zeek.forward.comZEEK: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture

ZEEKDonate to ZEEKSubscribe to ZEEK News & Politics Life & Action Faith & Practice Arts & Culture Media & Tech News and Politics We’re on Hiatus! Thanks for noticing that ZEEK’s been awfully quiet – especially when there’s so much going on. Here’s why: We’re on hiatus as we explore new partnerships and possibilities for ZEEK’s future. A huge thank you to our writers, readers, board, collaborators, allies, current partners, supporters – and past, present, and future partners. Arts and Culture Euphoria, Curiosity, Exile & the Ongoing Journey of a Hasidic Rebel: A Q & A with Shulem Deen By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat This week, Graywolf Press is releasing All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen, the man once known as Hasidic Rebel who went on to become the founder/editor of the website Unpious: Voices on the Hasidic Fringe . All Who Go Do Not Return is an extraordinary memoir. The writing is beautiful. The journey it chronicles is poignant, relatable — and also unlike anything most readers will ever have experienced. As a young man, Shulem Deen chose to join the Skverers, one of the world’s most intense and insular Hasidic communities. He married, and became a father to five beloved children. And then his natural inclination to learn and to question drove a wedge between him and the Skverer world. Life and Action Purim’s Power: Despite the Consequences –The Jewish Push for LGBT Rights, Part 3 By Idit Klein This Purim, I’m reminded of the power of coming out and speaking out, despite the consequences. In the story of Purim, the Jewish people are redeemed only after Esther finds the courage to stand up for herself and her community. Editor’s Note: This article originally ran as part of ZEEK’s 2014 series about the Jewish push for LGBT rights. Arts and Culture Poet Q, Poet A: Jews Are Funny! Six Poets on Jewish Humor, Poetry & Activism and Survival By Eduardo Gabrieloff , Emily Jaeger , Erika Meitner , Hila Ratzabi , Jason Schneiderman and Rosebud Ben-Oni In this installment of Rosebud Ben-Oni ’s original ZEEK series of poet-poet conversations, poets Erika Meitner, Eduardo Gabrieloff, Hila Ratzabi, Jason Schneiderman and Emily Jaeger talk about their relationship with Jewish humor. Arts and Culture Fiction: Angels Out of America By Ester Bloom As he leaned on the banister, breathing unevenly, shifting his weight to his forearms, marveling that he had walked sixty blocks, the tree exploded into flames. Hellish light distorted the faces of the ice skaters and the tourists, carving jack-o-lanterns of them. Jay told himself to keep calm even as a low frightened moan slipped out of him and he knew he could never keep calm; howling fire stripped the word calm of meaning. News and Politics Deepening Our Days of Service By Suzanne Feinspan To make a measurable impact on major societal issues, writes AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corp’s acting executive director, service simply isn’t enough. To really address the root causes of these issues, we need to focus our efforts on the broken systems in our society that lead to these challenges — we need to repair our world ( tikkun olam ) by repairing the system ( tikkun ma’arechet) . Read more. News and Politics Enough With the Post-Paris Blame Game Already: Stop Finger Pointing, Start Fixing By Yaira A. Robinson In the aftermath of the brutal attacks in Paris last week, not to mention the horrific slaughter in Nigeria, we’re hearing the same sound bytes from the same sources. Conservatives questioning where Muslim condemnation of violent, extreme Islam can be found. The answer is here , here , here and lots of other places . Moderate Muslims in anguish, using the hashtag #NotInMyName to distance themselves from and denounce the terror. Jews, afraid . Again. Life and Action Love Sustains: How My Everyday Practices Make My Everyday Activism Possible By Yaira A. Robinson The world needs awake, alive, engaged people whose work to mend the world is grounded in and inspired by love. The world needs people who somehow keep their hearts open and pliable while they look unflinchingly at our broken systems and work to change them. Sounds nice, I know. Actually doing it for any length of time, though, is damn hard. Arts and Culture Tackling Hate Speech With Textiles: Robin Atlas in New York for Tu B’Shvat By Patricia Eszter Margit Lashon hara ,” Seattle-based artist Robin Atlas tells me, is a universal issue that goes way beyond the personal level, even the laws of Judaism. The whole world could be changed for the better if people would be mindful of their speech.” Working in mixed media, mainly textile art, Atlas elevates lashon hara into the broader context of intolerance, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism and discrimination. Atlas invites viewers to join her in expanding the conversation in her interactive exhibit Lashon Hara: On the Consequences of Hate Speech,” at the Anne Frank Center in New York. Read More. News and Politics Talking About Race, Identity & Making Noise with Amani Hayes-Messinger By Erica Brody Thanks to Amani Hayes-Messinger, a thoughtful dialogue is taking root around how people approach conversations about race and identity. In her new video,”How do you ask someone about their race?” she says that race itself isn’t taboo, but that far too many people reinforce stereotypes when they ask about identity/identities, instead of opening up a meaningful conversation. She’s young, straightforward, and is absolutely worth watching. She talks here with ZEEK’s editor about creating an inclusive, diverse Jewish community, her family’s activist legacy, and what it means to have moral courage. News and Politics The Power of Service Can Transform Community, When Rooted in Strong Partnerships By Cindy Greenberg For volunteering to have a substantive impact on a community or issue area, writes Repair the World:NYC’s Cindy Greenberg, it has to be rooted in partnership, done with — not for — the community. Volunteering that is the byproduct of respectful partnership where everyone involved learns from the experiences of the other, builds authentic bridges between communities and ensures that the service work is actually needed. Arts and Culture When Is an Acceptance Speech Really a Speech About Acceptance? By Erica Brody At the Golden Globes, Jeffrey Tambor thanks the transgender community for letting us be a part of the change.” From The Archive Amulet Ethan By Judith Joseph Amulet Ethan by Judith Joseph. Morning Jew, Mega: Why some scandals are more scandalous than others By Heather Gold and Katie Halper Nu, Is the News Good for the Jews? It’s a mega-webisode of Morning Jew! Michele Bachmann chastising Jews, ultra-Orthodox protesting mandatory Israeli military service and what’s with the low on-screen, on-stage Jewish quotient at the Oscars, despite Idina and Bette. Plus Rep Alan Grayson, and why some scandals are more scandalous than others. In Pursuit of Liberal Zionism By Moshe Yaroni Zionism was once synonymous with liberalism. Today, it connotes conservatism. Moshe Yaroni, on Diaspora Jewry’s alienation from Israel, and what it will take to reconnect the two. Political Education, Illustrated Imagine comics for half-literate kids with back pages devoted to Mozart’s Magic Flute , Victor Hugo, or the overthrow and death of Mussolini. Elie Wiesel Needs New Friends By Rachel Tabachnick Christian Zionists speak in an Orwellian vernacular. On the one hand, they claim Scripture to support the State of Israel. On the other, they pray for the destruction of the Jewish people. Rachel Tabachnick takes to task novelist Elie Wiesel for his befriending America’s best-known proponent of this doublespeak, Pastor John Hagee. 5000 Pages of Zeek Founded in 2001, Zeek was the first Jewish online magazine, and we have over 5000 pages online to prove it, all available free of charge. Read more in the Archive. ZEEK News & Politics Life & Action Faith & Practice Arts & Culture Media & Tech About ZEEK Subscribe to ZEEK Donate to ZEEK Copyright 2011...