Author: Neta-Lee Zellweger

This article originally appeared on Alma. I first noticed I was different at my Jewish preschool. I came home with a little bag of crayons and a big question: “Why am I ‘tan’ if all the other kids are ‘apricot’?” I don’t remember how my mom explained my ethnicity, which today I describe as mixed […]

(JTA) — Ten years ago, I sat shocked watching a new music video from one of my creative Jewish heroes, Matisyahu. Newly married and studying in yeshiva, my husband and I were trying to figure out how to uplift the art world in alignment with our Orthodox Torah ideals. Yet here was my icon, Matisyahu […]

(JTA) — Ex-Orthodox Jews seem to be everywhere these days. Many critiques of this summer’s hit Netflix reality series “My Unorthodox Life” have pointed out that its release came on the heels of “Unorthodox” (2020), the successful Netflix drama series about a woman who runs away from her oppressive religious life, and “One of Us,” the […]

(JTA) — Jewish culture is deeply rooted in traditional core values, structures and norms often held by our American Jewish organizations. At the same time, today’s American Jewish community is more diverse and represents more backgrounds than ever.  Yet this diversity is not equitably reflected in our communal spaces. Based on national and local population […]

This article originally appeared on Alma. I’m writing this from Miami, 10 minutes from the beach. There are many reasons to be here — the beach, the sun, the culture. And there are many reasons not to be here. As my grandma keeps calling to tell me, COVID rates are skyrocketing in Florida, and maybe […]

(JTA) — I was a writer before I became a rabbi and High Holiday sermons usually come easily to me. Some years I have so many ideas and teachings and hopes to share that I accidentally write more sermons than I need to give. Not this year. This year I haven’t felt able to begin […]

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — “California Public School Teachers for Hamas.” “LA Teachers Union Rallying Teachers to Condemn Israel.” “When UTLA Educators Decided to Go After a Foreign Country, Guess Which One They Picked?” Those were some of the reactions after the United Teachers Los Angeles debated a May resolution condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza and […]

This article first appeared on Kveller.  When I woke up on Tuesday, at first it seemed like any other morning. I had to get two kids ready for camp (fill water bottles, slather sunscreen, pack the snacks), and I had to get myself ready to attend Ladino class over Zoom (finish a worksheet, slurp coffee, […]

Text Messages, produced with The Jewish Week, is a column sharing wisdom from the weekly Torah portion.  KIBBUTZ HANNATON, Israel (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Like Tikvah, one of the two main characters in my debut novel, “Hope Valley,” I moved to Israel out of Zionist ideology. Growing up, I went to Zionist schools and summer […]

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — The uproar over the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to stop selling its ice cream in “occupied Palestinian territories” is a sort of Jewish personality test. How you reacted is a good indication of what you think about the Israel boycott movement, Israel’s control of the West Bank […]