Watch, Listen, Learn

Join advocates and subject matter experts for a conversation exploring the intersections of the threats to democracy rooted in antisemitism and anti-refugee animus, resulting policy outcomes, and productive ways to take action during this charged election year. Location in West LA with ample parking and access to transit to be shared after registration. Please register below.

Six beloved hostages were executed in a tunnel beneath Rafah, leaving behind broken-hearted loved ones and a shattered nation. We must be clear about who is responsible.

At this time of year in our Jewish calendar, we are in a season of second chances. We are reading Moshe’s retelling of the people’s journey through the desert in Deuteronomy, and we are about to enter into the month of Elul, the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. It is also the moment when Moshe went back up the mountain to get the second set of tablets – the ultimate story of second chances. We are about to start our own month of reflection and repair – let’s see what we can do.

Water is not only a building block of life, but also of culture. How we receive water shapes our consciousness and has the potential to remind us of the ultimate truth of our existence: we are always, and inevitably, dependent…

An extraordinary rabbinic story re-imagines the final conversation between Moses and God, exploring core questions foundational to the human experience. What happens in the moment of death? And, what peace can be found when learning to let go?

Some years, the mourning and reflection of Tisha b’Av can feel performative. This year, it will be deeply personal. Even as we approach the abyss, we must remember the redemptive vision planted deep within our souls.

Rabbi Mark Kraus

Join us for “We Are All Hostages,” an important event where we will hear from families of the October 7th hostages leading protests inside of Israel. Learn about their efforts to call on the government to negotiate a deal to end the war and bring their loved ones home. Discover how you can support this critical cause and help make a difference. Visit allhostages.com for more information.

This moment demands we show up, no matter what that looks like. Find a way in – this fight will take all of us.

We gather bringing with us a myriad of concerns: personal, social, and national division and conflict, technological change and political uncertainty, the demands of individual leadership challenges, and a sense of isolation and depletion. Amidst these challenges, the urgency to reconnect with our common humanity has never been more critical. Dive into the turbulent histories and present-day challenges that shape our world and find inspiration in leaders who have confronted seemingly insurmountable obstacles. How do we find hope in moments of dark despair? Where does our resiliency come from? How might we transcend the frameworks that keep us entrenched in polarization and paralysis to move toward a brighter future? Each summer, the Resnick Aspen Action Forum offers the opportunity to come together with high-integrity, action-oriented leaders to reflect, refresh, and recommit to confronting some of society’s greatest challenges. About the Aspen Institute: The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

We can be scared without being resigned. We can be exhausted without being fatalistic. We can be discouraged but nonetheless courageous.

Join Mora Beth in entering Shabbat together with sweet, spirited Bite Size (age 0-5) Kabbalat Shabbat service in nature.

Look closely at this week’s reading and we can discern a shining thread. What does it mean, and what can it teach us about our own power in times of adversity?  

Rabbi Sharon Brous on The Next Big Idea Daily podcast.

Rabbi Sharon Brous joins Fareed to discuss how Jews in the US are grappling with their Jewish identity amid the war in Gaza and rising antisemitism.

We are living in a world that is broken and painful. It is a moment to turn towards the angels within us and around us in order to find our way through.

We are living in a world that is broken and painful. It is a moment to turn towards the angels within us and around us in order to find our way through.

Spiritual leaders and lifelong seekers reflect on how to cope and find optimism in dark times.

Rabbi Brous joins Dan and Lex for a conversation about loneliness, the importance of connection, and the power of showing up for one another.

Our family is broken. Please, God, help us heal.

This week, we are honored to share with you a conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous, author of the The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World. From the moment we started reading Sharon’s book, we knew that she had a special message, and that she would be an incredible guest. Sharon’s book is a beautiful blend of ancient Jewish wisdom, contemporary science, and deep personal experience that shows how humans throughout history have taken up the responsibility to sit with each other as sacred witnesses to life’s most vulnerable and most joyous moments. Sharon makes the case that when we sit with each other in “celebration, sorrow, and solidarity,” we are connecting in ways that not only forge deep and lasting relationships, but contribute to a larger healing in our communities and in the world. One of the things we loved about Sharon’s book and the conversation with her was that she shared experience from her own life in which she’s succeeded here as well as where she’s failed. None of us do this perfectly, and so often we feel like we don’t even know how to—Sharon was wise and generous in giving herself and all of us grace for now always showing up for people the way we could have, but also practical advice that help us see how we can do this better. Sharon’s speaking from the perspective of a Jewish Rabbi, but her work reminds us of our own sacred texts and our promises to be willing to “mourn with those that mourn.”  We loved that Sharon explained that these principles of connection and solidarity really are universal, and we all get at them in our own languages and through our own rituals and traditions. This episode cuts straight to the heart of what it feels like to be human; it was impossible for it not to get personal, since we all know grief, joy, and connection intimately. We absolutely loved talking with Sharon and consider this a special episode. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

Before Services, join us for a concert with Tsvey Brider (vocalist Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, an AJU Public Fellow, and accordion/keyboardist Dmitri Gaskin). Tsvey Brider will perform a world of new and traditional Jewish music of diverse genres, times and places. Co-sponsored with AJU.

Join Executive Producer, Marshall Goldberg as he talks about his new docuseries, Justice, USA and criminal justice reform.