We have a new federal holiday! Juneteenth. The Jewish social justice organization, Bend the Arc, emailed their constituents this information: This Saturday, June 19, marks the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth, commemorating the day when the news of abolition finally reached enslaved Black people in Texas. On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston…
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(Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay ) Shavuot begins at sundown this Sunday. Shavuot is a bit of a puzzler holiday. The Torah has very little to say about it. Most of what we know of ancient practices comes from the Mishnah. It was born as an agricultural holiday and acquired greater meaning in time….
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(Mt. Meron by Lior Golgher • ליאור גולגר – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2277766) Last night there was a tragedy in Israel, people were killed in a terrible accident in the midst of their celebration of Lag B’omer. Rabbi Larry Milder sent this message to his congregation. I want to point out to you…
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(This letter originally appeared in my Mixed and Matched column for the J-weekly on Nov. 17, 2020) Dear Dawn: Can I first say how impactful and helpful I have found your writing? I am a non-Jew in a relationship with a Jewish man. I love him, and his Orthodox identity is a big part of…
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Dear Dawn: My dad is my Jewish parent and I was raised Reform. Being a “patrilineal Jew” was never discussed in my shul. My dad did tell me more traditional Jews wouldn’t accept me as Jewish, but honestly he seems more angry than helpful. In college I learned more about my status as I was…
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(This letter is from my Mixed and Matched column in the J-weekly and appeared Jan. 19, 2021.) Dear Dawn: My uncle recently had his DNA tested, and it turns out that we are from Jewish lineage. I had always wondered because my mother’s great-grandfather’s last name was Jewish. I’m trying to find out more about…
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