our three children were young. It would not have happened without the help of
- [The Torah of Captain Kirk](https://www.rabbisid.org/torah_of_captain_kirk/) - I’ve never crowd-sourced a High Holyday sermon. In fact, one of my quirks is that I like to keep my High Holyday sermons pretty close to my vest. But I made a slight exception this summer. Here is what happened. An idea took root in my head that seemed like an ideal topic for a
- [Democracy at Risk: A Jewish View](https://www.rabbisid.org/democracy-at-risk-a-jewish-view/) - To me, the wisdom that a Biblical text can impart always resides between the words in the scroll and the life and times of the reader. For that reason, I was struck this week by the juxtaposition of Parshat Bo, which sets the stage for the story of the Exodus from Egypt, the master-story of
- [Should a Rabbi Take Communion?](https://www.rabbisid.org/should-a-rabbi-take-communion/) - When I was growing up, the onset of holiday season brought endless conversations and opinions about the significance of Jews having Christmas Trees. Frankly, the topic never much interested me. I am a firm believer that if we make Judaism alive, joyous and relevant, we will get more than our share of Jews—as well as
- [Calling out Bigotry, Right and Left](https://www.rabbisid.org/calling-out-bigotry-right-and-left/) - Much "ink" has been spilled in recent years over the dangers posed to both Jewish and American values by a particularly ugly version of the American political right wing. But the right wing has not cornered the market on intolerance and bigotry. This article appeared in the Times of Israel on October 22, 2021. Evidence the position
- [Eleh Toldot: These are the Generations](https://www.rabbisid.org/eleh-toldot-these-are-the-generations/) - I like funerals. Don’t get me wrong. I know that funerals represent loss. I feel deep empathy for the mourners. And death can also be tragic, especially when disease or tragedy cuts short a life precipitously. But even though the loss of a loved one leaves an emotional hole in one’s soul that may never
- [When "Work" Becomes Unhealthy](https://www.rabbisid.org/when-work-becomes-unhealthy/) - The decision made by Simon Biles, America’s premier gymnast, not to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in most of the events that she trained for, set off a firestorm of commentary. We are a country that lionizes our athletes. The better the athlete is, the greater the pressure exerted on them to compete and to
- [Thoughts on the "Wilderness"](https://www.rabbisid.org/thoughts-on-the-wilderness/) - This week we begin reading the fourth book of the Torah, Bemidbar, “in the wilderness”. I’d like to reflect a bit on the theme of wilderness and what it might mean to us today. I’d like to drash it, literally, play with the meaning of the word “wilderness”, in three ways. This was the Bemidbar/Shavuot dvar
- [Me and Jewish Supremacy](https://www.rabbisid.org/me-and-jewish-supremacy/) - Several years ago, I was leading services at my congregation in the month of February and we dedicated the shabbat to Black History Month. In addition to my dvar torah, which was on the theme of “Racism in America”, we sponsored an afternoon of learning that featured a panel of three people of color, breakout
- [America: A Crisis of Faith](https://www.rabbisid.org/america-a-crisis-of-faith/) - I’m an old-fashioned news hound. I can’t start my day without reading the newspaper. The Washington Post is my paper of choice. And I read the hard copy that gets thrown on my lawn every morning around 5am. But then, as I start my workday, I work in a professional bubble of my own creation.
- [Wrestling with our Demons](https://www.rabbisid.org/wrestling-with-our-demons/) - Genesis Ch. 32 contains the well-known story of Jacob’s night of wrestling the angel in advance of his reunion with his brother Esau. They have not seen each other since Jacob stole Esau’s birthright and ran away to save himself from Esau’s potential revenge. It is tempting to use the story as a lesson about
- [A Rabbinic Call to Uphold Truth and Democracy](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-rabbinic-call-to-uphold-truth-and-democracy/) - By Rabbis Sharon Brous, Laura Geller, Jack Moline, Sid Schwarz and Shmuly Yanklowitz To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. This political moment is a time for rabbis and clergy of all faiths to speak out forcefully to protect both truth and democracy.
