Lauren Holtzblatt
By Lauren Holtzblatt
-
Opinion I was RBG’s rabbi. Her legacy demands we fight for human dignity and reproductive rights.
Grief is a complicated animal. I have often described its presence to my congregants as a mountain — sometimes it is across from you and you can see it, sometimes you are climbing it, sometimes you have summited it and sometimes it is just right on top of you. We do not control it, we…
-
Opinion We must be the heirs of Rabin’s dream
This essay is part of a collection of essays commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The collection was produced in partnership with BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change. “When God returned the exiles of Zion, we were like dreamers” (Psalms 126:1) On the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, I find…
-
Community Asylum is becoming nearly impossible; we can’t let it
When we traveled with congregants to the U.S/Mexico Border over a year ago to bear witness to the brutality being perpetrated, we didn’t imagine we’d confront a strikingly modern version of our own ancient story — our religious narrative — of trying to escape degradation for a chance at dignity. But that’s precisely what we…
-
Community Mourning, healing, and proximity in a COVID world
There is a story told in the Talmud (Tractate Berakhot, 5b) about Rabbi Yohanan. He possessed a great healing ability, the unique ability to listen and hold the pain of the other, and he had also experienced unimaginable loss as 10 of his children died in his lifetime. In one famous story he goes to…
-
Opinion There’s No Easy Answer To The Debate Over Intermarriage
The debate over intermarriage — once again erupting across the Jewish community — has too easily slipped into a binary equation. Opinions are shared, statistics are drawn as weapons and institutions often double-down. Sides are chosen, often reduced to a simple yes or no: “No, never; Jewish Law forbids this.” (Or “no, never; it will…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
- 2
Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
- 3
News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
- 4
Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jesse Cogan, ad exec who coined the slogan ‘Turn Friday Night into Shabbos,’ dies at 74
-
Fast Forward Will a hostage deal happen this week?
-
Fast Forward His home did not survive the Eaton Fire. But one precious family heirloom did.
-
Fast Forward Who is Ari Berman, the rabbi who will deliver a benediction at Trump’s inauguration?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
