Category: Featured
“As I Develop the Awakening Mind:” the Dharma and MCA
Adam Yauch, aka MCA, died last week. He was a founding member of the Beastie Boys, also known for his Buddhism and social activism. He created the Milarepa Fund, which produced the Tibetan Freedom con... Read More
CeCe McDonald and the Need for Transformation: What Jacob’s Dream has to teach us about justice
CeCe's story is a particular story, a story of one woman living in a society with a long legacy of violence against women, violence against people of color, violence against queers, who fought back in... Read More
Why I am voting against Amendment One in North Carolina
On May 8th, North Carolina voters will cast their ballots on a proposed amendment to the constitution that reads like this: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal uni... Read More
From the Prophetic Age to Rabbinic Tradition: Who Will Call for Justice Now?
While the messages of the prophets are still desperately in need today, we no longer accept the prophetic system as legitimate. The call for justice is essential, yet the reality of one or two people ... Read More
“Rules By Which They Could Not Live:” My Bat Mitzvah Drash
How can I publicly commit to a faith whose sacred texts explicitly condemn an important part of my life? I address this in my Bat Mitzvah drash, on parshat K'doshim-Acharei Mot.... Read More
Holiness and Removing the Stumbling Block — Parashat Kedoshim
Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27) is read this week as part of the annual Torah reading cycle in the synagogue. As is the case most years, it is read in conjunction with the parsha or Torah por... Read More
From Redemption to Revelation: how do we get there, together?
The period of Counting the Omer (we count 49 days from the second day of Passover to Shavuot) in which we currently find ourselves is a reminder of the road between redemption and revelation. It seems... Read More
What I Learned From Elie Wiesel
Every once in a while, maybe even once in a lifetime, someone comes into your life, unexpectedly, and changes it forever. That happened to me in the Fall of 2001. By this time, I had already gone back... Read More