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 Published in the summer of 2013 in CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly. See here for a PDF of the article. The notion of sacrificial offerings was an anathema in the shaping of a modern Jewish life. Since the earliest days of Reform Judaism, those most ancient forms of divine service were … Read more
by Leon A. Morris, The Jewish Week A rabbi reflects on why American Jews need the minyan now more than ever. Depictions of American Jews on television are often a barometer for the way in which Jewish writers, and presumably Jewish viewers, understand their Jewish identity. The 1990s series “Northern Exposure” featured the character of … Read more
Scott Korb & Rabbi Leon A Morris The Baltimore Sun It’s been nearly 30 years since author Anne Rolphe reflected on her family’s Christmas tree in The New York Times with the essay “Christmas Comes to a Jewish Home.” Rolphe’s December 1978 essay elicited a strong reaction from many Jews who rightfully objected to the ways … Read more
Leon A. Morris We Reform Jews want it both ways. We want to be the great open tent for the majority of American Jews who seek some kind of Jewish identification. But we also want to be a movement of serious, committed Jews embracing a liberal Jewish theology . Located on the left of the … Read more
By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK, May 10 (JTA) — Rabbi Joshua Kolet has a dream. A native of Bombay, Kolet wants to make his home in the Jewish state. But before he moves to Israel, Kolet is trying to turn a plot of land in Bombay into a Jewish home for Israelis seeking spirituality in … Read more