sacred texts

The Importance of HAPPINESS during Challenging Times

Hanan Harchol

We present these animation and study guides on happiness during challenging times, aware that this topic may feel difficult or inappropriate for many. And yet, our tradition frequently acknowledges that as a community and as individuals, we often hold more than one emotion at any given moment.

Jewish Ethics

Awe: What Does Judaism Teach Us?

Hanan Harchol

Jewish Food for Thought is a series of animations that distill Jewish teachings into a form that is accessible, entertaining, funny, and fresh. Created by Hanan Harchol, with study guides authored by Rabbi Leora Kaye, the project is funded by The Covenant Foundation, with fiscal sponsorship by The Foundation for

sacred texts

Justice/Charity/Tzedakah

Hanan Harchol

Hanan Harchol's new animation, "Justice/Charity/Tzedakah," is part of Jewish Food For Thought: The Animated Series -- a collection of animated conversations that explore Jewish teachings on themes such as forgiveness, love, and gratitude. In these animations, Hanan impersonates the voices of his mother and father, z"l.

Black and white shadowy image of a hand dropping a ballot into a box

Voting Rights

The Commandment to Vote: Jewish Texts on Voting and Fair Elections

Rabbi Ed Stafman

Rabbi Mark Hurvitz

Judaism’s wisdom tradition teaches that “You do not need to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it." We must exercise the right to vote as a sacred Jewish duty and demand that all ballots are fairly counted.

View from behind of a person blowing a shofar into the sunset while wearing a prayer shawl that covers their head and back

COVID-19

Unetaneh Tokef in the Time of a Pandemic

Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

September 10, 2020

The Unetaneh Tokef has a long list of ways that people die, often violently, a way of shocking us into realizing our mortality. The original prayer, however, can be traumatizing. This version seeks a more empathetic approach to mortality.