I have known many atheists, some are beloved friends and family members. I am blessed to be Jewish and to have a teaching that does not ask me to condemn their belief. A rabbi told me this story as we were walking around Lake Merritt in Oakland many years ago. I have looked for its…
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The Torah portion T’rumah is about the building of the Tabernacle in the desert. This could be read at face value as a rather boring set of building instructions. But we are never limited to the simple meaning in Torah. Rabbi Josh Weisman of Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro sent this beautiful message to…
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(A Torah scroll laid out for repair by a sofer, a Hebrew scribe) One of the things that bothers me a great deal is the believe by many (Jews and non-Jews) that there is a single true Jewish belief on everything from God to food. You can image how happy I was to see this…
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In May of this year Rabbi Sami Barth wrote a beautiful explanation of the Torah on abortion for his congregation. (Rabbi Barth was the transitional rabbi for Am Tikvah in San Francisco.) I have his permission to share his email with you. This is a subject with which our country is struggling. For those who…
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One rabbi’s message to her congregation about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Shanah Tovah! Just before Rosh Hashanah, we heard the news of the death of a modern Jewish hero, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She lived her life as a proud Jewish woman. Justice Ginsburg worked tirelessly, throughout her career, for gender equality and women’s rights. Having faced sexism…
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Rabbi Annette Koch‘s drash (teaching) on this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, brings ancient truths to modern conditions. Rabbi Koch is the spiritual leader of Temple Israel in Alameda. When my father spoke about the horrors of being a prisoner in a Russian forced labor camp on the Finnish-Russian border during World War II, he…
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