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Halachic Left

@halachicleft.org
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Halachic Left is changing the conversation about Israel/Palestine in halachically observant Jewish communities

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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 25/09/2026
Join us in NYC on Tuesday, Oct 6 for a conversation with @bradlander.bsky.social! Moderated by HL community member and Jewish Currents Associate Editor Maya Rosen. Light kosher dinner will be served. Sign up here! bit.ly/hl-lander
Torah u'Mishpat: Brad Lander on Judaism and Politics
Tuesday, Oct. 6,
6pm
Midtown, NYC

Register: bit.ly/hl-lander

Join Halachic Left for a conversation with former NYC Comptroller and NY-10 Congressional candidate Brad Lander about how Judaism has shaped his politics, and vice versa.

Moderated by HL community member and Jewish Currents Associate Editor Maya Rosen.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 17/09/2026
📢 Are you a student, alum, parent, grandparent, or faculty/staff member of either Ramaz or SAR? A group of Ramaz/SAR community members have written a letter regarding Friday's tefilah outside Mayor Mamdani's residence. Please sign & share with anyone you think might be interested: tally.so/r/KY99vK
Calling all Ramaz & SAR students, alumni, faculty/staff, parents, & grandparents!

If you would like to sign a letter opposing Friday’s planned tefilah gathering outside the residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, please visit bit.ly/ramaz-sar.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 11/09/2026
Shana tova to you and your loved ones from Halachic Left! ❤️🍎🍯
לשנה טובה תכתבו ותחתמו!
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year, and may your work for a more just world be counted among your merits.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 26/08/2026
Table of contents! Also around 50 printed copies left, which you can order here ($15/copy + shipping): www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
Contents
Introduction • 9
Rosh Hashanah
✶ Dreams for Ourselves and Our People: Course-Correcting Our
Collective Imagination by Binya Kóatz • 13
✶ Teshuvah For What? by Noam Weinreich • 19
✶ G-d as Sole Owner: A Talmudic Reading by Rabbi David
Polsky • 28
Tzom Gedalya
✶ The Tragedy of Tzom Gedalya by Ya'aqov Lawrence
Shenkin • 38
Yom Kippur
✶ A Short Yom Kippur Sermon for Halakhic Leftists by Daniel
Boyarin • 42
Until the Day of Your Death, God Will / עד יום מותו תחכה לו ✶
Wait for You by Rana Bickel • 47
Sukkot
✶ A Time to Feel by Sarah Wolf • 53
✶ (When) Can We Have Nice Things? Sukkot and the Ethics of
Abundance by Rabbi William Friedman • 57
✶ A Lulav at the End of the World by Laynie Soloman • 64
Simchat Torah
✶ The Challenge of Religious Humanism by Rabbi Vincent
Calabrese • 72
Suggested Tzedakah • 79
About Halachic Left • 81
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 25/08/2026
✨ Our new essay collection for 5787, HaYom Te’amtzeinu (“Strengthen Us This Day”) is now out! 💜 You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1vQZ6... AND you can purchase a printed copy here: www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...
היום תאמצנו
Strengthen Us This Day

Essays for Tishrei 5787/2026

Published by Halachic Left

(the background is green with a white line drawing of the schach of a sukkah, with a bamboo pole reinforcement)
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 19/08/2026
Dr. Rachel Havrelock: "The Joshua State: National Religion in Contemporary Israel" (1:00 PM - 02:00 PM CDT)
The Joshua State: National Religion in Comtemporary Israel

with Dr. Rachel Havrelock

Building on the events since the 2020 publication of Prof. Havrelock’s The Joshua Generation: Israeli Occupation and the Bible, this workshop will consider interpretations of the book of Joshua since October 7th and the destruction of Gaza, focusing primarily on Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich.  We will consider the degree to which commitment to militarism has displaced Judaism within Israel and how it has transformed it.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 19/08/2026
Rabbi Will Friedman: "'Legitimate' Violence and Its Costs: Limits to and Consequences of Self-Defense and War" (11:15 AM - 12:15 PM CDT)
“Legitimate” Violence & Its Costs: Limits to and Consequences of 
Self-Defense and War

