Our November service focused on the theme of time - how we pass it, how it passes us, how we live in it or only to the side watching it. Our liturgy is downloadable here. For our torah study we discussed the how nursing and breast milk were understood across the ancient Near East and … Continue reading Fringes November 2019: Prayer is the space we allow it in our lives

This is the kavanah I gave on Yom Kippur 5780 between the al chet we do for racism and the one we do for Palestine/Israel. Our High Holiday prayer community is a collaboration between Fringes: a feminist, non-zionist havurah and Tikkun Olam Chavurah. Download Al Chet Kavanah by Elliott batTzedek Al Chet Kavanah Elliott batTzedek … Continue reading On white supremacy and JOCSM in Jewish communities: an al chet kavanah

For the 7th year, Fringes will be co-creating High Holiday services with Tikkun Olam Chavurah. We meet in the Germantown Mennonite Church, 21 W. Washington Lane in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. You can download our Kol Nidre supplement here, and our all-day Yom Kippur supplement here.

Here's the supplement for the Fringes/Tikkun Olam Chavurah 1st day Rosh Hashanah service.

Kol Nidre 5774 Elliott batTzedek, Fringes Havurah, Philadelphia While I know this will surprise you, Jewish tradition has many different opinions about Kol Nidre and what it means. Many Rabbinical Authorities have tried to suppress it over the centuries, both because of the ritual itself—how through repetition we are magically released from vows – is … Continue reading Kol Nidre – the contract my soul and my history need

For our Torah Talk this shabbat we'll be reading texts from across Jewish history about our obligation to treat "the stranger" justly because we have been strangers and know their experience. Download the text study sheet. כי גרים הייתם - כמו שמפורש לפנינו ואתם ידעתם את נפש הגר. כי גרים הייתם - ולפי שצרתו מרובה … Continue reading Fringes Text Study 07/13/2019 – you know the soul of the stranger

Our text study this month is pulled from the article "Our White Supremacy Problem" by Devin Naar , originally published on Jewish Currents. We're reading sections III and IV, copied below. The entire article is worth the read A nuanced exploration of our history reveals that we do not have an Ashkenormativity problem in the … Continue reading Fringes Text Study 06/08/2019

After our many months of reading texts about the intersections of race, racism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism, we're turning back to Torah to examine rabbinical ideas about what behaviors constitute "holiness." The parsha is Kedoshim, and we're using a Sefaria text sheet for the first time to pull together a thousand or so years of … Continue reading Fringes Text Study 05/11/2019 – Kedoshim