For Times Such as These: A Radical's Guide to the Jewish Year

by Ariana Katz, Jessica Rosenberg

This contemporary companion to the Jewish year cycle is not only a bellwether for radical Jews who want their lives and practice to be rooted in their political commitments but also an educational resource in Jewish tradition, holidays, and ritual. With a chapter for each month of the Hebrew calendar, For Times Such as These offers spiritual practices and holiday rituals rooted in movements for racial justice, decolonization, feminism, and queer and trans liberation. Each chapter opens with an invocation by liturgist and healer Dori Midnight and illuminated by artist Sol Weiss. Highlighting each month’s spiritual and cultural qualities, Rabbi Ariana Katz and Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg summarize and provide commentary on Torah readings; examine the texts, histories, and contemporary customs of Jewish holidays; and offer questions to reflect on and engage spiritually with the month. This work provides a guide for creative action and ritual making throughout the seasons, an exploration of anti-Zionist Judaism, and spiritual-cultural invitation to embody and expand decolonial, anti-racist, queer, and feminist Jewish practice.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Religion

400 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[Nadav David · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the authors (Rabbi Jessica) is a dear friend, AND I really believe this is a generational defining book, one we’ll be talking about, referencing, pulling quotes from, and reminiscing about for years to come. For Times Such as These is beautiful both as a mirror to the powerful queer, left, anti/non Zionist organizing we’ve been doing, and as a guide to the future we’re building and making possible together. This book offers inspiration and tools to weave Jewish text, ritual and history into our work and our lives, especially amidst unending horror and genocide in Palestine, happening in our name as Jews and with our US tax dollars / weapons. This book was critical in an important turning point in my own life, where I’ve recommitted in new ways to Jewish practice and learning, so I’m not being dramatic when I say it was life changing to dig into this. I think this book will move you regardless of your relationship to Judaism, it’s needed as a balm for the times we’re living through.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I rejoiced that this book existed when I found it and, now that I have read it, I am even more delighted.

What a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to explore the Jewish year, especially from a Leftist perspective.

I am not Jewish but this book has both taught me so much about Judaism and offered me an invitation to further explore the calendar year of my own tradition (Christianity) in a similar way. This is something that I had already begun but 'For Times Such as These' has given me so many new ways of thinking about that.

The resources and bibliography alone are worth reading this book for. I fully intend to explore them all.

Endless gratitude to the authors for this work of heart. I know that I will return to it many times.

[Maya G · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good it accidentally became a personality trait

[Anya Kaplan Hartnett - AKH! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and entirely helpful! Has been such a joy to read along w/ months and pick out new themes and questions to carry with me. Will surely be incorporating portions into the various seders I am attending.

[Ariiiii · Rating 5 out of 5]

The queer, leftist Jewish text I’ve been waiting for my whole dang life!! Picked up where Waskow left off in Seasons of Our Joy and added so much richness and nuance to each entry.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific introduction to Jewish festivals for people who have previously felt alienated from Judaism because of the ways in which its been tied to Zionism. Rabbis Katz and Rosenberg do a wonderful job situating each month of the year, the Torah portions, holidays, and ways to commemorate each time period. What I especially like are the alternative ways to mark various times of the year - for example, for Tu'bshvat instead of the Zionist-Jewish National Fund tree planting in apartheid Israel, they offer ways to provide reparations for Palestinian communities besieged by Israel. It's a wonderful book and contains terrific footnotes for further reading too!

[Michael Sasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

P13 We write this book without any attempt at objectivity [...] we are practitioners who are deeply embedded in the movements we are describing.
P17 We include Torah here because we are in a lineage of text wrestlers.
P18 This book is a snapshot in time of the rituals and practices, fears and joys that our communities hold close today.

See also pp 3, 74, 229 (for anti-statist quote in Pirke Avot), 265/269 (and all of chapter on Av for Jewish capacity to hold and express grief), 374. See pp 213-4 & 371 for discussion on cultural appropriation where I may be in some tension with authors.

[Stephanie Kane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book over the entire Jewish year and there were parts of it that really impacted and stuck with me a but a lot that felt honestly like a stretch- I think this is a really powerful text for people who find their Judaism deeply connected to leftist politics or who want to build that connection, however that isn't necessarily my jam. And that's okay!

[Becky Baylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful to the authors for writing this book. This guide is helping me align my spirituality with my values and makes me so proud to be Jewish.