Doikayt, or "hereness" in Yiddish, has become a common catchphrase among Jewish critics of Zionism, who cite its importance for the Jewish Labor Bund. But what are the origins of the term? And how did it fit into the Bund's ideology? This lecture presents some research into these questions and proposes an alternative origin for doikayt that forces us to rethink its more recent uses.

Join us for the Radical Jewish Reading Circle: three evenings of reading, thinking, and conversation about radical thinkers of Jewish origin.

This month we turn to Rosa Luxemburg, starting with her famous 1917 letter to Mathilde Wurm, in which she declared: "I have no special corner in my heart for the ghetto: I am at home in the entire world wherever there are clouds and birds and human tears." Born in 1871 to a Jewish family in Russian-controlled Poland, Lux... Read more

Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1524-1609)—the Maharal of Prague—is famous for the Golem legend, but his actual philosophical and theological system is far more complex and daring than the myth suggests. Together, we will explore selections from the Maharal’s prolific writings, examining his ideas about language, Torah study, the nature of time, and the relationship between the divine and the material world. The Maharal's unique blend of rationalism and mysticism has much to offer the modern ... Read more

Join us for the Radical Jewish Reading Circle: three evenings of reading, thinking, and conversation about radical thinkers of Jewish origin.

This month we explore Gustav Landauer, the anarchist philosopher and activist who wrote: "The state is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of behavior; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by behaving differently toward one another." Born in 1870 to a Jewish family in Karl... Read more

Join us for the Radical Jewish Reading Circle: three evenings of reading, thinking, and conversation about radical thinkers of Jewish origin.

This month we turn to Emma Goldman, the anarchist firebrand who declared: "The most violent element in society is ignorance." Born in 1869 to a Jewish family in Kovno, Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), Goldman became the most notorious anarchist in America. A fearless advocate of free speech, birth control, ... Read more