http://zeek.forward.com The Forward, an independent, high-profile weekly newspaper, is a fearless and indispensable source of news and opinion on Jewish affairs. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:24:00 EST Newspapers en-us Symphony 2.0 http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117492/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 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:24:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117492/why-climate-change-is-bad-for-the-jews/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117482/the-chosen-people-two-perspectives/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117414/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. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:39:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117414/in-song-together-for-linda-hirschhorn-music-is-a-path-to-transformation/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117473/families-holy-and-there-is-no-other-kind-a-jewish-ayahuasca-journey/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117450/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). Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:22:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117450/jewish-education-for-a-time-of-wandering/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117452/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. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:45:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117452/why-jewish-environmental-education-matters/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117449/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. Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:54:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117449/winners-of-the-anna-davidson-poetry-prize/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117411/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? Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:19:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117411/calling-jewish-activists-synagogues-need-you-and-you-need-them/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117413/shever-vtikkun-shattering-and-repair-lessons-from-the-journey-of-aging/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117410/lepers-and-me/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117418/birthrights-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. Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:12:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117418/birthrights-israel-the-political-bias-of-the-jewish-community-s-favorite-program/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117416/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. Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:35:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117416/gilat-shalit-is-home-and-my-son-is-going-off-to-war/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117403/what-is-the-purpose-of-jewish-education/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117369/one-jewish-feminist-s-lifelong-companionship-with-a-misogynist/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117397/gold-is-not-g-d-kol-nidre-at-occupy-wall-street/ This sermon was given at Occupy Wall Street on Friday Night, and ‘amplified’ by the human microphone to between 700-1000 people. Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:17:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117397/gold-is-not-g-d-kol-nidre-at-occupy-wall-street/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117391/elsewhere-a-faith-story-for-grace-paley/ She woke up to a clinking sound like a stuck thought, as if there were some pestering obstacle in a story she wasn’t writing that would work itself out in her sleep if she could pay attention enough. Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:15:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117391/elsewhere-a-faith-story-for-grace-paley/ http://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://zeek.forward.com/articles/117387/marc-gafni-abuses-again-and-we-share-responsibility/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117374/conservative-money-and-jewish-studies-investigating-the-tikvah-fund/ A hundred-million-dollar right-wing Jewish foundation is attempting to change the political face of Jewish studies and the Jewish press. Zachary Braiterman, Associate Professor of Religion at Syracuse University, investigates. Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:57:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117374/conservative-money-and-jewish-studies-investigating-the-tikvah-fund/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117358/albert-j-winns-summer-joins-the-past/ Summer camps offer brief encounters with utopia. Though usually located somewhere out in the wild, they are constructed, self contained domains, each fostering a worldview of its own. Dedicated to the collective living of an ideal existence, summer camps promote fantasy.“Summer Joins the Past,” Albert J. Winn’s series of photographs of abandoned Jewish summer camps in North America, offers a quiet yet eloquently evocative tour of these places out of time. Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:09:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117358/albert-j-winns-summer-joins-the-past/ http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117354/salt-and-pepper/ A poem by Samuel Menashe (1925-2011) Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:32:00 EST http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117354/salt-and-pepper/