My Favorite Rabbis, Priests, Reverends, Imams, Pastors and Religious Leaders in General

My favorite leaders of our many faith communities know that we are ALL created in the image of God, however we refer to the Almighty Creator of All.

These leaders know that we are responsible to be welcoming and inclusive of all people, regardless of gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnic group, abilities and disabilities they may have, etc.

These leaders remember our roots, our stories of persecution and immigration, often forced, and use the empathy garnered from those memories and their values to fight for what is right for all people.

These leaders of our many faith communities march in rallies, and lead us in doing so.

These leaders sign petitions fighting for basic rights and decency and challenge us to do the same.

Our best faith community leaders inspire us with their heartfelt words and do so continually in spite of any pushback they receive, and they do!

These leaders of our many faith communities show us by their example how to remember who we are as people of faith and fight for what is right and just, even when and sometimes, especially when our political leaders and others have totally lost their compass as to what it means to do so.

These leaders show us how to overcome our challenges by leading the way through sharing their own and the lessons that have come from them to forge their life direction.

These leaders of our faith communities show us how to care by caring, how to listen by listening and how to have empathy by sharing graciously from their own reservoir.

And most important, it does not matter to these leaders if you are more liberal or more strictly religiously observant. As one of my favorite Orthodox rabbis says, people think I am being lenient in taking positions regarding the well-being of people. I am actually being MACHMIR (that means very strict) about the most important aspects of Jewish Law – to truly care about each other and to remember we are all made in the image of The Holy One.