3 results for author: Leora Mallach


Why Sukkot might be better than Purim

Both holidays are about being joyous, celebration, and sharing your joy with community. Purim focused on the joy of not getting killed off as a people, while Sukkot celebrates the (hopefully) fruitful harvest, a result of hard human work and physical support (sun, rain) from G!d. Purim gets points for yummy treats, and I should know as the 4 year host of a hummentashen bake off. But Sukkot deals the upper hand for many reasons, including 7 whole days of fun. It is also one of the holidays with multiple names, two being: Zeman Simkhateinu, the Season of our Rejoicing and Chag Ha-Asif, the Festival of Ingathering. The sages tell us that we should ...

What is Public Narrative?

Although I have participated in all three of the Jewcology Public Narrative trainings, I still struggle to succinctly describe the experience (don’t tell). So I did what all good folks do in this day and age, I googled it. Marshall Ganz, Professor at the Kennedy School, long time organizer, has this to say in his course outline where he teaches the tenants of it: The questions of what am I called to do, what my community is called to do, and what we are called to do now are at least as old as Moses’ conversation with God at the burning bush. Why me? asks Moses, when called to free his people. And, who – or what - is ...

Tu B’Shvat: An Ancient Jewish Holy Day for Modern Environmentalists

Check out the lead article in today's Huffington Post Religion section: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabe-crane/tu-bshvat-an-ancient-holi_b_810325.html "What was once an accounting of tree inventory in ancient Israel may be emerging as the accounting of a movement." By Gabe Crane, Adamah Fall 2010 Tu B'Shvat, long ago the annual date set aside in ancient Israel for determining the age of trees, essentially as a tax matter, today marks what has come to be known as the "Jewish New Year for Trees." In that fact, it is not unique -- it is one of four "new years" events within the Hebrew ...