Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
Proudly Jewish - Proudly Progressive
This Shabbat, we find ourselves at a crossroads of deep reflection and joyful celebration. The Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora speak about illness, healing, isolation, and return. They tell of individuals who are cast out of the community because…
On Simchat Torah, we gather,with hearts heavy,remembering those taken from us,in the fields where life once bloomed.Kibbutzim quieted by sorrow,echo with voices we still hear,their absence a wound, raw and open. We hold in prayerthose still lost in the shadows,abducted,…
In this moving Rosh Hashanah sermon, Rabbi Adrian M. Schell takes us through the untold narrative of Isaac and Ishmael, two estranged brothers separated by trauma and reunited only by their father Abraham’s death. With a focus on themes of…
In Parashat Ki Teitzei, we encounter the beautiful mitzvah of Shiluach HaKen—the commandment to send away the mother bird before taking her young (Deut. 22:6-7). At first glance, this may seem like a small gesture, but it holds a profound…
This Shabbat we learn of two cities and two lessons. Each of these cities offers us a value and a cautionary note. We relearn these values and we recall their accompanying cautionary notes. The first city is from the Torah…
Last Shabbat we had Gusti Yehoshua Braverman (pictured above) from the World Zionist Organisation visit Bet David. In her talk prior to the Shabbat service she highlighted the importance of the World Zionist Organisation and of the Progressive Judaism in…
Our Parashat Matot Masei, which brings the Children of Israel to the plains of Moab on the border of the Land of Israel, deals with the nexus between two of the founding stories of Judaism. The story of peoplehood frames…
The crisis that erupted last week over matters of conversion and equal access to the Western Wall has yet to be resolved. At the conclusion of last week‘s shabbat, several 100 friends, supporters and members of the Progressive movements in…
Dear congregants, The press release from the SAUPJ/SAAPR (read it here) is an immediate response of our movement on the newest development in Israel. It is a well thought through reaction on a demeaning attack on our Progressive movement. In…
This week we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “6 Day War“ in 1967. As a Progressive Jew and Zionist, I have mixed feeling about this anniversary. Not because of what happened in 1967, I think what happened was necessary…