By Darcy Grabenstein In Threading My Prayer Rug, author Sabeeha Rehman tells a compelling and personal story of her journey from Pakistan to America, and how it impacted her life as a Muslim woman. The book begins after the September 11 attack, with anti-Muslim sentiment in the US at an...
Editor’s note: With such a varied political climate, what role should our synagogue, rabbi and community, play in helping to navigate? By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, Hadassah Magazine You could call Michelle Szpilzinger a wandering Jew. Over the past few years, the resident of the Kew Gardens section of Queens, N.Y.,...
Why Anti-Semitism Flourishes Whenever Hatred Thrives As I walked into synagogue Saturday morning a woman rushed up to me, “Rabbi did you hear what happened? We ran away from Iran to escape this.” Half my congregation at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles are Iranian Jews who lost everything in fleeing...
This resolution, by the Women’s League of Conservative Judaism (of which our Sisterhood is a member), was prepared with reference to the Rabbinical Assembly’s 2016 resolution. We are grappling with some of the wording. What are your thoughts? Please share below. GUN CONTROL Background Gun violence is an acute public...
Note: This blog post is reprinted with permission and originally appeared on the Gender & Society blog. by Helana Darwin One night while I was watching Transparent, a particular scene caught my attention. The young female rabbi is explaining how difficult it is to be in a masculinized profession without losing...
Rabbi Tiferet’s words delivered at our community Martin Luther King Prayer service at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hainesport, Jan. 14, 2018: Good evening. I am so honored to be sharing these words with you this evening. Dr. Martin Luther King was not just Dr. King, the civil rights...
by Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum Happy 2018! As Deb Wolff pointed out Friday night, how wonderful that we as Jews get FIVE new years to celebrate (two of them in January!). I must admit, I am still feeling energized from our Shabbat services this weekend. Many people braved the frigid temps...
by Darcy Grabenstein An article on Kveller.com is titled “There’s a Difference Between Saying You’re Welcoming and Being Welcoming.” In that article, author Nina Badzin says that, in response to another article she’d written, “Several readers–Jews and non-Jews alike–commented that they found the Jewish community cliquey and unwelcoming.” This couldn’t...
I hope you all had a blessed Shabbat of rest and joy. I am so grateful to Deb Wolff and Ma’ayana Tishman who led our community in Shabbat davenning (prayer), and to Steven Klier, who read the Torah. Since I was not with you this past Shabbat, I want to...
