Boldly and humbly send forth our ideas
Day 21 of the Omer Malchut in Tiferet – sovereignty, where ideas meet reality, in the concept of beauty and balance. Thinking leads to doing, and doing often undoes our thinking. Seldom do the best of our plans survive implementation, and so there is great humility in putting something out there and seeing what happens […]
Video Interview on the Challenge to NC Amendment One
Here is an interview on Huffington Post Live with Rabbi Jonathan and other plaintiffs in the legal challenge to NC’s Amendment One on First Amendment grounds (video begins at 1:50): Interview Video on Huffington Post Live
Blacks and Jews Walking Together – Then and Now
by Rabbi Judy Schindler Book burnings, cross burnings, hangings, lynchings. Pasts so painful they are hard to face. Times when human decency, human dignity were hidden from sight. Society structured to dehumanize, Laws passed to limit options, to limit life. Evil unleashed. Not all was lost. The Nazis, the KKK could not take away our […]
Marriage Equality Law Suit Filed April 28, 2014
[Here is my statement from yesterday’s Press Conference announcing the filing of the law suit filed by clergy, religious denominations, and couples, seeking same-sex marriage on First Amendment, Freedom of Religion, grounds] Our traditions teach: “Justice, justice, you shall pursue.” I am honored and blessed to stand here today on the right side of history. […]
Hearing Voices – MLK 2014
by Rabbi Judy Schindler At Temple Beth El, Martin Luther King is one of our favorite weekends of the year. We cherish our exchanges and this year is no exception. CN Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church is a remarkable place with a remarkable leader. Your Pastor, Dr. Jerry Cannon is dynamic, wise, passionate, creative, and dedicated […]
The Jewish Voice of Celebration
Kvetch, defined by the OED as: to complain habitually, gripe; as a noun, a person who always complains, describes our people from the start. After our liberation from slavery in Egypt we complain: “Freedom is nice. Where’s the water? Where’s the meat? Slavery had better accommodations.” As we read Exodus this month and next, I […]
Closing Prayer at the Medicaid Expansion Press Conference
Our fates rely on each of us caring for our selves and our whole community. Every person is touched by the fate of everyone else, and so we must pursue compassion for all. A Jewish tradition imagines each and every one of us as a reflection of God. We are all unique echoes of the […]
Day 49 of the Omer – time to do
Malchut in Malchut – the fullness of well-considered meaningful presence and realization in itself. This is it. Plans have been laid, preparations have been made, we stand in front of our next big motion. For the Israelites in our story, the mountain and revelation and eventually the holy land lay before them. What is imminently […]
Day 48 of the Omer – leap from solid ground
Yesod in Malchut – the solid balancing point in the wholeness that rules useful doings. Our best steps start from solid ground. Bringing all the ingredients together to create that stable starting off spot requires all the principles that we have reflected on up until now. Find that spot, build it even, and then take […]
