When I began rabbinical school, that first year, I fell in love with an unlikely blessing. Asher Yatzar.
Yes, I fell in love with the bathroom blessing. The blessing we say, thanking God for allowing us to relieve ourselves in the morning.
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Purim teaches us that joy can be defiant, courage can be collective, and survival is only the beginning. We gather, we give, we protect one another — and we refuse to disappear. Chag Purim Sameach.
You don’t rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War unless your focus is war. Words signal priorities.
They Kept Walking
There is a particular grief in losing elders.
In Jewish tradition, when we lose someone, we say zikhronam livracha — may their memory be a blessing. But memory cannot be passive. It asks something of us.
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
They Kept Walking
There is a particular grief in losing elders.
In Jewish tradition, when we lose someone, we say zikhronam livracha — may their memory be a blessing. But memory cannot be passive. It asks something of us. open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Micromanagement is often framed as a leadership style that is anxiety-driven, controlling, or perfectionistic. But when it is disproportionately directed at Black people, it’s about power—a way to express distrust and undermine authority. open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
This 👇🏾
Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away this morning. We lost a giant.
I am deeply grateful that I had the opportunity to thank him for paving the way for so many of us.
His life was a testament to what it looks like to keep showing up for the dream of a more just world.
Micromanagement is often framed as a leadership style—anxiety-driven, controlling. But when disproportionately directed at Black people, it's about power. Racism shows up as excessive oversight, constant correction, and the assumption that Black professionals need more supervision.
Repeatedly elevating the same center-right, middle-aged voices as arbiters of ‘what Jews need’ risks missing the very people who are the Jewish future.
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
“The last 50 years haven’t weakened us. They’ve made us more representative. More capable of holding the complexity of real human lives.”
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Federal agents are executing American citizens in the streets.
This is state terror. The federal government wants you to not believe your own eyes.
No community in America should have to deal with this.
Fighting for justice is Jewish tradition.
MAGA counts on violence to make us afraid. To turn us against our neighbors. To distract from their failures to address affordability, healthcare, and other crises.
We refuse to look away or be divided.
We reject ICE.
Art by @jasonadamk.bsky.social
Thank you for this ❤️
Thank you for illustrating the point. Saying 'Israel is fueling antisemitism' still places responsibility for bigotry on its targets rather than on those who choose hate. Antisemites are responsible for antisemitism. Criticize Israel all you want - antisemitism is still just hate
Blaming Jews for antisemitism is victim-blaming. We are each responsible for our own bias and hate.
We honor King with a holiday. He asked us for courage.
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Martin Luther King Jr. Would Be Getting Arrested at ICE Facilities
Kotzer ruach is what happens when trauma settles into the body. It’s the tightness in the chest when we learn a synagogue has been destroyed by fire. It’s the shallow breathing that comes with shock, grief, fear, and anger compressed together.
open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Waking up to devastating news: Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi - the city’s only synagogue - was attacked by an arsonist and suffered heavy fire damage.
Sending love to the congregation and community. mississippitoday.org/2026/01/10/f...
Big tent Judaism was always aspirational and we were moving in that direction but is this era now over or is it something worth fighting for?
“Clarity builds community faster than caution ever will.” open.substack.com/pub/rabbisan...
Trump bombed Venezuela, captured Maduro, and says the US will now ‘run the country’ and control its oil all without congressional approval.
