Yavilah McCoy is one of several thousand African-American Jews. She has devoted her talent and energy to use Gospel music to try to overcome the prejudice she has experienced from other Jews. To create a better future for her children, Yavilah wants it known that Jews come in a variety of shades and colors.

Every year as Passover approaches, Jewish children learn the significance of unleavened bread -- matzah -- eaten at each Passover seder. R&E joined a group of some younger Jews learning to make matzah at the Temple Sha'arey Shalom School in Springfield, New Jersey. The chief baker is Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum.

Read more of producer Susan Goldstein's interview about the Jewish Renewal movement with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

Across the political and theological spectrums, religious conservatives, moderates, and liberals all have their own hopes for President Bush’s second term. Some conservatives say it’s payback time for their support in the election. Others say, “Don’t forget the poor.”

"Every single food on the Passover Seder plate has a dual symbolism," says cookbook author Joan Nathan who explains the meaning behind some of the foods of the Seder.

Two thousand years after Jesus' death, Mel Gibson's controversial movie, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, set off a wave of new conversations about who was responsible for Jesus' death -- and why it matters today. For many Christians, that debate is history, but for most Jews, it still arouses deep fears of persecution.

We talked with Rabbi Alan Lew of Congregation Beth Shalom in San Francisco, who has written about the High Holidays in his new book, THIS IS REAL AND YOU ARE COMPLETELY UNPREPARED.

Join host Bob Abernethy along with Shaun Casey, Professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, Jack Moline, Rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation and a Vice President of the Interfaith Alliance, and Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, for a conversation regarding religious views on the war in Iraq.

Many scientists say the most promise for curing various diseases is to clone human embryos to cure the sick. Therapeutic cloning is sharply controversial because it destroys the original human embryo. Reverend William Abernethy suffers from Parkinson's disease and is one of the many hoping to receive medical help through the therapeutic cloning process.

"The freedom that is so important in the Passover story, in the Haggadah, is something that doesn’t belong to a specific time period 3,000 years ago...There’s a fresh message available to be garnered from the Passover story no matter when or who is looking at it," says David Wachtel of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.