|
|
The Vilna Gaon said human beings have two ears and only one mouth to ensure that they listen more than speak. (Photo from Wikipedia)
Real communication occurs only if there is something and someone worth listening to.
Read MoreBeth Am is a nearly 500-household, mostly white, largely Ashkenazi Jewish congregation in an historically Jewish and, for many decades, mostly Black neighborhood.
Read More
A fan holds up a sign to honor the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue during the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Oct. 28, 2018. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
A maniac had come for us. Would others, the many, many non-maniacs, speak out, show up and hold us in our grief, panic and fear, wonders Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg.
Read More
Once the railroad corridor on which the Northern Central Railroad operated, the NCR Trail stretches 20 miles from Cockeysville to York, Pa., across the Mason-Dixon Line that separated the North and the South. (Photo by Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg)
The Mason-Dixon Line represented, for much too long, the division between slavery and freedom.
Read More
"We all exist within that circle called a speed limit, and each of us chooses how much of that space we claim, how close to that line we come. … 'Beyond the letter (or line) of the law' would be speeding." -- Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg
We all exist within that circle called a speed limit, and each of us chooses how much of that space we claim, how close to that line we come.
Read More
The bronze relief “Hillel Teaches the Golden Rule” is part of the right middle branch of “Knesset Menorah” by sculptor Benno Elkan, located in Jerusalem across from the Knesset parliamentary building. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia)
Who doesn’t hate feeling invisible, unheard and undervalued? Who among us is not offended by the prospect of a life of destitute poverty or abuse?
Read More
Attendees at a Jewish protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York City on June 21, 2018.
There are so many things to worry about, so many systemic oppressions about which we’ve become more conscious, so many threats to our basic civil society that too many of us (rightly) cannot seem to focus on any one thing for long.
Read More
Our neighbors have all kinds of needs. How are we meeting them? (Photo courtesy Derek Bruff/Flickr Creative Commons)
In a world where problems seem insoluble and basic civility has broken down at the cellular level, we ought to return to basics. Who are our neighbors? How do we treat them?
Read MoreJewishness in America is cartographic; it’s about finding our place. Most of us enjoy the privileges of whiteness that undergird many of our country’s institutions, and yet we are not part of the Christian majority that dominates so many facets of American life.
Read MoreWhen the Torah lays out a prescription for a just society, its starting point is an affirmation of human equality – each of us is created in the “image of God” (Gen. 1:27) and is considered, therefore, equally holy and entitled to equal treatment under the law.
Read MoreNoteworthy superheroes sprung from the minds and pallets of Jewish creators, mapping their American Jewish experience onto colorful messiahs and golems galore.
Read More
