In this Yizkor supplement for Palestinian life, we include obituaries, prayers, and psalms honoring the thousands of Palestinians who should still be alive.
We are devastated to learn of the deaths of six Israeli hostages, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose family is known to many in our community. 1/
We took to the streets to remind our communities that even as they daven selichot nightly, Hashem cannot forgive us for sins we are still committing. As long as we continue to commit the sins of forced starvation, torture and killing, all of our prayers are for naught. 1/ 🧵
✨NEW! We're launching the beta version of our shul organizing toolkit. Packed with advice on changing the conversation on Israel-Palestine within your shul community 🕍
“Either apartheid is right or it’s wrong. … There is nothing the Palestinians could do that would make that okay for me. My book is not based on the hypermorality of the Palestinian people.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new book, “The Message,” is a trio of interconnected essays that examine how the stories people tell — or avoid telling — can shape and even distort reality: “I am most concerned always with those that don’t have a voice.”
At
@JewishCurrents
Live chavruta session with Maya Rosen and
@rafaelshimunov
!
“Excommunication in the Jewish Community, Political Community, and Jewish Text” 🤔🤓
It is possible to recognize the evil of Hamas executing these six precious human beings, while also recognizing the evil of Israel's continued war that has killed tens of thousands of equally precious souls in Gaza. Enough!
A ceasefire and hostage deal *now* is the only way to bring the hostages home and let Gaza live. This Sunday, join an urgent briefing from Israelis on the ground and families of hostages
@AllHostages
@israelispeaceny
The pain of this loss adds to our pain at the immense suffering and death we have seen Israel inflict on Palestinians in Gaza during the course of this war. We need a hostage deal and ceasefire now more than ever, to save the remaining hostages and let Gaza live.
3/
Alongside our mourning, we are outraged that Netanyahu has been refusing to accept a deal, going against the advice of the Israeli security establishment. 2/
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Every day it feels like we’re at the lowest point, and every day it gets lower.
Now is not the time to continue with vague exhortations like asking the Israeli govt and international community to "do everything in their power [???] to bring them home."
This Elul, Halachic Left proudly partnered with
@FreeJerusalem1
on
#SelichotInTheStreets
, a grassroots postering campaign designed to draw our communities’ attention to the ongoing massacre in Gaza by the Israeli military. 1/ 🧵
Selichot = facing up to our sins, doing teshuva, and asking for forgiveness. Getting worried that people aren’t spiritually prepared to face our communal failings this Yamim Noraim season 😨😨
Also worth reading R' Lichtenstein's letters here -- "A Rabbinic Exchange on Baruch Goldstein’s Funeral" from the Summer 1994 issue of Tradition:
(wish this got a fraction of the attention received by another article published in this issue!)
We're hearing reports of groups from Jerusalem to Chicago to NYC to Providence to Little Rock (!) using our reader that we published with
@ATLCol
!
If your Jewish community is using any part of it in the coming days, we'd love to hear about it!
A ceasefire and hostage deal *now* is the only way to bring the hostages home and let Gaza live. This Sunday, join an urgent briefing from Israelis on the ground and families of hostages
@AllHostages
@israelispeaceny
Following on community members’ participation in the Solidarity Tent in Al-Makhrour last Shabbat, we’re boosting this fundraiser to support the Kisiya family. 🧵
Israeli demolition forces in Umm Al Khair village, Masafer Yatta right now. They've destroyed multiple homes and a communicate t that serves everyone. They say they will destroy more then 25 homes today leaving 1/3 of the village homeless.
You don't need a התר for this עסקה!
אין לך מצוה גדולה כפדיון שבויים! (משנה תורה, הלכות מתנות עניים ח׳)
( 🧵 of rabbis for a deal, will add as we collect more)
First, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel ⬇️
מרן הראשון לציון הרב יצחק יוסף בלווית אורי דנינו הי״ד:
״אין ספק שצריך לעשות הכל כדי לשחרר את כל יתר החטופים, הכל זה גם לשחרר מאות ואלפי מחבלים עם דם על הידיים, לפי ההלכה היהודית צריך לשחרר אותם ולהחזיר את מי שנשאר, צריך לעשות הכל כדי להחזיר את כל החטופים״
Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, we're asking you to donate to help Shereen in Gaza. Shereen and her husband are finally pregnant after five years -- but they have lost both their house and car (which provided their livelihood) in the war. 💔
This is our bathroom. We do not know how to use it. We only use it, and it is not suitable for human use, and I am in my fifth month of
pregnancy
help me and family
God will not forgive us for averot ben adam l’chavero (sins between people) until we have repented and made repairs here on earth. Teshuva means looking at ourselves in the mirror and repairing our sins. Until we have all changed our ways, there will be no mercy from God.
2/2
⛰️⚡️ Along with HaSmol HaEmuni, B'nei Avraham, and
@ATLCol
, we're excited to share with you our Shavuot readers, "Beneath the Mountain" / "למרגלות ההר"
✨ English volume:
✨ Hebrew volume:
"The refusal of American Jews to add crucial pressure to finalize such [hostage/ceasefire] deals testifies to the mere lip service that is being paid to this literal life and death issue." -- our co-founder Eliana Padwa in
@jdforward
@ATLCol
The reader includes essays, art, poetry, tefilah, as well as the text of Megillat Eicha surrounded by testimonies from Palestinians.
