Bring Them Home Now: Heartbreak and Hope Even Here in NC
Tonight, the final new moon of the Jewish year will appear in the sky marking the new Hebrew month of Elul and the Jewish community will begin counting down the days to the Jewish New Year. Each morning of this month, we hear the blast of a ram’s horn...
Pursuing Peace Together
This talk was written for an interfaith prayer service for peace and solidarity in the world at Aldersgate in Charlotte on May 23, 2024. Psalm 133 states in Hebrew, “Hinei mah tov umah naim shevet achim gam yachad. How good it is to gather together as siblings.”...
Organizations Working Towards Palestinian and Israeli Peace
“We must reject the way of eternal war. The hostages must be returned to their loved ones. Humanitarian aid must reach the people of Gaza immediately. Israeli and Palestinian leadership must commit to a long term negotiated peace. There is another way, and...
We Will Dance Again
This was delivered as the Yizkor (Memorial) Sermon for the Seventh Day of Passover at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina. The path to freedom is not linear. Keep going… The path through grief is not linear. Keep going… It may be muddy. It may be...
How Will This Year’s Passover Be Different for North Carolina’s Jews
Tonight, Jews across the globe will begin their observance of Passover with seders – festival meals accompanied by a retelling of the Exodus narrative through stories, symbolic foods, and songs. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish practices. While the holiday...
Chanukah at the Governor’s Mansion
I was blessed to spend the fourth night of Chanukah with Governor Cooper and 16 clergy from the North Carolina Jewish Clergy Association at the Governor’s Mansion. Here are the words I shared: Chanukah celebrates the kindling of light on the darkest days of the...
In Honor of Rabbi David Ellenson, of blessed memory
Jews across the globe were bereft over the sudden death last week of Rabbi David Ellenson, former President of the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religious, the Reform movement’s seminary. The Central Conference of American Rabbis shared in their...
Chanukah and Healing – Eight Nights of Reflections to Accompany Your Candle Lighting
This year has seen turmoil in the United States and in Israel. During this Festival of Lights we need to bring light into the world, now more than ever. Cantor Andy Bernard and I (respectively Cantor Emeritus and Rabbi Emerita of Temple Beth El) have written this...
Holding Complexity in Your Broken Heart and Finding Healing
Written upon returning from a journey of listening in Israel in mid-November 2023 There is a shattered feeling that is pervasive in Israel and Gaza. The shards of Israel’s southern communities have left people devastated and scattered across the country. Peace...
You turn my mourning into dancing
You turn my mourning into dancing… so that my heart might sing to you and not be silent. (Psalm 30: 12-13) Our global cups are overflowing with grief – Israeli grief, Palestinian grief, Jewish grief, Muslim grief, Christian grief – the latter, at...
Kristallnacht – far longer than a night
This was shared at the 85th Commemoration of Kristallnacht at Queens University of Charlotte. Kristallnacht – some call it the night of broken glass but it wasn’t just a night. It was experienced as an eternal night — on which systematic-state...
Shloshim – Thirty Days
Od lo avdah tikvateinu – Our hope is not lost. The first thirty days of grief has passed yet tragically still we grieve and still we weep. The cloud of sorrow is palpable. And still the end of shloshim bids us to return to the tasks of life, to the tasks of our...
Oneness
Three weeks ago this Shabbat, our Jewish world was turned upside down in a way that it will never, in our lifetime, be the same. In the midst of this dark and most devastating time, there have been so many sources of light, healing and hope. Rabbi Andrea London...
We will survive and we will thrive
This talk was delivered at the Hadassah Celebrate the Tatas Event. It is so good to be together. We all need community. We all need Jewish community – now more than ever. Thank you for being here. Thank you for inviting me. When I’ve mentioned to others that I’d be...
Paving Paths to Understanding and Healing
Faculty from multiple faiths are invited to share reflections prior to our faculty meetings. As fate would have it, I was asked to share a reflection prior to yesterday’s faculty meeting. While my reflections are usually lighter and universal, my heart was...
Soul Strong
Temple Beth El Healing Service, Yom Kippur 5784/2023 Thank you Rabbi Knight, Rabbi Erdheim, Rabbi Nichols, Cantor Roskin, and Cantor Thomas for these beautiful services. Thank you for your stellar leadership and thank you for making me feel at home here. I love...
Interfaith Healing
This sermon was delivered at Grace Baptist Church in Statesville, North Carolina, on Sunday, August 28, 2023. Psalm 133 says, “Hinei mah tov u-mah naim shevet achim gam yachad, behold how good it is to be together as brothers and sisters, as siblings.” And I say the...
