Caroline Morganti

Suggested Tzedakah ותשובה ותפילה וצדקה מעבירין את רוע הגזרה "But repentance, prayer, and charity avert the evil decree." We encourage you to donate to the initiatives in both Gaza and the West Bank below: Gaza Soup Kitchen: https://bit.ly/gaza-sk "The initiative began by feeding 150 families a day in April 2024 and quickly grew to serving 3,000 people daily. Operating amidst unimaginable scarcity and risk, our team works tirelessly to prepare and serve hot, nourishing meals. We are not an outside aid group; we are the people of Gaza, serving our own community. Currently, across 10 active kitchen sites, the team prepares simple vegetarian meals-like rice, pasta, and khubeza (a wild foraged green) — often with severely limited supplies." Palestine Children's Relief Fund: https://bit.ly/pcrf-gaza "Gaza is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis — families are struggling to survive amid destruction, severe shortages of medical care, food, and clean water, and a collapsed healthcare system. PCRF is on the ground, providing urgent medical aid, food, and life-saving treatment to those in desperate need, including orphans and amputees. We are also deploying international medical teams, evacuating injured children for specialized care, and rebuilding healthcare facilities to restore critical services. "Your support brings hope, healing, and a path to recovery for Gaza’s most vulnerable." Umm Al Kheir: https://bit.ly/umm-al-kheir "This fundraiser is to support the community of Umm Al Khair, those most impacted by the devastating loss and brutal murder of community and human rights activist Awdah Hathaleen, and to continue projects and dreams that he had for his community. Awdah was dear friend of so many all over the world, a loving husband and father of three children...Please join us in supporting the community and his family... All funds raised will be distributed in the community in coordination with his family and the village council."

Ahead of Yom Kippur, we're sharing our Suggested Tzedakah page from our Yamim Noraim reader. We encourage you to donate to any of the following initiatives:

Gaza Soup Kitchen: bit.ly/gaza-sk
Umm Al-Kheir: bit.ly/umm-al-kheir
Palestine Children's Relief Fund: bit.ly/pcrf-gaza

יעלה זכרוננו Essays for the Yamim Noraim Published by Halachic Left, 5786/2025 Contributors: Rana Bickel • Jonathan Boyarin • Rabbi Caleb Brommer • Rabbi Vincent Calabrese • Rabbi Aryeh Cohen • Rabbi William Friedman • Avi Garelick • Rabbi Avigayil Halpern • Lexi Kohanski • Raphael Magarik • Zev Mishell • Ya’aqov Shenkin • Laynie Soloman • Rabbi Leead Staller • Rabbi Lauren Tuchman Edited by Rabbi Lexie Botzum, Max Buchdahl, Caroline Morganti, Eliana Padwa, and Noam Weinreich [Cover image: a watercolor background of clouds in the sky near either sunset or sunrise]

✨ "Ya'aleh Zikhroneinu," our essay collection for the High Holidays, is now live!
Download and print it out to read over the chagim here: bit.ly/hl-reader-5786 ✨

Horrifying testimonies seek to lift shroud of silence around ritual sex abuse claims Survivors tell Knesset lawmakers of organized assaults on children by those claiming mantle of religion, alleging longstanding phenomenon made worse by official indifference

Two thoughts:

- withholding judgment, obviously I don't know the facts of specific cases -- but some of this sounds like the Satanic Panic, but 40 years later and in Israel

- some people are using this article for pretty extreme antisemitism
www.timesofisrael.com/horrifying-t...

Genocide Debate over whether there’s a genocide in Gaza has special resonance when your family was a victim of the crime that gave the world the term.

Similar topic but completely different approaches and conclusions.

I have my issues with J Street, but I respect the courage, intellectual humility, and emotional self-awareness in Ben-Ami’s piece.

jeremybenami.substack.com/p/genocide

yehudakurtzer.substack.com/p/genocide-a...

Yavni Bar-Yam discusses the short film "Seven Jewish Children" with director Omri Dayan

And thank you to director Omri Dayan for his discussion/Q&A with Yavni Bar-Yam after our screening of Seven Jewish Children (sevenjewishchildren.com).
All screenings raise funds for @medicalaidpal.bsky.social -- we encourage you to donate here: map.org.uk

Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz, wearing glasses with light green frames and a black, white, and light green tichel, gives a shiur over Zoom

Rabbi Leead Staller, with dark hair, a beard, and glasses and wearing a navy shirt with white polka dots, gives a shiur over Zoom

Thank you to everyone who joined our Tisha B'Av Zoom programming!
Special thank you to Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz @rps.bsky.social and Rabbi Leead Staller for teaching!

