“What would a magazine article say about my worth?” asks Rabbi Samantha Natov. “Are we only as valuable as the amount of money we have?”
After accidentally dating a d’var Torah “3019,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch began to think about the world in 1,000 years and how future generations will look back on our time.
“It may be that it is near impossible to agree on truth,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov, who challenges us: if truth is subjective, then why is it important for us to prioritize honesty?
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch questions our country’s health in the wake of the NBA-China controversy. “The general manager of the Houston Rockets sent a rather bland tweet upholding the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong – and chaos ensued. What could be more American – or Jewish – than to ‘fight for freedom?’”
Rabbi Samantha Natov tells the story of a woman who imagined grandiose plans for a bright future and urges us to push ourselves to start taking the first steps toward change. “While our blueprint for change that we imagined over the High Holy Days can be a touchstone we return to for inspiration, strength and direction, we cannot simply reflect upon these plans; we need to put them into action.”
Rabbi Samantha Natov reminds us of our collective responsibility laid out in the Torah to take care of our planet for future generations. “We are visitors who inherit what is given us for a short time and then we pass it on. And, as such, we are called to be responsible wardens of the earth, which belongs to God.”
