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Friday Noon Study Group for April 24, 12-1
Last week, we continued our exploration of selected articles from the journal SAPIR: Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future. The group began with a discussion of an article by Toba Hellerstein: “Actually, Feelings Don’t Care About Your Facts: Reimagining the Case for Israel” (https://sapirjournal.org/activism/2025/actually-feelings-dont-care-about-your-facts/)
Most of us felt comfortable with Hellerstein’s thesis that pro-Israel activists need better strategies for dispelling antisemitism and dismantling the propaganda narrative that vilifies Israel. Many of us also agreed with Hellerstein’s claims that bombarding audiences with facts could be interpreted as cold lecturing and condescension, and that arguments that express moral outrage may be seen as defensive aggression. We understood Hellerstein’s rationale for such claims: such strategies may make us feel good and confirm our loyalty to Israel, but they fall on deaf ears if our audience haven’t themselves lived our Jewish history and doesn’t share our Jewish experience. We could appreciate the alternative strategy that Hellerstein presents: “Emotional Attunement”: the process of being aware of, understanding, and responding to another person’s emotions in a way that makes them feel valued, safe, and supported. It involves active listening, setting aside one’s own agenda to grasp the other person’s perspective, and validating their experience rather than merely trying to “fix” it.
When it came to Hellerstein’s elaboration of her argument, however, many of us had difficulty understanding or accepting what she had to say, her advocacy of focusing not on “what but who Israel is.” Hellerstein encourages pro-Israel activists 1) to “anchor their storytelling in ways that reveal Israel’s moral purpose and posture,” and 2) to root our narrative in the “universal experiences” of “fearing erasure” and “protecting our own.” Primarily, we did not see how such an “emotional attunement” argument couldn’t be equally applied by pro-Palestinian activists. And we did follow the ways in which Hellerstein characterized anti-Israel activists as “anti-heroes” serving a “vengeance is valor” philosophy while she advocating replacing archetypal perceptions of Israel as king or ruler with perceptions of Israel as a “flawed hero” trying to do good things but sometimes faltering along the way. None of us ever got the “what but who Israel is” distinction Hellerstein implies, and it’s unlikely that any of us accepted her conclusions.
Our group then moved on to a discussion a second article, Shuki Taylor’s “A Judaism of Doing: Religious Practice is not Supposed to be Convenient”) https://sapirjournal.org/aspiration-ii/2026/a-judaism-of-doing/
We all found Taylor’s article, which argued that religious practice is defined by active, effortful and tangible deeds rather than mere belief, not only eminently readable but also inspirational. Taylor praises the spiritual value of what he calls “embodied practice,” i.e. engaging in these 6 activities:
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Building (e.g., helping to assemble a sukkah)
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Making (e.g., baking challah, weaving tallitot)
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Wearing (e.g., putting on a tallit, wrapping tefillin)
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Marking (e.g., lighting Shabbat candles)
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Giving (e.g., volunteering at a food bank, participating in a Chevra Kadisha)
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Voicing (e.g., chanting Torah, singing zemirot)
Our group spent time discussing how we engaged in these activities and what impact they had on us. It is probable that none of us came away without making a promise to ourselves of taking a part in an activity that may not be convenient.
This week, our group will focus on the following articles:
Adam Teitelbaum: “Boyz II Mensches: The Bar Mitzvah Needs a Makeover, and Jewish Men a Kick in the Pants”
https://sapirjournal.org/authors/adam-teitelbaum/#:~:text=ADAM%20TEITELBAUM%20founded%20Level%20III,Adam%20Teitelbaum
Meir Y. Soloveichik: “Jewish Identity vs. Identity Politics”
https://sapirjournal.org/diversity/2025/jewish-identity-vs-identity-politics/#:~:text=These%20two%20terms%2C%20stranger%20and,America%20to%20its%20founding%20principles
Our informal discussion group, which has been in operation for 25 years, now meets via Zoom every Friday from 12-1 (check CBI’s website for a link). All are welcome to attend. A free subscription to Sapir can be accessed on the following link: https://ezsubscription.com/sap/subscribe?type=qualify. Specific weekly topics and links will be posted on the CBI website. If you have questions, contact Jay Jacoby at jbjacoby@charlotte.edu.
