“Therefore, the mandate of the Jewish people within this prophetic framework is to stand as champions of the oppressed across all nations, while drawing a line in the sand between ourselves and all oppressive forces, regardless of kinship status. It is our duty to reclaim the prophetic mantle—the voice of the Torah and Navi—to deliver an unyielding voice of rebuke against those who have chosen to follow the paths of Ammon and Edom, while standing in solidarity among marginalized peoples with the very same sacred purpose.” — Ben Neriyah in this week’s dvar Torah
This week’s dvar Torah by Ben Neriyah (pseudonym) examines the parshah’s treatment of five different nations (Ammon, Moab, Edom, Egypt, and Amalek) as a lesson that nations are judged by their actions rather than their origins. He reminds us that this idea applies to us too: we have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, while (carefully) rebuking to those in our own community who have chosen the path of Ammon and Edom.
We’re hoping to make some tiny progress toward that goal on Sunday at our yom iyyun in Chicago (and over Zoom!) with Rabbi Will Friedman and Dr. Rachel Havrelock! And then on Thursday at another event on Jewish power, safety, and solidarity with NIF NewGen and IfNotNow Chicago.
Other news: we were featured in the Jewish Liberation Fund’s newsletter this week! Watch the recording of JLF interviewing co-Directors Noam Weinreich and Caroline Morganti below.
And don’t miss the release of our High Holiday/Tishrei reader on Sunday! We’re still taking pre-orders for printed copies (US addresses only), if you would like to have HL Torah on your bookshelf for years to come. 💜
ALSO BELOW: new book club meeting announced, Protect the Harvest, and become and HL member!
THIS Sunday, August 23 at SketchPad, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM CDT — Kosher dairy lunch served! Please RSVP so we know how much food to order!
In-person registration / Zoom registration
Come to our latest event in our Jewish Reckoning with Power learning series. We’ll be learning with Rabbi Will Friedman and Prof. Rachel Havrelock!
Rabbi Will Friedman: “‘Legitimate’ Violence and Its Costs: Limits to and Consequences of Self-Defense and War”
Individual and communal self-defense (”war”) are widely accepted in both secular and Jewish ethics as legitimate uses of violence, as long as they stay within defined limits. A careful reading of traditional Jewish texts, however, reveals a discomfort even with these “legitimate” uses of violence. Through an examination of halakhic sources on self-defense and aggadic reflections on violent Biblical narratives, we will expose an alternative ethical universe that recognizes the extraordinarily high price of killing and may even hope to eschew it entirely.
Dr. Rachel Havrelock: “The Joshua State: National Religion in Contemporary Israel”
Building on events that follow publication of The Joshua Generation, we will look at how militarism has both displaced Judaism in Israel and how it has transformed it.
Each event in the series will be livestreamed/recorded in order to allow everyone to watch speakers in other cities. (You can watch recordings of previous events on Halachic Left’s YouTube channel.)
7:00 PM Private home in Ravenswood, address provided upon registration. Kosher food options will be available.
Join NIF NewGen, IfNotNow Chicago, and Halachic Left to an event involving text study and conversation around two primary questions: how do we hold the need for Jewish safety, and the principle of “safety through solidarity”, without losing sight of our implication in Jewish power and supremacy? And what is our responsibility for violence against Palestinians being perpetrated in our name?
Halachic Left co-Directors Noam Weinreich and Caroline Morganti sat down with the Jewish Liberation Fund (JLF, of which we’re a grantee) to talk about our work. This was featured in the JLF newsletter earlier this week, and we’re sharing the video with you below!
Noam and Caroline talk about HL’s origins (an event with Peter Beinart in January 2024), how we’ve grown, and our current work. They explain the challenges and rewards of talking openly about one’s views on Israel/Palestine within frum communities, and how small wins add up, especially once you discover you’re not as alone as you think you are.
"When people are talking around the Shabbos table, when people are giving speeches in their shul or at their day school, they know that there are Halachic Left members in the room. You can't just pretend the community speaks with one voice, because it doesn't." — Noam Weinreich
After a successful first printing run of our Pesach reader, we’re doing it again with our upcoming High Holiday/Tishrei reader. Get a nicely bound copy (or five!) to put on your shelf, give to friends and family, leave around shul somewhere where someone might pick it up… 😏
Confirmed writers include Rabbi Will Friedman, Laynie Soloman, Prof. Sarah Wolf, Rana Bickel, Rabbi Vincent Calabrese, Binya Koatz, Noam Weinreich, Rabbi David Polsky, Ya’aqov Lawrence Shenkin, and Prof. Daniel Boyarin!
PRE-ORDER DEADLINE: THIS Sunday, August 23 — this is the same day we plan to release the reader for free online so you will have a day to decide whether you want to order printed copies.
