Reading/Listening/Watching List on Israel-PalestineUpdated March 12, 2024 If you’re looking for a book to read about the conflict: Yossi Klein Halevi, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor Halevi is an Israeli journalist who early in life was part of the nationalist right-wing. He began to branch out by learning Islam through relationships in Israel-Palestine and has… Continue reading

Here is my updated list of recommendations of my own Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur words spanning the past ten-plus years that I think stand the test of time: Hope In An Uncertain World (5777/2016)What the Chanukkah dreidel can teach us about four kinds of hope. Who Knows? (5780/2019)How the story of Esther even more than… Continue reading

This page is a work in progress. Mostly you’ll find here links related to the Israel-Palestine conflict and to the meaning of Zionism for Jews in America. I am seeking a more diverse representation of sources and resources, so please be in touch to recommend things to me. My own perspective on the conflict is… Continue reading

I am setting up this page with links and resources related to political matters in the United States. Much of the material here is my own writings but I hope to develop this with much more of what I consider the most insightful material I have read, watched, or heard. I am trying to convey a… Continue reading

This is for Jewish professional colleagues I've "met" in the Dreaming Up High Holy Days 2020 Facebook group. I'm Jon Spira-Savett, rabbi serving at Temple Beth Abraham in Nashua, New Hampshire. I am hosting a meeting or series of meetings for people interested in exploring a collaboration deeper and more sustained than posting and responding… Continue reading

What I am calling The Jewish Toolkit consists of three things: Torah Shabbat and Holy Days Hebrew Language I call this the toolkit, because it’s for anyone to use to make your own Jewish life. There isn’t only one way to build. There isn’t only one way to do Shabbat — but something about a… Continue reading

So, how do you spell it? Here is my rationale for “Chanukkah”. First, there is the Hebrew letter chet, the guttural sound that is different from an “h”. The two “k”s are because the Hebrew letter kaf has a dot in it to make it a strong letter. The “h” at the end is because the word ends… Continue reading

Overview Purim is a holy day based on the biblical book of Esther, known generally as the “Megillah” (scroll).  Set in the Persian empire sometime in the 500s or 400s B.C.E., Esther is one of the only biblical books set in exile outside of Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel).  The clueless king Achashverosh is… Continue reading

Miscellaneous: For some reason I couldn't get the link for this Mi Chamocha melody to work the regular way, so here it is again. L'cha Dodi by Craig Taubman, which the kids will lead us in tonight For Havdalah, follow this link to a melody originally by Rabbi Shefa Gold and this one to Debbie… Continue reading

Information and petition regarding the Palestinians' unilateral declaration of statehood is here.  For background, you can look over my brief overview of the conflict and the territory, and/or listen to my two-part podcast on the history. Today's news in the Israeli paper Haaretz (English-language version) about tension between Israel and Egypt.  Last week, terrorists from… Continue reading

A couple weeks ago, after one of the previous storms, my kids were with me at work and we walked through this passage to the religious school building.  My son said, "This feels like the Sea is splitting just for me!" Continue reading

Explore Sukkot at myjewishlearning.com Sukkot is all about the interrelationship of the spiritual and the material.  Originally, it was a celebration of the bounty of the fall harvest, and also a time of prayer for good rains so that the next planting season would be prosperous. In the Sukkah, we look up at heaven through… Continue reading