“Today is an important day: June 19th, the day that the emancipation finally arrived to the slaves of Galveston. It wasn’t the exact day they were freed, recalled the descendants of the slaves, but that’s the day they told them that they were free,” says our Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. “It was the same for our people. They became free when they told each other: ‘We are free. We are not returning to Egypt. We are marching forward to the Promised Land.’”
In this week’s parashah, God rejects Miriam and Aaron’s bias against Moses’ dark-skinned Cushite wife. “The message is clear,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov. “We are equal before God, regardless of the color of our skin. We need to recognize our own racial biases and start the work of change.
Rabbi Natov explores how we can offer the ancient blessings of our ancestors to each other — and act upon them to help restore balance to the world in a time of chaos and violence.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch discusses George Floyd’s death and our country’s yearning for justice.
Judaism was never big on self-denial,” says Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch discussing this week’s parashah. “Holiness is expressed through ethical actions. Fundamentalists and extremists distort the mainstream Jewish tradition of seeking moderation, logic and reason.
As we begin the Book of Numbers this week, Rabbi Samantha Natov explores how we redefine who we are in this liminal space and how this moment in time offers a chance for growth and renewal.
