By Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel The approaching Days of Awe are like no others in my memory. The past year was without doubt the most challenging and painful year for world Jewry since World War II. I will not list here the travails that have befallen Israel since October 7. We all know they are Continue Reading »
A Letter from North American Jews to the Israeli Government Dear Friends, On behalf of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, I am inviting you to sign a letter from North American Jews to the Israeli Government: Make a Deal Now to Bring the Hostages Home, End the War. As Rabbi Jacobs, CEO of Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, I wanted to share with you this letter from T’ruah: Rabbis for Human Rights to President Biden about the current situation in Israel. I am honored to currently serve as chairman of the T’ruah Board of Directors. For more information on T’ruah, please see truah.org. Shalom, Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel March 2024 President Joe Biden The Continue Reading »
We would like to share the statement on Israel issued on December 14, 2023 by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. T’ruah is an inter-denominational Jewish organization that strives to bring the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead their communities in Continue Reading »
Friends, On Sunday, January 28, 2024, our special Ask-the-Rabbi session addressed Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza (you can watch the recording below). We received many questions in advance of the session, some of which were answered and some of which were not. In the spirit of transparency, and of our Roadmap which guides Continue Reading »
By David Gregory Throughout my career, as a journalist who also happens to be Jewish, I have faced occasional personal conflicts when covering issues related to Israel. Although I am not actively covering the painful events today, I recognize the unique emotion of this story for Jews who are. And as journalists, today we are Continue Reading »
Over the last more than twenty years, our Temple Micah Israel Fund has donated to a wide range of causes and organizations. These include support for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, institutions devoted to shared society among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel, and organizations that seek to mitigate the harmful effects of the Continue Reading »
By Rabbi Stephanie Crawley It is a lonely time to be a liberal Zionist in America. I know many of you feel abandoned: friends outside the Jewish community deciding they deserve an opinion on the fate of your people, wading into a conflict from the comfort of their living rooms. A broader Jewish community that Continue Reading »
July 2023 Dear Friends, Yesterday’s Knesset vote that strips the Israeli Judiciary of some of its authority to override extreme Knesset measures and to keep criminals out of office was a hard blow for those of us who love Israel. I was distraught until a dear friend reminded me that she had learned from a Continue Reading »
By Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel I am writing this letter on March 2. In six days, I will be leaving for Israel to lead our second Micah trip there in this Jewish year (5783). In all my years of traveling to Israel, I never have experienced the level of anxiety I feel today. I have Continue Reading »
By Rabbi Josh Beraha The first time I remember longing to make aliyah, I was in high school spending a semester abroad in Israel. I lived some of the time with a family in Gilo, a neighborhood outside of Jerusalem, where conversations with my host brother, Yoav, awakened these feelings of longing that linger to Continue Reading »
By Rabbi Daniel Zemel I do not know how not to love Israel. The very street names sing the song of the Jewish story: Hillel, Shammai, Bialik, Ben Yehuda. Louise and I once lived in an apartment on Ahad Ha’am and was thrilled to be living on the street named for the early twentieth-century founder Continue Reading »
Whither Israel? Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel Rosh Hashanah 5782/2021 Washington, DC Dear Friends, I am a worrier. I worry about serious things: COVID The future of American Jewish life How our Micah community can continue to thrive and be impactful through COVID and its necessary limitations. I worry about Israel and its future and our Continue Reading »