Opinion

Contemporary Torah: Crazy poems, gold, stories and time

I, like many, many people, have experienced a type of generosity that no bank account can quantify. I remember a moment when my little girl decided to “give back” to me. She didn’t have money, but she gave me her resources: She went into her room and emerged later with a crinkled drawing and a polished stone she had picked with a ribbon. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Barrett Holman Leak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘Echoes of Egypt:’ A superb Haggada

His Haggada’s most distinctive feature is its rich visual presentation. The 156-page volume contains nearly four dozen colorful images drawn from the art, inscriptions, monuments, and iconography of ancient Egypt. These images are not decorative embellishments; they are interpretive tools. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Opinion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Contemporary Torah: Building belonging and creating sanctuary

We have the ability to create a container for our collective soul and our physical existence, which has been under attack. We are trying to build our own places of safety, a Mishkan, here in the United States of America. And it is hard. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Antisemitism, Barrett Holman Leak, International, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History, part 3 ‘Grand Alliance’

While the previous episodes laid the groundwork of shared trauma and early 20th-century labor solidarity, Episode 3 dives headlong into the 1960s—the decade where the “interwoven” threads of these two communities were pulled to their absolute tension and breaking point. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Antisemitism, Barrett Holman Leak, Holocaust, Jewish History, Opinion, Philanthropy & Volunteerism, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish biography: Selman Waksman – The great healer

Selman decided to leave Russia forever and move to the United States to live with his mother’s sisters. On November 2, 1910, he arrived in Philadelphia. In September 1911, Waksman became a student at the New Jersey State College of Agriculture at Rutgers University, from which he graduated in 1915 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural science. Starting his research there in soil microbiology, he received his master’s degree in 1916, along with US citizenship. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

The shifting sands of the rabbinate

For years, hand-wringing over a looming “rabbinic shortage” has dominated communal discourse. However, the Atra study meticulously dismantles this narrative. The issue isn’t a lack of individuals called to service, but a profound mismatch between supply and specific demands. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Barrett Holman Leak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘Black Power: Jewish Politics:’ A live event with Marc Dollinger, Ilana Kaufman, and Susannah Heshel

Join historian Marc Dollinger for a live conversation on his groundbreaking book “Black Power Jewish Politics”, with an afterword by Ilana Kaufman, the CEO of Jews of Color Initiative. Susannah Heschel, a preeminent scholar and the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (z’’l), also joins the conversation. [Barrett Holman Leak]

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Antisemitism, Barrett Holman Leak, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors