Of all the issues that have come up in interfaith dialogue during my career, none has been more fraught, more unbridgeable, than when we have discussed differences across faiths about reproductive freedom, i.e. abortion. There are ministers and priests with whom I am in deep partnership on other issues or have found some shared recognition of our different narratives; but still, we are unable to … Continue reading The Debate over Reproductive Rights – A Jewish Perspective
This is a week of remembrance. It started on Sunday with the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. As I write this on Thursday morning, we mark Yom Ha’Shoah v’laGevurah (Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day). Established by Israel’s Knesset in 1951, it is a time for us to gather and remember the six million Jews who were killed in the Shoah (and is differentiated from International … Continue reading The Last Living Link
On Thursday afternoon we had the honor to host – together with CJP & the Israeli Consulate – His Excellency, Michael Herzog, Ambassador of Israel to the United States, on his first visit to a U.S. city outside of Washington since assuming office this past November. Barely an hour before some fifty diverse community leaders gathered at our office for a candid discussion about the … Continue reading Holding Hope for Peace
I always take note when one of my weekly posts seems to have struck a chord and last week’s blog, about fatigue and resilience, clearly did for many of you. This week, I’d like to tell you a story about our community’s support of the Ukrainian people, one that I’m holding closely going into Shabbat; since for me, it speaks to the very heart of what … Continue reading Walking in the World Together
I’m hearing fatigue lately, in many conversations I’m having; and, if I’m honest, feeling it in myself. Fatigue that makes me want to turn off the news as the Russian assault on Ukraine enters its fourth week and as the horrors on our news feeds seem to only increase by the day (the AP’s reporting out of Mariupol this week, including children being buried in … Continue reading Finding Resilience Through the Fatigue
It’s been a busy week for us on Beacon Hill, as most are. And as is often the case, unless you follow our social media closely, important updates can easily slip by. So as we come off of our JCRC/Mass. Association of Jewish Federations legislative reception just last night, allow me to draw your attention, briefly, to a few other items of interest this week. … Continue reading Our Legislative Work: Nonprofit Security, Aid for Ukraine, and more
When horrible things are happening in the world – like the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine; an act of territorial imperialism and an assault on the democratic determination by the Ukrainian people – I find myself looking to others to make sense of the situation for me. In despair and frustration, I may be inclined to doom-scroll and devour thought-pieces, as I do with other … Continue reading Showing Up for Ukraine
Before I discuss some local events this past week, allow me to express that – like so many of you – my heart and my mind are very much with Ukraine as I write this. Our Jewish community in Boston has deep connections there; I’ve been privileged to visit our sister Jewish community in Dnipro three times, including twice on solidarity missions after the Russian … Continue reading Working Together to Confront Antisemitism
By Jeremy Burton Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust literary classic, Maus, has been very much in the news and in our conversations. So it is somewhat serendipitous that our Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy is having a long-planned tutor training session this coming week about the treasures of graphic novels and how to best utilize them with students. And when library teacher Liza Halley sits down … Continue reading Sharing my Favorite Graphic Novels
On Thursday we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the global day set by the United Nations marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on January 27, 1945. I had the privilege a few years ago to visit Auschwitz. As anyone who has been there would tell you, the scale of the place is overwhelming. Despite everything I know and have learned … Continue reading Taking a Stand Against Holocaust Distortion