Evolve is an online platform with conversation-sparking essays from thought-provoking rabbis, leaders and creators. Explore essays on key topics, as well as curricula, sermon sparks and videos that apply the best thinking to contemporary questions.
The month of Elul began earlier this week, accompanied by the dreadful news of the murders of six Israeli hostages, along with another stalemate blocking a meaningful path toward ceasefire and whatever rebuilding must follow. We are shattered. We are hardened.
These demagogues sow fear and stoke racial tension. They promote an exclusivist, chauvinist white nationalism. But they will not win. Jewish history teaches us that tyranny cannot sustain itself. From Pharaoh to the Roman Emperors to the monarchs who expelled us from multiple parts of Europe, Jews have outlasted the tyrants who have sought our destruction. And we American Jews know that the only way for the Israel-America friendship to survive — and not be tossed out along with these demagogues — is to center our democratic values.
“Moving Through the Wilderness: Recommitting to Equity After 10/7” is a collection of brief essays originally published in the Forward. Rabbis Sandra Lawson and Deborah Waxman explain Reconstructing Judaism’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Where does the Reconstructionist movement and its seminary, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, stand on Israel and Zionism? Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., powerfully makes clear the Reconstructionist approach in this piece in the Forward.
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