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Hate has no community
We cannot allow terrorists to lay claim to the values of our communities. Once again, a terrorist has come into a place of peace and used community as a cover to commit an act of evil. In this case, he claimed to be working for the advancement of the white, Christian community. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Changing the narrative on slavery in America
If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that the story of slavery in America is often told by the perpetrators. Isn’t it time we started to listen to the voices of the victims? [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Pulling the Arc of the Moral Universe Toward Justice
How is it possible that we are still fighting racism, sexism, and antisemitism in this country? We thought we were the most forward-looking country in the world, a light unto the nations. We thought we had evolved beyond such destructive tribalism. We thought we could see the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice before our eyes.[1] We just had to sit back and let it happen.
That was our mistake. Bending toward justice does not happen when we sit back and watch. Even treading water requires effort and vigilance. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Hate has no community
We cannot allow terrorists to lay claim to the values of our communities. Once again, a terrorist has come into a place of peace and used community as a cover to commit an act of evil. In this case, he claimed to be working for the advancement of the white, Christian community. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Changing the narrative on slavery in America
If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that the story of slavery in America is often told by the perpetrators. Isn’t it time we started to listen to the voices of the victims? [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Pulling the Arc of the Moral Universe Toward Justice
How is it possible that we are still fighting racism, sexism, and antisemitism in this country? We thought we were the most forward-looking country in the world, a light unto the nations. We thought we had evolved beyond such destructive tribalism. We thought we could see the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice before our eyes.[1] We just had to sit back and let it happen.
That was our mistake. Bending toward justice does not happen when we sit back and watch. Even treading water requires effort and vigilance. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Yom HaShoah in a time of social distancing
Can we still commemorate the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah in a time of social distancing? Yes! Our new service, Light from the Darkness, allows us to honor the survivors’ memories and to learn from their experiences with a ritual of remembrance that can be performed in our homes. [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Baby steps: Changing narratives about Jews in Spain
I never really understood Chanukah until I went to Spain. Standing in a church that had been a synagogue until the Jews were all either expelled or murdered, looking at the crucifix hanging where the ark had been, I understood the Maccabees in a whole new way. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
Familiarity Breeds Empathy
This Valentine’s Day, we can learn about loving our neighbors from watching how rats do it. [Redirects to the Times of Israel.]
Who will write our history?
It distresses me how long it has taken for us to realize what Emanuel Ringelblum recognized in 1940 at the very inception of the Warsaw ghetto: unless we Jews tell our story, the story of the Holocaust will be told by the perpetrators. In the experiences of many of us, the story of the Holocaust has been dominated by Nazi propaganda and Nazi thinking. [redirects to the Times of Israel.]
Let the Light Shine on: Reassessing God’s role in the Holocaust
What was God’s role in the Holocaust? Was God a perpetrator, a bystander, or a savior? Many of us have grappled with these questions: Where was God during the Holocaust? How could a God who loves us let such a thing happen? [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Our history can become our legacy
If the only stories we learn are Anne Frank’s and Elie Wiesel’s, then we will have a very shallow understanding of the Holocaust. There is a richness and a visceral connection to the stories of Frank and Wiesel, but these are but two among a galaxy of stories that comprise the individuals who experienced the Holocaust. [redirects to the Times of Israel]
Teaching the lessons of the Holocaust through storytelling, not allegory
Stories are the bounty of Jewish culture. The Torah builds from our origin with history and lessons for living and dying. If the Torah is a tree of life, then storytelling is its roots. We teach our values to our children through the stories of our ancestors. What, then, do we do when we need to tell stories that are difficult to hear? How do we apply our tradition of storytelling to the story of the Holocaust? [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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