Voices

Bylined opinion and news columns published by United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute.

We are better than vengeance, better than a death penalty system skewed to racial injustice

By Terry Fear
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

Thirteen minutes is the amount of time it takes me to drive to Starbucks. For Orlando Hall, sitting on death row, 13 minutes sealed his execution.

Had those 13 minutes passed and the clock struck midnight, Orlando Hall’s stay of execution would have extended for 90 days. But a last-minute Supreme Court decision (6-3) vacated the stay.

At 11:47 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 19, Orlando Hall was pronounced dead at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute. His official cause of death was “legal homicide”. He was 49 years old.

Read More

Sisterhood maintains in Covid cocoon, assists religious school with VCSC Backpack Fund

By Patty Lewis
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

We’ve been through an election and the holidays are approaching but with COVID still around, I’m sure everybody understands that our lives have changed and things won’t be getting back to normal just quite yet.

Thanksgiving dinner may experience some adjustments as we alter routines to protect our families. Hanukkah is coming in December and it, too, won’t be the same. Sisterhood will not operate its traditional Hanukkah gift shop this year.

Religious school remains involved in the community and has taken on the Vigo County School Corporation Backpack Program as its latest project.

Read More

In our spiritual lives, at school and at the polls, fall is a time for new beginnings

By Betsy Frank
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

The Hebrew calendar advises us that here in the northern hemisphere, the Ten Days of Awe, when we practice Teshuvah, occur during the fall (or in some years, late summer).

Sukkot also occurs in the fall. And on the secular calendar, students go back to school as fall begins.

This year, many of the seasonal celebrations have occurred virtually and parents, students and teachers are coping with online education.

Nevertheless, fall remains a time of new beginnings, even in a virtual environment.

Read More

A meditative teshuvah brings us back to our breath, our values and our God

By Student Rabbi Emily Dana
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, I sat on a Zoom call with our rabbi and four other rabbinical and cantorial students from my childhood synagogue to talk about teshuvah.

You might ask, “what is teshuvah and how do we do it?”

Teshuvah, which literally means “repentance” and comes from the word “turning”, is the process that we are called to undertake during the High Holidays, especially Yom Kippur.

Read More