More on Jonah
Peter Eisenstadt

My favorite book of Tanach is Jonah; short, memorable, funny, profound, endlessly enigmatic. My favorite service of the Jewish year is Saturday afternoon Yom Kippur, when the Book of Jonah is read, when because you’re getting a bit loopy from this fasting business, the story is somehow making more and more sense––“why can’t a person spend three days in the belly of a big fish, after all, stranger things have happened.”

There are many interpretations of the Book of Jonah. Some see it as a satire, some as a stern moral lesson. Some say it is supposed to be humorous, some not. Some argue it is critique of religious parochialism. Some argue—this was a favorite of the rabbis—that if read correctly, it is a defense of religious parochialism, and the insincerity of the gentiles. Others see it as the paradigmatic story of repentance—surely that is why it is in the Yom Kippur liturgy. Or a dramatization of the tension between God’s justice and God’s mercy. Ayala offered a wonderful reading of Jonah a few days ago. Let me offer another way to look at it. read more

Jewish Women for Child Refugees (JWCR) Taking Action: a Plan to Send Lawyers to Artesia N.M.

The Crisis of Child Refugees from Central America
We all have heard about the recent crisis of children refugees from Central America seeking asylum in the United States. These children are fleeing unspeakable violence, and have risked their lives to come here, because remaining in their countries of origin is a death sentence.

A Jewish Commitment
While the question of immigration reform is a complicated and divisive issue in American politics, as Jews, we remember a time in our recent history when it was Jewish parents who put their children on trains and buses, hoping they would find safety at the end of their journey. read more

Jonah: Reluctant, Rebuked and Remembered
A Yom Kippur Reading
Ayala Emmett

Reluctant
Jonah would not be an interesting protagonist if his story was just about a reluctant prophet who demurs when called by God to deliver a message. There are great prophets in TANACH, like Moses and Jeremiah, who were called by God to speak truth to power, to warn rulers and nations, and who, at the moment of revelation, were reluctant. God says to Moses, “I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free my people” and Moses understandably says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites?” (Exodus 3:10-11). God tells Jeremiah, “I established you a prophet unto the nations” and the reluctant prophet says, “I do not know how to speak for I am just a youth” (Jeremiah 1:5). In hindsight, who could blame them for their reluctance? Moses faces a rebellious people and doesn’t enter the Holy Land, and Jeremiah is threatened, stoned, imprisoned, and taken forcibly to Egypt by the exiles, his own people. read more

A Note on the Origins of the Avinu Malkeinu Prayer
Matia Kam

Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father our Sovereign, is a special prayer recited on the Days of Awe (and on days of fast). It is customary to recite the prayer in the synagogue, in the morning (Shaharit) and during the afternoon (Minha) service. In most Jewish communities, this prayer is recited standing, as the Holy Ark is open. In Ashkenazi communities the Avinu Malkeinu is not recited on Shabbat, with the exception of Neilah at the end of Yom Kippur when it is included in the service.(1) In Sephardi communities the Avinu Malkeinu is recited on Shabbat though parts of it are also omitted in honor of Shabbat. read more

THE JEWISH PLURALIST WISHES YOU
SHANAH TOVAH

and

G’MAR HATIMA TOVAH

MAY YOU BE INSCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF LIFE, AND MAY WE ALL HAVE A YEAR OF PEACE, JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY

Thoughts on Scotland
Peter Eisenstadt

I don’t know how I feel about Scottish independence. On the one hand, why not? Why shouldn’t the principle of self-determination and sovereignty, which has been extended to 206 or so nations around the world, not include Scotland, with its thousand years of history? Why should Scotland be forever tied to England? On the other hand, why? What will Scotland really gain that it currently lacks? Should this permanent divorce be decided on current political issues, which by their very nature, are ephemeral? What are the causes, the burning issues, that require a separation? And how will this separation work? If Scotland keeps the pound sterling and the queen, as the Scottish Nationalist Party has pledged to do, what, really does independence mean? read more

A Jewish Grandma’s Thoughts About Climate Change
Deborah L.R. Kornfeld

On a sunny day, after an evening rainfall, you might find me in the garden pulling weeds, solving problems, worrying, and dreaming. I wasn’t always able to spend time in the garden. We had years and years where we were so busy with work and children we barely had time to breathe. Now our children have grown, married and we are enjoying the bonus and blessing of grandchildren. I am a safta and as a safta I worry about the world I am leaving to my grandchildren. read more