I’ve never spent a tremendous amount of time reflecting on the role of “place” in my life. In part, I imagine, because for a number of years place has been hard to pin down. Upstate New York, Jerusalem, Manhattan, and central Maryland have all been home for varying lengths of time since graduating college. And … More »
I recently visited Beijing, a city completely foreign to me in language, history and culture. I wasn’t afraid of the unknown because I had books and I had curiosity. I headed to the airport with my backpack and my passport in my typical travel outfit: a cut off green Maccabi Haifa tee and a Birthright … More »
This Month’s Shma Journal focuses on how ‘place’ informs our Jewish Identity. Elan Ezrachi’s article magnifies this lens on Jerusalem and the city’s relatively recent cultural revival of the past 100 years. After analysis, Ezrachi concludes most innovators utilize Jerusalem for their start-up city then often move elsewhere. “More than 100 years since the founding … More »
Home can be the hardest place to be. Often it is. Joyous, memory filled, and ruthless in telling us the truth about who we were, where we came from, and who we have become, our roots are just that, the core, the source… and where the work needs to be done. It is our challenges … More »
“Trees have roots, Jews have legs.” -Isaac Deutscher Here’s what’s currently on my desk: Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism,” Barbara Mann’s “Space and Place in Jewish Studies,” the latest issue of Habitus: A Diaspora Journal: New York. I’m revising a course called Global Jewish Societies, while trying to get organized for a trip … More »
I’m a dual citizen. I was born to Canadian parents in New York, and the fact that I am American at all is an accident of timing. “The baby” unexpectedly was born a month early, 3 days before my mother was supposed to fly back to Toronto to have “the baby” at home, because “the … More »
On Friday, May 9, 2008, our friend, Ben’s, 16 year old son, died. (The gentler phrases, “took his last breath” or “passed into the next world” drift into my mind now, but each betrays a theology and reality that may exist only in my imagination). On that erev-Shabbat, Zalman Katz, a boy who, in the … More »
Home is a place that I once took for granted. I opened my front door to a warm family, nourishing meals, and unconditional love on a daily basis, never once curious if these blessings in life could ever be limited for me. While I knew that there were countless people in the world who were … More »
Places can be important. Jerusalem, New York, London. The shul you go to, the house you grew up in, your favorite park or museum. Many of us even have a favorite spot in our homes, a favorite table at our local hangout, a makom kavuah (habitual seat) in the Bet Midrash or shul. We like … More »