‘The Jewish Question’: Discriminating Against Jews in Schools BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – STORIES Ethnic Studies Curriculum: ‘The Jewish Question’ How to address the “Jewish Question,” a phrase used by the Nazis during the Holocaust, is now being debated in a California school district. Evidence uncovered during the discovery phase of a lawsuit […]
by Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD | President of Mercaz Olami (Representing the global Masorti/Conservative movement) The European roots of Zionism in Conservative Judaism commenced with an emphasis on Jewish history and peoplehood as espoused by Rabbi Zechariah Frankel in the mid-19th century. Rabbi Frankel had withdrawn from the German rabbinical conferences of the 1840s due […]
Last Shabbat we read: “You who hold fast to the Lord your God, are all alive today”. We recite this verse every time the Torah is read publicly, which implies that “holding fast” to God is expressed first and foremost by internalizing the words of the Torah and living by its commandments. Cleaving to God […]
Irony Lost: Activists Protest U.S. and Israel, Ignore Hamas Aggression BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – STORIES The Democratic National Convention in Chicago kicked off without incident despite the presence of thousands of pro-Hamas activists marching outside the security perimeter. The anti-Israel demonstrators descended on the convention to pressure the U.S. Administration to end support […]
by Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD | President of Mercaz Olami (Representing the global Masorti/Conservative movement) With the withdrawal of the British mandatory authorities, the State of Israel emerged in 1947-49 into a military conflict, its War of Independence. In a battle for survival, able-bodied Jews were expected to serve in self-defense of the new country. […]
On Tuesday of this week we observed the anniversary of the destruction of the Temples. Why did Tish’a Be-’Av fall on a Tuesday this year? The answer is that Tish’ah Be-’Av always falls on the same day of the week as seder night at the beginning of Passover. How are those two observances connected? One […]
Taylor Swift, Too? Threatened by Same Extremists Targeting Jews. BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – STORIES Three Taylor Swift concerts in Austria were abruptly cancelled because of an imminent terrorist threat. The main suspect, 19, was radicalized by online terror propaganda, and “thinks it is right to kill infidels,” according to Austrian security services. […]
by Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD | President of Mercaz Olami (Representing the global Masorti/Conservative movement) From 1517 until 1917, the entire Middle East was governed by the Ottoman Empire as a “caliphate,” an Islamic sacred polity. Within the vast terrain of Arab lands and North Africa, religious governance and a measure of minority group autonomy […]
“How can I bear unaided the trouble of you, and the burden, and the bickering!” (Devarim 1:12) The Torah teaches us: if it was difficult for Moshe — “whom the Lord singled out, face to face” (34:10) — to lead the people, then all the more so, every leader must study the solution suggested by […]
Jewish Students Brace for Hostile Fall Semester BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – VOICES – STORIES Even with the imminent threat of a severe Iranian attack against Israel and possibly America looming on the near horizon, students and parents are preparing for the return to class at universities and K-12 schools. The spring semester […]