This guest post was written and posted in Hebrew by Ishay Rosen-Zvi on his Facebook page. It was translated and posted here with his permission
If our ritual life does not pulse with the passionate pull of the political, if our laments do not answer and reprise the cries of
Thoughts about internal and external criticisms of the Jewish immigrant justice movement in this moment.
Two stories. Both of them in the Babylonian Talmud. The first is about R. Shimon ben Yohai, and the second about R. Aqiva. Both stories
IN THE ORCHARD By Julia Knobloch I say my blessings in the orchard, I have turned over the soil. I give with dubious hands;
The essay reminded me of notes I sent with my daughter Shachar (who is now in college), when she went off on her sixth grade trip to Israel. I don’t often write about my children (and I got permission from her for this blog post), but Danya’s piece pushed me to realize that explicitly parenting for the resistance is now an obligation—and nobody can do it on their own, we need to start sharing best practices.
“Disturbing the Peace” which combines reenactments, archival footage, on camera storytelling, and live documentation, tells the story of the creation of the organization “Combatants for Peace.”
Will we as a community awaken to the injustices of the criminal justice system, as we demand mercy from the Heavenly justice system?
“While we agree with many of Isaiah’s sentiments, and we too think that the poor, and the orphaned should be protected, we cannot abide the extreme and unfair language that Isaiah employs to describe our beloved city.”
The patina of bling and marketing which are brought to the enterprise by branding companies and focus groups, will eventually roll off the back of Judaism like so much dust. If we are committed to adding substantively to the building that is Judaism, as judged by future generations—we don’t get there through sparkly things and naming opportunities. We get there by doing what we’ve always done—teaching Torah, davening, keeping Shabbes, creating a more just world.