Shabbat Table

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we contemplate the meaning of counting the days of Omer, the seven weeks between Passover and the holiday of Shavuot, focusing on being mindful of our journey with all its uncertainties. We also remember the maiden voyage of the SS Theodor Herzl, the largest passenger ship that ever sailed under the Israeli flag.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we consider how to fulfill the commandment to rebuke others for wrongdoing in a way that effectively gets our point across and inspires change. We also mark the birthday of Oskar Schindler, the factory owner who became one of the most famous “Righteous Gentiles” for saving the lives of 1,200 Jews in the Holocaust.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we contemplate the parallels between leprosy in Biblical times and today's epidemic of hate speech, which endangers all of society. We also remember the struggles of Jewish mathematician Emmy Noether and how discrimination denies us the contributions of those being excluded.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we contemplate what the Torah's prohibition against eating storks can teach us about compassion for those outside our immediate circles and we celebrate the birthday of Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv by remembering its idealistic Zionist founders who dreamed of building a modern Hebrew city.

In this week’s Shabbat Table, we consider how the bravery that led Nachshon ben Aminadav to wade into the Red Sea, bringing about God's parting of the waters can inspire today’s activists. We also remember the Jewish American patriot Haym Salomon who helped finance the American revolution against England.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we discuss how matza is more than a bread of affliction, but a bread of transition from slavery to freedom, symbolic of where we are now in our journey from lockdown to normalcy. We also recall the conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on charges of espionage and the impact that had on American Jewry.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, Moses gives us a leadership lesson in humility. We also recall the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that killed 146 garment workers and inspired Jewish labor activists to push for desperately needed safety standards in American factories.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we see how Moses’ reminder to the Children of Israel to keep the Sabbath holy coupled with the creation of the elaborate Mishkan prepares us to emerge from this pandemic armed with lessons about the sacredness of time and space. And in honor of Women’s History Month, we recall the “scandalous” bat mitzvah ceremony of Judith Kaplan that opened the door to women’s ritual inclusion in synagogues and arguably led to the ordination of women as rabbis.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we ponder Moses’ contradictory instincts to defend the Children of Israel to God when he learns they are worshiping a Golden Calf, then explode in rage when he sees them worshiping the idol himself. We contemplate moments when our advocacy does not completely reflect our personal views. We also recall the politics that preceded the Second Intifada, mourn the innocent lives lost, and pray for peace.

In this week's AJC’s Shabbat Table, we examine Queen Esther’s sudden transformation from a scared young queen to a warrior for her people. We provide some tools to help us reflect on moments that have changed our perspective and empowered us to make change. We also commemorate the anniversary of the Maryland "Jew Bill," which reminds us of a time when America didn’t always give Jews equal rights.

In this week's AJC Shabbat Table, we consider the meaning of the commandment to remember Amalek in Parshat Zachor, the special Torah reading traditionally read on the Shabbat before Purim, and we provide some questions to spur conversation about the role of Jewish collective memory in ensuring the future of Judaism. We also remember the 1917 dedication of the Midrás Abarbanel, the first synagogue established in Madrid since the expulsion of Jews in 1492, marking a rebirth of Jewish communal life there.

In this week AJC Shabbat Table, we ponder the lessons to be learned when Moses’ father-in-law instructs him to avoid burn out by delegating some duties. No one leads alone. It is only with communities of committed leaders that we accomplish our goals. We also recount Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky’s triumphant arrival in Israel and we provide some talking points and resources for a discussion about the Working Definition of Antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

In this week's Shabbat Table, we consider how Moses’ onus of carrying Joseph’s bones to the Promised Land can be a metaphor for how our predecessors’ goals and dreams keep us focused on our purpose. We remember how world Jewry united to fight the 19th Century Damascus Blood Libel and we discuss the plaudits and put downs of Israel’s comprehensive and speedy vaccination program.

In this week's Shabbat Table, we recount how Moses made sure the Children of Israel were able to take what they might need when they escaped Egypt and consider how to apply that same wisdom to preparing for life after the pandemic. We must remember the lessons we are learning about communication, loneliness, public health, and the importance of community. We commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and we discuss what it means for the American Jewish community that so many Jews will be serving at the highest levels of the Biden administration.

In this week's Shabbat Table, we reflect on how the Nile River helped shape Moses into a leader who understood the importance of every interaction with the world around him. We remember Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon 18 years after the launch of the doomed space shuttle Columbia. And we provide some talking points and resources for a discussion about far-right extremism in America.

In this week's Shabbat Table, we reflect on the quintessentially Jewish story of the biblical midwives Shifra and Puah and how it can inspire us to be agents of hope as we close the door on 2020 and embark on a new year. We mourn the loss of Joan Micklin Silver, the Jewish-American filmmaker behind Jewish classics such as “Crossing Delancey” and “Hester Street.” We then open a discussion about rebuilding American democracy after the terrifying siege at the U.S. Capitol this week.

In this week's AJC’s Shabbat Table, we read the climactic confrontation between Joseph and his brother Judah through the lens of repentance as defined by Maimonides. We also celebrate the 160th birthday of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah and “mother of thousands” who created the Youth Aliyah system that rescued countless European Jewish children from the Nazis, resettling them in Youth Villages in Palestine. And we provide some discussion prompts about the normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, two countries that developed quiet but warm relations in recent decades, but only established more official diplomatic ties after the UAE and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords.

In this week’s Shabbat Table, we reflect on how Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh to sustain Egypt during a famine with the surplus set aside in years of plenty suggests how we can endure challenges. Perhaps we can draw on reserves of joy and memories of togetherness to get through the final clutches of the global pandemic and the dark winter ahead. We also remember the ouster of Jews from Spain – one of many expulsions of Jews from European countries during the Middle Ages, but the most notorious as it was not fully rescinded until 1968. And we provide some discussion prompts about Belgium’s ban on kosher slaughter, which was upheld this week by the European Union’s highest court, despite the long history of similar bans linked to antisemitism.

In this week’s Shabbat Table, we consider how the coincidental juxtaposition of Hanukkah and the Biblical story of Joseph forces us to think in a nuanced fashion about the Jewish relationship with the external cultures in which we live. We invite readers to discuss the troubling column in The New York Times titled “Saying Goodbye to Hanukkah,” and flood social media with more positive messages about the holiday. We also mark two moments in history when Jewish vigilance and self-advocacy paid off: the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann and the reversal of Ulysses S. Grant's injustice against the Jews during the Civil War, which ended up strengthening Jewish standing in America.

In this week's Shabbat Table, we reflect once again on the story of Jacob and Esau. But this time we focus on Jacob’s struggle with his demons and the journey toward self-acceptance that’s needed for him to have a healthy relationship with his brother. We revisit two moments in history when American Jews fought on behalf of their fellow Jews abroad – unsuccessfully during the Holocaust and triumphantly a half century later during the movement to free Soviet Jewry. We then open a discussion about the lessons Jewish activists can take from these two movements and what should be on our agenda next.