Count Me In – the Half-Shekel Legacy
There is so much coming up at Society Hill Synagogue! We’ve got a Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat this weekend that I am really looking forward to, with Rabbi Michael Cohen from the Arava Institute; we’ve got all of our Purim festivities March 1, 2, and 3, and if you can believe it, it is already time to: […]
Hardened Hearts, Open Doors
Three stories sit heavily on my heart this week. First, the return to Israel on Monday of the remains of the last hostage in the Gaza Strip, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili z”l, taken captive by Palestinian Islamic Jihad some 842 days before his return. These were a harrowing 842 days that marked tragedy for Israelis […]
On Struggle, Relationship, and Responsibility
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Two rabbinic leadership organizations of which I am a part, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, joined together in a cross-denominational statement, along with all other major institutions in the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements, against violent immigration enforcement. You can read the statement in […]
A Reverberation Between Soul and Source
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It’s been a head-spinning time in world events. Last week we witnessed the capture of Venezuela’s President in a US military raid and his subsequent arraignment on drugs and weapons charges, as well as the killing of a U.S. Citizen, Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs […]
There is Nothing More Whole Than a Broken Heart
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’ve found myself wrestling recently with the question of whether or not there is such a thing as a prototypical “Jewish sensibility.” The answer is: probably not. If, as the old joke goes, two Jews means three opinions, and since, if anything, Jewish tradition has always been grounded on preserving this […]