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Arielle R-k

@ar_korm

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Morning After Rabbi, music, Jewish angst. Social commentary, frivolous and otherwise.

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Some photos of community, friends, colleagues, mentors, leaders, and more - at the @jfrejnyc Mazals last week 💗

I probably say this every year, but it gets more true every year, so it bears repeating:

To me, JFREJ has been more than just Jews organizing for Racial and Economic Justice. It's been my political home, and directly in some ways, indirectly in others, helped me build a real Jewish community in NYC, one that truly feels like home again.

So much love for this community, and the people who make it possible 💗

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"תָּעִיר וְתָרִֽיעַ. לְהַכְרִית כָּל מֵרִֽיעַ. וְתֻקְדַּשׁ בְּיוֹדְעֵי לְהָרִֽיעַ."
“Awaken and sound the alarm; to uproot every force that causes harm; be sanctified among those who know how to sound the call.”

Yesterday, well over 100 of us gathered @MarshaPJohnsonStatePark for Shofar to Abolish ICE - to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, sound shofar, do Tashlich, build community, and organize.

Thoughts and prayers can be beautiful and powerful. But they are never enough on their own.

Our rabbis describe “טובל ושרץ בידו” - entering the mikveh for purification while still holding what you need to let go of. Immersion means nothing if you refuse to put it down.

Chet, “sin” - can also mean missing the mark. Teshuvah asks us to change course and act differently.

So yesterday, we prayed AND organized.

We began with מִן־הַמֵּצַר קָרָאתִי יָהּ, עָנָנִי בַמֶּרְחָב יָהּ, moving from narrowness toward expansiveness. We sounded the shofar, sang We Rise, and Joshua Blaine led “No One Is Getting Left Behind This Time.” Then shofarot, voices, and instruments joined in one primal cry - a call to bring down walls.

The organizing wasn't tacked onto Judaism. It was part of how we observed Rosh Hashanah.

People signed up with Hands Off NYC to protect our immigrant neighbors from ICE; JFREJ shared about End Deportation, court watch, and the work ahead. Grateful to @HandsOffNYC, @JFREJNYC, @JVP NY, @TBRS.NYC, my dear friends @ChaniNicholas and Senator @Gonzalez4ny, all the singers, and everyone who made this possible.

It was also a beautiful Rosh Hashanah: Kiddush, challah, apples and honey, a picnic, then singing our way to the river for Tashlich. There we sang Min HaMeitzar again and asked what we need to cast away - and what we need to reclaim.

We are not people who happen to be Jewish and also happen to fight deportation, occupation, racism, transphobia, war, and injustice.

We do this BECAUSE we are Jewish.

Because ritual without action is incomplete. Because freedom cannot only mean our freedom. Because when we miss the mark, teshuvah demands that we change course.

Because no one is getting left behind this time.
גמר חתימה טובה - א גוט געבענטשט יאָר.
Photo cred: @giligetz

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And for the rinsta, perhaps a post?

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tourish thing chapter one: phl -> oakland -> sebastopol -> denver 🍑⛰️🪾🫐

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only five days til we definitely nail this harmony… Bay Area loves, get ur tickets to @ourfreedomfestival ♥️🌏🌱

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This May, we celebrated both Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month.

Jewish and Asian communities have lots in common. And many belong to both communities.

But Jewish and Asian people share something else: Our communities are positioned as “model minorities.” Sometimes this may feel like a compliment, but it’s actually harmful — and not just to us. It’s a tool; part of the vast machinery of white supremacy, which often pits Jews and Asians against other groups by contrast.

It says: if Jewish and Asian Americans could rise from poverty in this “supposedly racist nation,” it must be that other Americans — namely Black Americans — are just not trying. Or inherently incapable.

It’s dehumanizing and false.

The model minority myth unfairly compares our communities — Americans whose stories did not start with slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow and don’t continue with mass incarceration and targeted voter disenfranchisement — to the group in this nation who every system harms more than helps. All to promote the myth that we already live in a nation where everyone can already thrive equally.