- [Longing for Face Time](https://www.rabbisid.org/longing-for-face-time/) - Every good sermon has at least one compelling metaphor. Here is mine for this evening; it is visual (a camera shot of the empty sanctuary). When I learned back in July that Adat Shalom would only be holding remote services for the High Holydays, I was overtaken by a deep sadness that I felt in
- [Jews and Racial Justice: Making Amends or Avoiding Responsibility?](https://www.rabbisid.org/jews-and-racial-justice-making-amends-or-dodging-responsibility/) - David Axelrod, a former top aide to President Barack Obama often credited with masterminding his two successful campaigns for the presidency, recently published a column in The Washington Post that hit me between the eyes and sat heavily on my heart. Axelrod and I about the same age. He was too young to have been active in
- [Synagogue Innovation in the Age of Corona](https://www.rabbisid.org/synagogue-innovation-in-the-age-of-corona/) - I know that I am not alone in being impressed at how quickly the Jewish community was able to provide program content via the web as much of North America moved to “shelter in place.” As we begin to adjust to our new, surreal lives, more is being written about the shape of our post-pandemic
- [Pesach in a Time of Pandemic](https://www.rabbisid.org/pesach-in-a-time-of-pandemic/) - Pesach is a time of the year when I am, once again, overwhelmed by the beauty of our tradition’s sacred texts, liturgy and rituals. They are prisms of meaning. For generations, Jews used these sacred texts and rituals to give meaning to their life experience. More frequently than not, the life experiences of our ancestors
- [Joy in the Rabbinate](https://www.rabbisid.org/joy-in-the-rabbinate/) - There is a delicious irony in being asked to write the lead article for an issue devoted to “Joy in the Rabbinate” as I mark 40 years since being ordained. I say that because if one were to read the essay that accompanied my application to RRC in 1975 it could well have been titled
- [JFNAs Remarkable Pivot, and Me](https://www.rabbisid.org/jfnas-remarkable-pivot-and-me/) - In the opening chapter of my book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue (Jewish Lights, 2000), I share a vignette from a moment at the 1995 General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations (now called the Jewish Federations of North America or JFNA) that took
- [The Complicity Trap](https://www.rabbisid.org/the-complicity-trap/) - Because it is Kol Nidre, it seems appropriate to start with a confession. But my confession will be made much easier based on an informal poll of the room: How many of you read Superman comic books when you were growing up? My confession: At the age of 10, I avoided books like the plague
- [Re-Imagining Jewish Communal Life](https://www.rabbisid.org/re-imagining-jewish-communal-life/) - I have spent a considerable amount of my professional time over the past twenty years in the field of synagogue transformation. In my book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue, I argued that the American synagogue was stuck in a model that developed in the two
- [Can Zionism be the Answer?](https://www.rabbisid.org/can-zionism-be-the-answer/) - Students of American Jewry often point to 1967 as a watershed in the evolution of the American Jewish community. The anxiety that American Jews felt in the weeks leading up to the Six Day War was palpable. There was no evidence that Israel could defend itself against any concerted Arab military assault, no less a
- [Hanukkah and Human Rights](https://www.rabbisid.org/hanukkah-and-human-rights/) - Normally we think of human rights in an international context. But recent events in our country have highlighted how the human rights of African Americans are routinely violated by police departments all around the country. White America may now be waking up to a reality that Black America has lived with for decades. Some of
- [Truth or Consequences](https://www.rabbisid.org/truth-or-consequences/) - Truth or Consequences was the first game show ever aired on commercial TV in the United States, appearing first as a pilot in 1941. It seems an apt phrase to describe the dilemma facing us today as we try to get a younger generation of Jews to have an affinity with Israel and the Jewish
- [Where Fools Rush In: Spiritual Leadership for a Changing Jewish Community](https://www.rabbisid.org/where-fools-rush-in-spiritual-leadership-for-a-changing-jewish-community/) - This morning I attend a keynote address by Rabbi Sid Schwarz, whom I have known since that PANIM interdenominational rabbinic student retreat I was blessed to attend all those years ago. He's now involved with Clal (the Center for Learning and Leadership, the parent organization of Rabbis Without Borders), and has most recently published Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American
- [Does Jewish Renewal Have a Future?](https://www.rabbisid.org/does-jewish-renewal-have-a-future/) - I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at the annual gathering of Ohala, the rabbinical association of the Jewish Renewal movement, and at a shabbaton led by students studying at Aleph, the rabbinical training program of the movement. Although I knew quite a few people at the conference, I came as an outsider. I
- [Limiting Debate on Israel Will Only Hurt Us](https://www.rabbisid.org/limiting-debate-on-israel-will-only-hurt-us/) - The current controversy brewing in the Hillel universe is only the latest example of a Jewish community polarized over how we can or can’t talk about Israel. The guidelines, developed by national Hillel in 2010, were designed to provide a basis upon which a local Hillel could prevent overtly anti-Israel groups from speaking under the
- [A Jewish Approach to the "Differently-Abled"](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-jewish-approach-to-the-differently-abled/) - I did not know a thing about Jewish Disability Awareness Month (JDAM) until a member of my synagogue called and told me that she was going to make it happen at our congregation. As the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, I still periodically lead services. It was determined by the
- [Loyalty, Truth and Freedom of Expression](https://www.rabbisid.org/loyalty-truth-and-freedom-of-expression/) - Given the controversy surrounding Theater J’s production of Motti Lerner’s play, The Admission, at the DCJCC, I expected a full scale indictment of Israel’s conduct during the 1948 War of Independence. Instead I encountered a play that probed the complexity of war, politics, memory, ethnic identity, love and survival with astounding sensitivity and nuance. Ever
- [Israel: A Season of Reckoning](https://www.rabbisid.org/israel-a-season-of-reckoning/) - The season of reckoning is upon us. For Jews, the sentiment will likely evoke thoughts of the upcoming Days of Awe. Both the Hebrew month of Elul and then the ten days of repentance that starts with Rosh HaShana and ends with Yom Kippur is the time when Jews are called upon to go into
- [Climate, Shmita and Consumption](https://www.rabbisid.org/climate-shmita-and-consumption/) - There are times when even atheists have trouble denying that there is a “hand of God” at work in history. How else to explain the coincidence of the largest ever gathering of humanity to assemble around the world to highlight the urgency of global action on climate change the week before Rosh haShana 5775, a
- [Jews with a Mission](https://www.rabbisid.org/jews-with-a-mission/) - When I accepted an invitation from the Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek, to travel to Haiti a few months after the devastating earthquake in 2010 to do some teaching for their disaster relief team on the ground, little did I know that it would lead to one of the most fulfilling projects of my rabbinic career.
