Our greatest fears realized…
Our greatest fears realized. Our greatest fears so terrorizing that we never utter them out loud. What if during our prayers, during our simchas (our celebrations), during our Sabbath morning Torah study This morning our greatest fears were put into words not as a ...
So why do we fast on Yom Kippur?
To follow in the footsteps of our parents and grandparents. To affirm our connection with our community and our people. To afflict our souls. To be moved to repentance. To show our piety. To challenge ourselves so we know that we are not dependent on food alone. To...
Rosh Hashanah – The Birthday of Humanity
Tonight, with the sun’s setting, a new Jewish Year will be born. While we tell our children it is the birthday of the world, it is really a celebration of the birthday of humanity. Rosh Hanashanah celebrates the day on which the first human beings were created in the...
Time Flies – A Prayer for the New Academic Year
Time flies… the older we get the swifter its pace seems to be. Time flies… so fast that we can miss the remarkable moments only appreciating them in our memories once they are gone. Author of time, help us to appreciate the time we have. Help us to celebrate the...
To Whom am I Accountable? The Answer I Found in Treblinka
It was the final day of a two-week journey to explore the Holocaust, a trip filled with long days of study, long drives, and long hours in concentration camps and death camps. I was with fifteen other Holocaust educators learning about Holocaust history, about best...
Being a parent is not easy
[This talk was given on May 15, 2018 for the Florence Crittenton Services Luncheon.] This past Sunday was Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers in this Hall. Today we celebrate the mothers of Florence Crittenton. In Jewish homes, mothers are...
A prayer for the people of the land
by Rabbi Judy Schindler and Rabbi Micah Streiffer As Jews, today we celebrate the anniversary of the secular date on which Israel’s Independence was declared, May 14, 1948. On this day, seven decades ago, a modern day miracle was born. On this day, our people danced...
The Beloved Community
It was an honor to reflect on the meaning of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Beloved Community as I entered into conversation with The Reverend Chip Edens at Christ Church in Charlotte on what it means to be Jewish in a Christian world. Clik here to view the...
Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018 and my grandfather’s songs that were sung in the death camps
In Hebrew, the word of poem and song are one and the same. On this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Yiddush Book Center sent out this video clip about my grandfather, Eliezer Schindler, who was a Yiddush writer. Many of his poems were set to music. In the...
Social Justice Readings for Your Passover Seder
Click here for printable Passover seder supplement The Four Children Who Survived Mass Shootings The student of Columbine, who witnessed the 1999 massacre in his high school asks: “How could such evil happen in the hallways of my school?” The Virginia Tech college...
May our kids live & my Parkland Shabbat morning worship
This Shabbat, my family and I felt called to “pray with our legs” and attend the closest March For Our Lives. The march closest to where we were staying (while making a grandparent visit) happened to be in Parkland itself. The liturgy of my morning prayers was shared...
Charlotte’s and NC’s Criminal Justice System and an Extractive Economy
by Judy Schindler and Jake Sussman [This was given in response to a presentation by Dr. Walter Brueggemann entitled “God. Money. Neighbor.” delivered at First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, on March 4, 2018.] Dr. Brueggemann, we appreciate your clarion call to...
Sacred Aging Podcast – A Conversation on Social Justice
In the first half of this week’s Jewish Sacred Aging Radio show, Rabbi Address chats with Rabbi Judy Schindler, Director of the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte and Sklut professor of Jewish Studies there, and Judy...
Courageous Leadership
In this episode of On the Other Hand, Rabbi Jacobs talks with Rabbi Judy Schindler. They discuss Parashat Yitro, expanding the tent of Jewish life, the legacy passed down by her father, social justice activism, and Rabbi Schindler’s book Recharging Judaism. ...
WFAE Charlotte Talks: The Science Behind Political Organizing
By Ryan McFadin This past weekend saw the second women’s march in Charlotte with about 5,000 people filling the streets. That work was the work of organizers. This is difficult work, a fact sometimes overlooked even by those who advocate for change. Mike talks with...
Marching is not enough; women need a movement
[From the Charlotte Observer, January 17, 2018. Rabbi Schindler is a Contributing Editor for the Observer Editorial Board.] “Close your eyes – take a minute to imagine a world four years in the future – in 2021 – one in which our movement has won.” Last year, Donald...
New Book Network Podcast on Recharging Judaism
New Books Network is a podcast dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing serious authors to a wide public. In this episode, Daveeda Goldberg, a PhD candidate in the Department of Humanities at York University, in Toronto, Canada, interviews...
