A Message from Marc

Marc's Message

Marc Baker headshot
CJP's President and CEO, Rabbi Marc Baker, writes and teaches about leadership, community, and civic life, bringing the voice of Jewish tradition to contemporary issues.

 

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Restoring Dignity

Dear Friends,

Today is Lag B’Omer, the Jewish holiday that falls on day 33 of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. According to the rabbinic tradition, this is a period during which we observe certain mourning rituals to commemorate a plague that killed 12,000 pairs of students of th…

The 2,000-Year-Old Hope

Shalom Chaverim,

Yesterday was Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s 73rd Independence Day. Following immediately after Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, the country moves directly from sadness to celebration and elation.

Celebrating virtually for the…

In Every Generation: Confronting Injustice, Racism, Antisemitism

Dear friends,

A powerful theme of the Passover seder is “b’chol dor v’dor” — in every generation. In every generation, we are obligated to see ourselves as if we left Egypt. By doing so, we internalize both our freedom and, at the same time, the fragility, vulnerability, and oppre…

Leap of Identification

Dear friends,

This week CJP hosted our first ever Global Jewish Citizenship Summit, which was attended by people from Greater Boston, Haifa, and Dnipro, Ukraine — our three partner cities — and from around the Jewish world.

In an ordinary year, members of our community travel to Isra…

Divergent Strands: Learning from President Biden and Purim

Dear friends,

This week, I joined Rabbi Michelle Robinson of Temple Emanuel of Newton for a virtual conversation with journalist and author Evan Osnos about his latest book, Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now. Based on extensive interviews with Biden and a wide range of othe…