- [Rev. John Steinbruck: Spiritual Role Model](https://www.rabbisid.org/rev-john-steinbruck-spiritual-role-model/) - If a picture is worth a thousand words, a life counts for a million or more. Last week I attended a memorial service for Reverend John Steinbruck who died on March 1st at the age of 85. When I moved to Washington D.C. in 1984 to take the post as the executive director of the
- [Discovering America](https://www.rabbisid.org/discovering-america/) - There is a wonderful phrase in Hebrew that drips with sardonic, Jewish wit. It is when someone says “gileta et America”, meaning “so you discovered America!”. It is said to someone when they say something so obvious that everyone has known it for years, but the person who shared it put the thought out in
- [The New Paradigm Spiritual Communities Initiative](https://www.rabbisid.org/the-new-paradigm-spiritual-communities-initiative/) - During the first week of March some 60 people gathered under the aegis of a new national initiative called the New Paradigm Spiritual Communities Initiative (NPSCI). NPSCI is sponsored by Clal: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership as part of its mission to make Jewish into a public good. Funded by the William
- [Elie Wiesel: The Echo Chamber of Moral Witness](https://www.rabbisid.org/elie-wiesel-the-echo-chamber-of-moral-witness/) - Although I had the privilege of hearing Elie Wiesel speak at least a dozen times and had the opportunity to once have a private meeting with him in conjunction with a book that I was writing, my thoughts about him actually relate to how much impact he had on those who never met the man.
- [A Time for "Eternal Vigilance"](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-time-for-eternal-vigilance/) - Trauma is everywhere. I know. My experience would not be shared if I lived in Youngstown, OH; Lansing, MI; or Green Bay, WI. But I don’t. I live in suburban Washington DC and I am a rabbi who works with and among Jews. My synagogue was packed on the shabbat after the election. Many came
- [Something's Happening Here](https://www.rabbisid.org/somethings-happening-here/) - In 1967 Buffalo Springfield issued an anti-Vietnam War song called “For What It’s Worth” that began with, “There’s something happening here. What it is, ain’t exactly clear.” The lyric expresses what I was observing in the Jewish communal landscape over the last decade that inspired me to write Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the
- [Changing the World from the Inside Out](https://www.rabbisid.org/changing-the-world-from-the-inside-out/) - This year’s winner of the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice is a book titled Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change by Rabbi David Jaffe. The book is an inspiring integration of Musar literature and practice with numerous examples
- [Preparing Rabbis to be Change Agents](https://www.rabbisid.org/preparing-rabbis-to-be-change-agents/) - A few weeks ago I was at a, first of its kind, gathering in Austin, TX. The leaders of more than ten national religious denominations came together to explore why their congregations were losing membership so rapidly over the last decade. The gathering included leadership from the Methodists, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ, Lutherans, Unitarian
- [Jews and Racism in America](https://www.rabbisid.org/jews-and-racism-in-america/) - Note: These are excerpts of remarks at a Shabbat morning service at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD) which featured many elements marking Black History Month. Two weeks ago, I was at a conference in New York City sponsored by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. It was called “No Time for Neutrality”
- [Taking "Service" to the Next Level](https://www.rabbisid.org/taking-service-to-the-next-level/) - Community service in the Jewish community has come a long way. I had the privilege of being on the ground level in the 1990’s when the Jewish community got on the bandwagon. The passage of the National and Community Service Trust Act was signed into law in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. Building on the
- [Introducing the Kenissa Network: A 21st Century Pathway into Jewish Life](https://www.rabbisid.org/introducing-the-kenissa-network-a-21st-century-pathway-into-jewish-life/) - Twice in the past year I have published articles in eJP to introduce the work of the New Paradigm Spiritual Communities Initiative. Last week we had our second annual National Consultation, welcoming another 50 “creatives” into this unique network and we used the opportunity to re-brand the project as Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network (http://www.kenissa.org/).
- [Networks Rising](https://www.rabbisid.org/networks-rising/) - Sometimes you read a book to learn about something new. But at other times you read a book to find language for that which is already part of the way you function in the world. I had the latter experience reading the new book by Rabbi Hayim Herring, Leading Congregations and Nonprofits in a Connected
- [Jews and the "Faith" Question](https://www.rabbisid.org/jews-and-the-faith-question/) - I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Chautauqua Institution (CI) about the “Crisis of Faith” in America. For those unfamiliar, CI was founded in 1874 by Methodist Bishop John Vincent as a summer camp for Sunday School teachers on the shores of Lake Chautauqua near Jamestown, NY. Today, CI functions like a summer
- [It is Called "Covenantal Community"](https://www.rabbisid.org/it-is-called-covenantal-community/) - We should appreciate David Cygielman for introducing the broad eJP audience to the notion of communal “thickness” in his 11/13/17 post. As was noted in the response by Rabbi Michael Holzman, this is not a new concept. Well before the David Brooks’ column in the New York Times, sociologists have sought ways to measure the
- [Outside In: Jewish Education that Matters](https://www.rabbisid.org/outside-in-jewish-education-that-matters/) - Jon Woocher and I both grew up on the South Shore of Long Island. His father was my childhood dentist and our parents were friends. Ironically, we did not know each other from our childhood; we only discovered that connection when we began to collaborate as professionals. Even before I knew Jon, his book, Sacred
- [Faith and Service in Haiti](https://www.rabbisid.org/faith-and-service-in-haiti/) - When I accepted an invitation from the Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek, to travel to Haiti about a year after the devastating earthquake in 2010 to do some teaching for their disaster relief team on the ground, little did I know that it would lead to one of the most fulfilling projects of my rabbinic career.
