An experienced pulpit rabbi and a progressive political activist, Rabbi Suskin has for years leveraged Jewish values and ethics to advance causes of peace and justice. Rabbi Alana Suskin as is America for Peace Now's director of strategic communications.
Rabbi Suskin most recently served as the Managing Editor of Jewschool, a leading Jewish faith blog. Prior to going online, Alana was the Assistant Rabbi at Adas Israel, Washington's largest Conservative synagogue. She currently serves as an officer of Rabbis for Human Rights. Rabbi Suskin was a founding fellow of Clal's project, Rabbis Without Borders. She is a contributor to several other blogs including Jewish Values Online, and has worked with and served on the boards of a variety of social justice organizations, including American Rights at Work and Jews United for Justice.
Rabbi Suskin has published articles in a variety of magazines, including Shma and Lilith. She also contributed to Rabbi Elliot Dorff's book The Unfolding Tradition, which discusses Halachic theories in the Conservative Movement.
The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on H. Res. 568, an Iran-focused resolution that seeks to lower the bar for war, to tie the President's hands in negotiations, and to effectively take all options, except the military option, off the table. It appears to be no coincidence that this resolution is being brought to a vote now, just as a new round of Iran diplomacy is set to take place on May 23. 
Drafting the Orthodox
This week, we remembered. We remembered, with the people of Israel, their losses in war, their sorrow, and their struggle to build a just and democratic society. This week, we celebrated. We celebrated 64 years of the independence of a young nation, a nation that was born from the tears of generations, a nation based, in the words of David Ben Gurion, on "freedom, justice and peace." From sorrow to joy, we remembered and we celebrated with the people of Israel, knowing that we yet have a long road to walk together until we reach the goal of a nation of equal justice for all, of peace with its neighbors. But with hope, we remembered the past, and looked to the future.
This week's Torah portion offers us a message about the need for us to act with courage and act decisively to prevent disaster
In this portion, we have many great inspiring moments: crossing the sea to escape Pharaoh, the song of the sea afterwards, the fight against the nation of Amalek. In fact, in this week's Torah portion, the Israelites see literally dozens of miracles - miracles come fast and furious, one after another.
On January 4th the national headquarters of Chabad Lubovitch issued a statement condemning the widely publicized attack by ultra-Orthodox Jews on an 8-year-old girl in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh last month. That attack triggered outrage in Israel, among friends of Israel in the United States and beyond. Chabad's statement said: "Violent behaviors of individuals or groups who abuse, intimidate and insult others are a flagrant offense to Torah and tzniut (modesty), in both letter and spirit, and deserve to be unequivocally condemned."
Alpher discusses human rights and racism in the wake of martin Luther King's birthday, and the Israeli government's role and reports on the meetings in Amman and their potential political repercussions in the US, Israel and Jordan.
"Now, do not be grieved or angry..." With these words, Joseph forgives his brothers. In this week's portion, we learn a powerful lesson about the power we have to forgive and move forward- seeking peace and mutual survival over seeking revenge and becoming mired in past wrongs.
The miracle of Chanukah is that we can achieve the seemingly impossible - if we take the first steps.
This week as we celebrate Chanukah, we celebrate a miracle. The miracle we celebrate is not simply the miracle of the oil, but the celebration of achieving the seemingly impossible. We celebrate the ability of humans, doing the right thing, with conviction, to upend the status quo and to serve the interest of their people and the will of God.
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