Judaism

TJS S4 Interlude – Ten Days of Teshuva

Here is a thought to help focus your practice during these powerful Ten Days of Repentance in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. May we all be blessed with a sweet, healthy and productive year! Shana tova, Rav Mike.

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TJS S4E3 American Jewry after 1967 part III, the Ocean Hill-Brownsville strike

There are stories which are turning points in a larger tale, and there are those which prove to be tempests in a tea cup. The story of the 1968 NYC school strike could be read as both. Either way, this episode offers a look at a microcosm of Black/Jewish relations in 1968 which will have…

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TJS S4 Interlude R’ Yitz Greenberg and the God of History

How we chew and swallow what history shoves down our throat can define us as individuals and nations. Here is an interview with R’ Yitz Greenberg, foundational thinker on post-Holocaust theology. In it we explore how American Jewry began to process the memory of the Holocaust, the impact of the SIx Day War on their…

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TJS S4E2 American Jewry after 1967 part II From Auschwitz to Jerusalem

As each decade passes, the Holocaust retreats in time and grows in memory and this is not a linear process – some years count more than others. This episode looks at American Jewry’s relationship to the Shoah before and after the Six Day War and adds an important piece for understanding how Israel and Auschwitz…

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TJS S4E1 American Jewry after 1967 part I The Wisdom of the Moment

History is all about telling the story after the fact, but there is a particular wisdom to be gained in the heat of the moment which is easily lost in hindsight. The first episode of season four begins to explore the impact of the Six Day War on American Jewry through the wisdom of the…

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TJS S3E33 Six Day War part VII On the Seventh Day

Just as surely as Shabbat follows the six days of the week, there was a day after the Six Day War. When the guns ceased and the discussion began, the framing of Israel’s victory became the new battlefield. The final episode of the season traces the path to UN Resolution 242, and uncovers some of…

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TJS S3E32 Six-Day War part VI The power of determination

There are certain qualities which, when they manifest, define one’s story -determination is one of them. Here is the story of the conquest of the Golan and the close of the war, events which will determine much of the chapters to come. Image By Government Press Office (Israel), CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59598576

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TJS S3E31 Six-Day War part V – something miraculous

What do you see as the greatest miracles in Jewish History? In many ways, how you answer indicates your understanding of history altogether. This episode deals with the first three days of the war, including the return of Am Yisrael to Jerusalem – I leave it up to you to decide where the miracle lies.

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TJS S3E30 Six-Day War IV The waiting

Going into battle may take bravery, but waiting demands a certain type of courage as well. This episode lays out the final steps of the build up to war, known in Israeli history as “the waiting, and the tension which builds in these three weeks will soon explode into war.

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TJS S3 Interlude – George Floyd and the burden of history

I can’t watch what is happening in silence, but nor am I willing to simply be a cheerleader for chaos. Here are some thoughts on structural violence and what can all learn from the murder of George Floyd.

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