Category: Social Issues
“I Wanted to Be an Iconoclast”: A Protest Against the Pledge of Allegiance and a Call to True Iconoclasm
This past week, my stickler-for-the-rules seven-year-old son got in trouble at school for refusing to stand for and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This refusal came not from a strong familial protes... Read More
What Does “Dayenu” Mean Today?
One of my favorite parts of the Passover seder is the singing that takes place after we finish eating. There are so many great, fun songs, from “Ehad Mi Yodeah” to “Chad Gadya.” Perhaps my fav... Read More
The Myth of a Judeo-Christian Tradition
In the United States, it’s common to hear frequent and impassioned references to the concept of ‘Judeo-Christian’ culture, ethics, or values. Any cursory review of American media wil... Read More
Receiving Life and Dealing with Death: Impurity!
Yeshayahu Leibowitz explains that the reason to couple the Torah portions of Tazri’a and Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33) in the Jewish communal reading of the Torah is that they both deal with b... Read More
Unity Through Diversity
“What options are there for those who want to recognize that there is a higher power but don’t fit into organized religion?” This question is common in the circles I travel. Many of my friends a... Read More
Seventy Times Seven, or Why Religious Communities Need to Get Smarter About Mental Health, Right Freaking Now.
We are all humans. All humans make mistakes. Mistakes can (and should, in my opinion) be forgiven. That being said, this does not give us license to keep on making these mistakes. There is part of a l... Read More
Who is my neighbor? (Syria edition)
As the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have become increasingly sectarian over the last few years, feeding off one another’s dynamics and international rhetoric and involvement, stories about the pe... Read More
The Good Samaritan: Knowing our Strengths and Weaknesses for Care
This past week, I had the great honor of leading an alternative spring break trip of ten undergraduate students to Philadelphia, with an emphasis on interfaith encounters and social justice. We focuse... Read More