Tema Smith
By Tema Smith
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Community An open letter on discourse, inquiry and generosity of spirit
We are Jews of a variety of political, religious, and ideological stripes. We hold diverse views but we unite in affirming the indispensable need for rigorous, open discourse in all aspects of Jewish communal life. We write to note our concern that, in many key contexts and several critical moments, significant portions of our community…
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Opinion ‘Tzedek, tzedek tirdof:’ The Derek Chauvin verdict isn’t justice, but it’s a start
In 2014, the murder of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer was caught on camera, barely 10 minutes away from where my family lives on Staten Island. In the bystander-caught video, you can hear Garner gasping, “I can’t breathe” 11 times as he lies with his face pressed into the sun-baked concrete….
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Opinion Why will this time be different than all other times?
I will always remember the day my parents gave my brother “the talk.” Not the one about the birds and the bees. No, the one about how he, as a young black man, would be seen in a society marred by racism. It was the 90s and he was a pre-teen, excited to wear his…
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Opinion Fewer barriers, more intimacy
Previous Article Next Article It was during the first weekend of the lockdown that I attended my first online bat mitzvah. I happened to be at my computer during Shacharit services when Facebook notified me that my congregation was going live. As I watched, notifications popped up as my friends and contacts tuned in. As…
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Opinion Jews of Color deserve an accurate count
This weekend, eJewishPhilanthropy, the main online publication supporting the Jewish professional world, published an essay by demographers of American Jewish life, Ira M. Sheskin and Arnold Dashefsky, “How Many Jews of Color Are There?” which was republished in the Forward. The essay, a preview a chapter in their forthcoming “American Jewish Yearbook”, concludes that we…
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Opinion When a new plague exacerbates the old
BG IMG LINK Previous Article Next Article Every year at Passover seders around the world, as families gather to recount the story of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, we recount the ten plagues that befell the Egyptians: Blood, frogs, lice, flies, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, the killing of the firstborn. As they…
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Opinion How to talk about Black anti-Semitism
December 2019: a month that the Jewish community will never forget. Though knockout attacks against Hasidic Jews had been on the radar of the broader Jewish world for some time now, the frequency and severity of violent attacks targeting the most visible members of the Jewish community set off new alarm bells. With one attack…
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Opinion Stop Blaming Women For The Bad Behavior Of Men Like Al Franken
It was late fall 2017 when the Democratic Party was rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Al Franken, a well-liked senator who owed much of his fame to a long stint on Saturday Night Live. Franken stood accused of unwanted touching. Before long, eight women had come forward with startlingly similar accounts of unwelcome…
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