- [Jews with a Mission](https://www.rabbisid.org/jews-with-a-mission-2/) - When I accepted an invitation from the Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek, to travel to Haiti a few months after the devastating earthquake in 2010 and to do some teaching for their disaster-relief team on the ground, little did I know that it would lead to one of the most fulfilling projects of my rabbinic career.
- [Jewish Communities of Meaning: Ideas Matter](https://www.rabbisid.org/jewish-communities-of-meaning-ideas-matter/) - I recently was invited to make a presentation to deans from eight different rabbinical seminaries. The topic was how to better equip their students with some tools so that they can be more successful at driving innovation in the institutions that they will serve in the future. I observed that when I founded a synagogue
- [Confronting Patriarchy](https://www.rabbisid.org/confronting-patriarchy/) - The testimony of Christine Blasy Ford to the Senate Judiciary Committee followed by that of Brett Kavanaugh captured the attention of the nation. We know that the surfacing of various accusations against Brett Kavanaugh by several women and the corroboration of his party-going and beer drinking during high school and college was not sufficient to
- [Towards Intentional Spiritual Communities](https://www.rabbisid.org/towards-intentional-spiritual-communities/) - America has become a society that breeds spiritual malaise. Among the chief causes of this malaise is the erosion of our country’s civic fabric. One need only think back to the weeks following the 9/11 tragedy to recall the overwhelming sense of American common purpose: Residing in the heart of every American, that commonality made
- [Memory and Identity-A Kol Nidre sermon](https://www.rabbisid.org/memory-and-identity-a-kol-nidre-sermon/) - I’ve been thinking a lot about memory recently, but I can’t remember why. Sorry. That is a cheap laugh. Here is a better one. Three elderly people are sharing with one another the trials of aging. One says: “Sometimes I catch myself standing in front of the refrigerator with a jar of mayonnaise in my
- [Yitzhak Rabin: Reflections on Loss, Despair and Hope](https://www.rabbisid.org/yitzhak-rabin-reflections-on-loss-despair-and-hope/) - For people who care deeply about the State of Israel, the future of the Jewish people or about the prospects for peace in the world, the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin provided much to think about. People of my generation readily remember where they were when they heard the news about the
- [Spiritual Heroes: A Kol Nidre Sermon](https://www.rabbisid.org/spiritual-heroes-a-kol-nidre-sermon/) - For many years, the organization that I led-PANIM- ran 4-day seminars on Jewish values and social activism for teens who came to Washington D.C. from around the country. When I would speak to the students, my lead-off question would be: Who are your spiritual heroes? It was a question that gave pause. Most American teens
- ["Will You Still Need Me?" Thoughts on Aging and Purpose](https://www.rabbisid.org/will-you-still-need-me-thoughts-on-aging-and-purpose/) - Some sermons take longer to percolate than others. This one has taken about 15 years. That was the first time that it struck me that the lyrics to the Beatle song, “When I’m 64” would be a great hook for a sermon. I decided to give the sermon in the year I turned 64. That
- [The Passover Spirit-Compassion First](https://www.rabbisid.org/the-passover-spirit-compassion-first/) - Note: These were remarks given at a Pre-Passover Vigil held in front of the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. on March 27, 2018. I am Rabbi Sid Schwarz. I am the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD; a life-long Zionist and a Board member of Truah: The Rabbinic Call for
- [Staying Sane in a World Gone Mad](https://www.rabbisid.org/staying-sane-in-a-world-gone-mad/) - It seems appropriate to begin a Kol Nidre sermon with a small confession. The standard conversation starter in American society is: “How are you doing?” How many times are you asked that question each year? Hundreds of times. Maybe more. There probably is an App that can count it, but please don’t tell me what
- [Rabbi Sid's Remarks at White House Chanukah Party](https://www.rabbisid.org/rabbi-sids-remarks-at-white-house-chanukah-party/) - Remarks at the White House Chanukah Party by Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Senior Fellow, Clal: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and Founding Rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD. December 9, 2015. Thank you Mr. President. I know that I speak on behalf of everyone present tonight in expressing our gratitude for
- [Where Fools Rush In: Spiritual Leadership for a Changing Jewish Community](https://www.rabbisid.org/where-fools-rush-in-spiritual-leadership-for-a-changing-jewish-community-2/) - Note: In January 2014 I was invited to deliver the keynote address at the Ohala national convention, the association of Jewish Renewal Rabbis that was held in Boulder, CO. It was significant because my charge from the leadership of the organization was to speak about Jewish Renewal in light of the fact that the charismatic
- [Judaism's Moral Imperative to End Poverty](https://www.rabbisid.org/judaisms-moral-imperative-to-end-poverty/) - This talk was delivered at the annual meeting of the World Bank held in Washington D.C. in October 2014. Rabbi Sid was part of a panel of clergy that was invited to offer their respective faith tradition's approach to poverty *** Judaism is a tradition of text and interpretation. The Torah, or the Five Books
- [A Synagogue Stimulus Plan](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-synagogue-stimulus-plan/) - At the recent national convention of United Synagogue, Rabbi Ed Feinstein was reported to have said “the house is burning down” as a way to signal to Conservative congregations that the hour is too late for synagogues to think about modest changes in the way they do their business. Since the 2000 publication of my
