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Explore our RA bookstore, articles on Exploring Judaism, teshuvot of the Committee on Jewish Law & Standards (CJLS), our Tzedek Center, holiday guides, and more.
You Shall Strengthen Them: A Rabbinic Letter on the Poor
You Shall Strengthen Them: A Rabbinic Letter on the Poor, was derived from earlier published essays
Ushpizin
This ready-to-use text, which includes commentary and kavanot, has been excerpted from Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom.
Seder N'tilat Lulav
This ready-to-use text, which includes commentary and kavanot, has been excerpted from Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom.
Hakafot
This ready-to-use text, which includes commentary and kavanot on the Hakafot for Simhat Torah, has been excerpted from Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom.
Simhat Torah Songsheet
This ready-to-use songsheet was compiled by Ashira Konigsburg, Assistant Director of Rabbinic Services, RA.
Purim Song Sheet
This 1-page song sheet, prepared by Yossi Hoffman, contains the text, transliteration, and translation of popular songs for Purim.
A Shot Heard Round the Nation
December 20, 2012
By David Lerner
Last Friday morning, I was sitting in my study writing a sermon as I heard the unfolding nightmarish news about a school shooting in Newtown, CT. Watching our preschoolers running around the playground, I was overwhelmed by...
Conservative Movement Leaders Express Need for Restrictions on Gun Ownership
December 17, 2012
NEW YORK – In response to Friday’s tragedy in Newtown, Conn., the leadership of Conservative Judaism, which includes the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, together issued the following statement:
A Prayer in Wake of a School Shooting
December 14, 2012
by Menachem Creditor
In mourning and solidarity with the community of Newtown, Connecticut
Adonai,
Your children and teachers
are dead and wounded.
Our souls are burning with anguish.
Until When, Adonai?! (Ps.
Hodesh Tov - Tevet
"A Second Look at Judaism and the Environment"
by Eliezer Diamond, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, The Jewish Theological...
Treasuring a Timeless Message
December 10, 2012
Gerry Skolnik participated with over a dozen colleagues in the Masorti Solidarity Mission to Israel.
By Gerry Skolnik
As the festival of Hanukkah approaches, hanukkiyot - Hanukkah menorahs - seem to sprout from every public...
What Hanukkah Can Teach Us About Preserving Sacred Space
December 7, 2012
By Julie Schonfeld
Originally posted in The Washington Post
When my home lost power for a week during Superstorm Sandy, I felt that my most obvious priority was to make this situation tolerable and manageable to my two children...
Inspired by Noam: Day 1 of the Masorti Solidarity Mission to Israel
December 4, 2012
Julie Schonfeld participated with over a dozen colleagues in the Masorti Solidarity Mission to Israel.
Her experiences on the first day follow below:
By Julie Schonfeld
In the United States, it often seems that our...
Leaders of Conservative Movement Stand with Israel, U.S., Against Enhanced Palestinian Status at U.N.
November 30, 2012
NEW YORK – Today, the United Nations General Assembly voted to grant the Palestinian Authority’s non-member observer status at the UN. Calling the outcome a diversion to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the leaders of the two...
Miracles in Those Days and in Our Own: A Note on the Hanukkah Blessings
November 29, 2012
By Alvan Kaunfer
You may have grown up, as I did, singing the two Hanukkah candle blessings thanking God for "performing miracles for us " ... ba-yamim ha-heim ba-z'man ha-zeh.” Many of you may have noticed a small but...
RA Appalled by Hungarian Lawmaker’s Anti-Semitism
November 28, 2012
NEW YORK – This week, Hungarian Parliament member Marton Gyongyosi suggested in Parliament that all Jews in his country’s government should be counted and monitored as dangerous. On behalf of the Rabbinical Assembly, the Gerald Skolnik, RA...