Judy Wexler

As Women of Reform Judaism who live our progressive values, we make every effort to welcome and include people when they join us for events and programs. We are all aware that it only takes one instance of feeling unwelcome for someone to say, “I’m never going

Recently, I was bicycling with my husband, and we looked up to see a flock of birds sailing across the sky in formation. My husband asked, “How do you think they decide who gets to be the leader?” How wonderful to consider that one of the birds “gets” to be

In Parashat Chukat, we read how the community begins to heal after the death of Miriam and Aaron. Our community will need to figure out ways to heal as well, after the pain and challenges of the past few years. My community is working through grief from this week’s July 4th mass shooting, at which we lost one of our synagogue members. The support from our sisters throughout the world has been heart-warming and provides hope—although we know that much must change. Miriam’s leadership helps us to understand how important and difficult change is. Just as she showed the Israelites the way, through her singing and dancing, so will we all move forward in the best ways we can.

In my professional work with middle school students, teaching reading and writing, I often find myself talking about compassion. It is difficult for these young adults to feel compassion for the characters in the books we read—and it is especially difficult