Hanukkah is a time to ask “How to be a Jew in the world?” says Rabbi Shira Gluck. “Even some of the Maccabees had Greek names. The story of Hanukkah is not as simple as ‘us versus them.’”
“May we begin this season for renewal with the inner strength to make the changes we need to.” Rabbi Samantha Natov inspires us to direct energy from Tisha B’Av, a time of communal mourning, towards meaningful personal growth.
As our country grapples with political turmoil and gears up for another divisive election, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch contemplates the moral character of leaders. “The indispensable criterion for leadership is moral awareness,” he says.
“’Let my people go!’ isn’t complete,” says Rabbi Shira Gluck at a special Kabbalat Shabbat in her honor. “The full message that Moses and Aaron delivered to Pharaoh: was, ‘Let my people go that they may worship me.’ Israel is meant to worship together as one. Just as the very first chag l’Adonai was a gathering to celebrate the Eternal, this Shabbat is a celebration of us — and the sacred relationship between rabbi and congregation.”
“These days, trust in our most critical institutions is in distressing decline,” says Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, who discussed how public confidence has eroded when it comes to the media, the courts, schools, churches and synagogues. “Inspiration does not reside in our institutions unless we take care to uphold institutional values.”
Rabbi Samantha Natov recounts a particularly good day made so by cheerful people around her. “Our surroundings are the context within which we operate,” she says. “Imagine how your day-to-day interactions would change if you tried to let love and compassion lead.”
