Sublime

One people risked its very existence on the proposition that our common humanity exists in and through our differences; that the human person itself, regardless of faith, independent of race, is in the image of God; and that the unity of God expresses itself in the diversity of creation and human culture. With this we come to one of the most

My long battle to pretend that prayer wasn’t powerful and God couldn’t play a real role in my life was lost.

We give thanks for our places in the mysterious unfolding of all creation.

We are thus obligated to affirm our own worth.33 “Just as a person believes in God,” the Hasidic master Rabbi Zadok Ha-Kohen of Lublin (1823–1900) teaches, “one must also34 believe in oneself.”35 How we see ourselves profoundly shapes who and what we become.

and guides us in valuing what is difficult, what is different

Jewish religious life has brought forth people who do not fear arraigning even God when there is injustice.

we actively decided not to make Yeshivat Hadar a pluralistic environment. For instance, all the full-time students are expected to daven together in a single service that is egalitarian and traditional. Students must also commit to living a life engaged with Torah and mitzvot. All of the faculty we hired also support this form of prayer and

Judaism’s unique ethical wisdom, diverse spirituality, emphasis on studying and debating sacred texts, and many rituals and practices that take place outside a synagogue—were the very parts I most loved and admired when I discovered them as an adult.