By Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy, Rabbi Emerita, Temple Sinai , Washington, DC It’s almost the end of the journey – 40 long years of wandering, one generation with dim memories of slavery and a miraculous redemption; the other, born in the midbar , the wilderness, ready to get on with it, yet filled with fears […]
by Rabbi Alan David Londy, D.Min., New Reform Temple , Kansas City, MO Zionism was always intended to bring Jewish unity. The Zionist movement has its roots in our ancient vision of a messianic reunification of the dispersed Jews throughout the world. This ingathering of the Jews is more than bringing all Jews to one […]
by Rabbi Dr. Deborah Kahn-Harris, Principal, Leo Baeck College , London, UK I was about eight years old when I started refusing to do the pledge of allegiance at school. At the Jewish day school in Houston I attended growing up, the American flag was raised daily, and we were asked to place our hands […]
Recent Issues By: Rabbi Danny Burkeman, Rabbi at the Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York, USA. He is a former Board member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) Dealing with Religious Extremism It’s not easy being a religious person today. I often worry that religion as a whole gets very bad press […]
Recent Issues Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1) By: Rabbi Rene Pfertzel, Keren Or, Lyon, France and Finchley Progressive Synagogue, London, UK Religion has a very bad reputation nowadays. Dreadful actions are perpetrated in the name of religion, not only in the Middle East, but also in our developed, well-educated first world. Religion is used as a […]
Recent Issues by Rabbi Dr. Gábor Lengyel, Kehilat Ez Chajim , Hanover, Germany, and Guest Lecturer at the Leibniz University, Hanover Parashat Pinchas is a very difficult chapter where Pinchas, the priest, plays the leading role. It was Pinchas who, towards the end of the wandering through the desert, put an end to the immoral ways […]
by Rabbi Shaul (Paul) R Feinberg, PhD, Emeritus Associate Dean, Associate Adjunct Professor of Education, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion , Jerusalem It is customary to wish persons going on a journey: “ Tzeit-khem l’shalom, oovo-ackehm l’shalom – go peacefully, in wholeness, and return peacefully, in wholeness.” Such a greeting reminds me of the […]
By Rabbi Fred Morgan, Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth Israel , Melbourne, Australia Pinchas opens with one of the most confronting stories in the Torah. The tale actually begins in the previous week’s portion, Balak . The Israelite men are seduced by the Moabite (also called Midianite) women. They engage in orgiastic sex, an idolatrous practice […]
by Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, Head of the Movement for Reform Judaism in Britain “We are getting breaking news of a terrorist outrage in Shittim. Reports say that a Midianite woman has been brutally murdered by an Israelite. We can go over to our correspondent in Shittim, Mo Ab.” “There’s uproar here in Shittim. The […]
Recent Issues By: Rabbi Uri Lam, Congregação Israelita Mineira , Minas Gerais, Brazil When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him and he spoke his message: (…) “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel! Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside […]