A reflection on the meaning of “Zionism” today and why it matters
I am often asked whether or not I’m a “Zionist.” In truth, the answer is not easy. True, I am deeply committed to Israel and its people and culture, which I consume madly and pass on to my children,...
View ArticleSome Thoughts on Sexual Harassment Culture in Light of a Shul that Chooses a...
Content warning: Sexual harassment by a clergy member The Forward has published an important article, “How a Rabbi Suspended for Sexual Misconduct Can Stay in His Pulpit“, covering the case of Rabbi...
View ArticleEradicating Amalek Within
The mitzvah of erasing Amalek, to my mind, is an aspect of Judaism that can only be salvaged by turning its gaze inward, to remember the evil qualities that Amalek represents – self-worship and...
View ArticleWhen The World Sees Refugees….And When We Don’t
When the world sees people fleeing their countries, images and stories about their dire situations abound: bags hastily packed, families sundered, pets and cherished possessions sheltered under coats,...
View ArticleSometimes Satan comes as a Holocaust museum
“Someday maybe I’ll remember to forget.” — Bob Dylan The Guardian reports: A detainee at a secret CIA detention site in Afghanistan was used as a living prop to teach trainee interrogators, who lined...
View ArticleIn Memory of Rav Prof. David Weiss Halivni, z”l: An Exploration Through and...
Since hearing the news Wednesday morning of the death of Rav Prof. David Weiss Halivni, z”l, my teacher and my shul rabbi during a formative stage of my life, I have been flooded with memories and...
View ArticleSo, why do you want to be Jewish?
The essay below was originally written as part of my beit din, which took place in August. I wanted to share this personal testimony, in case it’s helpful for other individuals exploring their...
View ArticlePolitically Radical, Liturgically Traditional: A review of “God, The God of...
Several years of pandemic have eroded in-person, congregational prayer in the United States; synagogue attendance remains stubbornly down, and despite a boom in online services, overall, membership is...
View ArticleWin or Lose, American Jews Must Address the Rise of Israeli Neo-Fascism
In 2019, nearly the entire spectrum of American Jewish organizations castigated Netanyahu for legitimating Itamar Ben Gvir and his “Jewish Power” party. Even AIPAC called it “racist” and...
View ArticleNovember Madness 2022 results!
Thanks to all who participated in Knesset November Madness 2022! The final election results are in, so we’re ready to announce the November Madness results. There is a lot to say substantively about...
View ArticleKanye West and the Myth of a New Antisemitism
Photo Description: Former Trump advisor Candace Owens and Ye (FKA Kanye West), from behind, wearing “White Lives Matter” shirts at Paris Fashion Week. Taken from Owens’s Twitter feed. In a recent...
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Pshat, Drash, and Genocide
guest post by Emily Filler Before Shabbat came in last week, I saw the tweet above, re-posted by several horrified friends on social media. The photograph captures the current atrocities in the West...
View Article“Ordered in Your Limbs:” Halacha and Queer Women’s Sexuality
This piece was also published on Approaching. Rav Jeff Fox’s major contribution to the world of Torah in this form of his teshuva “Nashim Mesolelot” has been, as yet, underdiscussed. I am very glad...
View ArticleS’dom Isn’t Gaza
Quite a few religious Jews seem to be confident, for reasons I cannot wholly understand, that the wicked societies of S’dom and Amorah, which mistreat the poor, the stateless, and the oppressed,...
View ArticleHannukah is the Holiday of Dispute
In part inspired by the polemics that surround Hannukah, this year, for the first time since childhood, I reread the two books of Maccabees. I realized, although few people who pontificate about...
View Article“Many do not know / That their enemy is marching at their head”: Thoughts on...
People sometimes say that Hannukah celebrates the fight against “assimilation,” or against “Hellenism.” When you read 1 Maccabees, you get a somewhat different picture. Certainly, Judah and his...
View ArticleExile in the Land
by Maya Rosen, for All That’s Left This Chanukah, All That’s Left, a Jerusalem-based, anti-Occupation collective, is publishing a series of eight essays — one for each day of Chanukah — from left-wing...
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Interview with Tova Hopemark, Director of “ALRIGHT ROBOT”
The Jewish studies scholar-turned-filmmaker discusses her award-winning first film, ALRIGHT ROBOT , what writing for film has in common with academic writing, and why she made a comedy about...
View ArticleA note on the massacre at the end of the Megillah
People sometimes point to the ending of the book of Esther as a Jewish massacre—the disturbing part of the story that is supposedly suppressed in Sunday school. In Esther 9:16, now with the king on...
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