Sid Schwarz

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Oct 16, 2024, 6:33 PM

Listening for Angels

NOTE: This was delivered at Kol Nidre services, 5785, at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, where Rabbi Sid is the Founding Rabbi. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about angels. That may sound surprising coming from a Reconstructionist rabbi....

Apr 1, 2024, 9:43 PM

Is ‘Purification’ Possible?

I just returned from my first, post 10/7 trip to Israel. A widely held view in Israel, that I heard expressed in a variety of different ways is: everything has to be re-thought. Included on that list are: the...

May 16, 2023, 4:39 AM

Anti-Semitism: Not Just About Us

One of my first jobs in the Jewish community was as the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Washington D.C. I started the job in 1984 (an eerie year, for sure, if you are a fan...

Apr 14, 2023, 11:48 PM

The Work of Redemption

How can you not love Pesach? It is true, depending on your level of observance, there can be a lot of hassle, with changing dishes, getting rid of non-Passover foods and stocking your fridge and pantry with all that...

Jan 9, 2023, 5:13 AM

How a People Survives

When I get asked on how/why I chose to become a rabbi, I always cite a formative experience that I had in the summer between my junior and senior year in high school. I participated in a program sponsored...

Oct 8, 2022, 7:37 PM

Sukkot: The Power of Cooperation

Jews ascribe a lot of value to meritocracy and competence, sometimes, obsessively. It might be for that reason that I so look forward to Sukkot. It gives me a chance to revel in my incompetence. I built my first sukkah...

Jan 7, 2022, 5:49 PM

Democracy at Risk: A Jewish View

To me, the wisdom that a Biblical text can impart always resides between the words in the scroll and the life and times of the reader. For that reason, I was struck this week by the juxtaposition of Parshat...

Oct 22, 2021, 7:18 AM

Calling out Bigotry, Both Right and Left

Much "ink" has been spilled in recent years over the dangers posed to both Jewish and American values by a particularly ugly version of the American political right wing. But the right wing has not cornered the market on...

Aug 9, 2021, 11:35 PM

When ‘work’ becomes unhealthy

The decision made by Simone Biles, America’s premier gymnast, not to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in most of the events that she trained for, set off a firestorm of commentary. We are a country that lionizes our athletes....

Jun 14, 2021, 1:59 AM

Israel: A Challenging Love Affair

Being happily married for 38 years, I may lack some credibility to use the analogy of a spurned lover but, in my defense, I’ve seen a lot of movies. I have had a love affair with Israel that goes...

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About Me

Rabbi Sid Schwarz is a senior fellow at Adamah: People, Planet, Purpose (formerly, Hazon) where he directs Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network as well as the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a program that trains rabbis to be visionary spiritual leaders. He is the author of several books, most recently, Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future. He is the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD.

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