My hardest question every year is how to confront the difficulties of re-reading the Akedah. The story upsets and horrifies us, but what bothers me most are the silences. Every year, I am particularly bothered by the narrative’s utter silence about Abraham’s inner emotional experience and the absence of Sarah’s voice in this pivotal Genesis … More »
I’d like to share three tidbits from life this summer: My 8 year old daughter is spending the next 7 weeks in Berlin with her dads. She’s having some serious adventures while also learning about the city’s Jewish past and its vibrant Jewish present. Unfortunately, many American Jews associate Berlin, indeed, all of Germany, solely … More »
I’m trying to figure out new ways to write what’s inside, and connect with other people through that writing. Transitioning from the academic voice I learned to speak in my twenties and move towards a more emotionally vulnerable and intimate vocabulary in my forties feels terrifying and exhilarating. One of the first papers I wrote … More »
Dear officials from the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, Koret Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Philanthropic Network, Nathan Cummings Foundation, and other major donors in the Jewish community; Thank you for your deep and sustained commitment to your vision of Jewish life. Your support has helped thousands of Jews thrive, learn, and improve the planet. … More »
I used to teach a class about Jewish (un)settlement. The first iteration, back in 2004 was a mix of history and sociology. The goal: to explore and complicate the meanings of Jewish homelands and diasporas. I divided the course into units about Jewish communities and ideas in Russia, Germany, the United States and pre-state Palestine/modern … More »
“If it be your will, That I speak no more, And my voice be still, As it was before, I will speak no more, I shall abide until, I am spoken for, If it be your will.” Leonard Cohen became my rebbe this year. In a botanic garden with hundreds of people, I will be pray-singing many of … More »
The truth: I’ve never really liked Jonah as one of the central characters in the High Holiday texts, unless you deliberately approach the narrative along the lines of an anti-heroic cautionary tale of ‘what not to do if you’re tapped as a prophet.’ No, Jonah is not exactly an empathetic, nor likable character, with qualities … More »
“Trees have roots, Jews have legs.” -Isaac Deutscher Here’s what’s currently on my desk: Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism,” Barbara Mann’s “Space and Place in Jewish Studies,” the latest issue of Habitus: A Diaspora Journal: New York. I’m revising a course called Global Jewish Societies, while trying to get organized for a trip … More »
In these days of foreclosures, high unemployment, and increasing poverty, a focus on consumption might be considered a frivolous pastime for the upper middle classes. But this month’s Sh’ma really provoked a reckoning with some uncomfortable truths. And wherever we might stand on the socioeconomic class ladder, I think it’s a good opportunity to ask: … More »