Friday, December 11, 2025 – כ״ב כִּסְלֵו תשפ”ו I want to begin with a symbol—one that shocked many of us upon first seeing it. For the last two years, so many of us in Israel and the Jewish world have worn a small yellow ribbon pin, a quiet but powerful reminder of the hostages […]
Strengthened By the Struggle, Blessed by the Moment A Dvar Torah by a URJ Heller High School student delivered as she became Bat Mitzvah on the Hebrew Union College Campus in Jerusalem, Israel. Thursday, December 4, 2025 – תשפ”ו י״ד כִּסְלֵו In this week’s parasha, VaYishlach, Jacob reaches the Jordan and prepares to meet his […]
Friday, December 5, 2025 – ט״ו כִּסְלֵו תשפ”ו וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שַׁלְּחֵ֔נִי כִּ֥י עָלָ֖ה הַשָּׁ֑חַר וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א אֲשַֽׁלֵּחֲךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־בֵּרַכְתָּֽנִי׃ (בראשית לב:כז) “Then he said, ‘Let me go, for dawn is breaking.’ But he answered, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’” (Genesis 32:27) We find Jacob, alone at night on the banks […]
Friday November 21, 2025 – א׳ כִּסְלֵו תשפ״ו There are moments in Jewish life when history collapses into the present — when the stories we carry in our hearts suddenly stand before us in flesh and blood. This week, I experienced one of those moments. Since October 7th, the hostages held in Hamas captivity became, […]
Friday November 14, 2025 – כ״ג חֶשְׁוָ תשפ”ו In the Old American West, before the rule of law took hold, justice was often delivered at the end of a rope or the barrel of a gun. Vigilantes claimed to act in the name of order, but their “justice” was really about power. Whoever was the […]
November 7, 2025 – ט״ז חֶשְׁוָן תשפ”ו The scene was idyllic. Six Israeli women stood draped under a tallit as the sun caught the Jerusalem stone just at the right angle, reminding us of its goldenness. Standing in the Hebrew Union College–Jerusalem courtyard before hundreds of family, friends, and supporters, these six newly minted rabbis […]
Friday October 31, 2025 – ט״ז חֶשְׁוָן תשפ”ו Despite being an incredible visionary, Theodor Herzl could not, in his wildest dreams, have imagined the scene that took place yesterday in Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews descended on the capital city to protest the possibility of being drafted into the army. “WE WOULD RATHER […]
ARZENU, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), together with our global partners, applauds the recently announced agreement by the center-left and center-right blocs of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), and the Jewish Agency for Israel to split the leadership of Israel’s major national institutions under a shared‐leadership model. […]
Friday October 24, 2025 – ב׳ חֶשְׁוָן תשפ”ו “We are here to lay the foundation stone of the house which is to shelter the Jewish nation.” — Theodor Herzl, Opening Speech at the First Zionist Congress, August 29, 1897 Theodor Herzl did not invent Zionism, nor did he coin the term. Zionism — the belief […]
Friday October 17, 2025 – כ״ה תִּשְׁרֵי תשפ”ו They had become household names; some might say even celebrities. Just normal people living their lives prior to that fateful and tragic day — known only to their family and friends. Now, so many of us feel like we know them, know their stories, their family members. […]
