Victor Raphael, Nachamu
Religion
Victor Raphael, Genesis
Kabbalah for the Masses: Re-considering the Elitism of Medieval Jewish Mysticism
The perception of medieval Kabbalah as a carefully guarded, secret discourse is the result of an overemphasis on the claims of some of the early kabbalists, as well as a narrow selection of texts that have received disproportionate attention due to their prominence in later centuries. In fact, many medieval kabbalistic texts reflect an explicit desire to introduce Kabbalah to readers who are just beginning to study Jewish esoteric lore.
Religion
Chava Weissler: Tradition and Renewal
Rachel Barenblat speaks with Chava Weissler, writer, scholar, and folklorist, about Jewish spirituality, the blurry boundaries of a participant-observer, and the Jewish life of “non-elites.”
Religion
Mandalas at the Mikveh
There is a strong tradition of writing intentions for mikveh immersion. Why not write one’s intention not merely in words, but in the form of a mandala or Shiviti? And so I found myself one winter evening with a circle of women around a table with a single candle, drawing paper, and various drawing and painting implements.
Social Justice
Why Liberal Jews Should Read an Orthodox Social Justice Book
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz’s new book, Jewish Ethics and Social Justice is a must-read for Orthodox Jews interested in social justice. Unfortunately, there aren’t many of them — yet. But liberal Jews should read it too.
Religion
Wrestling with Esther: Purim Spiels, Gender, and Political Dissidence
Modern Purim celebrations use the traditional play as a vehicle for popular education around a broad range of issues by playing with the iconic roles typified by the Megilla’s characters: good girl, bad girl, stupid king, valiant citizen, evil politician. These traditional players can easily and informatively be mixed up with any combination of modern kings, s/heroes, insider/outsider activists, popular resistance movements, and evildoers-ex-machina.
Social Justice
What is the Jewish Social Justice Agenda?
We must expand what is meant by “Jewish issues” beyond Israel and antisemitism. At a recent conference in Washington DC, dozens of Jewish leaders talked about what that broader agenda should be. Here are some of them.
Social Justice
Toward a Jewish Housing Initiative
In the wake of the housing crisis, the Jewish community, while expressing a new commitment to social justice, needs to commit itself to more than advocacy.
From The Archive
Interview: Mark Cohen on the Beats and why Seymour Krim Matters
“Anyone who teaches about Black-Jewish relations, anyone who talks about bohemia and the Beats and life in the Village in the ‘50s” needs to read Seymour Krim.
Jew Jaws
The silence is profound. I look around the table at the other nine people and I wonder if they feel it, too.
In Defense of the Online Minyan
The synagogue in ancient Alexandria, Egypt, was so large that they had to wave flags so that the people in the back knew when to answer “amen.” The online service is essentially the same thing.
Queer Jewish Community Remixed: Organizing without a Critical Mass
At the intersection of queer and Jewish, how can LGBT Jewish students build a movement to empower themselves?
What Has He Done? Obama, Israel and the Palestinians
Barack Obama’s detractors have branded the president an outright failure, hopelessly outflanked by his right wing opponents in his quest to restart the Mideast peace process. According to Moshe Yaroni, the reality of the situation is in fact far more complex and, quite possibly, hopeful.
Culture
Feminist Art in Traditional and Religious Judaism
Jewish feminist art by women active in the traditional religious world is still a marginal phenomenon in the general art world and in the Israeli art field in particular. This article, together with the first major exhibit in a museum to exhibit such work, “Matronita: Jewish Feminist Art” (The Museum of Art Ein Harod) invites a reflection on the complexities of the feminist Jewish religious experience. David Sperber, one of the curators of the exhibition (with Dvora Liss), here reviews the artistic horizons of this fascinating dialogue.
Religion
A Blessing over Progesterone
Every day I say a blessing in Hebrew over my medication: “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, who has kept us, preserved us, and brought us to this time.”
Culture
Polyartist: An Interview with Richard Kostelanetz
There may not be a causal relationship between Jewishness and an avant-garde sensibility, but Jewish communities have given rise to some terrific avant-garde work. Or maybe Jews just tend to be comfortable outside the mainstream, which is often where the most interesting creative work flourishes and finds its home.
Religion
A Rationalist Approach to Suffering
Medieval writings offer important lessons about the nature of loss and its counterpart, healing. Suffering and healing, for the medieval Jewish philosopher, take place in the context of a close interrelationship between the physical and the spiritual, the material and eternal.
Social Justice
Why Climate Change is Bad for the Jews
Climate change will be a disaster for Israel: a 4-8% drop in precipitation and increased extreme climate events. But conservatives in the U.S. continue to obstruct any progress on this issue. In this way, Israel’s purported friends in America are damaging its long-term economic and political future
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- 5000 Pages of Zeek
- Founded in 2001, Zeek was the first Jewish online magazine, and we have over 5000 pages online to prove it, all available free of charge. Read more in the Archive.
