Resources
Featured Resources
Naso: Patriarchal Surveillance, Bodily Autonomy, and Longing for “a Regulated World”
This “regulated world” is only idyllic if you are the monitor and punisher of “deviation,” not the monitored and punished. For [the monitored and punished,] the longing instead is for a world that affirms the dignity of all people.
Criticism of Israel and Antisemitism: How to Tell Where One Ends and the Other Begins
In this time of inflamed passions, it’s crucial both to ensure that criticism of Israel does not cross the line into antisemitism, and to protect the free speech of those protesting Israel’s actions.
“May We Create a Nation”: A New Prayer for Our Country
From Rabbi Seth Goldstein: We know that this is a nation founded by massacre, built by slavery, maintained by exclusion, defined by inequality. And we also know that this nation promises equality, exercises resilience, evolves continuously, practices teshuvah.
Chanukah: Don’t Remain in Darkness
For those who are experiencing darkness today, light will come — we just need to commit to the belief that darkness is unacceptable.
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One Candle at a Time
Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street offers a small candle of hope (originally published in 2019).
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Miracle Of Miracles (Chanukah)
Commentary on Shabbat Chanukah I’ve always had a problem with the familiar Chanukah story, which highlights the Maccabees’ unlikely victory over the Greeks and the kindling of the menorah from one jar of oil that lasted eight nights. “Miraculous war” surely represents a quintessential definition of oxymoron; a jar of oil burning for eight nights...
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“Love Trumps Power”?
“Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit….” (Zechariah 4:6) Is that the way forward in 2017? Our rabbinic ancestors chose Zechariah’s important words as the prophetic message of Chanukah. In some ways, it’s an odd choice. In the Torah portion, Miketz, Joseph harnesses Pharaoh’s might and power to save the Egyptians from...
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To Change Or Be Unchanged
When we tell others the stories of our lives, we often find ourselves spicing up the narrative a bit as we tell and retell the story. It’s only human to exaggerate a bit, especially if our audiences don’t seem to be giving the stories the attention we feel that they deserve. Our additions add an...
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Power and Transformation
The intersection of Parshat Miketz and Hanukah invites us to reflect on two different ways in which transformational impact can be effected, and the importance of understanding the nuances of each. We see two drastically different models of power and change in these stories. In Miketz, Joseph—an Israelite foreigner in Egypt who, by happenstance, is granted an...
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