Tiferet Welch’s poem drashes on what she sees to be the essence of this week’s par’shah: “The truth-telling of family can be a complicated business.”
Rabbis Annie Lewis and Yosef Goldman created this ritual to mark the occasion of the first yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of a loved one in one’s home, after sundown on the night of the yahrzeit.
Though we continue to Zoom across geography, Jessica Moise-Grodsky’s blessing for scheduling a “Zoom Shabbat dinner” with some distant family, which she composed about two years ago in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, remains relevant for us today.
President Joe Biden just signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act protecting the rights of same-sex and interracial couples to marry. Hila Ratzabi marks this historic occasion with a joyful blessing.
Bryan Schwartzman reports on the pilgrimage to the South for Jews of African descent who serve as leaders of the Reconstructionist movement. Participants were able to engage in healing work and visit sites imbued with trauma within a Jewish and Black context.
The story of Hanukkah invites us to kindle lights in the darkness, and to overcome despair with hope and action. In this spirit, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum reflects on the extraordinary work of her community, and how it embodies the fundamental connection between spiritual life and social activism.
Ariel Neshame Lee created this meditation for the eighth night of Hanukkah, when we light eight candles. In Jewish mysticism, the number eight represents pure potentiality, transcendence, infinity.
Rabbi Jill Hammer explains that in North African countries, the seventh night of Hanukah, Judith’s night of triumph, was set aside as Hag haBanot, the “Festival of the Daughters,” which falls on Rosh Hodesh Tevet.
Rabbi Jessica Lott teaches about the apocryphal story of Judith, a Jewish hero whose story is connected to Hanukkah.
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