Voices

Finding God In the Fog of War

By Rabbi Sam Yolen, Congregation Beth Israel (Lebanon)

On average, I receive about two or three calls a week from people seeking answers.

“Rabbi!” the person on the other line cries, “With all the suffering going on around the world - where is God?”

This is a very legitimate quest…

Reincarnating Eras of the American Society

By Rabbi Sam Yolen, Congregation Beth Israel (Lebanon)

“History may not repeat itself,” the Mark Twain adage goes, “but it often rhymes.” And for the last few years, many researchers and scholars have debated as to which historic time period this era most clearly rhymes with. Here…

CEO Letter 5.20.22

By Jenn Ross

One of the components of the 2022 Jewish Council for Public Affairs Conference was the screening of a powerful documentary, Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.  Former ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffery Robinson’s groundbreaking talk on the history of U.S. anti-Bla…

The End of Civility

By Rabbi Sam Yolen, Congregation Beth Israel (Lebanon)

Every society has cultural norms upon which common behavior is built. Times and standards may have changed, but along the way we enforce legal codes. In public we wear clothes, in cars we buckle our seatbelts, and with respect to halakh…

CEO Letter 4.8.22

By Jenn Ross

This year’s Purim was joyous for me. The 2020 community carnival and Megillah readings were the last hoorah before the COVID pandemic changed our lives.   It was invigorating to reconvene in person at the JCC, the joint Chisuk Emuna/Beth El reading and Spiel, and the Women…