Thanksgiving The United States was the first country to offer Jews the right to vote in national elections. Although we endured much discrimination, we simultaneously found opportunity and made great contributions. For most of us, our experience of anti-Semitism differed from that our parents. We have lived openly and proudly in a country of diversity. Remarkably, when the Pew Research Center asked…

VaYera: The huppah [wedding canopy] symbolizes the tent of Abraham and Sarah, the model Jewish home. In the opening verses of this week’s Torah reading, Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his desert tent when he spots strangers. He rushes out to greet them. Bowing, he says, “Please my master, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass from before your…

Lekh L’kha marks a new beginning of an uncharted future. Abram hears a call to go forth to the land that God would show him. At the same time, Canaan is the once sought destination of Abram’s father (Genesis 11:31). Rabbi Wolfe Kelman commented, “There is no greater influence on a child than the unfilled dreams of a parent” and pointed to…