with Rabbi Will Friedman

Individual and communal self-defense ("war") are widely accepted in both secular and Jewish ethics as legitimate uses of violence, as long as they stay within defined limits. A careful reading of traditional Jewish texts, however, reveals a discomfort even with these "legitimate" uses of violence. Through an examination of halakhic sources on self-defense and aggadic reflections on violent Biblical narratives, we will expose an alternative ethical universe that recognizes the extraordinarily high price of killing and may even hope to eschew it entirely.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 19/08/2026
CHICAGO: come learn w/ us THIS Sunday! R Will Friedman: "'Legitimate' Violence and Its Costs: Limits to and Consequences of Self-Defense and War" Dr. Rachel Havrelock: "The Joshua State: National Religion in Contemporary Israel" SIGN UP: www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-je... Session descriptions 🧵
Jewish Reckoning with Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series, Part 5 (Chicago)
Rabbi Will Friedman and Prof. Rachel Havrelock

Sunday, Aug. 23, 11am-2pm CDT
SketchPad Chicago & via Zoom

Swipe for session descriptions >>

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 11/08/2026
How's this for a first entry? 😂😆
Expanding brain meme based on the pasuk 
צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ׃
["Justice, justice you will pursue so that you will live and inherit the land which Hashem your God is giving you"]

Top image (tiny brain): לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ
["so that you will live and inherit the land which Hashem your God is giving you"]
CHECKMATE LEFTISTS

Second image (brain growing): ** לְמַעַן **
תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ
[**so that** you will live and inherit the land which Hashem your God is giving you]

Third image (brain growing and glowing more): <in tiny font, curses in Devarim when b'nei Yisrael don't follow Hashem's commandments, which ultimately culminate in exile from the land> 

Bottom image (enlightened galaxy brain):  צִיּוֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָה
["Zion will be redeemed with justice and her returnees with righteousness," Isaiah 1:27]
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 11/08/2026
Thinking of starting a meme bank, gotta counteract these silly right-wing memes...
Tweet from @IlanBlock: image showing a Drake Hotline Bling Meme
top image [expressing approval/agreement]: "Justice, justice shall you pursue"
bottom image [expressing dislike/disapproval]: "so that you will live and take possession of the land that Hashem, your God, has given you"Tweet from @VaadHaBadchanim: image showing a Drake Hotline Bling Meme
top image [expressing approval/agreement]: צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף

bottom image [expressing dislike/disapproval]: לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 09/08/2026
CHICAGO: come learn with us on Sunday, August 23! SIGN UP HERE: www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-je...
Jewish Reckoning with Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series, Part 5 (Chicago)

Prof. Rachel Havrelock, Rabbi Will Friedman

Sunday, August 23, 11:00am-2:00pm CDT
SketchPad Chicago & via Zoom

Register Now
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 02/08/2026
📖 Pre-order printed copies of our 5787 Tishrei reader! 🍎🍯🐏🍋🌿🌴🕺💃 $15/copy + shipping to US addresses (We are still releasing it online for free if you want to print it yourself!) www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/... Why pre-order? ... 🧵
Pre-order our reader for the fall chagim!
Swipe to see confirmed writers & pre-order info!Confirmed writers:
Rana Bickel, Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Rabbi Vincent Calabrese, Rabbi Will Friedman, Binya Koatz, Rabbi David Polsky, Ya'aqov Shenkin, Laynie Soloman, Noam Weinreich, Rabbi Aron Wander, Prof. Sarah Wolf