Stop Starvation, Stop Ethnic Cleansing JEWS SAY: NO MORE Mass mobilization Trump Hotel, Columbus Circle Mon, Aug 4 - 6:30pm ET "Whoever can protest their people's actions, and doesn't, is responsible for them" (Shabbat 54b)

Join us in coalition with other Jewish groups this Monday (8/4, the day after Tisha B'Av) in NYC! Register here: innmvmt.org/stopstarvation

Halachic Left Tisha B'Av Online Programming Sunday, August 3 via Zoom All times listed in US Eastern time Schedule: * 1:30-2:30pm EDT: Communal kinnot chaburah * 2:30-3:30pm: “Why Do We Fast on Tisha B’Av?” with Rabbi Leead Staller * 3:30-4:30pm: Virtual screening of Seven Jewish Children, followed by a Q&A with director Omri Dayan * 4:30-5:30pm: “Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets” with Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz Please RSVP here to get Zoom link: http://bit.ly/9av-zoom

Come to this year's Tisha B'Av Zoom programming -- including group learning of selected kinnot, a screening of the short film Seven Jewish Children and Q&A with director Omri Dayan, and shiurim with R' Leead Staller & Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz
@rps.bsky.social

Sign up here: bit.ly/9av-zoom

Umm Al-Khair mourns activist slain by Israeli settler Contrary to the settler’s account, eyewitness testimony and analysis of video footage shows that Awdah Hathaleen was gunned down in cold blood.

"I want to live in peace. I want to raise my children in peace. I don’t want them to experience the occupation. I don’t want them to suffer like I do."

www.972mag.com/awdah-hathal...

Halachic Left Tisha B'Av Online Programming Sunday, August 3 via Zoom All times listed in US Eastern time Schedule: * 1:30-2:30pm EDT: Communal kinnot chaburah * 2:30-3:30pm: “Why Do We Fast on Tisha B’Av?” with Rabbi Leead Staller * 3:30-4:30pm: Virtual screening of Seven Jewish Children, followed by a Q&A with director Omri Dayan * 4:30-5:30pm: “Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets” with Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz Please RSVP here to get Zoom link: http://bit.ly/9av-zoom

We’re having online programming again this year on 9 Av.
We'll have closer learning of selected kinnot, a screening of the short film Seven Jewish Children along w/ a director Q&A, & shiurim from R' Leead Staller & Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz @rps.bsky.social.
RSVP: bit.ly/9av-zoom

A group of observant Jews set out to reclaim their tradition's focus on justice, mercy amid Gaza war NEW YORK (RNS) — The Halachic Left is one of several new Jewish protest groups that have formed after Oct. 7, 2023, to argue for a reclaiming of a Judaism of lovingkindness.

"[A] group of traditionally observant young Jews gathered last week to engage in an age-old form of rabbinic inquiry to address what they see as the moral crisis in Judaism today: the war in Gaza."

Coverage of the HL Forum from Yonat Shimron for @rns.org:
religionnews.com/2025/07/28/a...

Is starvation in Gaza really Israel's fault? The facts are clear Rising starvation in Gaza may have a number of factors. But Israel's wartime policies on humanitarian aid are inarguably among them.

For @forward.com, I wrote about how we know that Israel has been withholding food as a military tactic because Israeli officials have said versions of “we are withholding food as a military tactic” for the entirety of the war and pretending otherwise is willful ignorance forward.com/opinion/7586...

Halachic Left Forum: Presenting Works on Nationalism, Community, Boundaries Sunday, July 20; NYC; Register: bit.ly/forum-hl Presenters and Topics: * Rabbi Lexie Botzum - Kashrut in Solidarity Work * Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen - Halacha and Democracy: Rethinking the Relationship * Albert Kohn: "Delaying the Services": An Exploration of Medieval Ashkenazic Protest * Rabbi Allen Lipson: "A Prison Without a Lock": Halachic Perspectives on BDS * Dr. Raphael Magarik: Rabbinic Approaches to Ascending the Temple Mount: The Norms of Sacred Space * Rabbi Dr. David Seidenberg: Ger Toshav: Stranger and Settler in Israel-Palestine * Rabbi Leead Staller: Bal Taschit and the Laws of War * Isaac Treuherz: Shelilat HaMinhag: "Negation of the Diaspora" and the Flattenting of Our Traditions * Netanel Zellis-Paley: Law at the End of History: Is Religious Zionist Halacha Antinomian? Commentators: * Rabbi William Friedman * Rabbi Avigayil Halpern * Dr. Sarah Wolf

Can’t be here in person? Watch the livestream!
www.youtube.com/live/dUlRged...

