Arts and Culture

Relative Unknowns: When Images Outlast Memory, but Not Meaning

By Danielle Durchslag

Most of us grow up in homes where a mix of historical and recent family photos preserve the family’s collective memory, linking present to past, and serving as a tangible way to honor and safeguard the memories of loved ones no longer with us physically. Yet our displays — like our memories — are selective.

Even as a little kid, I felt drawn most to the photos that didn’t make the cut. These, my mother kept relegated to a large, plastic bin in the upstairs closet. As soon as I could climb a ladder, I’d spend hours poring over the contents. I loved examining the faces of people I knew, witnessing their different hairstyles and dress choices over time.

News and Politics

Honoring King, Fighting Fear: Why Economic Justice Must Matter to All Who Care About Racial Justice

By Marjorie Dove Kent

There is a deep commitment in the American Jewish community toward ending racial injustice in our country. Jews have a long and proud history of fighting against racial discrimination in its many forms from the civil rights movement through today. As a whole, however, the American Jewish community does not share the same commitment to an overhaul of the economic systems of our country and “the radical redistribution of economic power” King advocated. What gets in our way?

Faith and Practice

A Time for Righteous Rage (Not Macho Anger): Martin Luther King Jr & the Modern-Day Mishnaic Sage

By Rabbi Aryeh Cohen

Around this time every year we memorialize the Martin Luther King who was a peacemaker, a conciliator, a lover and not a hater. In reality, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr was the master of the thunderous cadences of righteous rage. The Jewish community is rightfully proud of the picture of Abraham Joshua Heschel marching with Martin Luther King and thousands of others into and through the forces of evil in Selma, Alabama.

We must, however, ask ourselves: “What have we done to earn that legacy?”

Media and Tech

Morning Jew with Katie Halper and Heather Gold: Is Bridgegate the best thing for Jews since sliced challah?

By Katie Halper and Heather Gold

In the new episode of Morning Jew, Heather wonders if Bridgegate may actually be the best thing for Jews since sliced challah, and the two funny ladies dig into why the New York Times’ Bill Keller feels the need to tell a woman with cancer to shut up already. Plus, Chelsea Handler, and the origins of Ashkenazi names.

Watch. Laugh. Share.

Faith and Practice

Tu B’Shvat Reflections on Parenthood, Extreme Weather, and the Human Family Tree

By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

What does Tu B’Shvat mean when life on our planet feels so palpably fragile, asks Rabbi Rachel Barenblat. Her answer? We who are blessed with good soil and healthy roots have an obligation to send sustenance to those on the thin, treacherous margins.

News and Politics

Who is Boycotting Whom? National Hillel Guidelines, Dissent, and Legitimate Protest

Boycott as Legitimate Form of Nonviolent Protest

Swarthmore Hillel’s decision to thwart the National Hillel guidelines on Israel that exclude Hillel’s sponsorship of individuals considered “anti-Israel” or “anti-Zionist” (these slippery terms are not adequately defined) has become an important moment in American Jewry’s continued struggle to come to terms with its own identity when it comes to Israel. Some of this revolves around the growing BDS movement, given new life by the recent American Studies Association decision to boycott Israeli universities and the upcoming discussion on the same topic in the Modern Languages Association conference later this month.

Of course, it is not all about boycotts, but more generally the issue of boycotts has become a test-case for Hillel’s commitment to pluralism and its intended goal of serving as a “Jewish home” on college campuses for Jews, whatever their belief, practice, or affiliation. For the most part Hillel has been exemplary in this regard, sponsoring events for all religious denominations, for secular humanists, atheists, and totally unaffiliated Jews. But as we have seen, Israel is a different story.

Media and Tech

Morning Jew: January 10, with Comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold

By Katie Halper and Heather Gold

In this week’s new Morning Jew, comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold plumb the Vortex, slain Hasidic landlord Menachem Stark, and other news stories, asking, “Is the news good for the Jews?” Watch the funny ladies turn the ups and downs of the headlines upside-down in search of the “Shonda of the Week.”

Media and Tech

Morning Jew. 2013 — Was it good for the Jews?

By Katie Halper and Heather Gold

Zeek is pleased to kick off the new year with a partnership with [Morning Jew], comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold’s tongue-in-cheek takedown of morning news shows, talking heads, and the news itself. Is it good for the Jews?

In this webisode, comics Katie Halper and Heather Gold take an absurd look at 2013: Sheryl Sandberg, Orthodox rabbis, marriage equality, Woody Allen, the Pope: what was good for Jews? Who made the kvell and shonda of the year? What could be the best thing for Jews in 2014?

Life and Action

Two Takes on Where We're Headed (And by we, we mean Zeek)

By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and Steven M. Cohen

Two Zeek board members – one longtime, one new – talk from the heart about the Jewish tomorrow and Zeek.

By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

I care about Zeek because Zeek is thoughtful, literate, literary. For years, Zeek has been the place to go for meaningful long-form writing which questions assumptions and pushes boundaries. Zeek does work that no one else is doing, and sheds light on conversations that no one else is having – whether that be our 2003 essay on Zionism and Colonialism, or our 2004 essay on Hasidism and homoeroticism, or our 2009 interview with Rabbi Dr. Rachel Adler.

The recent Pew study confirms that one in five Jews today says they are part of “no” religion – which makes us just like the rest of the country, where “nones” (those who check “none of the above” on survey boxes) are on the rise. My question is: how can we open up the richness of Judaism – or the many varieties of Judaism; Judaisms, plural) to those who have opted out of the communal or congregational mainstream as they’ve understood it?

Zeek is a place where that can happen. There’s no barrier to entry here. We’re interested in dialogue and discourse and in creating the Jewish tomorrow which we, ourselves, most need. Zeek is honest, authentic, questioning – qualities which I think a lot of unaffiliated Jews want and need, but may not be finding elsewhere.

By Steven M. Cohen

Small magazines that publish good thought leaders have played a vital role in shaping opinion, in sharpening the skills of the thought leaders, and in forging all sorts of innovative and oppositional movements – in American society, in Jewish life, and, of course, elsewhere.

At a time when organized Jewry has largely succumbed to the influence and interests of the most affluent (people in the financial industry, real estate moguls, and others), Zeek can play a valuable role in vitalizing and sustaining the historic Jewish voice for economic justice. It can advance the discourse by not only bringing a Jewish sensibility to bear upon these societal issues, but by bringing a sharply critical perspective to bear upon organized Jewry and its tendency to comfort the comfortable, and afflict the afflicted.

Zeek is laying the groundwork for a strong, sustainable 2014. We need your help. Please consider making a much-appreciated, tax-deductible donation to Zeek today. Support from readers, allies and partners keeps Zeek online and independent!

Readers, tell us what you think. What are your questions about the Jewish tomorrow? Why do you care about Zeek? What would you like to see in 2014? Tell us!