Early Tuesday morning, a dear member of our Hineni community who lives in Chicago, and is a wonderful poet, alerted me to the unfolding tragedy in Highland Park, Illinois. Another mass shooting, this time at a Fourth of July parade that I remember attending growing up on the North Shore of Chicago. I did what so many of you did as well - I turned on the news Continue Reading
Broken-hearted But Determined
As I sit here writing to you, the scent of jasmine is wafting into my office window - and it sits here right here alongside my broken heart. How in the world do we deal with nineteen children's lives being cut down in a senseless act of violence? With ten innocent Black Americans gunned down while shopping for food? How is it possible that those of us Continue Reading
A Prayer For One Who Enters A Synagogue
I wrote this prayer after the massacre of Jews at prayer at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. A gunman, stoked by the anti-immigrant rhetoric and desiring to do harm to the synagogue which was connected to Jewish efforts to support immigrants and asylum seekers, stormed into the synagogue on Shabbat, spraying bullets everywhere. Unfortunately, Continue Reading
Prayers Alone Are Not Enough
2018. We are an entire nation in shock by the senseless death of 17 in Parkland, Florida by a lone gunman with an assault weapon. An increasing number of us don't want to hear "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims" from our elected officials. No, that doesn't cut it anymore. In Jewish tradition, prayers must be accompanied by action. We are partners Continue Reading