President Trump makes right call, in the wrong way, on Jerusalem
[From the Charlotte Observer, December 8, 2017. Rabbi Schindler is a Contributing Editor for the Observer Editorial Board.] I love Jerusalem. It has been part of my life for 36 years, from the time I was a high school student there. I would visit my father, a global...
Zionism and social justice: can they co-exist?
[From the Charlotte Observer, November 23, 2017. Rabbi Schindler is a Contributing Editor for the Observer Editorial Board. Photo by Miriam Alster.] I am a Rabbi. I am a social justice activist. I am a Zionist, meaning I support Israel as a sovereign Jewish and...
Something Worth Fighting For
[Delivered at Stateseville Avenue Presbyterian Church, November 12, 2017. Based on Isaiah 2:4.] As this is Veteran’s Day weekend, I thought I’d open with a cute story about a little boy who was in a synagogue sitting outside the sanctuary staring at the memorial...
Democracy is not a Spectator Sport
When Jeremiah the prophet preached 2600 years ago, he enjoined his fellow Jews who were exiled to Babylon to get engaged with their community, “Seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be in exile… for in its shalom, you shall find shalom.”...
Women, the Bedroom, the Workplace, and the Government
[From the Charlotte Observer, October 23, 2017. Rabbi Schindler is a Contributing Editor for the Observer Editorial Board] What happens in the bedroom is meant to stay in the bedroom. That is why most women do not talk publicly about the personal and private issue of...
To my fellow clergy: I know it’s hard, but do more
From the Charlotte Observer, September 28, 2017 Rabbi Schindler is a Contributing Editor I admire your work. I was a congregational rabbi for more than 20 years. I know that leading a faith community requires strength – physical strength to support a flock for whom...
Honored to be Named the Sklut Professor of Jewish Studies at Queens University
QUEENS RECEIVES $1 MILLION TO ESTABLISH PROFESSORSHIP OF JEWISH STUDIES CHARLOTTE, N.C. (September 25, 2017) – Thanks to the generosity of Lori and Eric Sklut, a $1 million endowed fund has been established for the Sklut Professorship in Jewish Studies at Queens...
White Supremacy, Charlottesville, and Us
White supremacy is sometimes easy to identify. Some who hold this ideology are aligned with groups we know well: the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. Their presence is frightening. Intimidation is their way. They proclaim their presence boldly whether once draped in...
We can support – or shatter – young immigrants’ dreams
Reprinted from the Charlotte Observer, August 2, 2017. Rabbi Schindler serves as Contributing Editor, the Observer editorial board. As educators we work to nurture our students’ dreams even as some state and federal leaders threaten to shatter them. Five years...
My Sabbath Prayers on the Anniversary of the Six-Day War
Fifty years ago today, Israel found itself fighting one of its most significant battles (second to its War of Independence). In the midst of increasing threats to its existence from adversaries on three of its four borders, and in light of increasing evidence of an...
Then and Now…
8 years ago today, the calls to help 937 Jewish refugees (mostly from Germany) fell on deaf ears as the transatlantic liner St. Louis was denied entry in Havana and sailed past Miami..
The Oppressed Stranger and a Reflection for your Seder Table
Reading Before the Lighting of the Festival Candles The seder is not a story of our past, it is our present. Sadly, the oppressed stranger was not left behind in the Exodus of Egypt, we see that soul each and every day: The refugee fleeing persecution in Syria, in...
The Failure of Ethics
This blog post was inspired by the lecture of Dr. John Roth, entitled “The Failures of Ethics: Comprehending Genocide and Atrocity” at the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte on March 2, 2017. Failures of ethics then —...
Finding Comfort in Charlotte’s Clergy Leadership
Times have been tough. Sometimes when you stand up for others, you get knocked down yourself. Thankfully, there are an abundance of strong and compassionate Charlotte leaders with whom we all can stand. At a MeckMin Clergy Council breakfast this morning, Imam John...
I thought wearing a hijab would be easy. I was wrong.
Special to the Charlotte Observer. When last week’s news of the burning mosque in Texas appeared on my Facebook feed, it came with a challenge: “Rabbi Schindler, What can we do to help?” When I consulted several Muslim leaders in Charlotte, Rose Hamid of Muslim Women...
Stand with your Muslim Sisters for Annual World Hijab Day on Wednesday, February 1st
#Worldhijabday is Wednesday, February 1st. This concept was created in 2013 as an invitation for Muslims and non-Muslims to experience the hijab for the day. Consider embracing this opportunity to stand in support of the Muslim community. There are many YouTube videos...
