Halachic Left

10/09/2026

✨ Thank you to everyone who came out to New York Society For Ethical Culture on Tuesday night to hear Brad Lander in conversation with Maya Rosen. Topics included Judaism, Torah, Israel, Palestine, city politics, daylight savings time, and more! Link to the recording in the comments below!

10/05/2026

Join us in NYC TOMORROW (Tuesday, Oct 6) at New York Society For Ethical Culture for a conversation with Brad Lander on how his Judaism has affected his politics, and vice versa. Moderated by HL community member and Jewish Currents Associate Editor Maya Rosen.

Light kosher dinner will be served. RSVP at the link in our bio!

(*Halachic Left does not endorse Congressional candidates.)

09/28/2026

Very troubling story, with HL's own dvar Torah/reader essay writer Ya'aqov Shenkin at the center (gift link).

"Israel has revoked the aliya approval issued by the Jewish Agency of two Jewish activists in their 20s – one a British citizen and the other an American – who do not know each other. Both have been active in recent years in protective presence in the West Bank, which involves staying in Palestinian communities to deter settler and military violence and document attacks.

The two were informed of the revocation after the Jewish Agency, which handles immigration from Western countries, had approved their applications. The Population and Immigration Authority has not yet given a reason for halting the process. In response to a query from Haaretz, however, it did not deny that the reason was their involvement in protecting Palestinians from settler violence."

In both cases, the protective-presence activists, who did not know each other, had their passports photographed by a soldier or settler. These are the first known cases in which Israeli authorities appear to be violating the Law of Return

09/25/2026

Join us in NYC on Tuesday, Oct 6 for a conversation with Brad Lander! Moderated by HL community member and Jewish Currents Associate Editor Maya Rosen.
Light kosher dinner will be served. RSVP at the link in the comments!

09/22/2026

"More than 300 students, teachers, and parents from New York’s two largest Modern Orthodox day schools gathered outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence. They prayed. Then a series of rabbis and students delivered speeches protesting the mayor’s stance on Israel. They were joined by several pro-Israel local politicians and dozens of journalists. But not everyone in the community was on board. A group of over 380 alumni, parents, grandparents, and current students of the schools signed a letter to the schools’ leadership protesting against the protest."

Read the rest in SAR alum Alex Augenbraun's report in the Hunter College Envoy!

Author’s note: I attended SAR from sixth through twelfth grade. Principal of SAR Academy Rabbi Benjamin Krauss speaking near Gracie Mansion on 09/18/2026, New York City. (Photo Credit: Alex A…

09/17/2026

"Ramaz and SAR, prominent Modern Orthodox schools in Manhattan, plan to send hundreds of high school students Friday morning to hold prayer services outside the official residence of the mayor, an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu....

Now, a petition to the heads of the two schools to cancel the event has collected more than 180 signatures from parents, alumni and current students."

Are you a member of the Ramaz or SAR communities? Sign the letter at the link in our comments! (*note that the letter actually requests the gathering be relocated to a neutral location, rather than canceled)

Hundreds of high schoolers from Ramaz and SAR in New York City are set to descend on the mayor’s residence to ‘express our Zionism’