Category: Pursuing Justice

In the traditional liturgy, I did not find Shabbat meditation books that were focused on conversion, social justice, and the Black Jewish woman experience. So I did what Jewish women have done through the generations: I wrote a book. 

There’s a test on everything here these days. Patience. Forgiveness. Understanding.

What could we do on our little campus to foster interfaith solidarity and to bring comfort to two minority religious communities whose members are likely sad and anxious about bomb threats at JCCs and reports of rising Islamophobia?

What I have found most useful is that the word “special needs” is truly expansive. Everyday and everywhere, people face challenges, overcome obstacles, and can benefit from special accommodations.

Perhaps no single line from Jewish literature sums up the Jewish attitude about prayer and politics than the berakhah in Fiddler on the Roof: “May God bless and keep the Czar … far away from us.”

For tens of millions of people slavery is not an historic relic. It is the brutal reality of their lives.

Before going into a complex description of the building of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the desert, God instructs

Fourteen years ago I accompanied Stephanie to meet with the rabbi of one of the synagogues in my hometown of Minneapolis. It was a unique experience for Stephanie, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. It was the first time she had been in a synagogue since moving to the Twin Cities fifteen years earlier. 

We welcome your submissions on disability, in honor of Disabilities Awareness month.

Sometimes, the hardest thing about observing rituals is not choosing or creating the rituals themselves: it’s about making time for them. We may be super well-intentioned. We may crave the mindfulness and connections that come with a ritually engaged life. But the hectic pace of everyday schedules have a tendency to get in the way of even the best intentions.