FOR TIMES SUCH AS THESE: A RADICAL'S GUIDE TO THE JEWISH YEAR 

Charis welcomes Rabbis Ariana Katz and Jessica Rosenberg in conversation with Amy Jaret for a discussion of For Times Such as These: A Radical's Guide to the Jewish Year, a revolutionary guide to Jewish practice rooted in social justice, feminism, and queer liberation. This event is co-hosted with the Jewish Voices for Peace Atlanta (JVP). JVP Atlanta envisions a world where all people - from the US to Palestine - live in freedom, justice, equality, and dignity. They believe that through organizing, we can and will dismantle the institutions and structures that sustain injustice and grow something new, joyful, beautiful, and life-sustaining in their place.
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.
Rabbi Ariana Katz is the founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl, a warm and joyful congregation in Baltimore, Maryland.
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg is an organizer, activist, and writer based in South Minneapolis.
They are members of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council and core organizers of the Radical Jewish Calendar project.
Amy Jaret is a daughter, mother, teacher, and Jewish organizer raised on Muskogee Land in Atlanta, GA. Her Judaism is a mash-up of Orthodox and Conserv-odox early education, lessons learned as a rare observant Jew in public school, the Quaker values she immersed herself in during college, and an anti-Zionist politic that invites us to question assumptions we make about safety, security, fear, and “the other,” and centers the Jewish experience in Diaspora as one that is personally meaningful and deeply connects us with history and with the land. Amy (jokingly) identifies as an interfaith rebbetzin, as she is about to celebrate ten years with her spouse, Darci, a pastor at Atlanta’s Park Avenue Baptist Church. Currently, Amy organizes with Jewish Voice for Peace Atlanta, as a convenor of the JVP Havurah, which holds space for Jewish cultural and ritual experiences beyond Zionism.