Joshua Davidson

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Nov 2, 2024, 11:12 AM

What I told my Jewish students about this terrifying political moment

(Wikimedia Commons)

No matter how ugly American politics have become, we can’t turn away in despair

Mar 26, 2024, 4:35 PM

From Jewish-American to American Jew: A Response to Franklin Foer

I have been forwarded many articles, but none more than a recent essay in The Atlantic. In “The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending,” journalist Franklin Foer argues that the social liberalism most American Jews, Democrat and Republican,...

Jan 4, 2024, 2:21 PM

Progressivism’s Breakdown over Israel and Jews

I am a progressive rabbi. I believe God stands with the oppressed not the oppressor, and so my faith commits me to ease human suffering. I believe God tempers judgement with compassion, and so I construct my rabbinate to...

Oct 31, 2023, 10:18 AM

The American Jewish community is under siege. In too many circles, it is not safe to be a Jew. This week I met with parents of my synagogue’s youngest children who described their babysitters sitting together in a local park...

Oct 24, 2023, 7:57 PM

It’s Time to Show Up

It may have been a bit chutzpadik, but last Shabbat I welcomed worshippers, who include many non-synagogue members watching online, with these words: “Shabbat Shalom and good evening. Thank you to those with us here in our sanctuary, and...

Oct 13, 2023, 6:07 PM

To Defend One’s Home is Righteous

"A secure and a safe home is surely intended by God for all His children. To have that home attacked is a sacrilege. To defend that home is righteous." Those were the profoundly important words New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan...

Sep 22, 2023, 12:03 AM

Shver Tsu Zayn a Yid, It’s Hard to be a Jew

Shver tsu zayn a Yid! Last Spring, walking in Jerusalem, I passed a man wearing a t-shirt quoting the old Yiddish maxim: “It’s hard to be a Jew.” Even in Israel Shver tsu zayn a Yid is how I felt that afternoon. ...

Jan 27, 2022, 8:38 AM

Securing the Fortress of Hope

The Jewish community’s enemies have always known where to hurt us. And as we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the shadow of events in Colleyville, Texas, it is painfully clear that those who would hurt us are out...

May 26, 2021, 8:58 PM

The third face of antisemitism

The recent flare in the ongoing, intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sparked a sharp rise in antisemitic violence in the United States. Reports of incidents in neighborhoods around New York City and Los Angeles, where Jewish communities have long flourished,...

May 17, 2021, 12:52 AM

Two Truths and a Lie

“Israel has the right to defend itself.” I never thought I would read those words offered by a United States Senator as a clever foil to question the wisdom of America’s support for Israel. But that is precisely how...

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About Me

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.