Wealth
What does wealth mean? We might understand the meaning of money on many levels, but we rarely consider the theological component, the religious. In recent years, the Jewish community has went through fundamental changes in its financial status. As individuals, many members of the same community are struggling like never before, even while communal standards have risen higher and higher. This month, we explore the question of wealth and religion, as we wonder what meaning wealth can and should have, and what our beliefs about success might say about the story of our community in contemporary life.
Is Religion Rational?
Does religion make sense? Depending on your disposition, this might be the least, or most, important question to ask about religious life in the contemporary age. As with many vulnerable areas of our faith, our attitude towards this question is a story in its own right. This month, we explore the question of rationalism and religion, as we wonder if religion can or should make sense, as well as what the collective set of beliefs that we have around this question might tell us about the story of religion in contemporary society.
Shabbos
What is Shabbos? In some ways, the bones of the day of rest are identical for many: rest, resisting the urge for work and technology, and an increased focus on the important parts of life. In other ways, each Shabbos has its own timbre, buzzing along to the vibration of its own string, different and unique for each time, place, and practitioner. Shabbos can be about the food, the people, the prayers, or the mytho-poetic hum of the chthonic (do yourself a favor and try to say this word aloud, please) time-stream of Jewish life, and it is probably all these things for so many!
Teshuva
Where does change come from? All of us have a subtle suspicion, a humble hope, in the possibility of our own betterment, but what does it take for us to get there, wherever ‘there’ is for us? Is it therapy that does the job, or prayer, or is it gumption, grit, dedication, or some other word? For many Jews, Elul is the month of change, or at least the aspiration for change. Read our Teshuva Magazine for essays, poems, book excerpts, and more.
Summer Unwind
If a library is about the knowledge that you have, or purport to have, an anti-library is about the knowledge that you do not yet have, and do not even purport to have.
Loss
How can we cultivate a language of loss? On the 9th of Av, the Jewish people honors the profound losses of our national and personal lives. We are honoring this day by listening deeply to the voices of three people who experienced the most profound of losses.
Censorship
Censorship, the word we used before the pundits and thought leaders of the West gave us ‘cancel culture,’ is the story of the parts of the story that didn’t make it into the story. Which itself is a story. Which we are now telling a story about. Put less obtusely: For every story, or meaning-system, or history, there is a story about what we include in that story and what we do not.
Agunah Crisis
Agunot have often had little recourse within the Jewish legal system, leaving them without the capability to remarry. While there has been social pressure in the past upon recalcitrant husbands—whose actions constitute a form of domestic abuse—in recent months we have seen a wide scale movement to free agunot.
Intergenerational Divergence
Judaism is a religious culture that places an intense emphasis on continuing the chain of tradition through the context of the family. Yet in an ever-changing contemporary world, families often disagree—sometimes in fundamental ways—about how to live this life. Faced with this disagreement between generations, some choose to ignore these differences, focusing instead on the seemingly uninterrupted flow of history within families. However, reflecting on intergenerational divergence offers important insights on the fundamental nature of family, faith communities, and religion in the contemporary world.
God
At the very heart of the complex dynamic that is Judaism dwells God. Complicated by millenia of discourse around the who and what, it is easy to lose sight of God in the many definitions that attempt to capture the divine. When discussing God, the challenge is to have an eye open to both the experiential encounter as well as to an understanding of the theological issues that surround this encounter.