Friday, January 16, 2026 – כ״ז טֵבֵת תשפ”ו “When Pharaoh does not heed you, I will lay My hand upon Egypt and deliver My ranks, My people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with extraordinary chastisements.” —Exodus 7:4 The streets of Iran have been filled with fire, chants, and fear. Protesters pour into city […]
January 9, 2025 – כ׳ טֵבֵת תשפ”ו New leadership often brings with it uncertainty and big questions. This week, we read one of the most politically charged verses in the Torah: “A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yoseph.” (Exodus 1:8) With that sentence, memory collapses. Gratitude dissolves. History is severed from […]
Friday December 26, 2025 – ו׳ טֵבֵת תשפ”ו It was an odd and quietly moving scene inside the Knesset this week. In a building more accustomed to arguments, protests, and procedural tension, two Reform rabbis—one of them also a cantor—sat and ended a Knesset committee session by pulling out a guitar and singing Debbie Friedman’s […]
Friday, December 19, 2025 – כ״ט כִּסְלֵו תשפ”ו Yesterday in Sydney, the Jewish and broader Australian community gathered for an emotional funeral for 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre. Friends and family remembered her as a bright, joyful child — a “ray of sunshine” whose sudden loss was nothing short […]
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 […]
