David Seidenberg, at The Blogs

May 21, 2024, 7:52 AM

A second Nakba, and there’s no evading responsibility

Many people, Israelis included, admit that Israel is pursuing its war against Gaza and Hamas in a way that violates tohar ha-neshek, the “purity of arms” doctrine. In theory, tohar ha-neshek requires Israel to calibrate its use of force...

Apr 19, 2024, 11:03 AM

Put hyssop on your seder plate

Hyssop on the seder plate and growing from the wall - composite image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain, author's photo

Did you know that hyssop is a quintessential symbol of Passover? According to our story, every family in Egypt took a bundle of hyssop in hand to daub the lintel and doorposts with blood from the Paschal lamb (Exodus...

Jan 19, 2024, 3:23 PM

Featured Post

What about Moses’ heart?

'The Death of the First-Born of Egypt,' 1838-1839, by Pietro Paolétti. (public domain)

How could the former Egyptian prince announce the last plague in good conscience, without protesting God's plan to kill so many?

Jan 5, 2024, 6:26 PM

Genocide

Gaza is one small step away from a catastrophe like an epidemic that quickly wipes out people vulnerable from lack of food and water. We are coming close to the point where it will take heroic efforts by Israel and...

Dec 28, 2023, 8:05 AM

Genocide?

The world, and the left, have been throwing around the charge of genocide* against Israel for a long time. The volume has become almost deafening during this war. Israel has this very week been bombing a town where it had...

Nov 1, 2023, 5:36 PM

There is a just war to be fought, but is this that war?

Image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows Palestinians looking for survivors in a crater following a strike in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2023. (Fadi Alwhidi/AFP)

“Is this the war that I have chosen?” I can imagine the prophet asking. It would be justice for Hamas to be completely eradicated. But how can this happen without killing thousands of innocent Gazans? Without cutting off hospitals and...

Feb 25, 2023, 12:48 AM

A Nation of Priests to all Creation

The vestments of the high priest, described in loving or excruciating detail (depending on how you feel about fashion) in Exodus chapter 28, seem to describe a functionary whose office is all about being glorified. But that's not what...

Nov 8, 2022, 7:30 PM

A lunar eclipse election: praying for justice and hope

As the lunar eclipse faded to blue in the dawn, I was thinking about what kind of sign this is for the U.S. election day. Our ancestors thought of an eclipse as a bad omen -- they did not even...

Oct 13, 2022, 7:03 PM

For God’s sake, Israel – help Ukraine!

Up until now, Israel has refused to send Iron Dome systems to Ukraine. Of course, the diplomatic excuse has not been about refusal, but about the good Israel could do playing the role of mediator. Any delusions that that...

Sep 24, 2022, 10:27 AM

‘Money is not worthy of blessing’: Radical midrash for the end of Shmitah

The last great act of the Shmitah year is the cancellation of debts, which happens when Rosh Hashanah begins. Hak’hel, the post-Shmitah gathering on Sukkot, follows about two weeks later. Debts are canceled at the end of the Shmitah, and...

About Me

Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg is the creator of neohasid.org, author of Kabbalah and Ecology (Cambridge U. Press, 2015), and a scholar of Jewish thought. David is also the Shmita scholar-in-residence at Abundance Farm in Northampton MA. He teaches around the world and also leads astronomy programs. As a liturgist, David is well-known for pieces like the prayer for voting and an acclaimed English translation of Eikhah ("Laments"). David also teaches nigunim and is a composer of Jewish music and an avid dancer.