Pre-order at bit.ly/tishrei-reader

Deadline: Sunday, Aug. 23 
US addresses only
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 22/07/2026
We hope these personal and scholarly reflections are helpful in setting intentions for this year’s Tisha B’Av and continuing to make these pieces relevant to our contemporary experience.
Contents
Introduction ⬩ 4
Reflections on Kinnot ⬩ 4
4⬩Kinnah 4 by Eliana Padwa 〜 שומרון קול תתן ✶
6 ⬩ Kinnah 11 by Rabbi David Polsky 〜 ויקונן ירמיהו ✶
7⬩Kinnah 17 〜 Empathy by Ya'aqov Lawrence Shenkin 〜 אם תאכלנה ✶
11 ⬩ Kinnah 26 by Yitzhak Graff 〜 רחל מבכה ✶
12 ⬩ Kinnah 31 by Rana Bickel 〜 אש תוקד בקרבי ✶
✶ A poem 〜 Kinnah 31 by Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen ⬩ 14
15 ⬩ Kinnah 36 by Nathan Young 〜 ציון הלא תשאלי ✶
16 ⬩ Kinnah 41 by Laynie Soloman 〜 שאלי שרופה באש ✶
19⬩Kinnah 45 by Rabbi Vincent Calabrese 〜 אלי ציון ✶
About Halachic Left ⬩ 2
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 22/07/2026
Halachic Left proudly presents this collection of reflections on selected kinnot commonly recited on Tisha B’Av (in the Ashkenaz tradition)... drive.google.com/file/d/1BI_m...
תאוכל באש בשר

Reflections on Kinnot ~ Tisha B'Av 5786
Published by Halachic Left
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 20/07/2026
For our third year, we'll be having online programming on the afternoon of 9 Av, including a Gemara shiur from @motownrabbi.bsky.social & a screening of the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, with a pre-film shiur by R Lexie Botzum & post-film community discussion RSVP here: bit.ly/hl-9av-5786
Halachic Left Tisha B’Av Online Programming
Thursday, July 23 via Zoom • Register at bit.ly/hl-9av-5786

3:30–4:30pm EDT
“‘Would You Like Me to Kill Them All?’: Torah Overcoming Violence in the Churban Narrative” 
with Rabbi David Polsky

4:30–5:00pm EDT
Short pre-film shiur (*required to get film login info) 
with Rabbi Lexie Botzum

5:00–6:50pm EDT
Free virtual screening of The Zone of Interest

6:50–7:30pm EDT
Post-film community discussion
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 17/07/2026
“The Torah was so thin... you were throwing in a little Torah to sprinkle it on what was basically your ethnonationalist political agenda.” — @peterbeinart.bsky.social on divrei Torah against @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Full recording here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw4g...
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 16/07/2026
“If you were a really wise American Jewish leader, you might say—the person who’s going to save Zionism is Marwan Barghouti.” At our event last week, @peterbeinart.bsky.social asks what could push the US Jewish establishment toward a fallback position. Full video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw4g...
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 16/07/2026
@peterbeinart.bsky.social at our event last week on dominant groups equating equality with their own destruction: "It was considered at least as obvious among white South Africans as it was among Israeli and other Jews, if you had a Black government...that white people would basically be murdered."
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 13/07/2026
@peterbeinart.bsky.social at our event last Thursday on a coming wave of right-wing antisemitism: “There is a lot to worry about, about the way that this right-wing discourse about Israel is going to shape the discourse about Haredim and ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States…”
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/07/2026
GAGGED @rokhanna.bsky.social say it louder! 🔥 www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/u...
He also left with some parting words for the Israeli government.

