By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Nonprofit organizations – including synagogues – and nonprofit newspapers are not allowed to endorse political candidates. However, as a Jewish newspaper, we can talk about Jewish values that should be taken into consideration by voters. Below are three that I h…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
“This year it’s different.” That’s the Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton’s slogan for its Campaign 2025. When I first mentioned the slogan to a friend, she said it was so vague that she didn’t know what it meant. Although Federation Executive Direc…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I’ve written before about how I like to pause during the fall holiday season and appreciate the many things in my life for which I am grateful. Since parts of 2024 were emotionally difficult for a number of reasons, this feels even more important this year.
Some …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I’ve been watching videos of “Saturday Night Live Weekend Update” hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost on my Facebook feed. The videos began to pop up after I read about Che and Jost exchanging jokes while a real-life rabbi sat at their desk, shaking her head at t…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Before the 2016 election, I wrote that there was a great deal of anger in our country and that whoever became president needed to find a way to heal our increasingly polarized nation. Unfortunately, that did not happen. In fact, that anger has festered and become wo…
