It’s about five years ago, and I am sitting in a gathering space in my synagogue with a diverse group of leaders from our broad-based community organization, Border Interfaith. We are training in the art of the relational meeting, the “one-to-one” which is the heart of community organizing, and we’re doing it through a “fishbowl” [...]
Archive for the ‘Borderlands’ Category
The Antidote to Forgetfulness
Posted in Borderlands, Divrei Torah on November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Three things there are together in my eye…and one of them is a cell phone tower!
Posted in Borderlands, Divrei Torah on April 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
It’s budget time at Temple, and our finance committee is hard at work, crunching the numbers and creating the roadmap that will – with our discipline, generosity, and a little bit of good fortune – make Fiscal Year 2008 our eighth consecutive year with an operating surplus. It’s often noted that budgets are our real [...]
Israel, fearmongering, and the Democratic primary
Posted in Borderlands on February 27, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The crass attempts by some to cast aspersions on Barack Obama’s candidacy by painting him as anti-Israel, antisemitic, unpatriotic, etc., have been well-documented and (in my opinion) well-refuted. The Forward published an excellent editorial (which was itself misunderstood and led to a clarification) regarding these attempts several weeks ago, and the issue received a further [...]
The Real Political Event on February 12 isn’t the one at the Don
Posted in Borderlands on February 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Rumors had been kicking around for several days that Hillary Clinton would be coming to town on the day before, or the day of, Border Interfaith’s Issues Forum with candidates for County Sheriff and State House District 78. As it turns out, she’ll be here on the night of the forum, speaking at a free [...]
Why I’m going to Austin next Wednesday
Posted in Borderlands on February 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I begin this post with a disclaimer. It may sound “boilerplate,” but I mean it quite sincerely:
“The views expressed in this posting (and all postings, for that matter), are the views of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of Temple Mount Sinai, its membership, or its leadership.”
When a rabbi, or [...]
Water Woes
Posted in Borderlands on November 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
An excellent editorial from November 15 El Paso Times, and an accompanying news story, prompt some thoughts…
Here’s the editorial:
Hand Sanitizer, Heart Sanitizer
Posted in Borderlands on October 30, 2007 | 1 Comment »
I will never hear Psalm 24 the same way again:
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?/Who may stand in God’s holy place?/One with clean hands and a pure heart…
Welcoming our newest joint proprietors.
Posted in Borderlands, Divrei Torah on October 19, 2007 | 1 Comment »
A coalition was born on Sunday afternoon in Washington DC. It wasn’t a new alliance of Republicans or Democrats, nor was it a gathering of interests seeking to influence domestic policy. It was a group of Jews – rabbis, cantors, other professionals, and laypeople – coming together in common cause. “Big Tent Judaism” [...]
Institute for Interfaith Dialog Iftar Dinner
Posted in Borderlands, Divrei Torah on October 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Remarks from the Institute for Interfaith Dialog’s Iftar Dinner on October 8, 2007:
No Jews should be Egyptians
Posted in Borderlands, Divrei Torah on May 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The title on the spine of the book caught my eye: “Why Jews Should Not Be Liberals.” Larry F. Sternberg, a politically active Jew in Orange County, California, is the author of this book, which makes the case that liberalism is fundamentally inconsistent with Jewish values. Liberalism, Sternberg maintains, erodes individual integrity and responsibility. It [...]
