What could the Israeli government have done differently after October 7? A number of people asked me this when I called for a ceasefire on October 18, 2023 and became an active member of Rabbis 4 Ceasefire. What else could Israel have done, other than go to war? I have The post Equality After October 7 appeared first on Jewschool ..read more

by Arielle Tonkin Asking questions, engaging in creative practices, and immersing in stories stoke the spiritual imagination and support connection to self, God, and all beings in unexpected ways. Artists and healers engage these modalities to move our viewers and build new neural pathways for our patients. In her “Work The post Ask What the Text Wonders: A review of _Why Rain Comes from Above: Explorations in Religious Imagination_, by Devora Steinmetz appeared first on Jewschool ..read more

By Shane Burley One of the problems with American discourse around Judaism is really right in the word itself: Judaism. What this word does is frames Jewish traditions as a religion “like all others.” The practices of Jews are given a spiritual designation, necessarily supernatural, and because of such is The post Am Yisrael Chai (Or, When a Movement Breaks Your Heart) appeared first on Jewschool ..read more

We begin where all mourning begins. We say their names: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, and Ori Danino. These six young souls had lives to live, people to love, a world to see, brokenness to fix. None of that will happen now. They are the The post “A Fly Between Two Openings of the Heart”: The Hostage Murders and (not) Feeling the Pain appeared first on Jewschool ..read more

Photo caption: Dovid Din at the author’s wedding, 1983 * “I have transferred all my hedonism to the spiritual level.” –Dovid Din, NYC, April 10, 1986 “My whole purpose is to get everyone off the earth, not down to it.” Dovid Din, NYC, September 25, 1986 Dovid Din wrote almost The post A Book Bound at Both Ends: The Enigmatic Life and Death of Dovid Din appeared first on Jewschool ..read more

by Sam Brody This is a 17 of Tammuz post. For those of you who don’t know, this is a minor Jewish fast day commemorating the Babylonian breach of the walls of Jerusalem. It begins a period of heightened mournful awareness known as the Three Weeks, culminating in Tisha B’Av, the major fast day commemorating the destruction of the first Temple. It’s a strange practice to mourn for something that happened 2500 years ago, when there is so much to mourn for right now. It’s a strange practice to reserve particular times of year for heightened emotional states of particular kinds, when things ..read more

Last night (July 17), the Knesset voted overwhelmingly – just 9 votes opposed, mostly Palestinian – to pass a resolution opposing on principle the establishment of a Palestinian state. “Centrist” parties either voted outright in favor of the resolution (e.g., Gantz) or absented themselves from the Knesset (e.g. Lapid). This was not a surprise, except perhaps that at least Labor voted against it, since not a single Jewish party in Knesset today supports an end to the occupation. Meretz lost, and Labor supports permanent Israeli control over wide swaths of the West Bank. Whatever this means for ..read more

It all started with a moment of serendipity. My friend Mike, who I walk with most mornings, texted me. “Wanna go and see Guns & Moses tonight?” “Sure!” I said. My wife was out of town and a boys night out sounded great. Not ten minutes later, I got a text from my friend Tarek. “I reserved 2 seats for a screening at the Jewish Film Festival tonight for Guns and Moses. I won’t be going, but thought I’d offer them to you if you have any interest…” And so, on a perfect LA Juneteenth evening, Mike and I made our way to the Saban theater for the opening night of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festi ..read more

There is a stark and striking difference between the absence of Moshe in the Passover Haggadah and the centrality of Moshe on Shavout. In the Haggadah the story of the exodus is told without Moshe, even as he was the story’s central character in scripture, and as the Israelites stand in preparation to receive the Torah on Shavout, Moshe stands at the center of the story, at once bringing them to the mountain and then, as told in Exodus 20:16, becoming the mediator between the divine voice and a traumatized people (Deuteronomy 5:22). Rabbinic and later literature on Shavuot include Moshe as the ..read more

Only a few months after Hashem rescued them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai. The mountain is enveloped in smoke as it begins to tremble, signaling the presence of God in the place where the Israelites will receive the Torah and become God’s holy nation– as long as they hold fast to his commandments. This is the moment we joyfully recall on Shavuot. The holiday acts both as a culmination of the weeks following the liberation of Pesach and also as a beginning in and of itself of our relationship to God’s Torah. Shavuot links us backward to the exodus from Egypt and fo ..read more