Anne Gordon, at The Blogs

Anne Gordon

Oct 7, 2024, 3:29 PM

After October 7: ToI bloggers illuminate a changed world

The Israeli flag at Kibbutz Netiv HaAsara is lowered to half-mast to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 massacre, on October 6, 2024. (Shalom Yerushalmi / Times of Israel)

11 blog posts to help note the ways Israel, the Jewish people, and each of us individuals face a different reality than we did a year ago

Dec 25, 2023, 2:25 PM

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Watching Christmas movies in Jerusalem

Watching a movie during the Christmas season, with popcorn. (iStock)

The feel-good predictability on screen provides an interlude of comfort that soothes the searing reality of current events

Jan 20, 2023, 2:31 PM

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It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt

'The Seventh Plague,' by John Martin, 1823.

The plagues were so terrible that they (eventually) convinced Pharaoh to give up his slaves, so what are we doing singing songs and making memes about them? (Vaera)

Dec 9, 2022, 3:10 PM

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Blood is much thicker than water

Study for the painting, 'Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau,' by Peter Paul Rubens, 1624. (Wikipedia)

Set aside the gentle image of siblings playing nicely together, for the truth of biblical brotherly love is the passion therein, which as soon turns to fury (Vayishlach)

Oct 21, 2022, 4:41 PM

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Would the world have been better without mankind?

The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, c. 1512, Sistine Chapel. (Wikipedia)

According to God, all of His creation was 'very good.' Not all of the angels agreed with Him, however. (Bereishit)

Apr 13, 2022, 11:42 PM

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Memories lost

Even in an old, damaged photograph, Aunt Hannah was a great beauty. (courtesy)

This holiday of heritage is planted in our identity by our experiences and the stories we've been told. What of us is left when all that is gone?

Dec 17, 2021, 2:21 PM

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You can’t get out of this world alive

'Burial of Jacob,' from the Nuremberg Bible. (1479)

The living do far more than comfort themselves when they escort the dead to their final resting place, as Jacob and his sons reveal (Vayechi)

Apr 30, 2021, 2:48 PM

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The Blasphemer

We want people to be able to overcome their origins, but what about a bad seed? The sages argue that this apple fell not far from its tree (Emor)

Feb 26, 2021, 3:48 PM

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Clothes make the man

A rare gold bell with a small loop at its end, discovered during an archaeological excavation in the drainage channel from the Shiloah Pool to the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, near the Western Wall. The bell was apparently sewn to the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period, July 24, 2011. (Israel Antiquities Authority, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Parshat Tetzaveh is nearly always read right before Purim, but what is the connection between the garments of the Temple high priest and the Diaspora holiday?

Nov 27, 2020, 3:25 PM

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Reuven’s gift

Mandrakes, or Mandragora autumnalis. (Wikipedia/Tito Grasso)

The time in the Bible when the fertility charm worked because it wasn't used (Vayetzei)

About Me

Anne Gordon is the deputy editor of Ops & Blogs at The Times of Israel and a co-founder of Chochmat Nashim. She has taught Judaic Studies widely, in the US and Israel, and studied in the various women's batei midrash for nearly a decade. She is a graduate of Drisha Institute's Scholars Circle and holds a BA in History & Philosophy and an MA in Judaic Studies from Harvard University, and is ABD in her pursuit of a PhD in Jewish Education.