🚨 ⌛ Last day to register to attend in-person in NYC! All the info here: www.halachicleft.org/forum

Halachic Left Forum: Presenting Works on Nationalism, Community, Boundaries Sunday, July 20; NYC; Register: bit.ly/forum-hl Presenters and Topics: * Rabbi Lexie Botzum - Kashrut in Solidarity Work * Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen - Halacha and Democracy: Rethinking the Relationship * Albert Kohn: "Delaying the Services": An Exploration of Medieval Ashkenazic Protest * Rabbi Allen Lipson: "A Prison Without a Lock": Halachic Perspectives on BDS * Dr. Raphael Magarik: Rabbinic Approaches to Ascending the Temple Mount: The Norms of Sacred Space * Rabbi Dr. David Seidenberg: Ger Toshav: Stranger and Settler in Israel-Palestine * Rabbi Leead Staller: Bal Taschit and the Laws of War * Isaac Treuherz: Shelilat HaMinhag: "Negation of the Diaspora" and the Flattenting of Our Traditions * Netanel Zellis-Paley: Law at the End of History: Is Religious Zionist Halacha Antinomian? Commentators: * Rabbi William Friedman * Rabbi Avigayil Halpern * Dr. Sarah Wolf

🤩 Schedule and topic descriptions for the Halachic Left Forum now online here: halachicleft.org/forum

Register to attend by this Sunday! bit.ly/forum-hl

Halachic Left ForumPresenting Works on Nationalism, Community, BoundariesSunday, July 20, 9:30am-5:30pm, NYC, Register: bit.ly/forum-hlBal Tashchit and the Laws of Warby Rabbi Leead StallerIn contemporary halakhic practice, the laws of bal tashchit govern environmentally conscious concerns of wastefulness. However, when one examines the textual origin and rabbinic development of that halakha, one is left with a series of questions and incongruencies between the contemporary eco-ethic and the original intent of the law. The law is found in Deuteronomy in the context of the laws of warfare for the impending siege of Israel, and seemingly has nothing to do with environmental concerns. (continued>)

Ultimately, this is because bal tashchit originated as a law of the ethical limitations of wartime siege tactics, and—as one can track from the earliest midrashim to the later exilic work—as the diasporic Jewish community became further detached from practical questions of war and military force, laws such as bal tashchit were given new life by being transformed into personal ethics and ritual practices. An unfortunate byproduct of this process is that the original intent of the laws of bal tashchit are often lost or outright contradicted within Torah discourse today. Bio: Leead Staller has been a rabbi in the downtown Manhattan community for the past five years, starting with long-time members of the Lower East Side, and ultimately ending his time there working with college students. Learning Torah, sharing Shabbat meals, and being in community together with the young college students of the downtown communities reaffirmed Leead’s direction and passion for young and new projects like Halachic Left, and he’s excited to be a participant in it.

🔥 Continuing our series looking at the presentations at the Halachic Left Forum on Sunday, 7/20!

Next up, Rabbi Leead Staller is writing about bal tashchit in its original context as a wartime law.

Register to attend by Sunday (July 13): bit.ly/forum-hl

There really is something special about what Zohran and Brad are showing the rest of the world what it still means to be a New Yorker and an American.

A Jew and a Muslim modeling a politics of mutual respect, rejecting cynicism. Human decency has been taking a beating but she's not out just yet!

You don't have to be particularly radical to think that the idea that a state has a "right to exist" independent of whether it has the consent of everyone it governs is a nonsensical formulation. That's basic classical liberalism going back to Locke.

i saw gazans being burned alive on here and it was the most horrific thing i ever witnessed and i can’t imagine anyone who was devastated by that thinking that the correct response is to do it in turn to people half a world away who simply want their friends and family back

I misinterpreted this and was like, "Wait, they made ANOTHER one?!" (like a new song)

I’d be really moved if you made a donation of any amount to this fundraiser started by the family of Hayim Katsman z”l to build a community center in the Bedouin city of Rahat. I have my own fundraising page with a modest goal of $500: causematch.com/Hayim/caroli...

Remember this? We're planning a conference presenting the papers!
Sunday, July 20 in NYC - if you think you might come, fill out the interest form to stay in the loop and also help us estimate possible attendance as we decide on venue: bit.ly/hl-forum

Is this satire

fortune.com/2025/01/14/w...

POV: you signed up for a last-minute trip to El Salvador

Done!

Not to brag, but I think this is a pretty good score

!!!

Just eat normal, non-filled doughnuts! Or beignets!

The perfect sufganiya does not exist because sufganiyot are a textural nightmare, sorry! Like biting into a giant pimple

Our new Chanukkah reader in collaboration with
All That's Left is now out! drive.google.com/file/d/1cmFP...
You can also get pdfs for foldable half-page booklets (standard US paper size) here: drive.google.com/drive/folder... (we recommend the duplex pdf if your printer can print two-sided)