By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
My last day as executive editor of The Reporter is scheduled to be December 31 of this year. As of the date of this issue (January 24), I have 11 months and one week remaining before I retire. (When I talk to people, I usually add the number of hours and minutes, bu…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Recent events have left me puzzling the connections between several things that, at first, may not seem connected. They are the results of the U.S. House Ethics Committee’s report on former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, the increasing restrictions being placed o…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
The USA Today headline said, “Subway killing divides country.” The article announced the acquittal of Daniel Penny. For those unaware of the trial, Penny was found not guilty of the killing of Jordan Neely, an unhoused person who suffered from mental illness. Th…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I have what some might consider an unusual quirk when meeting someone new at my synagogue: I never ask them what they do for a living. While I’m more than happy to learn about their work/career if they are interested in talking about it, in the context of the sy…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
This is America: An armed, masked group marched in Columbus, OH, holding flags with swastikas on them. This is America: Members of the Black population have received text notifications that they have been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.…
