Resetting the Ritual Clock
This week, I’ve heard the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris described in several ways: as a new page for our country, a win for activists, a peaceful…
Hot Off the Shtender
The Future in its Infancy
by Benay Lappe
I remember what it was like to be on the road, and get lost, before I had a GPS. I’d pull over, rummage through the glove compartment to find the…
The Talmud’s Queerspawn: Going Inside-Outside on the Siddur
This week, in the wake of a white supremacist insurrection, incited from the highest powers of government and abetted by all levels of law enforcement, we have found ourselves returning…
Delighting in Our Learning
As we wrapped up our semester of weekly learning for the Teaching Kollel, I declared (as I often do!), that the text we had learned is my favorite sugya. One…
Saving Our Lives: The Rest of the Story
by Benay Lappe
My father loved radio. As a child, we had radios in every room of our house. There was the little black AM-FM transistor radio that sat on a shelf in…
Take Off Your Shoes
by Dev Noily
Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. –Ex. 3:5 These are the first words YHVH says to Moses after calling…
Towards Halakhic Euphoria
When I started planning to have top surgery, I never wondered whether I could get top surgery according to halakha. While my life is guided by the yes’s and no’s…
Knowing That We Are Loved
by Ayana Morse
About a year and a half ago, I was lucky enough to be at the graduation for our first cohort of Fellows in the Teaching Kollel. I had captured glimmers…
The Radical Act of Becoming a Talmud Person
by Benay Lappe
I want to tell you why I’m in the Talmud business. And I want to tell you today because, perhaps like some of you, and in spite of the likely…
Don’t Worry, (or Go Ahead and Worry but Still) Be Happy—a Talmudic prescription for turbulent times
by Jhos Singer
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov used to say, “Friends do not despair, for a difficult time has come upon us joy must fill the air. We must not lose our faith…
Reclaiming Pleasure for Ourselves and the Divine
I am re-learning how to feel good. As joy and pain move through my life without ceremony, I—along with so many of y’all—am a scientist of my own experience, constantly…
We’re All OK
by Ayana Morse
I have, over the past weeks and months, made an increasing number of minor mistakes, and contributed rambling, nonsensical ideas to any number of projects. One of the more recent…