“Free advice to the Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates,” he said. “Not how you’re going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is.”
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 10/07/2026
Thank you to everyone who came out last night to our Q&A event with @peterbeinart.bsky.social! Recording will be up by motzash 🔥 Some of the many topics discussed... 🧵
Peter Beinart and our moderator Gershon Rozenberg speaking at the HL event on Thursday, July 9, sitting at the front of a room. There is a camera in the foreground recording and some audience members (sitting with their backs turned) Peter Beinart and our moderator Gershon Rozenberg speaking at the HL event on Thursday, July 9, sitting at the front of a room. There are a few rows of audience members sitting with their backs turned.Peter Beinart, moderator Gershon Rozenberg, EY Zipris, and Caroline Morganti after the HL event on Thursday, July 9A group of people talk to Peter after the event
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 03/07/2026
Our Tisha B'Av schedule is here! Shiurim with @motownrabbi.bsky.social and Rabbi Lexie Botzum, followed by a screening of the critically acclaimed 2023 film The Zone of Interest and a post-film discussion! Register at bit.ly/hl-9av-5786
Tisha B’Av 5786 Online Programming
Thursday, July 23 via Zoom

* 3:30-4:30pm EDT: Shiur with Rabbi David Polsky: “‘Would You Like Me to Kill Them All?’: Torah Overcoming Violence in the Churban Narrative”
* 4:30-5:00pm: Pre-film shiur with Rabbi Lexie Botzum (*** REQUIRED to attend film)
* 5:00-6:50pm: The Zone of Interest film screening
* 6:50-7:30pm: Post-film community discussion

RSVP at bit.ly/hl-9av-5786
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 02/07/2026
🗽 NYC: Join us next Thursday on the UWS for nosh and conversation with journalist, author, and first-ever HL speaker @peterbeinart.bsky.social! We’ll talk about the Jewish tent, new Jewish institutions, and where we go from here. RSVP here: forms.gle/DVpKBN3iCHUt...
An Evening with Peter Beinart
Thursday, July 9 | 6:00-8:00pm
Upper West Side, NYC
Nosh served * Address provided upon RSVP
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 04/06/2026
BOSTON: THIS Sunday at 7pm at Havurat Shalom in Somerville -- an evening with protective presence activists Or Sivan, Maya Mark, and Roei Kleitman! With @newisraelfund.bsky.social NewGen and @ifnotnowboston.bsky.social Register here: secure.nif.org/a/crisis-and...
Crisis and Conversation
An evening with protective presence activists Or Sivan, Maya Mark, and Roei Kleitman
June 7 at 7:00pm
Havurat Shalom
113 College Avenue
Somerville, MA
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 01/06/2026
🧐🧐🧐
A goose chase meme showing the goose in the top image saying, "50k New Yorkers, and...? who else was also marching?"
And in the bottom image, the goose chases a person labeled "deliberately obtuse Jewish media outlets" while shouting, "WHO ELSE WAS ALSO MARCHING??!?!!"
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 27/05/2026
🔥✨ See you THIS Sunday in Los Angeles and over Zoom for the next event in our series on Jews and power -- with R Chaim Seidler-Feller, @irmiklat.bsky.social, & @alona-weimer.bsky.social! In-person registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/los-angele... Zoom registration: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Jewish Reckoning with Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series | Part 4 (Los Angeles)

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen, Alona Weimer

Sunday, May 31, 1:00 - 5:00 PM PDT
1729 S La Cienega Blvd (& via Zoom)

Swipe for shiur topics! ->

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.Power, Morality and the Future of Zionism
with Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller

The current antagonistic political climate has all but shut down any constructive engagement with Zionist ideology and its redemptive possibilities. By referencing a range of foundational texts promulgated by Zionist thinkers such as Ahad Ha’am, Martin Buber, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv (1935-46) Moshe Avigdor Amiel, and R. Yehuda Amital who is an influential contemporary rabbinic thinker, we will attempt to frame a Zionism of values that has the potential to inspire a new generation. Our ambitious task is to return to and reclaim the humanistic spirit of the Zionist revolution that has been eclipsed by political interests and formulate an inclusive and principled Jewish national vision.
The Powerlessness of Power in the Thought of R. Aharon Shmuel Tamares
with Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen

