Five-year-old Ward Jalal al-Sheikh Khalil, trying to escape a burning classroom at the Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City, May 26, 2025 Warning: this post contains descriptions of extreme violenc…

The shooting death of the two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC this past Wednesday evening was tragic and horrific. All human life is precious – there can be no conceivable justification fo…

(phot: Haitham Imad/EPA) In December 2023, just three months into Israel’s genocide on Gaza, Tzedek Chicago’s board released a public statement entitled, “In Gaza, Israel is Revealing the True Face…

As Palestinians suffer, the world refuses to hold Israel accountable for violating international humanitarian law

I’m sure I’m not the only anti-Zionist Jew who experiences cognitive dissonance when we get to the line that ends every Passover seder, “Next year in Jerusalem!” In the age of Zionism, what do thes…

The Passover story decries a ruler who inflicts atrocities on children. The Israeli military is doing that now in Gaza.

Some students were forced to leave the country after being sent a text message saying that their visas were cancelled.

With Passover starting Saturday evening, April 12, Tzedek Chicago is honored to present our annual seder supplement, “Passover as Collective Liberation.” As we witness fascism growing in the US and…

Gaza’s Declaration of Life—and Living

This week, we speak to Rabbi Brant Rosen of the Tzedek Chicago Synagogue, a synagogue that claims anti-Zionism as a core tenet of their beliefs. We talk about this perilous moment when an antisemitic

photo: Mary Altaffer/AP Yesterday I received a DM that read: “Evil, kapo, judenrat, self hating Jew.” (If you don’t know the meaning of some of those words, let’s just say that two of them are hist…

The ambitious intentions of Peter Beinart’s new book are evident from the title: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. Responding to the current moment, Beinart has written nothing ...

The ambitious intentions of Peter Beinart’s new book are evident from the title: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. Responding to the current moment, Beinart has written nothing ...

In the week’s Torah portion, Parashat Yitro, the Israelites stand at Mt. Sinai and collectively enter into a covenant with God. With a message conveyed through Moses, God says to the people: “(If) …

Amid Gaza's destruction, I walked alongside displaced families returning home, observing their suffering, profound loss, and indomitable strength

Israeli military raids in two West Bank refugee camps have displaced thousands of Palestinian families since December.

From my Yom Kippur sermon this past October: (There) are plenty of Jewish congregations out there: why does the world need another? What do we have that’s unique to offer? As I think about it, this…

(Photo: Ramadan Abed/Reuters) It’s difficult to describe the feelings I experienced this past weekend, as I watched hundreds of thousands of Gazans in a long and seemingly endless line, headi…

(Photo by Axel Koester/Los Angeles Daily News) It’s safe to day that International Holocaust Remembrance Day will arrive tomorrow at a deeply fraught moment for the Jewish community. Ju…

(photo: Carl Juste/AP) In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Va’era, God’s tells Moses to return to Mitzrayim and say to the Israelites: “I am יהוה. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptian…

Here’s a step-by-step guide.

(Rabbi) Shemiah said, “Love work. Hate authority. Don’t get too friendly with the government.” Pirke Avot, 1:10 (translation, Jacob Neusner). This classical rabbinic saying comes from “Chapters of …

Benyamin Netanyahu and Steve Witkoff, January 11, 2025 My weekly email to Tzedek Chicago members: For Palestinians and those who stand in solidarity with them, the news of a ceasefire agreement bet…

No longer fearing constant bombing, I can begin to mourn all I have lost in Gaza.

In this moment of ceasefire, let our voices join with the shouts of joy and jubilationechoing through Khan Younis and Deir al Balah,through the tent cities and the rubbleof bombed and shattered hom…

The Lyyda Death March, July 1948 My weekly email to Tzedek Chicago members: The centerpiece of this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayechi, is Jacob’s final soliloquy to his individual sons: a Bibli…

Hanukkah invites us to bring light into the world, not through swords or bombs but through acts of enlightenment.

Mahmoud Al-Fasih holds the body of his three-week-old daughter, Sela, before laying her to rest. (Photo: CNN) My weekly email to Tzedek Chicago members: I’m sure there are many people who read what…

photo: Mahmud Hams We light these lightsfor the instigators and the refusersthe obstinate and unyieldingfor the ones who keep goingthe ones who keep livingthe ones who won’t bow down. We ligh…

We follow the wisdom of the ancient rabbis in approaching both the holiday and this era.

It may feel hopeless to see supportive states continue to back Israel, but bearing witness matters for future reckoning, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPPLEMENT

Artist credit: Jack Baumgartner My weekly email to Tzedek Chicago members: In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vayishlach, Jacob prepares for a meeting with his long-estranged brother, who is co…

* * *

photo credit: Zaha Hassan My weekly email to Tzedek Chicago members: Are some places in the world more inherently sacred than others? Or is the entire world itself a sacred place? These questions a…

Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned in the USA for over 46 years, despite critical concerns over the fairness of his trial. President Biden must grant Leonard Peltier clemency...

As today marks the UN’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I’d like to take occasion of this day to publicly state, without hesitation, that I stand in solidar…

Nan Goldin addressed what she called a 'genocide' in Gaza during the opening for her Neue Nationalgalerie survey in Berlin.

Seasonal rains and flooding portend further humanitarian catastrophe.

A photograph shows soldiers posing with an orange banner that reads: “Only settlement would be considered victory!” The color orange was used by the settler movement in 2004 and 2005 to protest Isr…

Air raids on Beit Lahiya and Gaza City come as humanitarian crisis worsens in besieged territory.

The United States, which has blocked four other resolutions, said it vetoed the most recent version because it did not make the release of hostages a precondition for a truce.