Relationships & Family / 22 Nov 2022
Three Last Minute Recipes For A Happier Thanksgiving
Beyond cooking, here are some new “recipes” to add to your repertoire
Art & Culture / 16 Nov 2022
Dave Chappelle And The Unconscious
Reflecting on Dave Chappelle’s monologue on SNL.
Breaking False Dichotomies, Daily Life, Hold Dualities Together, Inspiring Story, Longform, This Week In Wisdom, Uncategorized, Weekly Parsha, Wisdom Warehouse / 11 Nov 2022
“Birah Doleket”
Monday night, I saw Ani DiFranco in concert. For those of you who don’t have lyrics from “If He Tries Anything” as your yearbook quote, she’s a folk rock singer-songwriter whose powerful lyrics about feminism, abortion rights, and fighting oppression have buoyed many Gen X and elder Millennial feminists. She was like a beloved older cousin who taught me that being fierce, feminist, and angry were a-okay – and, in fact, that anger was an appropriate response to the world around me. The last time I saw her live was in 2004 on the Mall in Washington D.C., as part of the March for Women’s Lives, a pro-choice rally of over one million people. That rally convinced me to move to Washington after graduation and work in progressive politics. I never imagined I’d see her almost 20 years later, on the eve of an urgent midterm election, on the backdrop of an American political landscape rife with white supremacy, antisemitism, and sexist oppression embodied by the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. I have to admit that I shed some tears at the concert. She reminded me of who I was in my teens and twenties when I carried a protest sign and breathed the gentle floating fumes of tear gas more times than I can list, and I felt a surge of energy to return to the rawness of that work. Putting my body on the line was, in some ways, simpler and more direct than what I feel like I do now, trying to change a culture of individualism and cruelty one person at a time. These weeks, we are deep in the stories of Abraham. The Torah doesn’t spend so much time on why God specifically picked Abraham to spread God’s message. Midrash fills in the picture, imagining…
Spirituality & Faith, This Week In Wisdom, Turning The Mundane Into The Sacred, Uncategorized / 10 Nov 2022
Witnessing Evangelical Awe in Israel
Removing the gaps between faiths that can lead to Antisemitism
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg created an expected firestorm of national debate. As a “sort of feminist manifesto” (her words) about women in the workplace, lamenting the dearth of females in leadership positions and urging women to be more assertive in their professional ambitions, Lean In evoked a range of responses from praise of Sandberg as the new voice of feminism to questioning whether someone whose net worth numbers in the hundreds of millions and who Forbes ranks the tenth most powerful woman......
Continue Reading
“It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?” It sounds quaint by today standards; my 21-year-old came home at 4:15 the other… morning. But the question of who is responsible for our children remains a serious one, hinted at in the recent controversy over an ad in which MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry argues the U.S. should invest more in public education. America doesn’t invest enough in public education because “we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children,” she says. Harris-Perry laments insufficient appreciation for child-rearing’s communal nature, saying......
Continue Reading
Spirituality & Faith, Wisdom Warehouse |
September 01, 2013
Thinking About ‘God the Father’ on Father’s Day
The notion of God the father (or God as father) can be found in many traditions. Central to many Christian theologies, and often present in Jewish liturgy, the idea invites many possibilities – not all of them necessarily positive, but all especially powerful when we celebrate Father’s Day. I’m not suggesting that people bring Father’s Day cards to church or synagogue in the way that children send letters to Santa at the North Pole. I do however think that – in addition to being a time to focus on how well we......
Continue Reading
While recent labor market reports may indicate that the employment picture is improving across the country as a whole, there are still plenty of people looking for jobs.? What’s more disconcerting is many people remain “underemployed” or have simply stopped looking for a job because of the long, unanswered months or even years of job searching. This is tough stuff. The fact is, losing a job, is more like the loss surrounding death than most people will allow themselves to admit. ?This may be because doing so makes the experience that much......
Continue Reading
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield talks with Sean Herriott about the use of theology when speaking about natural disasters. Listen here. This content originally appeared on clal.org on November 15, 2012. ...
Continue Reading
News & Politics, Wisdom Warehouse |
August 31, 2013
Why America Should Celebrate Both Its Secularist and Its Religious Roots
As the old saying goes, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.? And now people entering the Bradford County Courthouse in Starke, FL will be able to have a gander at both a monument featuring the Ten Commandments and another one which will feature quotes celebrating secularism as well.? And why not? Having lost the battle to have the original monument to the Ten Commandments removed, the national organization, American Atheists, has decided that it will simply erect an additional monument – one which celebrates its animating ideology.? The......
Continue Reading
Spirituality & Faith, Wisdom Warehouse |
August 31, 2013
Getting the Most Out of Christmas When You’re Not Christian
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield shares with Rev. Welton Gaddy his experience navigating Christmas while being Jewish in America and his thoughts on a deeper shared sense of purpose this time of year. Listen here. With Rev. Welton Gaddy from State of Belief, December 22, 2012.? This content originally appeared on clal.org on December 22, 2012....
Continue Reading
Spirituality & Faith, Wisdom Warehouse |
August 27, 2013
Does Religion Help You Flourish in Your Life?
Michael Stock interviews Irwin Kula who speaks about religion in 21st century north America and asks the question: Does your religion help you flourish in your life? Listen here. Folk and Acoustic Music with Michael Stock, WLRN (Public Radio, Miami-Dade). This content originally appeared on clal.org on September 19, 2012....
Continue Reading
Latest Video
Listen To The Names Of The Victims First
A video where Brad Hirschfield lists the victims names in the recent Orlando shooting. Because first we need to internalize a tragedy before we jump to speak.
