Looking forward to next week's #ARabbisHeart Conversations with Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz & Rabbi Adina Lewittes!

Looking forward to next week's #ARabbisHeart Conversations with Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz & Rabbi Adina Lewittes! Get your copy at tinyurl.com/arabbisheart! Tune in at

facebook.com/menachemcreditor

!

For an archive of all past #arabbisheart conversations, click here: https://tinyurl.com/arabbisheartbooktour

#BookTour #AuthorLife

A Rabbi's Heart: A Conversation with Karen Erlichman

A Rabbi's Heart: A Conversation with Rabbi David Baum

Death is a part of life, and tending to our loved ones when they die is an act of true love, what Jewish tradition calls #ChesedShelEmet. Let us reach out to those who tend to us when we die - funeral directors, rabbis, cantors, cemetery crews, with real and abiding gratitude for the holy work they do. (Special shout out to my beloved friend Stephanie Garry for being one of those angels.) #MorningTorah

 

A Rabbi's Heart: A Conversation with Rabbi David Paskin

God's Image comes in all shapes and sizes and hues and genders and abilities. Special shout-out to my beloved friend and teacher, Matan Koch, who has sharpened my awareness of what sacred accessibility truly means.

 

This week's Torah portion teaches that a collective identity requires a joining of hearts, a deepening of relationship with neighbors and their embodied histories. #Emor #MorningTorah

 

Friends, in the name of our ancestors, real people who learned from their mistakes as they shaped the Torah that grows through time as well, let's remember to dance. This Shabbat, I hope you dance! #ShabbatShalom

 

Joni Mitchell & James Taylor - Live in Concert at the Paris Theatre (1970)

A Rabbi's Heart: A Conversation with Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin

Today is a day for revolutionary love, for championing human dignity, for listening so that we can learn from the neighbors we are called to love as ourselves.

 

Justice is not achieved in one correct decision surrounded by countless unjust ones. This week's Torah portion calls upon us to demonstrate a duty of care to our neighbors as ourselves. 9 minutes and 29 seconds of murder in broad daylight, captured on video, should not be necessary for justice, nor should I forget the relived trauma that repeated footage of a black man being choked to death by a white man's knee causes my neighbor. Langston Hughes said it right in his piercing poem, 'Democracy': "I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread," and Maya Angelou taught us well: "Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible." Waiting is not an option, and we dare not make promises we do not make plans to fulfill. May we recommit to pursuing justice in the memories of George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and countless other black Americans. May we learn to truly see God in each other's eyes. May we come to truly love our neighbors as ourselves.

 

James Baldwin has been speaking to me.

 

Over the last few months,

James Baldwin has been speaking to me.

I've been trying to hear, to listen,

to pause, significantly, before trying to relate.

He left home because the fury there felt like a threat.

Away, he discovered love of that furious home,

which is why it hurt him so deeply.

Some of his thoughts require no translation.

Some are of a language which will never be mine.

Yet he speaks to me.

- Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Judaism as an Essential Ingredient for a Healing World

Judaism for its own sake is a strange concept - in Jewish terms. We weren’t created simply to be. We were created to bring light into the world. During this time of global fragility what can we bring to the world that it doesn’t already have? What is our responsibility as Jews in the world?

JTS Changemakers: What's Next for Jewish Life?

In the spirit of the gift of mikvah (ritual immersion) from this week's Torah portion, may you be blessed to be surrounded by possibility, affirmed by the living waters from above and from below. #Mikvah #BuildOnLove #ShabbatShalom

 

Today we dance. Today we sing. Today we weep with gratitude for the rebirth of our people in our homeland. This morning, we recited the Declaration of Israel's Independence in 1948. This morning, we sang Hatikvah. Today, my daughter danced in our homeland. Today, my sister and brother celebrated with their Israel-born daughters in their home in Tel Aviv. Today we shout to the universe: Am Yisrael Chai! The People Israel Lives! #YomHaatzmaut

 

Am Yisrael Chai! The People of Israel are Alive! #WeRemember #YomHaZikaron

 

What is deeper than our skin? Pure light. This morning's learning aimed to connect our Jewish moment (Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha'atzma'ut) with the Torah portions (Tazria Metzora) the memories of George Floyd z"l and Daunte Wright z"l, and the assault on Second Lt. Caron Nazario last night. #SayTheirNames #PursueJustice #BuildOnLove

 

Honored to have been part of this year's International March of the Living​ Memorial Tribute, honoring their Holocaust survivor educators who passed away recently. These courageous survivors accompanied students on the March Of The Living sharing with them their moving stories and important lessons so that the history of the Shoah is never forgotten. Deep gratitude to Cantor Aviva Rajsky​ and Tom Bellman​ for their beautiful rendition of #OlamChesedYibaneh. #BuildOnLove

May the memory of the Six Million be for a blessing. May we do much good in their names, in their memory, and in their honor. #YomHashoah

 

Thrilled to announce the first two events of the #aRabbisHeart Conversations Series!

Thrilled to announce the first two events of the #aRabbisHeart Conversations Series! Join us as we discuss my most recent book, a collection of 11 years of my writings, with dear friends and colleagues! Can't wait to share this with all of you!

Tues, April 20 - 2pm (ET)
Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin
Associate Rabbi,
Beth Tzedec Congregation, Toronto
to join the conversation: facebook.com/rabbicreditor

Thurs, April 22 - 10am (ET)
Daphne Lazar Price
Executive Director, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
to join the conversation: facebook.com/rabbicreditor

You can purchase your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Rabbis-Heart-Selected-Writings-2006-2017/dp/B08YS629F4

#conversation #booktour

We remember and we make real: Never Again. #MorningTorah #YomaHaShoah #Shemini

 

In this week's Torah portion, the story of Aaron's silent grief offers wisdom to those who wish to comfort others. #ComfortComfort #MorningTorah

 

In this precious conversation with my Abbah, we discussed Testimony, Memory, and Transmission. #RabbisCreditor

The demonstrable progress we're making due to the miraculous vaccines mustn't make us less vigilant in our fight for life. Our exuberance must be channeled for sustained healing. #MorningTorah

 

Freedom isn't the ability to run away; it's the gift of running toward each other. #ShabbatShalom #ChagSameach

 

Morning Torah for Today!