A future with freedom and safety for all means resisting attempts at division. So next time we catch ourselves or those we love repeating model minority tropes, let’s remember what it serves. It’s not ourselves, as Jewish and Asian people. It’s definitely not Black people. And it’s not our vision for a liberated future.

#jewishamericanheritagemonth #aapi #aapiheritagemonth #jewishculture

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"יֵצֵא טִבְעִי וְתִתְעַלֶּה חֻפָּתִי. יֵדְעוּ הַכֹּל מַה מְּלַאכְתִּי. צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט בְּתוֹךְ נְתִיבָתִי."
(The Torah says:) “My nature will be known, and my Chuppah exalted; so that all will know what my occupation is; for righteousness and justice are in my paths.”
- Piyyut for the Second Day of Shavous

As we enter the Yom Tov (Chag/Holiday) of Shavous, those words, written in medieval times in the voice of the Torah, are on my mind. This holiday - along with marking the harvest, the journey of seven weeks, and more - has for millennia been most strongly associated with the Revelation at Sinai, the receiving of the Torah.

The Torah, in her own words, describes herself as “righteousness and justice.” That's her nature. It's what we are taught from within the Torah and its commentaries. At the core, our mission is building a more just world, for all.

I am so proud, as a Jewish New Yorker, to go into this holiday with a continued commitment to keep living up to those ideals. As communities - from organizers on all levels, to everyday people, to leaders.

May we all have a Git Yom Tov, Chag Sameach, and a Happy Shavout 🌹
גוט יום טוב, חג שבועות שמח 💐

One final note about Shavous and the diaspora:

According to the Talmud, and as accepted in Halacha, the Torah was given on the 7th day of Sivan, not the 6th. As such, only in the diaspora is Shavous actually celebrated on the day the Torah was given.

The Chida (1724–1806) claims, based on this, that Shavous is evidence that the Divine itself agreed to celebrate the Second Day as observed in the Diaspora.

Even more: only because of the Diaspora, he claims, does everyone get to celebrate this holiday as “The Season of the Receiving of the Torah”!

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Thinking about @nycmayor @zohrankmamdani’s new Chief Immigration Officer @faiza_n_ali when Faiza Ali came out in the pouring rain to join @jfrejnyc’s security perimeter around a Chabad Hanukkah event after antisemitic violence. As a Jewish immigrant from Asia I’m so proud to have someone who cares about everyone, Jewish or not, leading the fight for NYC’s immigrants. This is one of my favorite JFREJ memories. 2019.

Photos by @giligetz video by me, and group photo by @lsarsour #nycagainsthate

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The Mayor, Mandy Patinkin, Kathryn Grody and Gideon making Grandma Doralee’s Latkahs- the best of NYC coming together with shared values - care and compassion for equity and equality for all human being!!!! Happy Hanukah everybody !!!”I wish you and your families a Hannukah full of light and love” @zohrankmamdani

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Hanukah in NYC friends and family gather to celebrate the light !!! We rededicate ourselves to move towards peace and justice and equality for all !!! On this night we remember the words of MLK JR “Only light can drive out darkness; hate cannot drive out hate, only love
can do that"
Thank you to the not one but TWO incredible #rabbis @abbychavastein and @ar_korm for leading us in beautiful blessings !!

“A shining/bright Chanikah
May we keep shining.
May we let it shine.” @abbychavastein

Thank you to everyone for coming and sharing your light -special thanks to @anamariaforny co chair @nywfp, @analilia_mejia @analiliafornj the Co-Executive Director at @centerforpopulardemocracy who was @berniesanders political director 2020 and head of who is running for congress NJ 11, @abbychavastein @friendwhoisaboy for all you did to get @zohrankmamdani elected and for your new roles in #transition creating NYC for EVERYONE!! And to #morrispearl tireless advocate for #incomequality! @patrioticmillionaires

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FIONAFEST 2025 once again everybody say thank you @klsybrn for having a digi with flash

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