- [Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI): Shaping Visionary Spiritual Leaders by Rabbi Irwin Kula](https://www.rabbisid.org/clergy-leadership-incubator-cli-shaping-visionary-spiritual-leaders/) - Organizations throughout the American Jewish community are painfully aware that the strategies and programs that may have been effective for a previous generation will no longer meet the needs of the younger generation of Jews who have been raised in a dramatically different world than that of their parents or grandparents. Indeed, many of those
- [Profiles in Courage-A Kol Nidre Sermon](https://www.rabbisid.org/profiles-in-courage-a-kol-nidre-sermon/) - Two years after John F. Kennedy was elected Senator from Massachusetts, he wrote a book called Profiles in Courage that would win a Pulitzer Prize and also help propel this handsome young senator into the White House three years later. Kennedy, a history buff, chose to profile eight political figures whose courage while in office
- [Gary Rosenblatt on Jewish Megatrends ](https://www.rabbisid.org/gary-rosenblatt-on-jewish-megatrends/) - Jewish Megatrends: Rabbi offers a new way to think of ourselves: "tribal," and "covenantal" Gary Rosenblatt New York Jewish Week, 5/22/2013 Rabbi Sidney Schwarz recalls the exact words of a comment from a liberal rabbinical student that disturbed him profoundly. “We were at a retreat, and he said to me, ‘I didn’t go to
- [Q & A with the Religious News Service](https://www.rabbisid.org/q-a-with-the-religious-news-service/) - Rabbi's Message for American Jews: Change or Die Interview with Lauren Markoe posted on the Religious News Service (RNS) Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, ordained in the liberal Reconstructionist tradition, sees a divide between generations of American Jews that could spell disaster for the community. One generation he calls “legacy” or “tribal” Jews — those who built
- [Jewish Megatrends-On the Road, Part 2](https://www.rabbisid.org/jewish-megatrends-on-the-road-part-2/) - In the past two weeks we held a beautiful book launch at my home shul, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD and then I did events in New York and Boston. The New York event was held at the JCC of Manhattan, directed by my good friend, Rabbi Joy Levitt who is also
- [The Jewish Social Justice Bus](https://www.rabbisid.org/the-jewish-social-justice-bus/) - Last month I was invited to speak at the Jewish Funders Network’s (JFN) annual conference in Los Angeles. JFN has emerged as an important player in the American Jewish community. As Jewish Federation fundraising has been relatively stagnant for the last two decades, family foundations have emerged as a very important source of philanthropic venture
- [Jewish Megatrends: On the Road-part 1](https://www.rabbisid.org/jewish-megatrends-on-the-road-part-1/) - I’ve just completed the first segment of a national book tour which will take me to ten cities over the next few months. Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights) was published March 1st and I just returned from my second trip to the West Coast where I spoke at
- [On Jewish Service ](https://www.rabbisid.org/on-jewish-service/) - Periodically, I have the joy and privilege of leading services at Adat Shalom in Bethesda, MD. I am the founding rabbi of the congregation and on most shabbatot I am "in the pews" (even though we have individual seats and not pews). But when I conduct services it is also my prerogative to frame the Torah discussion.
- [A New Day, A New Website!](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-new-day-a-new-website/) - I thought writing a new book was a big undertaking! In some ways that was less challenging than launching a new website, which we are doing today, Feb. 28, 2013. My new book, Jewish Megatrends, has been long scheduled for release on March 1, 2013. I knew that it was important to create a more
- [Rabbi Sid in Print](https://www.rabbisid.org/a-rabbinic-call-for-human-rights/) - "A Rabbinic Call For Human Rights" published in the Jewish Week - January 23, 2013 Last week, I was one of several rabbis from a range of religious denominations who met with a senior Israeli diplomat at the Israeli Embassy. We were there to deliver a letter asking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel plans
- [Covenant Award Acceptance Speech](https://www.rabbisid.org/covenant-award-acceptance-speech/) - Philadelphia, PA November 21, 2002 I need to start with something of a heresy for a Reconstructionist rabbi. With every passing year, I am increasingly aware of the hand of God in my life. The latest evidence was this morning, as I attended a morning experience with Storahtelling, a new dramatic performance group that brings
- [New International Fellowship Program on Judaism and Human Rights](https://www.rabbisid.org/new-international-fellowship-program-on-judaism-and-human-rights/) - Last week an application process was launched for a brand new program called the René Cassin Fellowship Program (RCFP). With hubs in New York, London and Jerusalem, the RCFP will select 36 outstanding Jewish young professionals, ages 25-35. The year-long program of study, travel and hands-on impact projects does not take the place of one’s
- [Welcome to the Tribe](https://www.rabbisid.org/hello-world/) - Kol Nidre, 2012: Some years ago the Jewish Week asked me to write an op-ed before the High Holydays. At the risk of being thrown out of the rabbi's union I said that I wasn't quite sure how many of the Jews showing up for Rosh haShana and Yom Kippur were there for the prayers

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.rabbisid.org/) - Rabbi Sid’s Remarks at White House Chanukah Party Kenissa Clergy Leadership Incubator Jewish Megatrends Bring Rabbi Sid to Your Community About Rabbi Sid Rabbi Sid leading a Shabbat Voices service at Adat Shalom with guest, Denyce Graves joining in closing the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service with the singing of “We Shall Overcome”.