In this shiur, we will look at a central tenet in the anti-war and anti-violence thought of R’ Aharon Shmuel Tamares (1869–1931), the idea that physical power is not real strength and the secret of power is in belief in the God of righteousness and truth. As a context for Tamares we will look at a number of well known aggadot of martyrologies in the Bavli, stories of when death is actually victorious. We will then study parts of Tamares’ work Knesset Yisrael u’Milhamot Hagoyim/ The People of Israel and the Wars of the Nations and one essay from a late collection called Tohu vaVohu. 
Reckoning with Repair: Reparations Frameworks in Rabbinic Thought
with Alona Weimer

As we in the Jewish community find ourselves contending with the ongoing genocide in Gaza perpetrated in our name, thinking about repair can feel far away. Yet rabbinic frameworks outlining justice and repair can help us understand how to intervene in harm, attend to uneven power, address violence, and cultivate healing. Engaging sources across Biblical, Talmudic, and post-Holocaust Responsa literature, we will grapple with how the rabbinic tradition imagines intervening in such cycles of harm, and ultimately, how we end them.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 13/05/2026
🔥 LOS ANGELES: join us on Sunday 5/31 -- learn from Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, and Alona Weimer! In-person registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/los-angele... Zoom registration: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
JEWISH RECKONING WITH POWER
A Halachic Left Learning Series, Part 4 
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, and Alona Weimer

Sunday, May 31, 1:00 - 5:00 PM PDT
Los Angeles (Pico-Robertson) & via Zoom

Register Now
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/05/2026
"'The Nile is Mine, I Created It': Higher Governance and Changed Nature in the Sefat Emet" with Rabbi Amelia Wolf
"The Nile is Mine, I Created It": Higher Governance and Changed Nature in the Sefat Emet
with Rabbi Amelia Wolf

Why did B'nai Yisrael have to descend into Egypt and what was taught through our redemption? By whose word did we go down, by whose word were we enlsaved, and by whose words did we go free? The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter) examines questions of speech, power, and restraint in light of the Exodus and the breaking of barriers -- whether those barriers be human nature or the natural order itself.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/05/2026
"Of Mice and Hasidic Men: The Populist Revival of Reb Shayele & Its Lessons for the Left" with Prof. Sam Shuman
Of Mice and Hasidic Men: The Populist Revival of Reb Shayele & Its Lessons for the Left
with Prof. Sam Shuman

Prof. Sam Shuman asks what we might learn about Jewish power and powerlessness from a contemporary Hasidic populist revival movement? Shuman’s talk will draw upon their fieldwork in four annual pilgrimages to the gravesite of Reb Shayele of Kerestir (1851-1925), a Hungarian Hasidic miracle-worker, who has been resurrected as the Jewish patron saint of hospitality. As the consummate host to his “guests,” Shayele performs prophylactic miracles that protect his followers from unwelcome “intruders” (rodents, auditors, police, inspectors, etc.), as well as auspicious miracles that facilitate Jewish social reproduction (children, health, and livelihood). Orphaned at a young age and lacking dynastic pedigree, Shayele is venerated as a rebbe of the people—one who provides for his followers' everyday material needs (in contrast to “elite,” dynastic Hasidic leaders) and protects them from non-Jewish “enemies.”
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/05/2026
"What do we mean when we say 'Halachic Left'?" with Rabbi Avigayil Halpern
What do we mean when we say “Halachic Left”? 
with Rabbi Avigayil Halpern

Until now, “Halachic Left” has largely functioned to describe a group of leftists (at least on Palestine) and other progressives who affiliate with halachic communities. I aim to offer an initial theory of what halachically-observant and/or -aligned people can offer to the broader left from that perspective, with the goal of sharpening our collective thinking and work. What are the unique ways of thinking and acting that the halachically-oriented person can offer to broader Left projects? We will engage both traditional Torah sources around the potential moral work that Torah and halacha does to shape our character as well as theoretical/philosophical texts on related questions.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 06/05/2026
Washington, DC: can't wait to learn with you next Sunday (5/17)! In-person registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/dc-jewish-... Zoom registration: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Jewish Reckoning with Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series | Part 3 (Washington, DC)

Rabbi Avigayil Halpern
What do we mean when we say “Halachic Left?”

