And through all of that, we believed that by our labor and our suffering and our defiance we would make a better world for the young people who would come after us. That one day young people would be able to come out without fear of rejection; they'd be able to work in their chosen professions; they'd be able to live where they want and love who they want and be who they want. They could find love and even get married. And above all, they'd be safe.
Read moreIn the Wake
But we don’t as easily tune into our other ways of remembering. You see we are still riding the wake of the Shoah. We are still in the water, bobbing up and down.
Read moreBlessings and Bugs
It's funny how on a planet of 9 million species, we can so readily think of ourselves, and no other creatures, as the ones. As the Earthlings. Imagine how insulted we'd be if aliens finally landed and, calling out, "Hello Earthlings," they breezed right past us to speak with a rosebush.
Read moreTrump & Shamelessness, Muslims & Complexity, and Don't Forget Love
American Muslims are now experiencing public questions about their loyalties, verbal harassment, threats of vandalism and violence, and proposals of special legislation directed at them. If this reminds you of the situation of Jews in 1930s Germany, it should. And if so, it then becomes our job, our duty as Jews, to intervene - to do now what we wish people had done then. To give our best and our holiest gifts to this task.
Read moreIn the Mosque: How Good, How Pleasant
On my way there it occurred to me that I hadn't thought through the question of whether I would participate in any of the prayer or just be an observer. Would I get down? When I'm in a church, I sit respectfully, I listen for points of connection, but I never kneel. But that's different - in a church it is either an image of Jesus or a symbol representing his divinity that is the thing people are kneeling before. That is a way of understanding God that I cannot share.
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