Kindness
This was shared as a reflection at our Queens University College of Arts and Sciences faculty meeting in August 2023. Kindness in English, chesed in Hebrew, is a concept that appears in the Torah more than 190 times. In Judaism, there are 613 commandments, and...
The Yahrziet of Miriam, the Prophetess
This Dvar Torah was delivered at Adugas Israel in Hunterville for their Women of Valor Shabbat on June 30, 2023. At that moment of freedom, immediately after Moses and the Children of Israel sang out in a song, “Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took...
Justice, justice you shall pursue for all
This benediction was written for the ribbon cutting at the New Charlotte U.S. Courthouse Annex and Charles R. Jonas Federal Building Renovation on May 19, 2023. It is an honor to be here and offer prayers and blessings for this courthouse. A vision for justice is...
Sacred Intersections of Time
Today we celebrate a sacred intersection of time. Our Jewish siblings are the midst of Passover celebrating promises of redemption — awakening ancient memory and creating memoryconnecting age-old journeys to today“Egypts” of oppression still existcalling for...
The protests in Israel offer valuable lessons for Americans
This editorial was published in the Charlotte Observer and in Raleigh and Durham on Monday, April 3, 2023. Israel just showed us how a nation can preserve democracy when citizens are committed to preserving it. Protecting democracy is crucial to me, whether in the...
Our Freedom Song
After experiencing hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, the moment of redemption is finally upon us. Miraculously, we, as Israelites, cross through parted seas and stand on solid ground of freedom. Our first act of freedom is to sing. Moses and the Israelites sing....
The increase of antisemitism in America
This interview was aired on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins on November 10, 2022 (the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of Broken Glass more appropriately known as the November Pogrom). Link to Charlotte Talks Podcast Link to Charlotte Talks Facebook Live...
An NC Rabbi on Kanye West, Donald Trump and disrupting the drumbeat of hate
This editorial was published in the Charlotte Observer on October 19, 2022 The drumbeat of hate in our society is becoming louder and more prevalent. It is coming at us in surround sound and emitting from multiple instruments. This past weekend former President Trump...
Ecclesiastes and advice on marriage – there is a time for everything
Dr. Dick Blackwell, trained in both psychotherapy and ministry, and I reflected on Ecclesiastes and making marriage work. My words are in black font and Dr. Blackwell’s insights are in purple. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for everything – for...
We will survive and we will thrive
[Delivered at the Yom Kippur Afternoon Healing Service at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, 5783/2022.] To view the video of this sermon click here. How good it is to be here with all of you. There is a Yiddish expression that says you can’t dance at two weddings...
120 minutes and 120 years: guilt, wisdom and clearing our conscience
Have you ever hit send on an email and then wished you could take it back? Did you know there’s an Outlook feature that lets you recall an email for up to 120 minutes after you send it? In Gmail the option to retract an email is available for only 30 seconds....
Our Prayers at the Dawn of New Jewish Year
Today marks the Jewish New Year of 5783. At this dawn of a new year… We pray for Ukraine and for its people to blessed with peace. May this year witness a reunification of Ukrainian families and return of those refugees who desire to rebuild their homes and lives. We...
Kristallnacht & Pittsburgh: Shattering and Picking Up the Shattered Pieces
Hate… Plans shattered. Dreams shattered. Lives shattered. Kristallnacht: Germany’s shattering. November 9th and 10th. The virus of antisemitism. Awakened, virulent, violent. Tree of Life Synagogue: Pittsburgh’s shattering. America’s shattering. October 27th. An...
A Prayer for our Shalom Park Garden
In this garden may all things grow… May seeds of a lifetime of loving our earth be planted and the roots to generations before us be found May awe be inspired and flowers of friendship blossom May the fruits of our work be shared generously and lift and...
When Hate Comes Your Way: Lesson Learned by the Greenspon Center
When hate comes your way or to an organization you know, which we hope it never does, there are things that one can do to respond in ways that are effective, if not, transformative. When it comes to college campuses, the statistics are alarming. According to Hillel...
Election Season Event: Candidates of Color Forum at Queens University, April 21st @ 7:00 pm
Election Season Event: April 2022 Candidates of Color Forum with Aisha Dew & Rev. Vahisha Hasan and Queens Students Thursday, April 21, 2022 Time: 7:00 pm Location: Ketner Auditorium at Queens University of Charlotte Who will be running our city and county?...
