Kotzer Ruach and the Pedagogy of Hope

After USY International Convention was canceled due to the omicron variant, I needed to find some comfort in Torah. Here are my thoughts on this week’s parasha and the pedagogy of hope on my long-dormant blog at The Times of Israel.

How USY “Killed” Membership (And Why It Had It Coming)

On July 1, 2021, membership in USY will be no more. After a long hiatus, here’s my article in eJewishPhilanthropy about why that’s awesome, and what it means to take a wrecking ball to an iconic practice.

Clergy Guide on Domestic Abuse

A report from The Council on Foreign Relations states “rising numbers of sick people, growing unemployment, increased anxiety and financial stress, and a scarcity of community resources have set the stage for an exacerbated domestic violence crisis around the world.” While the COVID-19 pandemic leads to many explicit crises, sometimes the biggest crises are the silent ones.

This past year, I was honored to edit a new edition of a Jewish Women International’s Clergy Guide on Domestic Abuse in my capacity as a member of their Clergy Task Force on Domestic Abuse. I’m so proud that our team just published the new edition in both web-based and PDF form. Please read, share, and inform.

The Problem of Racism Lies With Me

I am a somewhat regular contributor to eJewishPhilanthropy, and wanted for some time to write a piece on racism and white privilege. And yet I struggled for months to write a piece I felt comfortable with because of one roadblock: my own racism.

Today, eJP published an article about my struggle to do teshuvah and recognize that I am both “the problem” and part of “the solution” to systemic racism. You can read the article by clicking on this link.

Can We Remix Our Judaism?

Tomorrow night, I will be a guest on Facebook Live sponsored by JewishLIVE with Rabbi Avi Finegold and Professor Roberta (Bobbi) Kwall, as we discuss Bobbi’s new book Remix Judaism.   You can RSVP for the event here; I hope that you can join us.

USY’s Epic Summer Pivot

A few weeks ago, USY cancelled our summer programs.  And yet one of the most important things people can do in times of acute stress is express hakarat ha-tov, gratitude, and these days I find myself with an abundance of gratitude.

Last week, eJewishPhilanthropy published my article about myUSYfi Summer, USY’s completely digital operation for summer 2020, and what it portends for the future of teen engagement.  You can read the article by clicking on this link.

A Letter to a Heartbroken Teen

Breaking a teenager’s heart always breaks my heart.   And, in a time of COVID-19, it’s not going to get easier any time soon.   Today, eJewishPhilanthropy published a letter I wrote to USYers and all teenagers who no longer have plans for the summer.  You can read the article by clicking on this link.

Holiness Through Restraint

Critiquing social media is chic, yet I believe that the conventional wisdom about social media lets us off the hook too easily and denies us agency.   This week, I wrote a guest Dvar Torah for the Jewish Theological Seminary on how Parashat Aharei Mot-Kedoshim teaches us that the choice to sanctify or not sanctify something lies with us.  You can read the Dvar Torah by clicking on this link.

How Nel Noddings Would Transform USY

Recently, I took my dream job as Senior Director of USY, the Jewish youth movement that changed my life forever.   Today, eJewishPhilanthropy published an article I wrote about my educational vision for USY.  You can read the article by clicking on this link.

Snark is the Greatest Threat to Conservative Judaism

In my hardest moments as a Conservative rabbi, I remember that most of the people critiquing how we do what we do are not cynical commentators who chose to abandon that which they could transform, or who never chose this form of Judaism at all, but people who want to remain and create a new vision, a vision worthy of this moment.

Today, eJewishPhilanthropy published an article I wrote about that pervasive, movement-wide pessimism was and remains the greatest threat to Conservative Judaism. You can read the article by clicking on this link.