#Iamanupstander
In any act of oppression there are four players – a perpetrator, a victim, a bystander and an upstander. Take the pledge to speak out against hate every time you see it or hear it. Today, I speak out against the islamophobia and xenophobia behind Friday’s...
Dear President Trump
Dear President Trump, I was named for a woman of prayer, a rabbi’s wife, a woman of faith named Judy who was murdered in Auschwitz. Our country’s doors were then closed by fear of the other, of potential threats, and of having to share. We seemed to be a country of...
Shattered Shards and Two Americas
Invocation delivered at the Martin Luther King Prayer Breakfast Charlotte, North Carolina The mystics of Judaism teach about the concept of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. You see, when God created the world there was only God and only God’s light. To make...
A Rare Alignment: Chanukah & Christmas
Light in the midst of great darkness, a minority fighting for and attaining rights, celebrating religious freedom — these are the messages of the ancient Jewish holiday of Chanukah. “The triumph of life, goodness, and love over death, evil, and hate.” In the...
Listen
“The shortest distance between two people is a story…” so listen to multiple stories multiple voices multiple perspectives it is not a zero sum game your win is not my loss your belonging is not my alienation front pages front lines of a battle we can fight against...
Let Love Drive Out Hate – A Grassroots March in Charlotte
As you may know, a white supremacist group is marching in North Carolina next Saturday, December 3rd. Groups are marching for love across our state to say “no” to hate and divisiveness. Join us to ensure positive messages overshadow the negative that will emerge from...
Thanksgiving in Charlotte
I am thankful for… Our community’s children — who laugh and cry and play with abandon. Their smiles wipe away worries. Their voices give me hope. Our community’s diversity — The multiple languages spoken and the people of all backgrounds and faiths make...
We Pray for Our Nation and Its Leaders
In large part, I had a sleepless night. I am so tired of statistics and polls. 47.5% of Americans voted for Donald Trump 47.7% voted for Hillary Clinton. Yesterday polls said that if Trump became President 21% of Americans would be concerned 37% percent would be...
Elections 2016 – A Vow for the Day After
Beyond the fear beyond the demonization beyond the elections. E-pluribus Unum – from many, one One nation, many opinions One election, many voices One day on which the majority of votes will be cast and all votes will be counted. From many – an overwhelming...
Yom Kippur and the Paradox of Opening and Closing Doors
The gates of repentance are always open, Judaism teaches. Yet because we procrastinate…… Or close our eyes to our mistakes And to our mortality We have a timeframe. The gates are now open… The gates of repentance and forgiveness. Tomorrow evening, they...
Celebrate Two Birthdays: Ghandi’s and the World’s
Today is Gandhi’s birthday. Tonight, with the setting of the sun, will be Rosh Hashanah when Jews celebrate the birthday of the world and the birth of humankind. Gandhi taught: Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also in man. The Jewish New Year...
Let This be Our Lowest Point
If you are white and living in Charlotte Please pick up the phone and call someone who is black or brown skinned or stop by their office at work or table at lunch and ask “how are you?” Listen, cry, learn and talk. That’s all you need to do today. If you are white and...
Help Me to See More Fully
“We each see the world differently from where we stand,” Rev. Dr. Dwayne Walker of Little Rock AME Zion Church shared earlier tonight as we sat as a small circle of interfaith clergy and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police in prayer and song. God, help me to see...
The Syrian Refugees and Germany: Not Their Story but Our Story
Each of us had different reasons for taking part in the Central Conference of American Rabbis Mission to Berlin. Among them were: We cared about the refugee crisis and wanted to learn so that we could share the story, engage our congregants and communities with this...
What If Jonathan Ferrell were my son?
What if Jonathan Ferrell were my son? That’s what I thought about when I stopped by the court room on the first day of the Kerrick trial. Jonathan – a 24 year old former Florida A&M University football player, an aspiring engineer, engaged to a beautiful woman....
How do we respond to tragedy?
With silence… There aren’t words to respond to someone with semi-automatic guns in hand murdering innocent souls en masse. With identification… As President Obama stated, “An attack on any American is an attack on all Americans.” People lost their sons and daughters,...
Education is The Most Amazing Gift
A decade ago, Oprah stayed as a guest in President Nelson Mandela’s home in South Africa for more than a week. After days of reflecting on the ideal gift to get him as a token of her gratitude, she came up with the perfect present. So what do you get such a great man...