Category Archives: Articles

Trump, Fascism, and What We Must Do by Ayala Emmett and Peter Eisenstadt

Articles

“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free,
but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

The scope of the pandemic, the number of deaths and those infected with the Covid-19, the spatial distancing and the massive loss of jobs, all induce great fear and uncertainty. Trump’s profound inability to understand science, facts, and medical research, has intensified current social, economic and political concerns.

In this coronavirus crisis, as he has done since he emerged as a candidate, Trump is making sure that he has a loud visible following. His faithful foot soldiers are a scary bunch of vigilante who are brazenly breaking the rules of curbing the spread of the virus. They come to public spaces with Trump signs and hats carrying guns using Nazi trope. These includes a held up sign reading: “Arbeit Macht Frei” a Nazi chillingly deceptive phrase that means “work sets you free,” which was posted at the gates of death camps. They bring posters of hanging opponents, “Hang Fauci Hang Gates, Open Up All Our States” (Bill Gates). Confederate flags, swastika facemasks, recall previous terrifying street violence like the Charlottesville march with its sea of swastikas. read more

What We Can Do To Stop Annexation by Partners For Progressive Israel

Articles, Events


Dear Friends

Many of us are hoping that by July 1 – in about two months – some of the restric­tions we are living under because of the coronavirus may be eased.  Of course, there is no way of knowing now when that threat will be eased.

But there is one thing that we do know about that date.  On July 1, Israel’s new govern­ment, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu with his former bitter rival, Benny Gantz, as his deputy, could begin to annex parts of the West Bank, some­thing no Israeli government has ever tried to do.  We Americans who care deeply about Israel’s future must work together with the many like-minded Israelis to stop this threat to Israel’s integrity, which would create a major obstacle to a future two-state solution. read more

Religious Celebrations in the Time of Covid19 by Ayala Emmett

Articles, Essays on Passover, Events
All who are in need come and celebrate Passover with us

In the midst of this painful coronavirus we are about to celebrate Passover. As we prepare for the Seder, we, as do other religious communities, experience two different emotions: anxiety and sadness at the devastation of the pandemic as well as anticipation of celebration. Should we stay with our sadness? Would it be right to rejoice? Rather then make a choice we can honor these conflicting emotions and thus follow a Jewish tradition of the two eternal pockets that are sewn into the fabric of life. What are these two pockets about? The Hassidic Rabbi Simcha Bunam tells us that the two pockets are there so that each one of us can reach into them and retrieve in one pocket, “For my sake was the world was created,” and in the other, “I am but dust and ashes.” While firmly stitched in Jewish tradition, the pockets are a universal human experience like this virus moment in our life. Right now I have in one pocket a note with the fragrance of rich spices saying, “Celebrate this Seder with joy,” and in the other, smudged with tears the note says, “We remember those touched by the coronavirus, those who are ill, and those who lost loved ones.” The coronavirus has forced spatial separation in places of worship and in families that cannot be together at the Seder table. Yet Zoom has opened up a getting together in celebration, to bless and be blessed, giving us a communal opportunity to tell and retell the meaning of freedom then, and now in our days. read more

Priests and Professionals by Peter Eisenstadt

Articles, Parsha Insights

Let me add a few thoughts on Ayala’s wonderful d’var Torah on parshat Tzav. The priests were the first Jewish professionals; the first responders to the sinfulness of the Israelites. Their position was hereditary, but they needed to be trained in their specific tasks; they needed to don specific garments to be used only while performing their assigned roles.

