Dear friends,
Last week, we had the privilege of welcoming Dr. Rachel Fish as our resident scholar. I was delighted to have my friend Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz welcome our communities from the TSTI bimah and was deeply moved when the clergy from both congregations harmonized to create beautiful worship music. I eagerly anticipate joining our friends at Temple Bnai Jeshurun this evening at 5:30 p.m. for another shared service and scholar evening.
Dr. Fish, a brilliant scholar, co-founded the nonprofit Boundless, a think-action tank that collaborates with community leaders across North America to revitalize Israel education and take bold collective action against Jew-hatred. Dr. Fish’s research focuses on the alarming rise in Jew-hatred (a term she prefers based on her research). Her sobering talk presented recent surveys revealing concerning trends in attitudes towards Jews, Israel and Zionism.
Among my key takeaways from her talk was the importance of engaging in challenging conversations with a generous spirit and mutual sharing of ideas. I was heartened to hear someone who is helping to expose the depth of our challenges remain optimistic about our ability to better educate the next generation of our community and stand together to combat darkness.
After the program, many attendees asked Dr. Fish to share resources that could help us better understand our current reality and our role in addressing it. I am honored to share Dr. Fish’s list of resources with all of you. I hope you will take some time this weekend to read or view some of the sources she shared.
Looking forward to seeing many of you at TBJ this evening.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel Cohen