The Houthis preach a particular, religiously informed hatred of Jews, a specific kind of antisemitism that has its foundation in an extremist strand of modern Islamic teaching.
Zionism is a modern movement that has employed age-old beliefs to support the urgent need for a refuge from antisemitism. Zionists today are obligated to move Israel to embody Jewish values of justice and peace.
Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay "'Covenantal Community' and Classical Reconstructionism" in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman's points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman.
On a recent Saturday evening, I found myself in a small artsy theater in downtown Seattle for the debut of an original animated film. When the film ended, the young filmmaker, Frieda, was greeted with thunderous applause. Afterward, she joined me on stage for a Director’s Q&A session, where I interviewed her about both the content and the making of her movie. The topic of the film? Parashat Beshalakh.
