After years of pressure from advocates, Pa. House advances gift ban – Rabbi Michael Pollack (’17)
After years of pressure from advocates, leaders in Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled state House are indicating they might be willing to substantially tighten the law governing legislative gifts.
Michael Pollack, a Philadelphia rabbi, has spent the last three years nonviolently agitating for a gift ban with the group March on Harrisburg.
The Growing Ranks of Female Scribes – Rabbi Bec Richman (’18)
Richman feels that there is a tension in her understanding of her craft. On one hand, it does feel “powerfully subversive” to do something denied to women for centuries; on the other hand, she does find meaning in tradition.
For artist-rabbi and his Baltimore flock, Rosh Hashanah means honoring the past before letting it go – Rabbi Douglas Heifetz (’05)
It’s no coincidence Heifetz, a 45-year-old Silver Spring resident, thought of turning the tradition into an exercise in art. About four years ago, he says, he felt a compulsion to “do something with my hands” and began experimenting with metal as an art form. Heifetz progressed from creatively bending silverware to molding and shaping metal, transforming spoons, copper wire and car trim into works of art.
Rabbinical student, May Ye, led a workshop on improving racial equality in Judaism
Ye led discussions on the intersection of social justice and spiritual space, and how to honor the wide variety of ethnic backgrounds that exist in Judaism.
Rabbi Amy Bernstein (‘97) featured in Tashlikh Reconstructed
“We accept the responsibility for changing and for changing this world. That is what people need to stay in hope. And without hope, there is no energy for no creative new solutions,” says Rabbi Amy Bernstein (‘97) in this moving video, Tashlikh Reconstructed.
Rabbi Michelle Stern (’11) honored as an outstanding young professional by Jewish Federation
The award, which was presented at the Federation’s Annual Meeting Sept. 17, recognizes Jewish professionals under 40 whose exemplary performance at a Jewish agency in the Chicago area has benefited the entire Jewish community.
‘We are all accountable’: Maryland’s Jewish community protests ICE in Howard County – Rabbi Ariana Katz (’18)
“We are all accountable for the violence that happens at our borders,” Katz said. “Showing up for others is actually an action you can do in a world that feels powerless.”
Rabbi Rachel Weiss (’09) was a keynote speaker at Evanston’s first Pride Fest.
Keynote speakers included Rabbi Rachel Weiss of Evanston’s Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation. Weiss was raised in Evanston and said she is the town’s first lesbian rabbi. “I came back after college and my wife and I got married here in Evanston at the synagogue where I am now rabbi,” Weiss said.
A nesting chain of dependencies – Rabbi Leiah Moser (‘17)
“I was very interested in Kaplan’s approach to Judaism as an evolving religious civilization, and the idea that it is a manifestation of Jews and what we believe and how we believe, not the other way around. It is not that we are Torah, and therefore we are Jews. It is more that we are Jews, and therefore there is Torah.”
Out rabbi to begin tenure at local synagogue – Rabbi Alanna Sklover (‘13)
A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College with a specialization in the congregational rabbinate, Sklover said she identifies with the strong sense of community and inclusion that the Or Hadash congregation cultivates.
