Judea Thought: Lag B’Omer 5781

By Alyssa Coffey April 30, 2021

Something behind a // Maybe-belief

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Foraging for Jews

By Maya Faerstein-Weiss April 27, 2021

A romance from the New York Mycological Society blossoms into a trek through the world of Jewish urban foraging

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The Torah of OCD

By Anonymous April 14, 2021

“The Torah of OCD is simple: it is an important and very serious mitzvah to manage my OCD as skillfully as I am able on any given day, seeking out the support and resources I need to live well and in good health. And it is deeply complicated: I am no longer comfortable theologizing pain.”

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Eight Nights of Jewish Zines: The Torah of Zines

By Rena Yehuda Newman December 17, 2020

“Zines are a lot like Torah: passed down from generation to generation, with each text inspiring more texts, more commentaries, more sparks, more light. Jewish Zines are like Torah in another way: only you can reveal what comes next.”

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A Love Letter to “Timtum: A Trans Jew Zine”

By Rena Yehuda Newman December 15, 2020

“The Rabbis wrote commentaries and we write zines.”

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Atoning for Jessica Krug

By Nora Herzog October 29, 2020

“Whether we ‘claim’ her or not, whether we knew her or not, as a Jew, Jessica Krug is part of our community. All of us must atone for her transgression, just as all of us must atone for the transgressions of synagogues who hired police and security that scrutinized Black Jews and Jews of Color entering our sanctuaries. There cannot be any evasion here.”

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Diaspora English: Growing Roots After Quarantine

By Daniel Crasnow October 8, 2020

“By doing our work here…and by recognizing that we are not as strong or as stable as we thought we were, we are building our roots.” Daniel Crasnow reports on his experiences as an English teacher in Israel during a year of pandemic in a series entitled, “Diaspora English”.

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Psalm 114 – An Interpretive Translation

By Lavi Teitelbaum September 29, 2020

“The mountains, on the other hand, they weren’t afraid. They got up and did a little dance, like muscular rams hopping from rock to rock.”

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"Suspension" by Ali Zak

12 Tips for High Holidays Balance and Presence

By Raffi Levi September 23, 2020

In this excerpt from a collaborative High Holidays reader entitled “Our Still Small Voice”, Raffi Levi brings Jewish spiritual wisdom on enoughness and healing for readers looking to set an intention for the whirlwind Days of Awe.

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Two Editors on Revelation and Transition

By Rena Yehuda Newman September 9, 2020

In July 2020, Rena Yehuda Newman became the second transgender Editor of New Voices magazine. As Rosh Hashana approaches and the year changes, Rena Yehuda sits down with their predecessor Daniel Holtzman to reflect on writing, yearning, revelation, and transitioning on the job.

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“Truth, Self, and Belonging”: A Judaism Unbound Fellowship Reflection

By Rena Yehuda Newman February 7, 2020

We are very much in the wilderness, traveling together through the desert. This fellowship has revealed to me how much all Jews need Torah – and how much the Torah needs all Jews, especially those who feel most at the edges of the camp.

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Women’s Talmud Study is Still Revolutionary

By Avigayil Halpern January 30, 2020

We are still at the beginning of this period, and it can still feel like a miracle; we will learn more from this moment if we remember that it is nothing less than a revolution, and that we are responsible for helping this revolution reach all Jews.

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Revelation and Renovation: A Shavuot Zine

By Rena Yehuda Newman June 4, 2019

This zine was created by Rena Yehuda Newman, who is a 2019 fellow with New Voices and Judaism Unbound. It was originally published on Judaism Unbound’s website.

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Tzedakah is a Feeling: Becoming a Caregiver for My Father

By Jourdan Stein March 21, 2019

As I pack the last box and turn out the lights to the apartment, I feel the tears begin to come. They are tears of anger, and of sadness, and of grief. They are the tears of a young woman who has had to make decisions that no 25-year-old should have to make. At the…

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“When he goes in he stumbles upon her”: A D’var Torah for Ki Tetzei

By Avigayil Halpern September 7, 2018

Content warning: discussion of sexual violence. The below is an edited version of a d’var Torah that was delivered at Yale University’s student egalitarian minyan on Friday night, August 24th. Parshat Ki Teitzei begins with a particularly haunting section: י) כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וּנְתָנ֞וֹ ה’ אֱלֹקֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ׃ (יא) וְרָאִיתָ֙ בַּשִּׁבְיָ֔ה אֵ֖שֶׁת יְפַת־תֹּ֑אַר וְחָשַׁקְתָּ֣…

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