The Language of Your Soul In the coming weeks, each weekly parasha begins with a dream. During the month of Kislev (in the northern hemisphere) we experience a decline in our energies, and lights. We withdraw inward. The external hibernates; the internal awakens. One of the characteristics of human consciousness (as opposed to AI) is […]
November 25, 2025 STAY INFORMED – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Anti-Israel Protesters Aggressively Target Jews at Synagogue ‘We need to make them scared’ – Protesters Chant Outside Synagogue Anti-Israel protestors in the hundreds recently shouted hateful slogans outside a historic house of worship in NYC, threatening Jews who tried […]
The Main Thing Is … To Hope “Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better.” ~ Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World (page 166) Rabbi Sacks’ words, said years […]
November 18, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Anti-Jewish Rhetoric: Fringe Narratives Reenter American Discourse Overt hatred of Jews is now being mainstreamed from both the left and the right. A dangerous spike in right-wing antisemitism – once confined to fringe corners of the internet – has now […]
Now, you are to take exceeding care for yourselves [le-nafshoteikhim] … or as Robert Alter renders the clause, “And you shall be very watchful for yourselves” (Deut. 4:15). With these words Moses warns the Israelites against worshipping idols, the work of human hands. Over time, the Sages broadened the mitzvah of self-care, which may be […]
MERCAZ/Masorti was proud to bring our largest ever delegation to the 39th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, and that team made its voice heard in historic and impactful ways that will shape Israel and the Jewish world for years to come. MERCAZ USA had 20 delegates (15 of whom are members of our board) and […]
November 11, 2025 BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Dangerous Rhetoric Can Incite Violence, Shatter Lives Hate is being given a free pass far too often. Once confined to the margins, hatred now finds acceptance in public life. For Jews, that normalization has already turned deadly and the rising […]
We Await the Rainy Season, and Healing Last week, here in Israel, we began to pray for God to “give us dew and rain to bless the earth” in our daily Amidah. We now find ourselves, after a long, hot summer, waiting for the Yoreh, the first rain of the season — a rain that […]
November 4, 2025 STAY INFORMED – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – STORIES MAKING NEWS Free Speech or Free Pass on Hate? Heritage Foundation Controversy The Comments That Sparked a Firestorm The president of one of the nation’s most influential conservative policy organizations released a statement defending his ties to conservative media firebrands Tucker Carlson […]
Seeing Hagar, expelled and wandering, encounters a messenger/manifestation of God, who promises her a son who will thrive. She exclaims: “You God of Seeing!” and adds “Have I actually gone on seeing here, after his seeing me?” Is this just surprise at surviving the encounter? Or has she also learned something? Harold Kushner suggests she […]