JewThink

02/02/2026

Tiferes Yael, a Psychologist and Psychotherapist, takes a look at the festival of Tu B'shvat (celebrated today). Her work is at the intersection of Jewish mysticism and psychology. Read more here:

Tiferes Yael approaches Tu Bishvat as a developmental and ethical threshold: a moment when life becomes more inwardly rooted in order to stabilise, preserve continuity, and mature. Drawing on Torah, Kabbalah, and Hasidic thought, alongside attachment-based psychoanalytic and trauma-informed psycholo...

29/01/2026

www.JewThink.org has relaunched!

We're now a self-publishing platform, so you can sign up as a writer and publish your work. We will be curating the best articles to go on our homepage.

Tell us what you think of the new website!

Explore diverse perspectives on Jewish thought, culture, history, and contemporary issues.

13/10/2023

As we contemplate Shabbat and try and process the last week's harrowing events, it's worth thinking back to last weekend and mourning the lost festivity. JewThink compiled these accounts of what it felt like to 'celebrate' Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah in 2023. Thanks to all who contributed.

Perhaps we should mourn the festivity that was taken away from us, just as we mourn the deaths and suffering that occurred during that festival. JewThink solicited contributions from British Jews reflecting on their experiences of the festival. Let us remember these ruptures even as we try and come....

09/10/2023

JewThink is collating British Jewish reminiscences and reactions of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah 5784/2023. I will probably publish them on JewThink in the next few days but I am open to suggestions for publication elsewhere. This is intended to be a kind of 'first draft of history', or an oral history written in the heat of the moment. Please consider contributing and/or sharing. Here are the details. DO NOT SUBMIT WITHOUT READING FIRST:

1. Send me your accounts of what it meant to experience Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah in Britain this year. When did you get the news of what was happening in Israel? How did it impact on the holiday? What happened in synagogue? Was a celebration of sorts of the festival still possible? How did the rabbi and other lay leaders adapt services? For those who are not practicing, how did the awareness that this was a Jewish holiday seep in?

2. This is an unashamedly parochial project: It's for British Jews across the spectrum and is intended to capture what it meant to be a Jew in Britain at one particular moment in time. No need to explain 'insider' vocabulary.

3. While political reactions may be worth writing about (and no position on the Jewish political spectrum is excluded from this project) this isn't the place for manifestos or podium-style speeches. But you are allowed to be as angry as you wish, as confused as you wish, as terrified as you wish and - yes - as apathetic as you wish. Overt racism will not be published though: Remember, this one project is about you, not them.

4. Maximum 500 words. A proofread would be helpful but stylistic rawness is fine.

5. Please state clearly whether you wish your contribution to be anonymous or attributed. Either is fine. Be aware that JewThink content is creative commons so may be shared (although not commercially). If you have safety concerns or want to express something that might subsequently come back to haunt you - stay anonymous.

6. Submit to [email protected] by the end of the week.

7. Feel free to share this call, but make sure you include all the information if you do.

09/01/2023

Nathan Abrams considers the Jewishness of Jordan Peele's Nope.
Read it here:

Nathan Abrams considers the Jewishness of Jordan Peele’s Nope. Two alternative names have been suggested for Jordan Peele’s latest film, Nope, but which have already been taken: “Don’t Look Up” and “Don’t Look Now”. I am going to suggest an alternative if already taken title: Eyes Wi...

05/12/2022

Where Do You Really Come From?

In the wake of yet another royal race row, reflects on where Jews come from. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/12/05/where-do-you-really-come-from/

In the wake of yet another royal race row, Gloria Tessler reflects on where Jews come from. Where do you come from? No, where do you really come from? It’s possible that European Jews may have rarely been asked this question. Although it was put to me several times at school by kids who were [&hel...

04/10/2022

Atonement is At One Ment

A new poem about Yom Kippur by - read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/10/04/atonement-is-at-one-ment/

A new poem about Yom Kippur by Gloria Tessler. At One Ment is to be an adult. To be an adult is to be Fractured, dissonant, Uncertain. Finding Footsteps in dark And silent places, Losing your way. At One Ment is to be a child. Graciously perceptive, Holding back tears That may hurt an adult, [&helli...

23/09/2022

Mourning a Monarch

In the wake of the Queen’s funeral, reflects on the intense Jewishness of mourning.. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/09/23/mourning-a-monarch/

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In the wake of the Queen’s funeral, Gloria Tessler reflects on the intense Jewishness of mourning. Does it make me a royalist that like so many I was glued to the screen watching the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as endless queues silently snaked past the coffin which stood draped in the colours o...

23/06/2022

Mixed: Tamar Hodes shares her thoughts about her new book. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/06/23/mixed/

19/05/2022

Liberal Drippings of Pork Fat

Stephen Pogany contributes an exclusive extract from his book Modern Times: The Biography of a Hungarian-Jewish Family. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/05/19/liberal-drippings-of-pork-fat/

19/05/2022

Salonica’s Ghosts

Ross Bradshaw reviews a new book about Jews and Salonica. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/05/18/salonicas-ghosts/

17/05/2022

Keeping Kosher

A new story by MJ Popplewell. Read it here: https://www.jewthink.org/2022/05/17/keeping-kosher/

A new story by MJ Popplewell. Joseph struggled upstairs and into the apartment with his bags. He laid them on the kitchen table and took out a selection of pans: small for milk, medium for vegetables and a large one for meat. He had also bought some cutlery: knives, forks, spoons and so forth, and [...