Elliot Vaisrub Glassenberg, at The Blogs

May 12, 2021, 2:14 PM

Who is a Jew, version 2022

Ruth and Naomi, by Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 1886, Walker Art Gallery.

The question of “who is a Jew” has found its way yet again to Israeli and global Jewish headlines. Earlier this spring, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the state must accept individuals who converted to Judaism through the Reform and...

Mar 24, 2021, 1:10 PM

Passover: Where Does Redemption Begin?

When I think of the Passover story, I usually think of grand miracles and dramatic moments of redemption: the burning bush, the ten plagues, the splitting of the sea, revelation at Mount Sinai. When I think of the main...

Jan 4, 2021, 1:55 PM

When COVID Came to Chelm: A Story

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or places --...

Apr 29, 2020, 8:46 PM

Israel’s Unholy Treatment of Refugees Must End Now

"Give back the money": asylum seekers protest in front of Knesset, 22 April 2020. Credit: Hanan Offner.

Reading this week’s Torah Portion - Parashat Acharei Mot - Kedoshim - I cannot help but think of Israel’s refugees and asylum seekers, who are particularly suffering at this time, and how we can and must do better. Parashat Kedoshim...

Apr 12, 2020, 6:55 PM

The Forgotten Purpose of Passover

The author and other volunteers helping to distribute food packages to refugees in Tel Aviv, March 25, 2020. (Courtesy ARDC)

The purpose of Passover is not merely matza ball soup, but something much deeper. This Passover indeed feels different from every other Passover. No big seders. No trips. No vacations. For many of us - virtually no leaving our home....

Nov 1, 2019, 1:08 AM

Who’s Falling from Israel’s Tower of Babel?

The climbing number of construction deaths in Israel is becoming a modern tower of Babel. We must bring down this tower and protect our workers. (Parashat Noach 5780 - 2019) At the end of Parashat Noach, we find the curious...

May 9, 2018, 8:19 AM

The Override Bill Is a Danger to Israel’s Soul

On the Override Bill, Refugees, and the Jewish Soul of Israel The new “Override Bill” being proposed in the Knesset this week exemplifies what I have always believed to be true about the asylum seekers debate in Israel: that the...

Mar 13, 2018, 10:50 AM

Goodnight Holot

I remember the day that Holot opened. It was exactly 4 years, 3 months and one day ago: December 12, 2013. I found myself squeezed into the backseat of a small car full of strangers. We were a ragtag bunch...

Jan 8, 2018, 11:35 AM

Bibi’s Big Lie about Refugees

Netanyahu’s latest campaign against African asylum seekers is based on one fat lie; and it must be stopped “They’re not refugees.” It’s Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s most favorite, repeated, recited, requoted line about Israel’s 35,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers. “They’re not refugees.” And...

May 29, 2017, 11:00 PM

Ruth was a refugee

What can we learn from the story of Ruth on how to treat refugees and migrants today? "And Boaz said to Ruth: 'Because you are an illegal infiltrator, I must take 20% of all your gleanings, and put it aside...

About Me

Elliot Vaisrub Glassenberg is an American-Canadian-Israeli queer Jewish educator and activist. Elliot is a senior educator at BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social change and co-chair of Right Now: Advocates for Asylum Seekers in Israel.

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