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On my door I have a “Stop the Genocide” sticker. It’s been there for over three years now, and the war in Darfur drags on. So why am I fasting on what seems like a random day in August 2009 for this cause? Why not let it simmer on the back burner where it has been since a group of us traveled to DC for the Save Darfur rally?
Continue readingBy Rabbi Jill Maderer
For generations and generations, Jewish communities have engaged a sofer (scribe) to pen a Torah scroll. Each scribe follows extremely specific regulations in order to make the scroll, kosher, or fit. Although nothing has changed about these regulations, a new initiative is underway, to help make us all more aware of the sofer’s process. Today’s Inquirer reports on one congregation’s new website that chronicles a sofer’s work on a new scroll.
What the author of the article does not mention is the fact that there is another Torah-writing innovation of recent times. The author refers to scribes, as men. Yet there are at least 2 traditionally-trained female Torah scribes as well! Female scribes and a scroll-writing website–2 examples of modern ways we can include more people in the world of Torah.
Are new parents in my generation simply influenced by a character on the popular television show, “Friends,” who named her daughter, Emma?
Continue readingCongregation Rodeph Shalom, a Reform congregation located in Center City Philadelphia, connects a diverse population to Judaism through prayer, study and social action. We are an inclusive community with families who have life-long Jewish connections, adults new to Jewish study, interfaith couples, and individuals of varied backgrounds, sexual orientations and philosophical points of view. Together we are a community of individuals who care about each other, our neighbors and our faith.
