D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

Special Recent Posts

Hazon Farm Bill Campaign: for Justice and Climate Resilience

July 26th, 2022

The once-every-five-years Farm Bill authorization process is in full swing! This presents an historic opportunity to lower the nearly one third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions spewed by the food system and reshape food production and distribution toward justice and[...]

Eikev and the Seven Species | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

August 22nd, 2019

by Sarah Rockford, JOFEE Fellow Cohort 4, Maine Jewish Food Network at Colby College Center for Small Town Jewish Life – Waterville, ME Parshat Eikev Fourteen years ago I read from parshat Eikev as a bat mitzvah. As I stood on the bimah and chanted[...]

Harvesting and Baking our Heritage | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 28th, 2019

by Hannah Fine - Hazon Detroit Parshat Shelach In parshat Shelach, Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land of Canaan and report back to the Israelites. All of the spies returned with the same objective report. It was a land[...]

Blessing Family & The Earth | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

December 21st, 2018

by Jared Kaminsky, Shoresh Parshat Vayechi In only 3 short months, I’ll be turning 30 years old! I was recently married, and purchased a home, and feel that I have made a massive leap into adulthood. I will one day, G-d willing,[...]

Light In The Dark | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

November 30th, 2018

by Ilana Unger, Pearlstone Center Parshat Vayeishev In parshat Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23), lands on the third Shabbat of Kislev, we connect deeply to this Jewish month of actualization and revelation. For example: Vayeishev is the Hebrew word for “and he lived” (actualization) and[...]

Listen Ya'll! | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

September 21st, 2018

by Alex Voynow, Jewish Farm School Parshat Haazinu [NOTE: Applications for the next JOFEE Fellowship cohort are open now through October 5! Apply today!] In Ha’azinu, Moses sees the Israelites for who they are: humans, scarred by 40 years of impatient wandering and in[...]

Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

August 17th, 2018

by Jared Kaminsky, Shoresh Parshat Shoftim The parsha of the week is Shoftim, which means Judges. As Moses nears the end of his life, he wants to ensure there is a system of governance in society. Shoftim gives detailed ordinances on many topics[...]

The Binary of One | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

August 9th, 2018

by Sofia Marbach, Wilderness Torah Parshat Re'eh I set before you today a blessing and a curse; The blessing, that you will heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the[...]

Reflections on Kindness | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

August 3rd, 2018

by Brenden Jackson, Amir with Shalom Community Farm Houston Parshat Eikev In Parshat Eikev, Moses calls upon his people to reflect on their past in order to remember and obtain the future that was promised to them. As they prepare to enter[...]

Choosing our History | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

July 19th, 2018

by Henry Schmidt, Shalom Institute Parshat Devarim The Torah may be our past, but Devarim, the shared name both for this week’s Torah portion and for the fifth book of the Torah, is our history. What is the difference between past[...]

Why Do We Wander? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

July 13th, 2018

by Eliezer Weinbach, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Hazon Parshat Maasei Earlier this year, Isabella Freedman hosted a Moishe House retreat called “Wandering Jews.” Led by New York Times contributor Eli Reiter, twelve people in their twenties and thirties got together to[...]

Fear and Donkeys | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 28th, 2018

by Henry Schmidt, Shalom Institute Parshat Balak I thought Balak was a story about a donkey. That is to say, when I sat down to write this blog post, I expected to write about the talking donkey we’ll soon meet. Understandably, a talking[...]

Mayim Chayim and Honoring our Mother | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 21st, 2018

by Alex Voynow, Jewish Farm School Parshat Chukat In Chukat, our mother dies. “Miriam died there [at Kadesh] and was buried there. The people were without water and they joined against Moses and Aaron.” ~Numbers 20.1-2 Miriam's death gets one line, and then the[...]

Korach: Disruptive Visionary or Disgruntled Rabble-Rouser? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 14th, 2018

by Eliezer Weinbach, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Hazon Parshat Korach וַיֵּרְדוּ הֵם וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר לָהֶם, חַיִּים--שְׁאֹלָה And they and all their belongings went down, alive, into Sheol Numbers 16:33 I was traveling once, and my tour guide, a wizened Arab, asked me if I wanted[...]

The 12 Spies: What Went Wrong? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 8th, 2018

by Mollie Sharfman, GatherDC Parashat Shlach We put the twelve spies on trial on my Chumash/Bible class in my Jewish Day School when I was thirteen. My friend Leah Estreicher and I were appointed lawyers for the defense team. We studied the[...]

To Kvetch or Not to Kvetch? | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

May 31st, 2018

by Frances Lasday, Teva, Hazon Parshat Behaalotecha What strikes me most about this week's parsha, Behaalotecha, is the kvetching. The parsha (Torah portion) spends an entire chapter retelling several instances where the Jewish people complained endlessly. So, what can we learn from[...]

Shemesh and Service Work: Igniting Holiness Through our JOFEE Work | JOFEE Fellowship Cohort 2 Reflections

February 7th, 2018

We were pleased and proud to graduate the second cohort of JOFEE Fellows last month at our closing seminar at the brand-new Urban Adamah farm and community center in Berkeley, CA. With this cohort’s sixteen fellows, we have now graduated[...]

Wrestling With Darkness | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

December 7th, 2017

by Jacob Weiss, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Hazon Parashat Vayishlach This week’s Torah portion — Vayishlach — is jam packed with complex and significant plot lines that the reader can surely glean valuable lessons from. The parsha opens up with Jacob preparing himself and[...]

"Down To Earth" Judaism | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

November 16th, 2017

by Darya Watnick, Edlavitch DC JCC, Washington, DC Chayei Sarah This week’s Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, literally “The Life of Sarah.” The title is a bit of a misnomer, as Sarah dies in the second verse. This portion instead focuses on[...]

Parashat Vayeira | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

November 9th, 2017

by Brittany Feldman - Hazon - Detroit, Michigan This week's Torah Portion, Vayeira, discusses circumcision, birth, destruction, disobedience, and devotion. With so many themes in one portion, I’m choosing to focus on one that stood out to me the most, disobedience. In[...]

Navigation