Pre-order guarantees your copies, we will order extra printed copies available for purchase on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Purchasing printed copies helps cover the cost of writer honoraria. Thank you for helping us pay our writers!
$15/copy + shipping, order up to five copies via PayPal here for US addresses only (if you’re international, reach out to tishrei-5787-editors@halachicleft.org and we’ll figure out shipping rates)
To give you an idea of what it will look like, below is a photo of our Pesach readers.
Join the HL Book Club on Sunday 8/30 for part two of our discussion on Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. Molly Crabapple’s new bestseller reanimates a band of idealists who broadened our global political imagination. As we once again contend with nationalism, repression, and the struggle for belonging, the Bund’s remarkable story and message— that liberation, dignity, and solidarity must begin where we stand—reaches across time as a guide to our own urgent moment. Familiarity with the text is encouraged, but anyone with an interest in the subject, even without reading the book, is invited to join.
We’re excited to announce that we’re launching membership at Halachic Left for the first time! Join as a member or supporting ally to help sustain our work. Dues are on a sliding scale: you choose your own amount monthly or annually, starting at just $5/year. Gifts of any size are welcome, but for those who can give more, we invite you to give at a level that feels meaningful to you.
What your support gets you:
☝️ First priority for events with limited capacity
🤓 Access to info sessions and organizing trainings
👕 For those who give over $10 / month or $54 / year, get a free piece of HL swag -- your choice of tote bag, short-sleeved t-shirt, or long-sleeved t-shirt!
💜 Free HL sticker for any level gift!
Please see https://www.halachicleft.org/membership for more info!
“Accordingly, the nations mentioned in this Parasha are not fixed categories that bind people to certain inherent qualities. Rather, they serve as legal and behavioral archetypes for distinct moral conduct.”
Registration deadline extended to August 31!
There is a new initiative called “Protect the Harvest“ that is bringing individuals from around the world to do protective presence in solidarity with Palestinian villages during this coming year’s olive harvest season (after the chagim, mid-October through mid-November). There will be multiple week-long cohorts, where the logistics, food, and lodging are all arranged (the cost is a sliding scale with $1600 as the standard rate, plus airfare. Financial assistance will also be available.) The initiative is also aiming to be as broad-based as possible, this could be an excellent opportunity to bring along those in our communities and shuls who are broadly supportive of Israel, but are deeply disturbed by West Bank violence against Palestinians.
While all the cohorts will be able to accommodate Shabbat and kashrut, we are trying to plan at least one HL-specific cohort (likely the last week of October) where we can spend the Shabbosim before and/or after together and coordinate on observance-related logistics. Email info@halachicleft.org if you’re interested.
The HL Torah team is incredibly excited to continue our weekly dvar Torah series. We would love to have as many participating authors as possible! Please fill out this form to apply to write a dvar Torah! If you have any questions please email info@halachicleft.org.
Any donation amount is meaningful to us! Your tax deductible donation supports Halachic Left in continuing to educate, build community, and increase support for Palestinian rights in the observant Jewish world. Donate via PayPal here.
Help our friend Maram get her six-year-old niece out of Gaza: Our friend Maram was able to leave Gaza last September to pursue a master’s degree in Ireland. Now she’s trying to raise money to pay for her niece to leave Gaza for safer conditions in Egypt.
Please support the recently launched fundraising campaign for Bnei Avraham, a religious Jewish activist movement working alongside Palestinian communities in the West Bank through protective presence. Their initial goal is to raise $50,000 to sustain and expand this vital work. Bnei Avraham brings together Haredi, Orthodox, Masorti, and other religious Jews who believe that faith calls us not only to prayer and study, but also to moral action. These religious activists accompany Palestinian farmers to their lands, stand with families under threat, and help prevent violence, harassment, and displacement on the ground.
Donate to help solidarity activists in Masafer Yatta repair vehicles destroyed by settlers. We are a group of anti-zionist Israelis who have been engaged in nearly around-the-clock solidarity presence and accompaniment work in Masafer Yatta for six years. To make this work possible, and to be able to show up to the nearly 30 communities that request our presence in the face of Israeli settler-state attacks and harassment. On the night of Monday, May 11, settlers entered the village of Tuwani in Masafer Yatta and severely damaged two vehicles, one of them belonging to a solidarity activist. The settlers smashed all the windows, slashed the tires, and broke the mirrors of the car. Just in the last year, settlers have destroyed our cars four separate times. We regularly have to change flat tires after settlers leave spikes on the road, repair windows, headlights and doors after settlers throw rocks at our cars, and sometimes need to replace entire vehicles that settlers have torched and completely destroyed.
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