A Message for Rosh Hodesh Iyar and the Counting of the Omer 

By Rabbi Daniel Klein `10, MJEd`10, Dean of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College 

During Passover this year, I found myself thinking about the opening mishnayot in Mishnah Pesachim. These teachings describe the times and places in which we are to search for chametz, wisely instructing us only to look in the places chametz is likely to be found and not engaging in an unending search. What I found so arresting was the Rabbis’ awareness of both the need to seek out chametz and the need to limit our search.

The teaching, as it has come to rest in me, is that chametz will always be in our homes and within ourselves. We clear out what we can and let go of what we cannot. In the process, we are invited to sit with the question: What might it take to shift some of our habits of heart and mind, to move from narrowness to expansiveness, to be less enslaved to Pharaoh and ever more deeply in the service of God?

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Rabbi Daniel Klein

SEVENTY FACES OF TORAH
Ancient Healthcare, Contemporary Humility

By Adam Zemel

Parshat Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33)

For me, ultimately, Tazria is a lesson in humility and the limits of certainty. The biblical authors were so certain they knew how to purify their community of leprosy and sin that they recorded it in their most sacred texts. Thousands of years later we are shocked at their ignorance — and if we allow ourselves to transform that shock into recognition and humility, we learn to approach the systems which structure our society with a healthy skepticism and a desire to perceive our unexamined assumptions.

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More than Financially Sensible: How a Shared Campus Helps Jewish Life Flourish in Greater Boston

By Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Rabbi Daniel Berman, Judith Rosenbaum, PhD, and Jordan Namerow. (Published in the April 13, 2026 issue of eJewish Philanthropy.)

Spend a few minutes scanning headlines about the nonprofit sector and a familiar narrative emerges: consolidation, contraction, survival. Mergers are framed as inevitable. Collaboration is often reactive. Too frequently, institutions come together only when a crisis leaves them no other choice. 

But what if we flipped the script?  

In Greater Boston, our organizations — Hebrew College, Temple Reyim, the Jewish Women’s Archive and Mayyim Hayyim, along with a network of other partners — embarked on a bold experiment. Instead of only asking how our organizations could thrive financially (a worthwhile question in and of itself), we asked a more generative question: What would it look like for Jewish life to truly flourish through partnership, proximity and collaboration?

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Listening for the Sound of the Genuine: What Writing Teaches Us About Pluralism at 250

By Jordan Namerow

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, we find ourselves in a familiar and urgent place: wrestling with how to live together across deep differences. The idea of pluralism — how a society holds many identities, beliefs, and voices without collapsing into forced sameness — is not new. But it feels newly charged. What may be less obvious is that many of us practice the habits of pluralism every day, especially when we write. I shared this idea in a writing workshop I led for Jewish leaders participating in a conversation about religious pluralism and democracy, co-convened by Interfaith America and The Miller Center of Hebrew College.

The writing process, at its best, is not simply about producing words. It is an exercise in listening, negotiating, holding tension, and refining meaning. In this way, writing can serve as a quiet but powerful teacher for what pluralism demands of us as citizens, neighbors, and leaders. Howard Thurman once wrote: “Listen for the sound of the genuine.” Writing is one way we learn how to do exactly that — within ourselves and in our communities. Here are seven ways I believe the writing process mirrors the dynamics of pluralism...

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