615 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
615 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoRe2JDkPqU]
Be inspired by President Obama’s testament to the Jewish people’s devotion to answering the call! Please share your family’s history and learn simple ways to advocate for fair, comprehensive immigration reform here.
Join the Jewish community’s effort to welcome the stranger as a citizen, and advocate for comprehensive, fair immigration reform for 11 million undocumented immigrants today (info in my Yom Kippur afternoon sermon). Please add your family’s immigration story in the comments of this blog article to create a beautiful collection that demonstrates that we are a nation of immigrants.
For a direct connection to your representative, go to Take Action. At the bottom, enter your zip and add the link to this blog post to the form letter to share with your representative our collection of family immigration stories, found in the post comments.
A few years ago, while celebrating Shabbat with our preschool students, I was teaching the Jewish value of welcoming the stranger. Thinking that I was encouraging the young children to be kind to a new student, I asked them, what do you think the Torah tells us to do when we meet a stranger? … “Don’t talk to them!” “Find a grown-up you know!” “Don’t take candy!”
The children had been well-prepared for stranger-danger, as four-year olds should be. The students’ response, appropriate for young children, highlights a heightened sense of caution present for adults as well. Natural fear of that which is strange to us has a tendency to become so magnified that we are at risk of losing sight of our values.Continue reading
Reading Nitzavim on Yom Kippur“You stand this day, all of you, before your God, the Holy One of Blessing: you tribal heads, you elders, and you officials, all the men of Israel, you children, you women, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer … ” (Deuteronomy 29)
The opening of Nitzavim grabs us by our lapels and looks each of us directly in the eye. All of you, each of you, whether you stand at the top or at the bottom of the food chain, whether you command the attention and admiration of many or whether your labor goes almost unnoticed, you stand this day, poised to enter into a relationship with God, a relationship that demands your full attention.Continue reading
No matter your position about the U.S. response to Syria’s atrocities, we share empathy for the devastation human beings are facing. In these Days of Awe, when we try to ease the suffering in the world through acts of tshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah–repentance, prayer and righteous giving–here is a way to give:
Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief: Syrian Refugees in Jordan:
You can picture the daily scene: A father yells in anger as his daughter comes home in the middle of the night, after hours of drinking. The entire household touched by her alcoholism, they begin to isolate from some friends, tell protective lies to other friends, and close down emotionally to one another.
The Head of the Year
The moon is dark tonight, a new
moon for a new year. It is
hollow and hungers to be full.
It is the black zero of beginning.
Now you must void yourself
of injuries, insults, incursions.
Go with empty hands to those
you have hurt and make amends.
L’shanah tovah–Your RS Clergy
L’shanah tovah–Your RS Clergy
