Langston Hughes wrote: ‘I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong… I, too, am America.’ It was 1926 when he published the iconic poem. America was a different place...
A large KI group spent four days in the south this past weekend, exploring the history of the civil rights movement. Our feet stood on hallowed ground: the spot where Rosa Parks boarded the bus for her fateful ride, the site where the 55-mile Selma to Montgomery march ended, the...
What name will you make for yourself this year? After all, each of us carries multiple names. To some we are ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ perhaps. Perhaps we are ‘grandma,’ ‘grandpa,’ ‘saba,’ ‘nana.’ We are aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. We have professional names and nicknames. We are known one...
Dear Friends: We have been grieving since October 7. As Israel seeks to defend itself from terror, we watch from afar, praying for a peaceful resolution, hurting as we learn of the loss of life. We pray for the wellbeing of those taken captive, the young and the innocent whose...
I spent last weekend with 800 of our fellow Reform Jews in Washington D.C. I was there to take part in celebrating 150 years of the Union for Reform Judaism, originally the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. In attendance were the leaders of our movement, prominent speakers, authors and teachers....
We are glued to the news. Hostages are released in groups. When will they all be home? How can the lives of these poor children ever be the same? How will these families ever find a kind of normalcy again? How do we find joy when so many are still...
On Tuesday I was one of 300,000 people who descended on our nation’s capital to rally for the release of 240 hostages being held by Hamas. We stood together across faith, across denomination, across race and sexuality as we sang out and prayed for an end to antisemitism. We applauded...
I read an article recently about the Bar Kohba revolt which took place 2,000 years ago. Maybe you know about it. If not, let me tell you the story. Centuries ago, way back in the year 132 in Israel, with the great Temple just recently destroyed, the Roman ruler of...
Message delivered by Rabbi Benjamin David at the Israel Prayer Vigil on October 11th, 2023. I stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. As a rabbi, as the grandson of Holocaust survivors, as someone who has walked the sandy hills of the Negev and gazed out from the grassy mountaintops...
These have been deeply upsetting days. As the world watches, Israeli citizens are being murdered by a terrorist entity bent on the annihilation of Jews and a Jewish state. It is gut-wrenching and awful. This is – by far – the most egregious attack on Israel and Israelis in a...
