justice

Free Speech vs. Constructive Speech

I’ve never met Pamela Geller, but she’s part of my extended family. As far as I know, we aren’t related ...

#Blacklivesmatter Starts with the Soul

As I look at the headlines, I see continuing fallout from police killing another black man, this time in Baltimore. ...

Black Lives Matter. Life Matters. It is On Us.

I have been in and out of sleep all night. I wake automatically reaching for the remote to see if ...

Free-Range Judaism

I have to admit, as a parent of an elementary school-aged child, that I am a supporter of and practitioner ...

Passover Isn’t What it Used to Be – And Why That’s a Good Thing!

One of the most oft-repeated themes of the Torah is that we must remember that we were slaves and strangers ...

Tzom Bechorot: Why I’m Fasting Before Passover

April 3, 2015, is Tzom Bechorot, Fast of the Firstborn when first-born Jews fast before the first seder of Passover. This day also ...

Gasping For Air In Israeli Discourse

I love the ocean.  Whether surfing or just playing in the waves, as a native Californian, I feel at home ...

Who Speaks for the Jews?

I have sung the song “David Melech Yisrael” thousands of times. It’s easy to learn and fun to sing with ...

A Hundred Thousand Miracles

I cannot remember the last time I switched on the news—be it on the television or the radio—or glanced at a newspaper headline ...

The Cruelty of a Cheeseburger

This week’s Torah portion commands us to swear off cheeseburgers. Well not exactly. It was the rabbis that created the ...