“And yet, despite all this, Yirmiyahu doesn’t take Pinchas’s route or abandon his argument. He persists — even when told explicitly that no one will listen! — warning of yet more impending violence without employing it as a tactic himself.”
– Caroline Morganti
It’s now the Three Weeks, when we sit with the fact that warnings often go unheeded and the work continues anyway. That’s this week’s dvar Torah, on connections between the parshah and Yirmiyahu — and it sets the tone for everything below, from an urgent ask to help get our friend Maram’s six-year-old out of Gaza, to a new protective-presence initiative for this fall’s olive harvest, to Peter Beinart in NYC this Thursday.
Join us for nosh and conversation with journalist, author, and first-ever HL speaker Peter Beinart! We’ll talk about the Jewish tent, new Jewish institutions, and where we go from here. The event will be Q&A based, so make sure to submit questions on the RSVP form. Conversation will be recorded and made available afterwards.
For our third year, we will be holding online educational programming on the afternoon of Tisha B’Av, including a Gemara shiur from Rabbi David Polsky and a screening of the Academy Award-winning film The Zone of Interest, with a pre-film shiur by Rabbi Lexie Botzum and a post-film community discussion. The Zone of Interest follows the commandant of Auschwitz and his family building an idyllic domestic life just over the wall from the camp — a study in willful blindness that feels suited to the day.
Times are approximate, more details forthcoming!
3:30-4:30pm EDT: Shiur with Rabbi David Polsky: “‘Would You Like Me to Kill Them All?’: Torah Overcoming Violence in the Churban Narrative”
4:30-5:00pm: Pre-film shiur with Rabbi Lexie Botzum (*** REQUIRED to attend film)
5:00-6:50pm: The Zone of Interest film screening
6:50-7:30pm: Post-film discussion
*** Please note that for The Zone of Interest, due to licensing requirements, we need to have an accurate estimate of how many people will be attending. The film will be hosted on a secure platform (not Zoom) with attendees capped at the number of people for which we’ve paid in advance. So please only sign up if you’re reasonably sure you will be able to attend, and let us know (or re-submit the registration form!) if your plans change!
There is a new initiative called “Protect the Harvest” being launched to bring 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). The plan is to have multiple week-long cohorts, where the logistics, food and lodging are all arranged (the cost will be roughly 1200-1300 dollars, plus airfare. Financial assistance will also be available). The program will be kashrut and Shabbat friendly.
Halachic Left is helping recruit for this initiative and are looking for a rough number of how many Halachic Left people might be interested in participating. While you can register as an individual, we are also exploring the possibility of putting together a Halachic Left cohort to participate together. The initiative is also aiming to be as broad-based as possible, and so we think this can 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. If you’re interested, please reach out to info@halachicleft.org to join the HL x Protect the Harvest WhatsApp group.
Registration is opening in the next couple of weeks — sign up on the interest form to stay in the loop!
“But Yirmiyahu’s answer was never to give up, but rather to keep making his case. I don’t have a confident theory of when persistence actually works. We’ve failed and continue to fail, badly and repeatedly, most recently and most gravely in Gaza. But I don’t think that failure tells us that all hope is lost, or that the people around us are incapable of hearing us. Only that this is slower, less certain work than either burning it all down or walking away.”
We’re excited to read and discuss Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund by Molly Crabapple this summer. Dates haven’t been picked yet, but we’ll be discussing it twice.
Here Where We Live Is Our Country 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.
Buy books here to support our work
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.
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 nechoma@halachicleft.org
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