Next Year In…
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One thing is for certain: next year will not be like this year, just as this year is not like last year.
Continue readingApril 14, 2020
April 10, 2020
Maroon & Gold Shabbat: Home Edition
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Shabbat at home with Minnesota Hillel on May 1st!
Continue readingApril 7, 2020
Virus Turning Jewish Rituals Upside Down
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Services, classes, and meetings transitioned online with relative ease — often into the multiple screens of Zoom or the live video feature of Facebook. But essential Jewish rituals have not had it so easy.
Continue readingApril 3, 2020
Eight Shabbat Candles: Finding New Traditions in Quarantine
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In this time of violent plagues and vicious Pharoahs, I have never been more grateful to be Jewish
Continue readingApril 2, 2020
Don’t Passover Shame Me
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Back off, Passover shamers. Nothing I’m going to be able to pull off in my 1,500 sq. ft. home aka office aka school during the COVID-19 crisis is going to resemble our family’s normal, awesome family Seder. So I’m not going to try.
Continue readingApril 1, 2020
MRA Funeral Practices During The Current COVID-19 Crisis
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Over the past several weeks, amidst a daily changing situation, the members of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association have been thinking deeply about how we can fulfill our rabbinic responsibility to honor the dead (k’vod hamet), comfort the mourners, (nichum aveilim), and protect the community (pikuach nefesh). The scientific and medical communities have made it clear […]
Continue readingApril 1, 2020
Digital Judaism: Is This The Way?
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In the eighth episode of The Mandalorian, we learn that being Mandalorian is not a race but a creed. It is a way of life defined by the values one holds, the rules one follows, and the lens through which one derives meaning in life. Watching the episode, I was struck by how the concept […]
Continue readingMarch 31, 2020
Two Brachot for the COVID-19 Pandemic
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I have had the great zechut (privilege) and mazal (good fortune) these past four months to facilitate several dozen dialogues, seminars and digital book clubs related to my new volume Text Me: Ancient Jewish Wisdom Meets Contemporary Technology (with Dr. Brian Amkraut, Hamilton Press, 2019 ), a companion website textmejudaism.com, and a two and a […]
Continue readingMarch 26, 2020
A Pastoral Letter From The Minnesota Rabbinical Association
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Dear Members of the Minnesota Jewish Community, We are called upon daily to act with compassionate conviction, to mobilize people of faith to respond to the eternal question, what can I do to serve my neighbor? The Minnesota Rabbinical Association speaks out as the moral and religious voice of the Jewish community, and we invite you to be […]
Continue readingMarch 19, 2020
Resources For A Socially-Distant Jewish Life
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While so much of our lives is being canceled because of coronavirus, religion is one that moves on. Fortunately, we have the technology and a LOT of synagogues are embracing some sort of tech for daily minyaim, Shabbat services, nightly storytimes, Torah study, cooking demos, and a plethora of other resources. Below is a list […]
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