I never really understood Chanukah until I went to Spain. Standing in a church that had been a synagogue until the Jews were all either expelled or murdered, looking at the crucifix hanging where the ark had been, I understood the Maccabees in a whole new way. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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If the only stories we learn are Anne Frank’s and Elie Wiesel’s, then we will have a very shallow understanding of the Holocaust. There is a richness and a visceral connection to the stories of Frank and Wiesel, but these are but two among a galaxy of stories that comprise the individuals who experienced the Holocaust. [redirects to the Times of Israel]
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“Why do we need to teach the Holocaust?” This week, as we mark the first yahrzeit of the eleven people murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, I want to explore this question from a different angle, an angle of hopeful action. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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Our holy books do not tell us to “tolerate the stranger.” They tell us to love them. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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We cannot allow terrorists to lay claim to the values of our communities. Once again, a terrorist has come into a place of peace and used community as a cover to commit an act of evil. In this case, he claimed to be working for the advancement of the white, Christian community. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that the story of slavery in America is often told by the perpetrators. Isn’t it time we started to listen to the voices of the victims? [redirects to the Times of Israel]
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How is it possible that we are still fighting racism, sexism, and antisemitism in this country? We thought we were the most forward-looking country in the world, a light unto the nations. We thought we had evolved beyond such destructive tribalism. We thought we could see the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice before our eyes.[1] We just had to sit back and let it happen.
That was our mistake. Bending toward justice does not happen when we sit back and watch. Even treading water requires effort and vigilance. [Redirects to the Times of Israel]
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This Valentine’s Day, we can learn about loving our neighbors from watching how rats do it. [Redirects to the Times of Israel.]
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It distresses me how long it has taken for us to realize what Emanuel Ringelblum recognized in 1940 at the very inception of the Warsaw ghetto: unless we Jews tell our story, the story of the Holocaust will be told by the perpetrators. In the experiences of many of us, the story of the Holocaust has been dominated by Nazi propaganda and Nazi thinking. [redirects to the Times of Israel.]
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What was God’s role in the Holocaust? Was God a perpetrator, a bystander, or a savior? Many of us have grappled with these questions: Where was God during the Holocaust? How could a God who loves us let such a thing happen? [redirects to the Times of Israel]
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