What is a professional? Persons who have special education for a specific role they perform for the rest of society. They need to be licensed in some fashion, and they are generally respected for their abilities. Many professionals have dangerous jobs. That was certainly true for Israelite priests. They were the intermediaries between humanity and God. In this week’s parsha, in Sh’mini we have the story of Nadab and Abihu—the priests who offered God “strange fire” and were in turn incinerated by God. The interpretations of the sad fate of Nadab and Abihu are many. But perhaps what is most important is that the priests who wrote Leviticus thought this story was so important that they interrupted their recitation of laws to highlight the lesson that professionals always need, whatever the situation, whatever their crisis, to remember both their strengths and limitations. read more

Rituals of Protection: From Leviticus to Coronavirus by Ayala Emmett

Articles, Parsha Insights
What medical workers need

A physician recently described the new ritual of protection that health professionals have been taking on in this pandemic crisis. He told us how he is doing his best to protect his family when he returns home. He takes off his clothes he showers at the entrance then puts on clean clothes. We are used to physicians wearing special outfits that distinguish them as a profession as well as protecting them and their patients; we are familiar with unmistakable surgeons’ complete attire. The coronavirus has turned out to be more formidable than surgical protective garments. We are shocked by the new needs of protection of our health workers when they come home and their unmet needs at work. read more

A Vote for HATIKVAH is a Vote for Liberty, Justice and Peace by Ayala Emmett

Articles, Events

Dear Friends,
I’m proud to be on the HATIKVAH: Progressive Israel Slate running for election in the World Zionist Congress. These elections take place once every five years, and the current one ends in four days. I am asking you to support me, to support the HATIKVAH slate, and to support an Israel that lives up to our progressive values.

We on the HATIKVAH slate are no longer willing to cede it to those whose narrow right-wing views have not brought Israel safety and security, nor do they represent our Jewish values. read more

The Deal of the Century or a Shotgun Wedding? by Ayala Emmett

Articles

It was a jubilant occasion in the White House. A celebration of a three-year plan hatched by a glib novice whose rise to power came through brazen nepotism. The guests in the room included administration heavyweights like the Secretary of State and an assortment of donors from the mogul of gambling to cheering supporters of Trump and Netanyahu.

The ceremony was cannily similar to a shotgun wedding designed to force a marriage agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. The illogical/logic of this strange moment was that the two peoples were already in cohabitation and it was time to make it legal. Shotgun marriages, as we know are oblivious to the suffering they inflict. Similarly in most discussions of political conflicts, suffering has mostly been ignored. Not surprisingly, on that fateful day in the White House political power was in full force since those holding the shotgun were no other than the president of the United States and his son-in-law who claimed to have written the marriage agreement of the century. read more

Shhh- The Burning Bush is Talking  By Deborah Kornfeld

Articles

In every generation Jewish scholars study our holy texts and mine them for additional meaning and understanding. And as far as texts go you can’t beat the Book of Exodus. It has a gripping narrative with its story of redemption and revelation.

The story of Moses and the burning bush just leaped out of the pages for me this year as a metaphor and as a lesson for today. Our own trees are burning, burning in the Amazon, burning in California and burning in Australia. Millions and millions of trees have been destroyed. read more

Stand Among Us by Ahavya Deutsch

Articles
George Washington’s Promise to the Touro Synagogue that the government will give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance

Jews in the US are so often conflated with both whiteness and power, that when we cry Anti-Semitism, it rings hollow to most. While there are some very powerful Jews (who don’t in fact run the global conspiracy), Jews worked very hard for decades to take on the mantle of whiteness in this country. Never fully succeeding, but almost. Just enough. Enough that we can’t be viewed as vulnerable. Enough that a discussion of our oppression is a distasteful centering of a privileged experience, because we don’t believe that Jews experience poverty. Or structural disenfranchisement. The reality is that Jews are between 1-2% of the US population, and that at least 20% of Jews live in poverty, and that number is growing every year. read more

Each of Us is a Small Light, Together We are a Bright Illumination—by Ayala Emmet

Articles
Hanukkah 2019

My Hanukkah celebration began with my email filled with Happy Hanukkah wishes from family, friends and people of different faith communities. For those of us celebrating tonight we remember that Hanukkah, the Festival of Light is a celebration of freedom.

Hanukkah represents a fundamental human right to freedom and has historic and contemporary significance. The right to freedom stretches from the festival historic origins in the Maccabean Revolt in the second century B.C.E., all through the ages, in our world and in the United States in 2019. read more