Spirituality & Faith / 31 Jul 2020
White Pastors Are Not Doing Enough To Address Systemic Racism
We need white pastors to join in the fight against systemic racism.
Compassion and Empathy, Grief & Coping, Historic Profiles / 30 Jul 2020
A Doubly Sad Day…
Today is a doubly sad day. Today I mourn as a Jew, and today, I mourn as an American. Today is Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, a day that marks the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. Today is the day on which the Jewish people recall thousands of years of hurt and harm, homelessness and harshness, sometimes of unimaginable measure. Tisha b’Av marks the moments when we have failed to believe — in ourselves and/or in God — when we have turned against one another, instead of toward one another. Today marks the day when we recall all those times when Jews have been murdered simply because they were Jews. Today marks those moments when death won out over life. Today is also the day that Representative John Lewis, of blessed memory, takes the final steps of his journey on this earth. And in the words of the Book of Lamentations, we say, “How the heroes have fallen.” But even in the midst of such sorrow, we can choose life, help one another to choose life, and dare to believe that the dream of the world imagined by long-prophets like Isaiah and modern heroes like John Lewis, is within our grasp. That such a world is, as Theodore Herzl teaches, is no fairytale, if we truly will it. We honor this doubly sad day by fully honoring our pains — both ancient and contemporary — without being defined fully by them. We honor this day by lifting up the wisdom of our heroes and our teachers and asking God and one another to help us live into that wisdom, and living up to it. Rep. Lewis asked that his last essay be published in the New York Times on…
Inspiring People / 27 Jul 2020
What Teenagers Can Learn From Malala During The Pandemic
Malala’s heroism is a lesson in perspective for the young people of today.
Inspiring People / 22 Jul 2020
Honoring Representative John Lewis
John Robert Lewis was born in the city of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940, to sharecroppers Willie Mae Carter and Eddie Lewis. John was the third of ten children his parents had together. He attended segregated schools and was told by his parents not to challenge the unfairness of the Jim Crow Laws in the South. Lewis did the complete opposite of what his parents told him and became an American Civil Rights leader and politician, most famously known for becoming the chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As a teenager growing up in Alabama, he was highly influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Lewis chose to study religion and philosophy at Fisk University and American Baptist Theological Institute, earning his B.A. in 1967. While he attended college, he joined the nonviolent protest and participated in the sit-ins at lunch counters and many other segregated public spaces. In 1961, Lewis joined the Freedom Rides that confronted segregation of Southern interstate bus terminals. John and many other Freedom Riders were often repeatedly beaten and arrested because of this experience. In 1963, Lewis became chairman of SNCC and became one of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement amongst Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, James Farmer, Whitney Young, and Roy Wilkins. Lewis also helped organize the March on Washington. He was the youngest speaker at the event, at the age of 23 years old, and though he had to edit his speech to please some of the organizers, he still conveyed an impressive speech declaring, “We all recognize the fact that if any radical social, political and economic changes are to take place in our society, the people, the masses, must bring them about.” In 1966, Lewis left the Student Nonviolent…
Building New Identities / 21 Jul 2020
Finding Our Higher Purpose During The Pandemic
The quiet of the pandemic gives some of us the opportunity to contemplate our life purpose.
How would you begin the story of you? Where or when does it begin? Imagine that you are about to tell your story. You know, “Once upon a time there was this person, and her story begins…”? What comes next? All stories have beginnings, and all people have stories. All families and nations have them too. In fact, not only do we all have them, they may be the essence of who we are. So how would you choose to begin yours? Once you have an answer (and feel free to have......
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About fifteen years ago, I had an experience that transformed Christmas for me.? My wife and I were sitting with a couple – he was well into his 60’s and Jewish and she a good twenty years younger and from a traditional Christian home. This was his second marriage and they had two young children.? We were guests at their ski home for a few days during winter break. Sitting after dinner at the dining room table, with their kids and our kids playing in the den, we wound up having a......
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The title may appear glib or snarky to some, but that is not how it is intended.? It simply reflects the desire to see us all open our hearts and minds not only to an ever wider understanding of wisdom, but also to seeing the deep inter-relatedness of various wisdom systems and teachers. According to tradition, both Jesus and Isaac Newton were born on December 25th, something I find quite interesting and even inspiring.? For me, each are world-transforming teachers who shaped the world for the better, no matter what faith we......
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Did you know that folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” in 1940 as a reaction to Irving Berlin’s classic anthem “God Bless America” (originally written in 1918)? It’s one of the many fascinating facts about the beloved tunes found in John Shaw’s book This Land That I Love. Guthrie reportedly found “God Bless America” jingoistic and uncritical; using a melody borrowed from the old Baptist hymn “Oh My Lovin’ Brother” he wrote a six-verse protest song. The final three verses of “This Land Is Your Land” (which are......
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I walked out of the theater after seeing?Inside Llewyn Davis,?the Coen brother’s phenomenal new film feeling as I always do after seeing a Coen brother’s film: humbled, dazed, out of breath at the mysterious, subtle, and unpredictable relationship between our own individual stories and dramas with all their twists and turns and the cosmic, metaphysical reality which we have absolutely no control over. With their unique attention to detail, aesthetic, and character, the Coen brothers invite us to reflect upon the meaning of life in general and of our own life in......
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How many opportunities do we lose out on, and how much time do we waste worrying about where we aren’t, instead of genuinely appreciating where we are?? How much energy do we expend agonizing over who we aren’t, as opposed to celebrating who we are? None of us is perfect, and I believe that striving to be more and to be better is a crucially important part of a well-lived life.? So too is feeling the rich possibility and potential of who we are, as we are, wherever we are.?? In fact,......
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Jesus, First-Century Rabbi continues a recent trend of books trying to better understand who Jesus was by placing him in the context of first-century Judaism. ?This admirable work, written by Rabbi David Zaslow, is a particularly accessible and loving effort, one which has the potential to ease tensions felt? between (some) Christians and Jews. The spirit in which the book is written – whether one agrees with the conclusions or not – provides a truly a beautiful lesson for interfaith encounters. However, I would offer two cautionary notes, also inspired by the......
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From Odyssey Network’s Faith on the Record series: “Last week the world paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, who died on December 5th at the age of 95.? As mourners gathered and tributes from around the world were made, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield reminds us that “Memory is a choice – we choose how to remember,” and there are many Nelson Mandelas to remember – revolutionary, prisoner, peacemaker, symbol, healer.” Odyssey Networks tells the stories of faith in action changing the world for the better.? Their stories explore a wide range of issues including......
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You can’t make this stuff up. FOX News’ Megyn Kelly reassured her viewers that Santa really is white. At first, at least, it sounds nuts. Where to begin? The claim that a mythic figure is “really” anything? Ms. Kelly’s need to reassure people that a much loved icon could be anything other than white? It really is hard to know where to begin. And then I wonder, if in addition to those serious questions about the sanity and ethics of Ms. Kelly’s assertions, something quite sane and more than a......
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Over the weekend I went to see the off Broadway musical, Stars of David, based on Abigail Pogrebin’s best-selling book of the same name.? The show is great fun and reveals and celebrates the Jewish identity of some of the most well known Jewish personalities in America including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Leonard Nimoy, Michael Feinstein, Norman Lear, Joan Rivers, Kenneth Cole, Tony Kushner and more. The 16 songs, composed by a who’s who of composers, are touching, humorous, insightful and moving. Stars of David is for any of us questioning the value......
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Latest Video
Listen To The Names Of The Victims First
A video where Brad Hirschfield lists the victims names in the recent Orlando shooting. Because first we need to internalize a tragedy before we jump to speak.