- [Videos](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/videos/) - Rabbi Sid gives remarks and leads the blessing at the 2015 White House Hanukkah Reception, introduced by President Obama
- [Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/adat-shalom/) - Adat Shalom's genesis took place when the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation agreed to support an outreach High Holy Day service led by Rabbi Sid Schwarz in the fall of 1987. About 110 people attended the services, which were held in a small auditorium in the Jewish Community Services Building on Hunters Lane in Rockville. Besides a
- [Audio Sermons](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/audio-sermons/) - Rabbi Sid · SIDYK Debra Weinstein · Kol Nidre 5785: Listening For Angels (1080p) Rabbi Sid · Sermon Kol Nidre 5784 Rabbi Sid · Kol Nidre 2022: The Torah of Captain Kirk Rabbi Sid · Kol Nidre 2021 - Eleh Toldot These Are The Generations Rabbi Sid · Kol Nidre 2020 - Longing For Face
- [Articles](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/articles/) - Rabbi Sid on Building Innovative and Flourishing Spiritual Communities Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network-What We Did, What We Learned Final Report and Survey Results, May, 2024. Jewish Communities of Meaning: An Emerging Trend, Jewish Peoplehood Papers, Vol. 26a, September 2020. Jewish Communities of Meaning: Ideas Matter, eJewishPhilanthropy, May 15, 2018. Re-Imagining Jewish Communal Life, eJewishPhilanthropy, May 1, 2019. Rabbi
- [Video Tribute to Rabbi Sid’s career](https://www.rabbisid.org/video-tribute-to-rabbi-sids-career/) - Video Tribute to Rabbi Sid’s career from his colleagues-May 27, 2025
- [Testimonials on Rabbi Sid’s Presentations](https://www.rabbisid.org/about/testimonials-on-rabbi-sids-presentations/) - Sid keynoted our most recent national convention of Ohala and his insights were transformative and game changing. Sid has a grasp of the larger picture, an ability to analyze the bigger trends afoot and simultaneously offer sound practical wisdom, tools and practices to radically reinvigorate and refocus an organization. He's a master at helping identify
- [Podcasts](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/podcasts/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz on World Jewry, Zionism and the State of IsraelMay 22, 2025, 1 hr 5 minIn this month’s episode of Evolve, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, driven by a deep love for Israel, makes a powerful case for spiritual Zionism— the commitment to an Israel that nurtures Judaism’s deepest cultural, religious and ethical foundations, beyond
- [Topical Classes](https://www.rabbisid.org/topical-classes/) - Decoding “God”: Reconstructionist TheologiesRabbi Sid SchwarzThree-part course offered atAdat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD), March 2025 Despite surging interest in spirituality in American culture, “God” language often is the single greatest barrier keeping people away from conventional religious institutions. Is God a Being? Does God have the power to suspend the laws of nature? Is
- [The Haiti Project](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/the-haiti-project/) - Adat Shalom Haiti Project Timeline January 2010. Earthquake hits Haiti and devastates the country. ’11- Rabbi Sid and Sandy go to Haiti at the invitation of Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek. Meet Pastor Johnny. Sid proposes to raise money for NICL School. $100/yr for 5 years Myrna Seidman agrees to chair Haiti Project Interest expressed in
- [About](https://www.rabbisid.org/about/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz has been a congregational rabbi, a social entrepreneur, the CEO of several non-profits and an author. Rabbi Sid is currently a Senior Fellow at Adamah: People, Planet, Purpose. As part of that work, Rabbi Sid has direct responsibility for two national projects. He created and directs the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a
- [Current Projects](https://www.rabbisid.org/projects/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz's current projects: Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) Synagogue Consulting Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network Click here for past projects.
