“…You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” — Leviticus 19:34. On this day in 1892, the Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York opened its doors, providing a waypoint for more than 12 million immigrants, including millions of mostly eastern European Jews, who came to the United States in search of a better life. Like many before them, Jews who immigrated to the United States discovered a mixed welcome. Though America offered unparalleled freedoms and economic opportunities, those opportunities were not always readily available to migrants, who often faced substandard living conditions that threatened their health, expectations of rapid assimilation that curtailed their job prospects, and a lack of essential services to help them get started on their American journeys. To make matters worse, many Eastern European Jews, rife with the habits and customs of shtetl life, received a cool greeting [...]

On this day in 1971, Empress Catherine of Russia issued the second of three ukases (decrees) restricting the right of Jewish commerce in Russia outside of annexed territories from Poland and other Eastern European lands, effectively creating what would later be known as the Pale of Settlement. Over the next seventy-five years, restrictions would tighten, prohibiting Jews from even settling outside the Pale. By 1900, despite a burgeoning wave of emigration, mostly to the United States, nearly five million Jews lived inside the Pale. After the communist revolution in 1917, the provisional government of Russia ended restrictions for Jewish settlement. However, most Jews still lacked the means to take advantage of the government’s reform, and those who did almost uniformly chose emigration over resettlement within Russia. Meanwhile, most Jews who could not—or would not—emigrate continued to call the Pale home until its Jewish communities were eradicated during the Holocaust. The [...]

As the secular New Year approaches, the vast majority of our New Years’ resolutions will likely attempt to distance us as far from the trials and losses of 2020 as possible, and with good reason. Countless families, including many in our own community, have suffered (or continue to suffer) from loneliness, despair, job loss, disease, and death—all while navigating the completely new and disorienting social and civic context foisted upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for those who are able, thoughtful consideration of our 2020 experience may offer some surprising resolutions for 2021, as we may discover that there are a few changes we want to keep from our quarantine experience. As my wife, Lisa, and I spoke about life after quarantine the other day, we thought of three new habits we want to maintain: 1. You’re only a button press away. Both our families live on the East Coast, [...]

After several false starts, the Fifth Zionist Congress passed a motion on this day in 1901 to create a fund to purchase land in Palestine that would belong to the Jewish people. Named Keren Kayment Le’Yisrael, the fund in English was called the Jewish National Fund (JNF). After early fundraising successes led to land purchases in Judea and the lower Galilee, as well as support for the founding of Tel Aviv, the JNF announced its Olive Tree Fund, an afforestation effort supported by congregations throughout the world with its renowned blue-and-white tzedakah boxes. JNF efforts to support Jewish life in Israel ultimately expanded into water conservation and reclamation, environmental and agricultural research, programs for those with disabilities and special needs, as well as infrastructure and land development, including immigrant housing. Ultimately, the fund became embroiled in several controversies, including questions surrounding the environmental and historical impact of its afforestation efforts, the [...]