Prof. Sam Shuman
Of Mice and Hasidic Men: The Populist Revival of Reb Shayele & Its Lessons for the Left


Rabbi Amelia Wolf
A Higher Governance and a Changed Nature: Freedom and Sovereignty in the Sfas Emes

Sunday, May 17, 1:00 - 5:00 PM EDT
The Festival Center (& via Zoom)
Light lunch served

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 04/05/2026
can't wait for episode 2 where Noa Tishby explains that Judaism is basically just supporting whatever the Israeli government does
A YouTube thumbnail for "What Is Judaism -- Episode 1" by Noa Tishby
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 22/04/2026
🔥 PHILADELPHIA (and everyone else)! Our Jewish Reckoning with Power learning series continues in Philly on Sunday, May 10, 5-9pm at the Old Pine Community Center and via Zoom. In-person registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/jewish-rec... Zoom registration: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Jewish Reckoning with Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series | Part 2 (Philadelphia)

Shiurim include:
- Rabbi David Greenstein on gender power dynamics in halacha
- Laynie Soloman on halacha as a site of resistance to empire
- Zohar Hodkin and Netanel Zellis-Paley on the halachic obligation to fight tyranny


Sunday, May 10, 5:00 - 9:00 PM EDT
Old Pine Community Center (& via Zoom)
Dinner served + (egal) ma’ariv following 

Learning in honor of the yahrtzeit of Moshe ben Leibel z”l

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/04/2026
Some clarification on @jstreetdotorg.bsky.social's position from @ilangoldenberg.bsky.social (below) and @jeremybenami.bsky.social (jstreetdotorg.substack.com/p/time-to-en...)
Tweet from Ilan Goldenberg (@ilangoldenberg):

Lots of noise on this site from both J Street’s left and right about what our position is on the US-Israel security relationship.  
@JeremyBenAmi
 explains where we actually are. It’s time to normalize the US-Israel security relationship. That means maintaining a strong relationship and cooperation but also ending blank check support by making some important changes.

1. The US should rapidly and responsibly phase out direct financial subsidies for arms sales to Israel and treat it as it does other US allies. There is broad consensus on this from Bibi Netanyahu to Lindsay Graham to AOC. Israel can buy its own stuff.

2. We should still be SELLING the necessary components of Iron Dome and other missile defense systems to Israel. We are NOT arguing for a total cutoff.

3. US arms sales and other forms of assistance to Israel should be consistent with US law and align with American policy objectives and interests. The US should apply the same standards to Israel as it does to other US allies. That means withholding certain weapons systems when those standards aren’t met.

https://jstreetdotorg.substack.com/p/time-to-end-us-military-aid-to-israel
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 23/03/2026
Featuring essays from @raphaelmagarik.bsky.social, @mhughesrob.bsky.social, Liana Wertman, @motownrabbi.bsky.social, Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, Amit Gvaryahu, and Maya Rosen, and illustrations by Yavni Bar-Yam.
Table of contents for this year's  HL Pesach reader:

Contents:

