Rabbi Rachel Bearman

As second year students in Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, OH, my classmates and I found ourselves in a required course that was intended to teach us the practical skills we would need to officiate at all Jewish life-cycles ceremonies. As a part of that class, we practiced what we were learning by role playing some of various scenarios that we would encounter once we were rabbis. The goal of all of these exercises was for

For as long as I can remember, my Judaism has been something that I valued, something that I loved about myself, and something that...

While you might not recognize the name Martin Niemöller, I know that you’ve all heard his most famous quote. He included these words which analyze his complicity in the Nazi regime in the speeches that he delivered all around the world in the wake of the Holocaust. On dais after dais, he said: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade uni

The Haftarah portion for Rosh Hashanah comes from the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, and it tells the story of two, very unhappy women....