Sacred Intersections of Time
We celebrate sacred intersections of time. Our own Kiddush cups filled celebrating promises of redemption – past, present, and future simultaneously awakening ancient memory and creating memory connecting age-old journeys to today “Egypts” of oppression still exist...
Havdalah and Healing Service in prayer for Ukraine
I once gave a Yom Kippur sermon at Temple Beth El, noting that there are some ultra-Orthodox communities where rabbi cards are traded like baseball counterparts, and that if I had such cards, I’d want those of my two favorite Rabbis – Reb Nachman of Breslov and my...
Wedges versus solidarity in Muslim-Jewish relations
by Dr. Hadia Mubarak and Rabbi Judy Schindler Whether it’s the synagogue hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas or other acts of violence, such events tap into deep fears and threaten to drive yet another wedge between Muslim and Jewish Americans. While these...
The Birth Stories of the Jewish People
This was delivered as part of the 25th annual Comparative Religion Series at Temple Beth El. Robert Seltzer opens his tome on Jewish People Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History with the following statement: “Thirty two centuries ago, the Jewish people...
Sisters
[Reflection from the Conversation on Healing from Trauma: Colleyville, COVID, and Rising Hate on January 24, 2022 and in gratitude to Dr. Hadia Mubarak] We are sisters, scared because of hate aimed at our difference, feeling safety in our solidarity, and support as we...
Texas synagogue horror sparks an all too familiar fear
This editorial was published in the Charlotte Observer on January 18, 2022. It was co-authored by Rabbi Judy Schindler and Rabbi Asher Knight. As Jews, we have had a long history of experiencing our religious “otherness” as a source of fear. Yesterday’s daylong horror...
Setting your intention for 2022
We stand at the start of the new year of 2022. Milestones in time are ideal moments for reflection and for setting intentions that lead to change. The past two years have challenged every one of us and our world. With each passing wave of the pandemic, the tensions in...
Prayer for 2022 & Our World
As we wake to the dawn of a New Year, we pray for… Hearts of compassion to recognize the struggles of others. Minds of wisdom to heal our world – so that we can eradicate the pandemic in the long-term, and in the short-term, learn to live with it and not die...
The soil on which we stand
This talk was delivered at the Restorative Justice Two Year Reflection at Little Rock AME Zion in Charlotte, NC, August 22, 2021 Thank you to Dr. Walker for hosting us. Thank you Dr. Keaton for leading this organizing effort, this organization Restorative Justice CLT,...
A Letter to Mother Earth
This was delivered as a keynote at the Greening Our Faith Communities Summit. May 20, 2021. Charlotte, NC. Dear Mother Earth, We come to you as people of faith from across the state and beyond. We come to you virtually because our world is sick. An illness...
At the Cemetery: Stones & Tears
As Jews, we carry not flowers, but stones to the cemetery. Flowers are beautiful but death is not — so we bring stones so as to be realists, so as not to gloss over the harshness and pain. Our hearts are still torn – even as the years and decades may dull the...
That man is a mensch…
That man is a mensch, who lives each day to its fullest; who loves deeply and gives generously, earning the admiration of all; who fills the world with laughter and love, befriending every person; who continually seeks knowledge and wisdom, making mitzvot and the...
Charlotte interfaith leaders unveil traveling mural honoring those living in tent cities
Charlotte interfaith leaders unveil traveling mural honoring those living in tent cities As Jews began the holiday of Passover during the last weekend in March, at their traditional Seder meal they recited the 10 Plagues that God is said to have imposed on the...
The Fight for Freedom Today: A Passover Seder Supplement
The Jewish holiday of Passover begins on the evening of Saturday, March 27th. The narrative of the Exodus has inspired countless communities in the past and today to fight for freedom. Our Seder supplement is designed to enable you to bring contemporary...
House Bill 69 – Supporting NC’s Education on the Holocaust and Genocide Bill
These words were delivered by Rabbi Judy Schindler to the North Carolina House Education K-12 Standing Committee on March 23, 2021. In the five years since our inception, the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte has...
Refugee Shabbat & praying for the children of our world
We take this Shabbat to think about those globally who are seeking a place of refuge. Why did HIAS (the Jewish refugee resettlement agency) choose this day for Refugee Shabbat? Perhaps because Passover is quickly approaching and we need to think about the ways in...
Two weeks in Washington & our country’s soul
From darkness to light; from violence to the peaceful transfer of power; from insurgency to democracy; from hate to hope; from white supremacy to equality; and from Confederate flags to American flags. From sexism, racism, and antisemitism to Vice President Harris and...