Resources
Vayeshev: No Complexity, No Love; No Justice, No Peace: Never Settle Down
Ethical perfection is not possible in an imperfect world, and running away from reality to seek private peace is not an option. Instead, we must act with love within our spheres of influence. There are opportunities for coalition-building across disagreements.
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Vayishlach: When Our Moral Compass Requires Wrestling
The path may never be clear, a single arrow to follow towards moral perfection, but Jacob teaches us that it is holy work to wrestle, to struggle with forging our own winding path towards what we feel is moral.
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BEING WITH OUR PEOPLE: Fear, Courage, and Coalition
Jennifer Margulies shares thoughts on her family’s life under the Christian Right in Texas and how the very coalitions that can feel unbearable can also give us life.
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Vayetze: How We Choose to See the World
We must not merely curse the world as irreconcilably wicked, incapable of beauty, love, or justice. Rather, we must bless what is good, offering our gratitude for the holiness in our lives and in each other, so that we may see to our work to repair the world with that much more love and compassion.
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Toldot: All Famines Are Not the Same
As we start to imagine, strategize, and plan around what the next four years will hold and how we will continue to defend human rights and advance justice, we will need to draw not only on our resilience and determination, but also on our creativity and imagination; our willingness to experiment, to fail, and to try new things.
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Chayei Sara: Power Rooted in Life, Not Trauma and Death
In the aftermath of trauma, there is a natural desire to protect, to retaliate, and to secure our own safety at all costs. But in seeking safety, in seeking justice for our own pain, we can risk perpetuating cycles of violence that dehumanize others — and ultimately ourselves.
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Vayera: Paragons Protesting Power
Like Abraham, we are called to step forward, raise our voices in defense of those whose rights are being violated, and advocate for a more just and compassionate world.
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Lech Lecha: Blessings for Times of Stress and Uncertainty
We are not only here to receive blessings but to redistribute them, to share them with others. In a time of profound global instability, we must remember that true blessing is found in the act of blessing others.
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CONTRASTING TRUTHS: The Aspirations and Limitations of American Democracy
Sofi Hersher Andorsky and Aaron Dorfman make the case for Jewish investment in liberal democracy.
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CONFRONTING THE MORAL CROSSROADS: Chile’s Jews from Dictatorship to Democracy
Author and journalist Maxine Lowy guides us through the story of how Chilean Jews and non-Jews endured when democracy was shattered, and how, over 17 years, Chileans fought successfully to restore it.
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