Related Blog Posts on Current Events

January 15 marks the one-year anniversary of the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform congregation in Colleyville, TX.

I read a quote today by Sy Smith that said, "Black people in the U.S. are expected to keep on keeping on, no matter what..."

As a Black woman, a Jew, an American, and a human being, April 7, 2022, is a day that I will always remember. I will remember it for the historic event that it was: the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

The recent events of Colleyville, TX taught us that security training works and that having staff throughout your synagogue who are prepared to respond during the worst of circumstances can make your site more secure.

This is a prayer of healing for the hostages freed from Congregation Beth Israel, Colleyville, Texas, as well as the congregation and the community.

Last Saturday, amid what should have been a peaceful Shabbat, our global Jewish family watched in horror as news emerged that members of Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Texas, were being held hostage by an armed gunman. After an 11-hour standoff, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and profound gratitude upon learning that all four hostages, including Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, were finally free.

The Union for Reform Judaism shares resources for use in congregations and Jewish communities, as well as by families and individual, in our shared pursuit of justice.

Before the start of Shabbat, the Reform Jewish community hosted a live webinar, "Healing, Hope, Action: A Reform Movement Pre-Shabbat Gathering," sharing a Jewish framing for what we’re experiencing communally and as a country.

It is in these moments of darkness that Jewish tradition compels us to be brave, to seek the light. We are, as we read in Zechariah 9:12, asirei hatikvah, prisoners of hope.  

Let me not mince words: He’s a narcissistic, unstable tyrant who hates migrant workers and has instituted oppressive policies that endanger their lives. Almost everyone liked his predecessor but it’s a new day.