Published originally in Haaretz November 5, 2015 By LEON MORRIS As the Reform movement gathered for its Biennial Convention in Orlando, Florida – its aliyat ha’regel of inspiration, study and celebration – it did so just one month after the Reconstructionist Rabbinical School implemented the very admissions policy that a younger generation of Reform Jews … Read more
Ha’aretz, April 20th, 2015. My son returned from school, sharing with me what he learned about Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day. He is in first grade. The explanations he heard from teachers and classmates were far more detailed than what I would have offered back home in America. My parental and educational instincts would have … Read more
‘התקופה הכי טובה להיות יהודי’ פורסם בהארץ, 21.4.15 בני, תלמיד כיתה א’, חזר מבית הספר ושיתף אותי במה שלמד על יום השואה. ההסברים ששמע ממוריו ומבני כיתתו היו מפורטים הרבה יותר ממה שאני הייתי בוחר לספר לו אילו נשארנו בארצות הברית. בחוּשַי ההוריים והחינוכיים הייתי מסוכך עליו, מגן על תמימותו עוד כמה שנים. הייתי מסביר … Read more
Ha’aretz, September 21, 2014. We moved to Israel from America three months ago. After years of aspiring to build a life in Zion, we decided that the time was right. Like most of those who make aliyah, we came here primarily for ideological reasons. We believe that Israel is the most important project of the … Read more
הארץ, 26.9.14 עלינו מארצות הברית לישראל לפני שלושה חודשים. אחרי שנים של שאיפה לבנות חיים בציון החלטנו שהגיעה העת. כמו רוב העולים, הגענו לכאן מטעמים אידיאולוגיים בעיקרם. אנחנו מאמינים שישראל היא הפרויקט החשוב ביותר של העם היהודי בדורנו. אנחנו רוצים לתרום לפרויקט הזה. אנחנו רוצים להעניק לשלושת ילדינו את ההזדמנות לחוות חיים יהודיים שלמים ואורגניים, … Read more
Creative Reclamation of Leviticus 16 Rabbi Leon A. Morris I suggested this topic, both because of my own work on how liberal Jews can make sense out of text related to sacrifice in Temple, and also out of my own experience of reintroducing Leviticus 16 in my congregation for the morning reading of Yom Kippur. … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris This is a great opportunity to study one rubric of the Yom Kippur service that we editors of the machzor haven’t yet tackled, and to do so with colleagues joining us on the phone and with three very gifted scholars who will be teaching us today. And it seems especially appropriate … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris It will be helpful at the beginning to just look at the two texts of Hin’ni (see pages 226–227). These two versions of Hin’ni were provided in the Mishkan HaNefesh pilot for Rosh HaShanah evening. The first, which would go on the right side, is essentially just a new translation of … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris I wanted to speak to two categories of ideas related to N’ilah, the first inside the machzor and then the second what operates beyond the machzor. First, in terms of inside the machzor, if you have the source sheet, this would be the first source. One of the cen- tral pieces … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris The context for this discussion is that the highlight of the traditional Yom Kippur liturgy has historically been Seder HaAvodah. It is, of course, a poetic recollection and a kind of literary re-creation of the ceremony of Yom Kippur as it was performed in the days of the Temples, the First … Read more