La Shana Tova. This is the Jewish New Year and honey is the metaphor for the sweetness that should enter our lives. Today in temple our former Rabbi, Jerome Weider, made an announcement that the Reform Rabbis of America-coat to coast-have come out unanimously against the language of hate that has been generated by this current administration. By selecting to denounce "Both sides" Donald Trump, by not saying Neo-Nazis and Confederates are to blame, has placed us in ugly and dangerous waters. Additionally, by using hateful language against women, by making fun of the disabled, by putting our healthcare at risk(a bill that few have read and the Budget Office has not assessed), by banning the transgender population from the military, by posturing that "might is right", the office of the presidency has entered into rhetoric and policy that is morally reprehensible-something "good" Jews do not stand for.

And though I am not religious and do not even celebrate all the holidays, today I felt proud of my Jewish heritage. I can only imagine, my grandfather and his siblings who came here as immigrants who faced political persecution, how they would be appalled by what he is doing with the young DACA hard-working immigrants, all in the name of a very immoral "America first."

This is not my America; I live in a Democracy, not a dictatorship, and like the Board of American Rabbis, I applaud in the rights, dignity and diversity that is America. Today is a sweet day-maybe not in the world-but in my temple, among my people I know there is justice and goodness.And this is America, which includes all the non-Jews who have also taken an active stand against hate and injustice.