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
Religion
The Chosen People? : Two Perspectives
Two Reconstructionist rabbis debate the merits of the view that Jews are God’s ‘Chosen People’ in a multicultural 21st century.
Culture
In Song Together: For Linda Hirschhorn, Music is a Path to Transformation
Harmony is like drash. Singing a song simply is like pshat; harmonies give you the chance to interpret text. If you hear a lyric, especially sung in counterpoint, the words coming at a different time, you’ll get a different experience of what the words might mean, what’s important. Major or minor, syncopated or lullaby: those communicate so much. It’s important to understand the text, to try to find how my song matches my understanding of the text.
Social Justice
Jewish Education for a Time of Wandering
If we are not guided by a philosophy of Jewish education—a big picture idea of the aims of education and the best strategies to achieve those aims—much of our day-to-day work is wasted (at best) or counterproductive (at worst).
Fiction & Poetry
Winners of the Anna Davidson Poetry Prize
The Anna Davidson Rosenberg Prize for Poetry on the Jewish Experience has been awarded since 1987 and is funded by the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund. We are pleased to publish the winning poems here, by Dan Bellm, Jehanne Dubrow, and Anna Torres.
Religion
Shever v'Tikkun/Shattering and Repair: Lessons from the Journey of Aging
In the journey of aging, shatterings are rampant, inevitable, and recurrent. We will all face them.
Culture
Birthright's Israel: The Political Bias of the Jewish Community’s Favorite Program
Birthright Israel is training right-wing activists, not informed and engaged American Jews. After seeing Israel on my own, it became clear that Birthright was not just guilty of failing to provide differing perspectives on Israel’s current situation, but was bending over backwards in order to ensure that we never saw a balanced picture of Israel.
From The Archive
Beasts in the Jungle
The ways in which we’ve been taught to remember the Holocaust have made us indifferent to the tragedy. According to novelist Yann Martel, the only way to re-sensitize ourselves is to imagine how we might tell the story differently.
Viva Italia
Over the course of the last two decades, the question of race has come to the forefront of Italian politics. Italy’s leader is of course not exempt from this discourse, having made extremely bold statements such as expressing his opposition to a “multicultural Italy,” and working hard to pass legislation attempting to limit illegal immigration.
Speaking of Goddess: Finding the Sacred Feminine in the Song of Songs
The past forty years of Jewish feminist thought and theology have seen powerful analysis and fruitful conversations about the Divine, the feminine, and the power of the language we use to evoke and invoke the Holy in our lives. Yet to speak of Goddess in a Jewish context is still often to speak in a whisper.
Religion
Families, Holy and... there is no other kind: A Jewish Ayahuasca Journey
I saw, behind my father, his father, and his father, and his. I saw, behind him and to his left, his mother, and her parents, and hers. Stretching backward in time, I saw generations of my ancestors, not in any particular detail, but like a phalanx of men and women supporting me and holding me. And then, above and behind my father, I had a vision of something that felt like the God of our ancestors, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Social Justice
Why Jewish Environmental Education Matters
When we hear the words “Jewish environmental education,” we often only hear “environmental education” and not “Jewish education.” It’s easy to think of environmental programs as a fun add-on, rather than core, to Jewish learning. That is a mistake.
Social Justice
Calling Jewish Activists: Synagogues Need You and You Need Them
Chanukah is the holiday celebrating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. But what about the temples in our own backyards – can they be rededicated, to social justice?
Religion
Lepers and Me
I chose to work as a chaplain in part because modern day leper colonies, the homes of those who are most estranged, are the places where God speaks to me the strongest. As a gender-ambiguous transgender person, I identify with them.
Social Justice
Gilat Shalit is home, and my son is going off to war
If you can understand why Gilad’s parents pushed for this swap, you can understand why I don’t want my son to serve in combat. It’s not rational. It’s not about my left wing political opinions or the fact that I am not a native Israeli. It’s because I am a mother. I am simply doing my job.
![[the current issue of ZEEK]](http://www.zeek.forward.com/image/2/100/0/5//uploads/zeek-winter10cover-4ccf2baa.jpg)
- 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.
