David Seidenberg

Cuban Detainee in El Paso ICE Facility Died by Homicide, Autopsy Shows

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/u...

אֵיךְ אֶשְׁאָל | Eikh esh’al (How can I ask?), a piyyut responding to the war by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ Rabbi David Seidenberg writes, "This piyyut is a response to what I think of as the second war with Gaza since October 7, the one started on March 18, 2025, when Israel broke the ceasefire. At that po...

אֵיךְ אֶשְׁאָל | Eikh esh’al (How can I ask?), a piyyut responding to the war by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org) opensiddur.org?p=63672

CECOT is a concentration camp prison designed to torture and disappear people permanently. Disappearing people is also about disappearing memory of our common humanity. CECOT IS designed to violate human rights, which means that every ICE deportation to there is also unjust and illegal.

NeoHasid.org | Haggadah of the Inner Seder, 2025 "The Inner Seder" reveals the deep structure of the haggadah, explaining not just what things mean but how they work. Zoom seder includes these cues, along with Jewish customs around the world. Unders...

Haggadah of the Inner Seder for 2025 and it is now available on neohasid at: neohasid.org/zman/pesach/... Learn the deep structure of the Seder, along with questions related to peace and justice, commentaries, midrash and Sefardi customs.

NeoHasid.org | Haggadah of the Inner Seder, 2025 "The Inner Seder" reveals the deep structure of the haggadah, explaining not just what things mean but how they work. Zoom seder includes these cues, along with Jewish customs around the world. Unders...

Haggadah of the Inner Seder for 2025 and it is now available on neohasid at: neohasid.org/zman/pesach/... Learn the deep structure of the Seder, along with questions related to peace and justice, commentaries, midrash and Sefardi customs.

Unity Is Strength put out a Peace Haggadah -- the unique thing about this haggadah is that it incorporates relevant commentary and writings by Palestinians as well as by Jews. The link to learn more is:
unityisstrength.io/peace-passov...

The Holocaust Story I Said I Wouldn’t Write (Gift Article) For years, my friend’s father asked me to recount his childhood escape from the Nazis. Why did it take me this long?

gift article on survivors www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/m...

Trashing government employment means attacking a segment of the population that in most cases chose public service over earning more money in the private sector. Those people tend to be motivated more by all the things Trump hates and wishes to harm. Not a side effect of DOGE, but a purpose of.

"What an age it is,
When to speak of trees is almost a crime,
For it is a kind of silence about atrocities and injustice!"
~ Bertolt Brecht

Nevertheless, we had a great Tu Bishvat seder in Northampton MA, almost 40 people, and we talked a lot about trees and about justice!

On hold with the ICE tip line to report Elon Musk. (What I did last Friday. No one ever picked up, but at least I tied up the system a little bit.)

Ethnic cleansing is a war crime and a crime against humanity.

OHALAH Renewal clergy conference after the news of a ceasefire and hostage deal. I pray the felt hope was not premature. The announcement came in the middle of a panel on how rabbis/rabbinic pastors have been working with their communities post-Oct 7.

Which do you like better, Thanksgivukkah or Chrismukkah?

A Prayer for All Eight Nights of Ḥanukkah, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org, 2024) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ Eight qualities are mentioned in the prayer: Peace, Blessing, Hope, Return, Promise, Strength, Life, Courage. You can pick one to focus on each night. (You can do them in the order they appear in if y...

Just as Chanukah marks the turning point in the year from growing darkness to growing light, may it also mark for us this year a turning point from war and killing and curse, toward peace and blessing and hope...
opensiddur.org?p=59374

The Blogs: The Menorah, Part 3: Rabbis vs. Maccabees, Light vs. Fire From the blog of David Seidenberg at The Times of Israel

RABBINIC AND MACCABEAN miracles for Chanukah involve fire – but not the same fire. For the rabbis, Chanukah was a festival of lights, chag urim, in the plural, celebrating the Temple menorah. The Hasmoneans celebrated a different fire, the fire of the altar.

blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-menorah-...

The Blogs: Turning up like a bad penny: Penny murdered Neely From the blog of David Seidenberg at The Times of Israel

Penny murdered Neely - what does Torah say about Penny getting off scot-free?

blogs.timesofisrael.com/turning-back...

In Praise of the Dark New modern and often personal Jewish tefillah and kavanot (prayers and intentions) written by writer/performer and rabbinic student, Trisha Arlin.

For Hanukkah: triganza.blogspot.com/2021/10/in-p...

donate.rhr.org.il/rhr_24/468247
Dear family, friends and colleagues,
Even before my ordination 14 years ago, I have been a strong supporter of Rabbis for Human Rights. This month, I am joining the RHR campaign, Turning Hope into Action, which has a goal of raising $100,000 /1

Far right morons

Baby corn, green peas, bamboo shoots, cashews and snap peas in vindaloo sauce. Very pretty.

A push to cut veterans disability benefits is gaining traction, experts warn Many Americans don’t understand how difficult it is for veterans to prove that their health conditions stem from their military service.

As a veteran, I can tell you this: They have no f*cking idea of the backlash this would create. If they start taking away the promised benefits of people who are already depressed and pissed off 3/4 of the time...

taskandpurpose.com/news/veteran...

Starlight and menorah light: Three Hanukkah teachings about holy darkness From the blog of David Seidenberg at The Times of Israel

There’s a custom to gaze at the menorah. Gazing at the Hanukkah candles or oil lamps becomes a kind of fixing for the eyes, a training in how to see.

The same thing can happen when you gaze at the heavens. It turns out that you have to retune your eyes and your mind to see through a telescope.

But how long will it take? Already it's too too long.

Forces like Standing Together, that work towards the opposing goal by doing anything that will decrease trauma and increase humanization, are the only thing left, but they seem so much weaker. It is true that that weakness can translate into non-violent resistance, which can ultimately triumph.

Of course none of this pays attention to Palestinian suffering or Lebanese suffering, by design. That is how the trauma mechanism works on people and the warmongers among the politicians know this.

And then the world more and more thinks of Israelis as supporting what looks like genocide.

Unless the IDF actively rebels against Netanyahu, or the whole Israeli public accedes to a long-term general strike, or the U.S. cuts off offensive weapons until there is a change, there is nothing structurally that will force change.

This works because the fact of the hostages keeps most Israelis constantly stuck in trauma.

Netanyahu and the fascists in his coalition hold goals that are aligned, since prolonging the war means for them a greater level of ethnic cleansing and mass death of Gazans, which they seek.

The hostages held by Hamas are being used as a bargaining chip not just by Hamas, but also by Netanyahu, in order for him to get away with prolonging the war, in order to keep bending the Israeli public to adopt the perspective he wants them to have on the war.

Last week, Israeli police destroyed Umm al-Hiran. Umm al-Hiram was an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev desert. The Bedouin have been living there since 1952, when the government moved them off their land in the western Negev.

What motivates Abraham’s deference? The Torah teaches us that his vulnerability is not just a temporary state – rather, it is the state that God will prescribe for all the Israelites: "you are strangers and sojourners with Me” (Lev 25:23).

blogs.timesofisrael.com/are-you-a-fr...

Last week, Israeli police destroyed the last building standing in Umm al-Hiran, the mosque. Umm al-Hiram was a Bedouin village in the Negev desert.

When he goes to bury Sarah, Abraham describes himself as having no rights in the land: "I am a stranger and sojourner with/among you” (Gen. 23:4). He asks the tribe of the Hittites to acknowledge not his power but his vulnerability...

blogs.timesofisrael.com/are-you-a-fr...