When Rabbi Jordan Hersh’s grandfather, Joseph Goldstein, lived in Poland, thugs there picked Easter to beat up Jews. Our own fellow citizens chose the day for the presidential election certification to rampage our Capitol and beat up Capitol police and anyone else who got in their way.
Read More »Column: Did Jewish Vote Swing Election?
The Jewish stars aligned, politically speaking, on November 3, 2020 and January 5, 2021.
Read More »Soul Retrieval
‘You can’t choose the card you’re dealt, but you can choose to live every minute of it.’
Read More »God’s Gift to the Bronx?
As he experiences his first week in Congress, Jamaal Bowman will start on a path to do everything he suggests that Rep. Eliot L. Engel failed to do and perhaps even obstructed.
Read More »When Senator Toomey Strikes, We Could Strike Out
Toomey’s stature exemplifies much of what is wrong with the U.S. Senate, a legislative body that is often exploited to undermine vital programs that the majority of Americans need. The minority of Americans very frequently control the Senate, even when a majority of senators combine to represent the majority of citizens.
Read More »The Jewish-Catholic Loyalty Tests
Two religious leaders, Jew and Catholic, each succeeded in breaching the wall separating church and state within two days of one another.
Read More »Don’t Stand by This Holiday Season
We’re living (and dying) in a “quadfecta” of 1) A raging, unprecedented pandemic, 2) Economic inequality and hardship at the highest levels in memory, 3) Racial injustice permeating almost every aspect of American life and 4) Climate change eating away at our planet, and the lives it sustains.
Read More »Looming: The GOP’s Anti-Squad
A Republican “Squad” has much potential to counter Democratic representatives who have been operating a four-woman faction known as the Squad for the last two years, but the Republicans’ comments already suggest that they will overreach, threatening to transform extremists among Democrats into political martyrs.
Read More »Opinion: Brooklyn’s 7,000-Person Wedding
It all comes down to “promote the general welfare” vs. “the free exercise…of religion.”
Read More »The Queen’s Speech
Living in Boulder in these times, I have found two areas of interest besides covid, that stood out this November- One is the second year of Clean Speech Colorado, a program dedicated to teaching proper ways of talking. The second feature of this month is many of my friends’ fascination with the Netflix series, the Queen’s Gambit.
Read More »Meditations of the Heart
For today’s sit, I offer my favorite teacher Sylvia Boorstein’s invitation, “May I meet this moment fully, may I meet it as a friend.” And as Rabbi Flam suggests, "With practice and over time, the part of the mind that’s all about me can go to sleep a little and the fundamental mind, the heart mind of awareness itself, wakes up and does the meditating."
Read More »Erasing Hunger In America Requires More Than Charity
The holidays are around the corner and, for tens of millions of our neighbors across the U.S., this will be a time of scarcity, insecurity, worry and, in the richest nation on earth, hunger.
Read More »Thoughts After Election Day
The election outcome is still not clear today. Many of us may continue to feel stress and anxiety as the results unfold over the coming hours and days.
Read More »A New Clock for a New Year
“Teach us to number our days; thus we become wise of heart.” (Psalms 90:12) The Climate Clock launched this week in Manhattan intends to do just that: teach us to number our days.
Read More »How Donors Can Advance Racial Justice
In response to recent tragedies, many donors – whether in private or public foundations, donor-advised funds, or less structured philanthropy – have, internally and externally, offered important statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and racial justice and equity, with a commitment to anti-racism efforts. Now is the time to go beyond statements.
Read More »Communities and Nonprofits Need Corporate Giving Now More Than Ever
Research shows that 78% of U.S. consumers want companies to address important social justice issues.
Read More »Children of Holocaust Survivors Reflect on Their Traumatic Legacy in a New Collection of Essays
Kathryn Bernheimer shares her thoughts about growing up the child of survivors
Read More »What Serendipity (and Black and Jewish Culture) May Teach Us About Slavery as a Mindset
Polarity, separateness and division is not our innate default. We must drop that mantra and return to believing we can heal that which only appears to separate us.
Read More »The Miracle Of Community
How can the saddest days of the year make someone happy?
Read More »The Climate Crisis Demands Jewish Civic Engagement
Americans can worry about more than one problem at a time.
Read More »Lack of Accountability and Transparency Put Philanthropy at an Inflection Point
A few weeks ago, the coronavirus pandemic obscured the celebration of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary.
Read More »College Admissions Planning – Tips During COVID-19
My hats are off to all teens for navigating their academic and personal lives with grace and strength in the middle of a pandemic, school closings and social unrest within our communities.
Read More »Philanthropy Can Spark Hope And Change
A few weeks ago, the coronavirus pandemic obscured the celebration of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary.
Read More »Solidarity Against Racism
George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery - all human beings created in the Divine image with rights to dignity and safety like all of us - have been murdered in the last few months by law enforcement that is supposed to keep us all safe. How can it be?
Read More »Korda: Reports from Denver Protests
With visceral rage and utter disgust, we took to the streets to PEACEFULLY demand justice for Mr. Floyd and to bring attention to the routine use of deadly force by cops against unarmed, defenseless Black and Latino men, especially young ones.
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