Bylined opinion and news columns published by United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute.
Greetings!
I am in the rabbinical program at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. I was born in lower Michigan and got my B.A. in Spanish from Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula.
I was active in my college Hillel, where I served as president and participated in community theater. After graduating, I spent a few months as an English teaching assistant in Galicia, Spain.
How can we respond to the hate that surrounds us? Many of us attended the vigil in support of Charlottesville held in August at the Vigo County Courthouse.
I spoke, as did Sara Wormser-Waltermire. Others in the congregation also attended and brought their children. But this demonstration is just the beginning.
Even though I am a Reform Jew, I am drawn to a more orthodox morning prayer: I give thanks to You, Everlasting King, that You have returned to me my soul with compassion. Great is Your faithfulness.
Intellectually, of course, I know that does not happen. But spiritually, for me, that prayer acknowledges my daily return to God.
I believe that within the soul resides our yearning for social justice. And every morning, I can use that prayer to recommit to lending my voice, if given the opportunity, to someone whom society has made voice-less.
In our corpus we have texts such as Tanakh, Midrash, Talmud and Shulchan Aruch. Incredible minds like Rashi, Rarnbarn, Ibn Ezra and Nachmanides, beautiful and intricate languages such as Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish, titanic moments like revelation at Sinai, the reigns of David and Solomon and the return from the exile.
However, despite this, I could not find a witty quote or a piece of insight from our sages that can properly convey my thoughts.