A Time of Transition Between Light and Bloom Between candles that burn out and the light that remains in the heart, Winter stands halfway along its path, and the imprint of Hanukkah still drifts across the windows. Yet already the pulse of a new soil is heard: the buds of Tu BiShvat whisper beneath the […]
December 30, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Hope but Vigilance for the Jewish Community in 2026 The Jewish community enters the new year with renewed clarity and determination despite the significant and deadly challenges faced in 2025. This past year has stripped away any remaining illusions: anti-Jewish […]
This is The Way (?) … “Something within you will tell you: Continue … on your way.” Have you ever been asked, “What does it mean to be a Conservative Jew?” Since my path crossed and merged with the Masorti (Conservative) movement decades ago, I have been asked this question frequently. One of my teachers […]
December 23, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – VOICES – STORIES Communities Choose Courage Amid Escalating Hate This Holiday Season As more than 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate Christmas and billions more celebrate their own winter holidays, extremist rhetoric and violent attacks have caused heightened security, canceled events and […]
Hanukkah: Agony, Peoplehood, and Promise Megillat Antiochus, recounting the Hanukkah story, tells of the Seleucid decree to ban Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and circumcision. This was intended to weaken the Jews and punish them for following their distinctive ways. Those practices are portrayed as the foundation of the Jewish people. Circumcision and Shabbat express peoplehood and […]
December 16, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – VOICES – STORIES Hanukkah Under Fire: Gunned Down for Jewish Identity Hanukkah is the story of the Jewish people who refused to abandon their identity, faith and history in the face of persecution. From ancient Jerusalem to the present day, the lighting of […]
MERCAZ USA Statement on the Bondi Beach Terrorist Attack Our hearts are broken by the horrific act of antisemitic terrorism in Bondi Beach, Australia, which has left at least 11 innocents dead and at least 29 injured – at the very moment we are meant to celebrate the triumph of light against overwhelming darkness by […]
Rising to the Challenge of Mighty Waters In the Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service we hear the words: “the thunder of the mighty waters”, describing God’s greatness. Beyond the sound of the “mighty waters” and the “breakers of the sea” … “YHWH is majestic on high” (Ps. 93:4). But when I hear these words I […]
December 9, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Safe Spaces for Jews Become Targets for Violence Jews are being targeted in the very places they gather to feel safest. Recent attacks at synagogues in Los Angeles, New York and Manchester, England, now join the wave of assaults on […]
Lift Your Eyes … From Your Screen “I will praise God with my life.” – Psalms 146:2 Not only prayer or mitzvot — life itself can be an act of praise. I think of this every Sunday when my iPhone tells me how much time I spent staring at its screen in the week prior. […]