Community
Revisiting Rituals: Offering Non-Alcoholic Options
For a person who is an alcoholic or for a family that contains an alcoholic, little or no acknowledgement is given to the recognition that a glass of wine can often be toxic.
Celebrating Purim in Recovery: Shared History and Personal Experience
For those who live with addiction or substance dependency, there are occasions that test one’s commitment to sobriety. The greatest gift we can give is to dispense with any expectation of inebriation as a mitzvah or an obligation.
Philanthropy in a Time of Crisis—and Why History Matters
How might we re-envision philanthropy so it is less a handmaiden to capitalism and more an agent of the broad citizenry of democracy?
Noticing Jews of Color in Our Communities
The challenge is to become more aware that Jews of Color rightfully belong in our communities, and then to welcome and support them in the multiple ways in which it may be appropriate.
A New Theory of Interfaith Marriage
We need a new theory of interfaith marriage in which the covenant is understood to be between God and people who are Jewishly engaged. What matters is the engaging itself, not whether the person engaging is a Jew or not.
Leviticus Has the Answers: COVID-19 and Community Welfare
The biblical response to contagion: Self-quarantine voluntarily, even if you personally have nothing to gain from doing so, for the good of the community.
God Cafes
In our culture, talking about our experience of God/the Divine or our relationship with God/the Divine is uncommon and even countercultural. Doing so often satisfies a deep need.
The Snuggle for Survival
As individuals and families, as communities and nations, we can best survive with one another and not against each other.
Beyond Inclusion: How Converts to Judaism Are Transforming Communities
Jews by choice contribute immeasurably to the Jewish community. Their experiences, questions and perspectives invigorate the Jewish world and open exciting possibilities for the evolution of Jewish civilization.
A Prayer for a New Vision of Jewish Community
May we, speedily and in our days, help to move towards such a reality of deep connection to ourselves, one another, our place in the world and knowing You.
September Adult Ed Beit Midrash
Rabbi Toba Spitzer dives into the use of metaphors in framing a picture of the Jewish people that is encompassing and defining, drawing on three conceptual metaphors: “covenant,” “narrative” and “tribal.”
Real and Enduring
Our stories and traditions are powerful, whether or not they qualify as historical facts. There are 70 faces of Torah, multiple truths that coexist.
Judaism on Our Own Terms: Radical Inclusivity on College Campuses
Jews on college campuses across the continent are forming independent groups they call Judaism on Our Own Terms. The impetus is often constraints by institutions about what topics can be discussed and who counts as a Jew.
Advice Process: Revisiting Organizational Decision-Making to Make Executives Our Coaches and Mentors
Towards leadership models for Jewish communal leadership that empower at all levels and lifts up the unique expertise of leaders, regardless of hierarchy.
Radical Inclusion
Declarations that everyone is welcome in a community are insufficient for Jews who do not identify as white. Jewishness is not the sole or primary identity for those who are oppressed and endangered because of the color of their skin.
Evolve is a project of Reconstructing Judaism