Introduction • 7
Essays • 11
✶ On the Limits of Parental Education by Raphael Magarik • 11
✶ Liberation Isn’t Linear: Learning from Rambam’s Snatched
Matzah by Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson • 16
✶ Challenging Our Moral Imaginations by Liana Wertman • 22
✶ “I Behold the Tears of the Oppressed”: Nahmanides and the
Revolutionary Message of the Exodus by Rabbi David Polsky • 27
✶ “And God Commanded Moshe and Aharon Regarding the
Israelites, to Let them Free”: Lessons in Community Organizing
from the Exodus Story by Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein • 35
✶ It Is Forbidden to Live in Egypt by Amit Gvaryahu • 43
✶ Becoming Pharaoh by Maya Rosen • 49
Suggested Tzedakah • 57
About Halachic Left • 59
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 23/03/2026
🔥 Our 5786 Pesach reader, “כי ישאלך בנך מחר” / “When Your Child Asks You in Days to Come” is now available! Download on our website (which includes different options for printing): halachicleft.org/torah
The cover of Halachic Left's Pesach 5786 reader, “כי ישאלך בנך מחר” / “When Your Child Asks You in Days to Come.” The background is a light blue/periwinkle with soft clouds. The title is in Hebrew and English, and there is an illustration of a man holding a small child in his arms as she points towards the sky. The cover also says "Essays for Pesach 5786" and "Published by Halachic Left" at the bottom.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 09/03/2026
🔥 Come to our 1st event in "Jewish Reckoning with Power: A Halachic Left Learning Series" SUNDAY in Cambridge, MA (+Zoom), 1-5pm EDT w/ R Aryeh Klapper, R Avigayil Halpern, & R Jonah Winer Come in person: bit.ly/hl-power or register for Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... Shiur descriptions in 🧵
Jewish Reckoning With Power
A Halachic Left Learning Series | Part 1 (Boston)

Rabbi Aryeh Klapper, Rabbi Avigayil Halpern, and Rabbi Jonah Winer

Sunday, March 15, 1:00-5:00pm EDT 
Cambridge Community Center (and via Zoom)

Register at bit.ly/hl-power

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 05/03/2026
BOSTON: In one week! Come to this film screening of @ TBZ of "Coexistence, My A**!" that we're co-sponsoring with @newisraelfund.bsky.social NewGen, with Prof. @shaynamalka.bsky.social. Thursday, 3/12 -- doors @ 6pm, screening @ 6:45pm RSVP here: secure.nif.org/a/boston-new...
NIF Boston NewGen Presents:
Coexistence, My Ass! 

Thursday, March 12
Doors open at 6:00pm
Screening starts at 6:45pm

Join Boston NewGen, Temple Beth Zion, Dr. Shayna Weiss, and the Halachic Left as we screen the award-winning documentary "Coexistence, My Ass!"

Hosted by Temple Beth Zion
1566 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 03/03/2026
A freilichen Purim to these brave refusers at Mesarvot! 🥳 Thank you for donating over $6k! 💸 Extra $ will go to legal counsel & community support. Enjoy these photos of them receiving their packages, which included honey from Sinsila Center (Jerusalem) & produce from Khadra Palestine (Ramallah)! 💜
A collage of photos, clockwise from top left:
- a young man with dark hair holding honey and a package of dates
- a young woman holding a bag with the logo of Khadra, a Ramallah-based business that sells Palestinian-made produce and food items
- people sitting in a circle for the Mesarvot meeting with the shalach manos bags in the centerA collage of photos, clockwise from top left:
- a group of people at the Mesarvot meeting with the shalach manos bags nearby
- a young woman with short dark hair holding a bag with the logo of Khadra, a Ramallah-based business that sells Palestinian-made produce and food items
- the shalach manos (in bags from Khadra) lined up ready to be given to their recipients
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 01/03/2026
If you’re at @jstreetdotorg.bsky.social convention, find us to get an HL sticker! (and DM to be added to the group chat)
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 26/02/2026
The Seforim Sale featuring Halachic Left!
A group of HL members standing in front of the “Featured” sign at the YU Seforim Sale
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 25/02/2026
🔥 Come to our 1st event in "Jewish Reckoning with Power: A Halachic Left Learning Series": On Sun, 3/15 in Cambridge, MA (+Zoom): - R Aryeh Klapper on dina demalkhuta dina & civil disobedience - R Avigayil Halpern on power dynamics of rabbinic authority & one more teacher TBD! RSVP: bit.ly/hl-power
Jewish Reckoning with Power: A Halachic Left Learning Series | Part 1 (Boston)
Rabbi Aryeh Klapper, Rabbi Avigayil Halpern
Sunday, March 15, 1:00-5:00pm
Cambridge Community Center (& via Zoom)

Register at bit.ly/hl-power

*** We believe in learning Torah from all. Speaking does not imply agreement with Halachic Left's political positions. Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 22/02/2026
🧺🎭💜 Send shalach manos to Israeli conscientious objectors! Donate at givebutter.com/shalach-mano...
Send mishloach manot to IDF conscientious objectors! 

