Matthew Gindin is a journalist, educator and freelance writer located in Vancouver, BC. He is the Pacific Correspondent for the Canadian Jewish News, writes regularly for the Forward and the Jewish Independent and has been published in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Religion Dispatches, Kveller, Situate Magazine, and elsewhere. He also writes on Medium from time to time.
Jewish Conservative pundits who have long stood for family values and moral rectitude but now stand with Trump have revealed what apparently lurked underneath the whole time, in a manner no less maddening than the Evangelical Trump supporters who can lift their hand from a posture of prayer to shake the hand of a man…
To which of the many threats posed by the Trump administration should the Jewish community give most of its attention? The repellent and frightening resurgence of anti-Semitism? The inhumane persecution of undocumented immigrants? The loosening of gun regulations? The discriminatory and irrational Muslim ban? Collusion with Russia? All of these are important, but I fear…
Visual artist Sammy Slabbinck, who was responsible for the album cover for Leonard Cohen’s critically acclaimed final album “You Want It Darker,” has released a lyric video for the track “Traveling Light” from the same album. The song, like others from Cohen’s last months, combines mature introspection with haunting intimations of mortality. “I’m traveling light,”…
Editor’s note: In Ashkenazi Jewish folklore, the (very real) city of Chelm functions as an imaginary town of fools. Many tales from this tradition are entitled “The Wise Men of Chelm.” The following piece continues in that tradition. Lately, the people of Chelm had been afraid. A number of townspeople, afflicted by poverty and unhappiness,…
“The truth,” writes Bernard Henri-Levy in his recent book, The Genius of Judaism, “is that one can now be anti-Semitic only by being anti-Zionist; anti-Zionism is the required path for any anti-Semitism that wishes to expand its recruiting pool beyond those still nostalgic for the discredited brotherhoods.” Is that true, or has the ancient virus…
Radiohead has added a new date to their global tour for “A Moon Shaped Pool,” and it’s a significant one for their Israeli fans. In a tweet earlier today, the British art-rock deities announced they would play Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 19th. According to Billboard this is the fourth time Radiohead…
Imam Hassan Guillet surprised mourners at a funeral for three victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting which left 6 dead and several others wounded, some critically, by expressing empathy for the shooter himself. His eulogy was praised online by many in the days following, including an appreciative tweet by no less than JK Rowling….
Some American Jews may now find themselves in a largely unprecedented predicament: that of praying against their own government. It is well known among synagogue goers that there is a prayer for the U.S. government in most prayer books, recited on Shabbat after the Torah service (usually followed by a prayer for the welfare of…
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