As I stood at the intersection of 4th and Water Streets on August 12, 2018, I thought, I can’t believe I’m here again, trying to be a faithful presence in the midst of chaos. One of the streets of this intersection in Charlottesville, Va., has been renamed “Heather Heyer Way.” It’s where...
by Ben Lorber The Jew of conscience is in pain. We are in pain when we are told by family, friends, peers and Jewish communal leaders that we are ‘bad Jews’, ‘fake Jews’, ‘self-hating Jews’ for supporting Palestinian calls for full freedom and equality, and opposing Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights....
Ruth Ebenstein, an American-Israeli journalist, public speaker and peace activist, is the author of the forthcoming memoir, Bosom Buddies: How Breast Cancer Fostered an Unexpected Friendship Across the Israeli-Palestinian Divide. Find her online at RuthEbenstein.com, on Facebook at Laugh Through Breast Cancer – Ruth Ebenstein, and on twitter @ruthebenstein. Picture a cross between Seder Night and...
July 30, 2018 — Open Hillel filed an amicus brief in Mandel v. California State University to inform the court that, unfortunately, Hillel does not represent all Jewish students. Rather, since enacting its Standards of Partnership for Israel Activities in 2010, Hillel International and its local affiliates have consistently excluded Jewish students...
My younger son recently did something he should not have done. And he told us about it. He didn’t even know why he did it, but he knew it was wrong, and he felt terrible. Even though it was painful and he was in tears, he wanted to be honest with us...
#TorahForTheResistance is a campaign by young rabbinical and religious students about Jewish resistance to Trump through the lens of faith, Judaism, and spirituality. Read more here. Buried beneath my conscious experience of life, a dull but continual fear churns within me. It seduces me into believing that destruction is inevitable, that everything I value...
by Shaul Magid Shaul Magid is the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University, Kogod Senior Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue in Seaview, NY. In 2018-2019 he will be the Brownstone Visiting Professor of Jewish...
Emily Strauss is a community organizer, and a frequent contributor to New Voices, Jewish Currents, The Forward, and Lilith magazine. For the second year in a row, the Trump administration failed to acknowledge June as LGBTQ pride month, neglecting to highlight this part of America’s heritage and population. This is not out...
Ellen Siegel at the Sabra and Shatila Massacre commemoration ceremony on September 20, 2014. When longtime activist Ellen Siegel recently wrote us saying she had suffered from a debilitating stroke and was in need of financial support for her rehabilitation, I was prompted to review her interview with the American Jewish Peace Archive. I found a story of courage and dedication....
We’re facing a humanitarian and moral crisis right now because of our country’s immigration policies. Don’t be fooled by the executive order that the president signed on Wednesday. The administration claims that the order ends the family separation policy, but it will in fact still separate families. And it makes no provisions...