- [Rabbinical Student Retreats](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/rabbinical-student-retreats-2/)
- [René Cassin Fellowship](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/rene-cassin-fellowship/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz is the project director and lead New York faculty member for the René Cassin Fellowship Program (RCFP). The RCFP provides young professionals with the knowledge, skills and contacts needed to enhance their activism in the areas of social justice, international human rights or related fields. The program will have hubs in New
- [PANIM](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/panim/) - In 1988 Rabbi Sid Schwarz had a simple idea with huge implications. Observing how many young Jews were alienated from their Jewish identity and drifting away from Jewish affiliations, he created a program that would ignite the passion of the next generation of Jews to repair a broken world. PANIM's leadership seminars put students "face
- [Human Rights Activism](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/human-rights-activism/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz: A rabbinic career committed to human rights and social justice Hired in 1984 to serve as the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Washington DC at the age of 31. Highlights of his tenure included organizing a protest at Arlington National Cemetery when President Ronald Reagan visited a Gestapo
- [Jewish Service Learning](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/jewish-service-learning/) - PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, founded by Rabbi Sid in 1988, was one of the pioneers in the field of Jewish service learning. In the organization’s early years the focus was almost exclusively on politics, social justice and advocacy. However with the growing interest in community service among youth spurred on by
- [Interfaith Mission for Peace and Understanding](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/interfaith-mission-for-peace-and-understanding/) - Twenty-four interfaith leaders. Twelve days. Six cities. The Interfaith Mission for Peace and Understanding was an exploration of the role of religion in advancing peace and understanding in the world. Over 12 days, from February 18-29, 2012, twenty-four leaders of the Abrahamic faith communities in the United States and Indonesia undertook a journey across six cities and
- [Jewish Journey Project](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/jewish-journey-project/) - The Jewish Journey Project (JJP) is an initiative designed to dramatically re-invent the Hebrew School experience leading to Bar/Bat Mitzvah. JJP is the vision of Rabbi Joy Levitt, the executive director of The JCC in Manhattan. The planning phase and project launch was directed by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. The process began in the winter of
- [In the News](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/in-the-news/) - Stepping Outside the Big Tent with Rabbi Sid SchwarzJuly 8, 2021-Washington Jewish Week “'I think about Synagogues as containers that use Judaism as a toolkit to advance human flourishing,' says Rabbi Sid Schwarz. 'I don't think the job of the synagogue is, exclusively, to get people to keep kosher and do Shabbat.'” Schwarz discusses grassroots Jewish
- [Synagogue Consulting](https://www.rabbisid.org/projects/synagogue-consulting/) - Over the past 15 years, Rabbi Sid has worked with dozens of synagogues, rabbis and lay leaders across North America, helping them make their congregations more vibrant, more engaging and more attractive to Next Gen Jews. He brings to this work the experience of a practitioner and the insights of one of the leading students
- [Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future](https://www.rabbisid.org/books/jewish-megatrends/) - Available from Amazon Visionary solutions to a community ripe for transformational change from fourteen leading innovators of Jewish life. The American Jewish community is riddled with doubts about the viability of the institutions that well served the Jewish community of the twentieth century. Synagogues, federations and Jewish membership organizations have yet to figure out how
- [Success Stories](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/) - Few figures in Jewish life today have contributed to the community in as many capacities as Sid Schwarz: social entrepreneur, activist, organizational leader, author, congregational rabbi and public intellectual. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, founder of CLAL and one of American Jewry’s most notable leaders, has written about Sid: “Rabbi Sid Schwarz’ life and career embody a
- [Media](https://www.rabbisid.org/media/)
- [Finding A Spiritual Home](https://www.rabbisid.org/books/finding-a-spiritual-home/) - Like countless others of their generation, many post-war American Jews have abandoned the religion of their birth to search for a spiritual home in other traditions. Some find their way back to the faith of their heritage, but why do so many find that the synagogue has not met their needs? In this illuminating look
- [Judaism and Justice](https://www.rabbisid.org/books/judaism-and-justice/) - Why is it that Jews are so involved in causes dedicated to justice, equality, human rights and peace? Are these trends influenced by religion, history, sociology or something else? Judaism and Justice explores the relationship between Judaism, social justice and the Jewish identity of American Jews. The book traces how the idea of "justice", as
- [Books](https://www.rabbisid.org/books/) - Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights, 2013 - Buy Now) Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World (Jewish Lights, 2006 - Buy Now) Finding A Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue (Jewish Lights, 2000 - Buy Now)
- [Bring Rabbi Sid to Your Community](https://www.rabbisid.org/consulting-and-speaking-engagements/) - With over 20 years of experience working with boards and Jewish communal professionals and over 10 years working on intensive institutional transformation strategies with synagogues based on the new paradigm outlined in his book Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue (2000), Rabbi Sid Schwarz is available
- [Programs](https://www.rabbisid.org/success-stories/rabbinical-student-retreats-2/programs/) - [pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RWB-Sp-16-retreat-flier.pdf"] [pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Fall-15-RWB-retreat-flier.pdf"] [pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RWB-Spring-15-flier.pdf"] [pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Fall-14-RWB-retreat-flier.pdf"][pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Spring-14-RWB-student-retreat-flier.pdf"][pdf-embedder url="https://www.rabbisid.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Fall-13-RWB-retreat-flier.pdf"]

## Categories

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- [Featured](https://www.rabbisid.org/category/featured/)
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## Tags

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- [Kenissa](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/kenissa/)
- [Hayim Herring](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/hayim-herring/)
- [Schusterman Foundation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/schusterman-foundation/)
- [ROI](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/roi/)
- [REALITY](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/reality/)
- [organizational change](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/organizational-change/)
- [Faith communities](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/faith-communities/)
- [crisis of faith](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/crisis-of-faith/)
- [Bill Moyers](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/bill-moyers/)
- [Chautauqua Institution](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/chautauqua-institution/)
- [Jewish identity](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-identity/)
- [Aging](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/aging/)
- [life's purpose](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/lifes-purpose/)
- [death](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/death/)
- [loss](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/loss/)
- [grief](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/grief/)
- [purposeful living](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/purposeful-living/)
- ['](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/142/)
- [synagogues](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/synagogues/)
- [social capital](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/social-capital/)
- [communal thickness](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/communal-thickness/)
- [Finding a Spiritual Home](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/finding-a-spiritual-home/)
- [African refugees](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/african-refugees/)
- [Passover](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/passover/)
- [Asylum seekers](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/asylum-seekers/)
- [compassion](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/compassion/)
- [civics](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/civics/)
- [social responsibility](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/social-responsibility/)
