In several days time, we will celebrate Shavuot which, commemorates God’s revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai. As part of our commemoration, we will join together as one community, stand again at Mount Sinai and receive the Torah all over again. In her groundbreaking book, Standing Again at Sinai, published more than 30 years ago, Judith Plaskow calls upon Jewish women to reclaim scripture rather than discard it because of its patriarchal nature. Her inspiring words challenge each and every one of us to stand again at Sinai and reclaim Torah for ourselves—regardless of our gender, sexual orientation, or life experiences that [...]
by Rabbi Rick Schechter It’s the black sheep of the Jewish calendar—unfortunately. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, is a holy day often overshadowed and overlooked in the contemporary Jewish world. How could this have happened? It had such an auspicious start. The Torah considers Shavuot a major Jewish festival—right up there with Passover and Sukkot. In ancient times, it was thus distinguished as one of the three pilgrimage festivals in which all of Israel would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate. Even more so, after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E., the ancient rabbis renewed and deepened Shavuot’s [...]
by Rabbi Neil Hirsch While at this past year’s URJ Biennial, I attended the launch of the movement’s Campaign for Youth Engagement. As I heard the different stories, as colleagues and friends stood up and spoke of what’s going on with teens in their congregations, it resonated with my own experiences, and I realized that we all share in our struggles together. We have students and families dedicated to Jewish education that leads up to the bar and bat mitzvah experience. What about the day after the students become b’nai mitzvah? Our movement is facing an 80% drop-off rate after [...]
