Rabbi Michael Holzman is the spiritual leader of the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation and the founder of the Rebuilding Democracy Project, winner of the 2019 Lippman Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. Rabbi Holzman has partnered with a variety of organizations like the Aspen Institute, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America to examine the intersection of faith and democracy. Currently, he is working with Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin, director of Rabbinic Outreach at the One America Movement, to spread ideas and techniques to combat toxic polarization in American democracy. For more information, please contact Rabbi Holzman or Rabbi Schmelkin at rebuildingdemocracy@nvhcreston.org.
Our fears of toxicity and the preventative tactics they induce testify to how much surrounding American cultural norms have seeped into our institutions.
As COVID-19-related challenges escalate, we ask how our methodology and experience might shield the Jewish community from partisan torches and pitchforks. Here’s an approach to healthy decision-making under these circumstances.
Over the summer, I had the good fortune to serve on the faculty of Kfar Noar, URJ Camp Harlam’s unit of rising ninth graders. One of my responsibilities was to join the campers on their trip to New York City, where we attended Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
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The Union for Reform Judaism leads the largest and most diverse Jewish movement in North America.