- [tikkun olam](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/tikkun-olam/)
- [Jewish teens](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-teens/)
- [service learning](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/service-learning/)
- [community building](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/community-building/)
- [developing world](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/developing-world/)
- [Jews](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jews/)
- [Jews with hammers](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jews-with-hammers/)
- [innovation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/innovation/)
- [intentional communities](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/intentional-communities/)
- [American civic division](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/american-civic-division/)
- [erosion of American democracy](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/erosion-of-american-democracy/)
- [assault on truth](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/assault-on-truth/)
- [kindness](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/kindness/)
- [Mr. Rogers](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/mr-rogers/)
- [chesed](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/chesed/)
- [healing the American divide](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/healing-the-american-divide/)
- [Patriarachy](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/patriarachy/)
- [Kavanaugh nomination](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/kavanaugh-nomination/)
- [Christine Blasy Ford](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/christine-blasy-ford/)
- [MeToo Movement](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/metoo-movement/)
- [feminism](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/feminism/)
- [tzelem elohim](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/tzelem-elohim/)
- [human dignity](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/human-dignity/)
- [oppression of women](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/oppression-of-women/)
- [portals of Jewish life](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/portals-of-jewish-life/)
- [re-imagining Jewish communal life](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/re-imagining-jewish-communal-life/)
- [creativity](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/creativity/)
- [Republicans](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/republicans/)
- [Complicity](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/complicity/)
- [Climate Crisis](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/climate-crisis/)
- [Me Too Movement](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/me-too-movement/)
- [Holocaust](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/holocaust/)
- [Greta Thunberg](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/greta-thunberg/)
- [Raoul Wallenberg](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/raoul-wallenberg/)
- [Rescue of Danish Jewry](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rescue-of-danish-jewry/)
- [FedLab](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/fedlab/)
- [Jewish Federations of North America;](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-federations-of-north-america/)
- [Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/kenissa-communities-of-meaning-network/)
- [Jewish start-ups](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-start-ups/)
- [Debbie Friedman](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/debbie-friedman/)
- [Eric Fingerhut](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/eric-fingerhut/)
- [Beth Cousens](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/beth-cousens/)
- [Naomi Less](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/naomi-less/)
- [Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rabbi-isaiah-rothstein/)
- [Rabbinate](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rabbinate/)
- [Vocation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/vocation/)
- [Beth Israel](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/beth-israel/)
- [PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/panim-the-institute-for-jewish-leadership-and-values/)
- [RRC](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rrc/)
- [Pesach](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/pesach/)
- [Pandemic](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/pandemic/)
- [Covid 19](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/covid-19/)
- [Rituals](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rituals/)
- [Elijah the Prophet](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/elijah-the-prophet/)
- [Dayenu](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/dayenu/)
- [layers of meaning](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/layers-of-meaning/)
- [symbolism of ancient rituals](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/symbolism-of-ancient-rituals/)
- [Coronavirus](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/coronavirus/)
- [Synagogue innovation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/synagogue-innovation/)
- [Adaptive Leadership](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/adaptive-leadership/)
- [religious innovation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/religious-innovation/)
- [racial justice](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/racial-justice/)
- [civil rights](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/civil-rights/)
- [Blacks; African-Americans; Communities of Color; Dr. Martin Luther King](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/blacks-african-americans-communities-of-color-dr-martin-luther-king/)
- [panim el panim](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/panim-el-panim/)
- [Martin Buber](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/martin-buber/)
- [Emmanuel Levinas](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/emmanuel-levinas/)
- [Ira Eisenstein](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/ira-eisenstein/)
- [Eclipse of God](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/eclipse-of-god/)
- [American tribalism](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/american-tribalism/)
- [Face Time](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/face-time/)
- [Golden Rule](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/golden-rule/)
- [reaching out to the "other"](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/reaching-out-to-the-other/)
- [holy community](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/holy-community/)
- [legacy Jewish organizations](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/legacy-jewish-organizations/)
- [Jewish Federations](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-federations/)
- [US elections; democracy](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/us-elections-democracy/)
- [truth](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/truth/)
- [rabbinic courage](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/rabbinic-courage/)
- [Joe Biden](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/joe-biden/)
- [face to face](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/face-to-face/)
- [God Wrestling](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/god-wrestling/)
- [Self-doubt;](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/self-doubt/)
- [reconciliation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/reconciliation/)
- [vulnerability](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/vulnerability/)
- [stealing the birthright](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/stealing-the-birthright/)
- [blessings](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/blessings/)
- [unconditional love](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/unconditional-love/)
- [anti-semitism;](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/anti-semitism/)
- [Jewish supremacy](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jewish-supremacy/)
- [ethnocentrism](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/ethnocentrism/)
- [Mordecai Kaplan](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/mordecai-kaplan/)
- [Jonathan Sacks](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/jonathan-sacks/)
- [religion and social tranformation](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/religion-and-social-tranformation/)
- [intolerance](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/intolerance/)
- [The Dignity of Difference](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/the-dignity-of-difference/)
- [excommunication](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/excommunication/)
- [white supremacy](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/white-supremacy/)
- [chosen people concept](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/chosen-people-concept/)
- [Charles Liebman](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/charles-liebman/)
- [American Jewish Yearbook](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/american-jewish-yearbook/)
- [Torah blessings](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/torah-blessings/)
- [Passover Haggadah](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/passover-haggadah/)
- [gentiles](https://www.rabbisid.org/tag/gentiles/)