On No-Phone Zones & Balance while Fighting for Change, Families, Equity & Reproductive Choice

I remember clearly the day that my then-boyfriend now-husband and I implemented our “no conference calls on road trips” rule. We’re often on the road between our home in DC and New York or to my mother-in-law’s home on the Delaware coast. While this might seem like an obvious rule to some in order to maximize quality time together, our concerns were much more mundane. If we were both on the phone at the same time, we couldn’t hear. And we couldn’t agree on whose call was more important, so we decided no one could be on the phone.

News and Politics

Faith Rally, Freedom & the Hobby Lobby: Standing up for Access to Birth Control at the Supreme Court

By Zeek

This morning, Rabbi Lori Koffman was one of many religious leaders speaking out in support of women’s access to birth control and real religious liberty as the Supreme Court hears arguments on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, At issue: whether a for-profit company must provide full contraception coverage for employees (thanks, Affordable Care Act)!

“We are here because this is what Judaism demands of us,” she said, “to demonstrate to the Court that faith should not be used as a tool of coercion, but that it should be an instrument of freedom to guide us along our own religious and moral path, to make our own faith-informed decisions about our bodies, our families and our health.”

Arts and Culture

Chalking History: 10 Years of Street Art Memory -- Honoring the Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

We honor the memory of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 by doing what we can to advance safe working conditions, end sweatshop labor, and fight child labor and for immigrants rights.

This is the 10th year that volunteers have – thanks to Ruth Sergel of Street Pictures – chalked up New York City’s Streets to commemorate the 146 mainly immigrant women and girls who died in that fire and gave rise to a movement.

Faith and Practice

The Jewish Ecosphere Springs Forward: Social Justice & Innovation in the Expanding Universe of “JOFEE”

By Erica Brody

The JOFEE Dialogues with Nigel Savage, Jon Marker, Nili Simhai, Seth Cohen, Lisa Farber Miller & Jakir Manela

One night this week — before spring arrived! — a statistic kept popping up in my Twitter feed: “Americans spend 90% of their time indoors.” Disturbing, right? As it turns out, the architect Marc Kushner had mentioned this disturbing fact during his TED2014 talk about how design and space impact our culture, communities and lives, deeply. Although he was talking about architecture, I was struck by the amount of time Americans spend outdoors — or don’t. Could it really be so little? The EPA thinks so. READ MORE

Media and Tech

#OwnBossy, Jewish Charades, God on Facebook -- Morning Jew with Comedians Katie Halper & Heather Gold

By Heather Gold and Katie Halper

Comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold tackle the week’s headlines: why we shouldn’t #BanBossy (“we should #OwnBossy” and own our own power). Plus, God’s Facebook page, Jewish charades, Jewmunity and Condi Rice. Watch the new Morning Jew, with comedians Katie Halper and Heather Gold.

Zeek enjoys partnering with comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold, to bring you Morning Jew, a tongue-in-cheek take-down of morning news shows, talking heads, and the news itself. Is it good for the Jews?

Faith and Practice

Why this Fast of Esther, I'm Fasting for Immigration Reform (Hint: I'm an Observant Jewish Woman. And an Immigrant.)

By Daphne Price

As an observant Jew, I, along with so many people in the Jewish community will spend today fasting and reflectingon the bravery of Queen Esther and the Jews in the Persian Empire. At that time, they gathered to fast and to pray in order to spare the Jewish people from extermination. There are seven fast days every year. But today’s fast feels different. On this day, women from across the Jewish spectrum are fasting and raising awareness to speak truth to power to achieve just, humane, and comprehensive immigration reform. As a Jew, as a woman and as an immigrant from Canada, I identify with the gravity of the mission of the day.

Media and Tech

Morning Jew, Mega: Why some scandals are more scandalous than others

By Heather Gold and Katie Halper

Nu, Is the News Good for the Jews?

It’s a mega-webisode of Morning Jew! Michele Bachmann chastising Jews, ultra-Orthodox protesting mandatory Israeli military service and what’s with the low on-screen, on-stage Jewish quotient at the Oscars, despite Idina and Bette. Plus Rep Alan Grayson, and why some scandals are more scandalous than others.

Life and Action

Broken Justice and the Death Penalty: A Q & A with Jen Marlowe, Co-author of "I Am Troy Davis"

By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

“I was horrified at what I assumed at that time was a very unusual situation. I thought it was an aberration. Only later did I realize how typical his case was. But so many aspects of what made his case problematic are emblematic of our death penalty system and our criminal justice system.” –Jen Marlowe on writing “I Am Troy Davis”

Life and Action

Hate Speech, Identity & the Importance of Asking Questions — Part 2: The Jewish Push for LGBT Rights

Authors

I was the victim of hate speech. I will never forget the day. It was nothing if not shocking. I am openly gay, a Jewish man — a rabbi — who wears a yarmulke in public. Amidst a crowd of people, from all walks of life, I was told to leave.

A t this point I probably should say that the establishment where this hate speech took place was a gay bar. And the man who insisted I leave was gay. And also Jewish.

Media and Tech

Morning Jew: RIP Caring Comic Harold Ramis, Post-Pope Fashion, and the Insidious Ted Nugent Strikes Again

By Heather Gold and Katie Halper

Nu, Is the News Good for the Jews?

On this week’s Morning Jew, comedians Katie Halper and Heather Gold chime in on the connection between racist Tea Baggers like Ted Nugent and paranoid Jews, the “Nazi” Pope’s return, and pay tribute to the irreplaceable mensch Harold Ramis, master of caring comedy: “Just because it’s broad doesn’t mean it has to be shallow.”