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On January 4, 2018

Toxic nationalism is not new

My great-aunt and grandmother lived through the Petlurya pogroms. Their stories would give you nightmares. When I remember this, I fear for our increasingly tribalized world, and our increasingly tribalized country. Pogroms have happened here – not against Jews – and could again. We Jews have the obligation to defend our neighbors. We’ve seen this
On December 25, 2017

Chinese Food

Is Chinese food on Christmas really a Jewish tradition?? Well, of course it is, just a pretty new one, born in America in the mid-20th century when ethnic food meant Italian or Cantonese. (For some reason, all the Cantonese restaurants had neon signs outside that said “cocktails.”) Jews didn’t have anything particular to do on
On October 17, 2017

Of course I do!

If you’re not involved professionally in the Jewish world, you might have missed the current tumult over people from different religious backgrounds marrying each other. (You’ve probably heard this referred to as “intermarriage” or “mixed marriage.”) The Conservative movement, in particular, has been recently in the (Jewish) news because rabbis are speaking out about defying
On October 3, 2017

A Little History

Here’s an article by the dedicated and accomplished Clare Kinberg that tells some history of our Secular Jewish movement. The Jewish Labor Bund
On September 26, 2017

“Judaism Says”

Here is a terrific article by my colleague Adam Chalom. Long and worth reading all the way through. Read it here
On August 29, 2017

Why do we do things backwards?

It seems backwards, the way we Jews do the fall holidays.  First comes Rosh Hashana, where we look forward and make resolutions for the new year.  Then comes Yom Kippur, when we look back and evaluate the past year.   This is the opposite of how we usually make plans.  Normally, we first look at
On August 15, 2017

Nizkor – We remember

We remember our fallen comrade, our sister Heather Heyer. May the light of her courage and commitment shine from generation to generation and may our lives always bring honor to her memory.  
On July 26, 2017

Oh-oh. It’s a boy.

My colleague, Peter Schweitzer, was quoted in this article in the NY Times! When Jewish Parents Decide Not to Circumcise In our Secular Humanistic Jewish movement, we treat boy babies and girl babies exactly the same. We provide a lovely naming ceremony that can have some elements of a bris – we can put a
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