Donate to buy Purim treats and write messages of support to these courageous young people at bit.ly/mm-refusers or the QR code below!
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 18/02/2026
Also see this @rollingstone.com article about the surprise release of the EP: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
“One Life at a Time” was inspired by the 2025 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. They wrote it for Palestinian Awdah Hathaleen, a consultant on the film, who was killed in his West Bank village by an Israeli settler. The title of the song comes from a line that No Other Land filmmaker Basel Adra said at his funeral. “One life at a time is kinda an existential suggestion,” Bono says. “We can change the world for the better or for the worse…one life at a time.”
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 15/02/2026
Thank you @curabu.bsky.social for a wonderful time at the 2026 Conference on the Jewish Left! We had a great time at the awesome lineup of sessions and talking to everyone who came to our table! 💜 Also thank you for allowing us organize a mincha minyan 😊✡️
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/02/2026
Check out our rebrand on all our platforms and keep an eye out for our new stickers, t-shirts, & (coming soon!) tote bags at events! TOMORROW (Thu 2/12) we'll be at the Conference on the Jewish Left in Boston (www.bit.ly/jewishleft), handing out the stickers below! And we'll have t-shirts for sale!
A pile of square stickers with the new Halachic Left logo
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 12/02/2026
Now we’re stepping forward as an established community that’s here for the long haul. In designer Yavni Bar-Yam’s words, the logo includes these design elements: * The initials “HL” * A Torah scroll (the H), and a daf of Gemara (the L), representing both תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה (cont...)
Halachic Left's new logo, which consists of a colorblock design forming an H (resembling a sefer Torah) and L (resembling a daf). The color blocks are shades of purple, with the exception of the center block of the L/daf which is yellow. Out of this block grows an olive branch cutout with yellow leaves growing leftward and covering part of the H/sefer Torah.
Below the logo is the text "HALACHIC LEFT" in capital letters, with "LEFT" off-center to the left and light purple rectangular blocks filling in the space on either side.
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 02/02/2026
🚨 Why is tristate area paper The Jewish Link publishing a glowing profile of Jewish terrorist Avichai Suisa, who was sanctioned by the outgoing Biden administration? And why are they telling people how they can donate to his illegal outpost via his NGO?
A photo of Avichai Suisa holding two goatsA photo of the article in last week's Jewish Link (text here: https://jewishlink.news/a-pioneer-in-the-shomron/ )
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 09/01/2026
We’re looking forward to hosting a Q&A with Prof. Omer Bartov, Dean’s Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University on Sunday, January 25th at 1pm EST. Register and submit questions here: bit.ly/hl-bartov
Prof. Omer Bartov x Halachic Left
Sunday, Jan. 25th
1pm EST via Zoom

Prof. Omer Bartov is Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University and author of the book "Israel: What Went Wrong?" (out in April). 
Prof. Bartov made headlines last year when he wrote a New York Times opinion essay saying that while he did not initially believe Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, he had become convinced that the term was accurate.

RSVP at bit.ly/hl-bartov
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Halachic Left @halachicleft.org · 31/12/2025
🔥 Help us go into 2026 strong! Donate to our year-end fundraising drive via PayPal at bit.ly/hl-2025 or via Venmo @HalachicLeft!
Help us go into 2026 strong! Donate to our year-end fundraising drive.
Any amount helps — thank you so much for your support! 
PayPal: bit.ly/hl-2025
Venmo: @HalachicLeft
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