We hope it will help you navigate the Nine Days during this difficult and painful time. 🩶
Missed this erev chag, but we support the student journalists of
@ShalhevetBP
and condemn the
@shalhevetschool
admin's censorship of their work. We shouldn't shy away from engaging with different perspectives, especially on issues in which our communities are deeply invested.
@CraftsmanBob
@PYMundGenealogy
@Stein5Ami
Hi, not able to respond in detail atm, but just wanted to pop in and say that we advertised this event to the wider left-wing Jewish community (e.g.
@JFREJNYC
)
We fully expected to get many less traditional Jews and are very happy they attended. We made clear that the norms…
From the Forward's opinion pages:
"There is a huge disconnect in the American Jewish world between a stated concern for the hostages’ plight and using political capital to force the issue."
Lives are at stake. Specificity matters.
A deal including a ceasefire and hostage/prisoner release is the only way forward.
#BringThemHomeHOW
???
#CeasefireNOW
!!!
Chicago: attend the "Every Life, A Universe" memorial gathering for Palestinian and Israeli life, Monday 10/7 @ 7pm, AIDS Garden Chicago
(wear white, bring candles and flowers 🕯️🪻)
@FreeJerusalem1
No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
5/5
@CraftsmanBob
@PYMundGenealogy
@Stein5Ami
@JFREJNYC
of attending included respecting the fast (no food/water/leather shoes).
Our members include all halachically observant (SS/SK), generally ranging from orthodox to traditional egalitarian
Btw we're working on fleshing out the website with more Torah content (we have a bit of a backlog from the past few months) as well as info about leadership etc.
@israelispeaceny
@TamarGlezerman
cites research that tipping point in nonviolent protest occurs when 3.5-5% of population is on the streets (currently estimated 5% of Israelis are demonstrating for a deal)
@israelispeaceny
@TamarGlezerman
@tech2peace
@afalkhatib
"When you look back on this moment in twenty years, you don’t want to see yourself hesitating, holding back. You want to see yourself fighting on the side of life."
-- our co-founder Eliana Padwa
@SillyThoughts10
Hi, just wanted to say that I personally printed fliers w/ the Bibas family members (Ariel in this photo. Also one of my friends was holding Shiri's poster.)
And one big part of our messaging was a deal to bring them & the other hostages home. 💙
@FineEthan
There was mention of the hostages and the deal including a photo of Ariel. Dehumanizing Palestinians or Israelis is not the way. Supremacy and fanaticism will destroy us all. That’s what our tradition warns us against.
"...I wake up one morning to frantic WhatsApp messages from June 26 that the IDF’s bulldozers just demolished several homes, including the home of my friend, Eid Suleiman, and his family."
Alice Kisiya was kicked off her land in the West Bank by settlers, despite her having a clear legal claim to the land and the land being a UNESCO heritage site. The Kisiya family has refused to leave, and instead set up a woman-led solidarity tent...
American Orthodox leaders don’t want you to see this.
R. Elchanan Danino, a Charedi Jew and father of killed hostage Ori, told Mishpacha that a member of the security cabinet told him “very severe things” about Netanyahu’s conduct in the hostage negotiations.
Translation⬇️
@FreeJerusalem1
We urge our fellow American Jews to heed the voice of the shofar, awaken to what is happening in Gaza, and return to the moral vision articulated in the Yom Kippur haftara reading: 4/
We also want to add -- Halachic Left feels a special connection to this mutual aid fund because the solidarity camp specifically accommodated observant Jews, with catered kosher food/wine/challah, kabbalat Shabbat, and havdalah...
@israelispeaceny
“The international community’s role is to support the forces that are working for a better [future].”
- Tamar Glezerman,
@israelispeaceny
Every Rosh Hashanah we read of Sarah Imeinu's and Chana's struggles with fertility -- and we know how much of a blessing it can be when those prayers are finally answered. Please help so Shereen and her husband can provide for their family. ❤️
Which is another reason we support the amazing activists showing us what futures are possible when Jews (including observant Jews) and Palestinians stand together ✊❤️🔥
Donate here:
@FreeJerusalem1
As we prepare to hear the call of the shofar awakening us from our slumber this Rosh Hashanah, the posters, which feature heartbreaking photographs of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza alongside quotes from the Viduy prayer... 2/
Enjoy this week's Lehrhaus Over Shabbat for Parashat Vaethanan featuring pieces by David Polsky, Shana Schwartz, Aton Holzer, and Yaakov Jaffe.
Shabbat Shalom!
@ATLCol
The English & Hebrew editions are companions, not translations—the project is intended to start building the connection between the Anglo & Israeli Jewish lefts through the shared language of Torah.
Wishing everyone a chag sameach & successful nights/days of learning! 📜📚 🍰☕️
NYC immediately after (also in Union Square), 7pm
October 7th
One Year Vigil
A Year of Grief, War, & Rage
Please join us in mourning the dead and fighting for the living. Organized by Israeli peace activists (
@israelispeaceny
)
All are welcome. Please do not bring flags or signs
@FreeJerusalem1
are meant to arouse introspection and remorse within our communities for our complicity with these crimes. We understand that facing the reality of what is happening in Gaza — with material and rhetorical support from diaspora communities — is frightening for many. 3/