Raphael Magarik

Sep 17, 2024 | jewishcurrents.org | Raphael Magarik

IN MID-AUGUST, a federal judge ruled that “supporting the Jewish state of Israel” qualifies as a “sincerely held religious belief” protected by the First Amendment for Jewish students at the University of California, Los Angeles. Because the Palestine solidarity encampment erected on campus in April required students who wanted to enter to criticize Israel and Zionism, Judge Mark C.

May 23, 2024 | jewishcurrents.org | Raphael Magarik

Over the past two months, students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza across the United States have called on their universities to divest from Israel and from weapons manufacturers involved in the assault. In many cases, students have also demanded that their schools respect the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. While some university administrations have agreed to negotiate with protesters over divestment, most have refused to consider a boycott.

Apr 19, 2024 | jewschool.com | Raphael Magarik

This piece is part of a השתא הכא/Hashata Hakha, a justice-oriented Haggadah reader with contributions from members of Halachic Left, All That’s Left, and HaSmol HaEmuni, designed by Caroline Morganti, and edited by Liz Bentley, Max Buchdahl, Maya Rosen, Aron Wander, and Netanel Zellis-Paley. Jewschool is proud to partner with this publication in sharing some of the contributions.

Mar 6, 2024 | jewschool.com | Raphael Magarik

People sometimes point to the ending of the book of Esther as a Jewish massacre—the disturbing part of the story that is supposedly suppressed in Sunday school. In Esther 9:16, now with the king on their side, the Judeans kill 75,000 enemies. That has always bugged me, for a simple reason: it’s true that there’s a moral problem in Esther 9, but it’s not that verse.

Jan 8, 2024 | ancientjewreview.com | Raphael Magarik

When they arrive in my introductory course, students have strong assumptions about what the Bible is and how to read it. Many of these assumptions will be familiar to other instructors: that the Bible is a unified text, that we read it to extract homiletical messages, that we can neatly divide between an original message and later corruptions, that every portion of the Bible is about God, and so on. In my experience, students often hold these ideas regardless of their religious beliefs.