http://www.zeek.forward.com The Forward, an independent, high-profile weekly newspaper, is a fearless and indispensable source of news and opinion on Jewish affairs. Thu, 03 May 2012 16:56:00 EST Newspapers en-us Symphony 2.0 http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117541/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. Thu, 03 May 2012 16:56:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117541/kabbalah-for-the-masses-re-considering-the-elitism-of-medieval-jewish-mysticism/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117490/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.” Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:11:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117490/chava-weissler-tradition-and-renewal/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117539/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. Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:03:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117539/mandalas-at-the-mikveh/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117507/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.” Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:47:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117507/a-blessing-over-progesterone/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117515/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. Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:02:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117515/wrestling-with-esther-purim-spiels-gender-and-political-dissidence/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117501/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. Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:27:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117501/a-rationalist-approach-to-suffering/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117482/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. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:45:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117482/the-chosen-people-two-perspectives/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117473/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 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:24:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117473/families-holy-and-there-is-no-other-kind-a-jewish-ayahuasca-journey/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117413/shever-vtikkun-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. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:34:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117413/shever-vtikkun-shattering-and-repair-lessons-from-the-journey-of-aging/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117410/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. Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:49:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117410/lepers-and-me/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117403/what-is-the-purpose-of-jewish-education/ The Jewish education our children receive should manifest itself in Jewishly-grounded ethical action. Interestingly, a very old method of Jewish learning – hevruta – can be a model for how this type of ethical education can proceed. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:30:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117403/what-is-the-purpose-of-jewish-education/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117369/one-jewish-feminist-s-lifelong-companionship-with-a-misogynist/ It was 1999 and I was a visiting scholar at a synagogue in Florida teaching a workshop on Ezekiel. Midstream, I found myself saying words I had not anticipated saying to these suburban mainstream Jews: “Ezekiel 16, verse 17 is referring to a strap-on dildo and Ezekiel is referencing the emasculation of God by the collective body of Israel who is assuming the phallic, penetrative role in the divine-human relationship.” Gulp. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117369/one-jewish-feminist-s-lifelong-companionship-with-a-misogynist/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117387/marc-gafni-abuses-again-and-we-share-responsibility/ I am raising my voice to my fellow Jews that we have been silent about this man for too long, and now our silence has led to yet more abuse. In this season of repentance, we should be ashamed of ourselves. Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:48:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117387/marc-gafni-abuses-again-and-we-share-responsibility/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117337/call-jewish-fundamentalism-what-it-is/ Why, when it comes to Jewish Fundamentalists, are we afraid to use the term, and tend to think of Hasidim as cuddly-cute characters from Fiddler on the Roof or The Chosen? Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:55:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117337/call-jewish-fundamentalism-what-it-is/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117325/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. Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:26:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117325/speaking-of-goddess-finding-the-sacred-feminine-in-the-song-of-songs/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117307/an-orthodox-jewish-case-for-marriage-equality/ Now that there are churches and synagogues that perform and hold sacred same-sex vows, the state cannot choose to reject these marriages any more than it can reject marriages that I, as an Orthodox rabbi, would not perform because one partner is a Jew and another a Christian. Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:22:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117307/an-orthodox-jewish-case-for-marriage-equality/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117281/is-post-rapture-looting-permitted-on-shabbos/ Halachic advice for potential left-behinds in case of global apocalypse. Fri, 20 May 2011 02:36:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117281/is-post-rapture-looting-permitted-on-shabbos/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117272/religion-and-hybridity-can-someone-be-jewish-and-christian/ We can’t deny people what they have already taken for themselves: the ability to create identities that are satisfying and meaningful. American religious identities are fuzzy around the edges. The change is already here. Wed, 18 May 2011 08:50:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117272/religion-and-hybridity-can-someone-be-jewish-and-christian/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117254/how-the-jewish-prayer-service-resembles-pentecostal-worship/ Most visitors to a mainstream Jewish prayer service would not typically describe what they witness as “ecstatic.” But the structure of the service has interesting parallels to Evangelical and charismatic services. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:01:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117254/how-the-jewish-prayer-service-resembles-pentecostal-worship/ http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117223/god-of-contradiction-on-language-and-liturgy/ The time has come to stop thinking about language and God, lest we become so tangled up in our metaphors that they become our experience of God entirely. Sat, 12 Mar 2011 10:52:00 EST http://www.zeek.forward.com/articles/117223/god-of-contradiction-on-language-and-liturgy/