Public Speaking/ Writings/ Text Study
We are blessed to have a wonderful writer and teacher in Rabbi Michael Rothbaum. This page highlights Rabbi Mike's writings and teachings in a variety of venues.
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and (Almost) Love the Maccabees"
November, 2021
Rabbi Mike was requested to write about Chanukah for jewishboston.com and submitted THIS ARTICLE.
The Maccabees’ reprehensible acts still permanently exclude them from the catalogue of Jewish heroes, but they nevertheless inspire us to insist on publicizing our Jewish identity.
"How one Synagogue's Social Justice Engagement Led the Way to Renewal and Revitalization"
CLI Blog ♦ November 1, 2021
Rabbi Mike authored this article that has been published in the CLI Blog. Rabbi Mike wrote about social action and its impact on CBE.
The Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) is a two-year program to support and encourage rabbis serving congregations or other new models of spiritual community in the areas of innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
A Better Future For Israelis & Palestinians: Affirming the Sacredness of All Human Life (4-Part Series)
October 6, 2021
The Islamic Council of New England [ICNE] and Boston Workers Circle [BWC] came together to create a speaker series titled: "A Better Future for Israelis and Palestinians - Affirming the Sacredness of All Human Life." This series took place in October and November, 2021.
This 4-part series provided opportunities for us as Jews, Muslims and Christians to consider many perspectives and narratives from which to think about the current situation in Israel and Palestine.
Rabbi Mike was a featured speaker on the first evening of the series on October 6th, 2021, titled "Can We Talk/Listen? Reflections from a Rabbi & Imam". You can view a video recording of the talk HERE. The speakers were:
*Rabbi Sharon Brous, IKAR, Opening Reflection
*Rabbi Mike Rothbaum, Congregation Beth Elohim
*Dr. Mohamed Lazzouni, Islamic Center of Boston
Moderator - Mehlaqa Samdani, Critical Connections
"Marching For The Generations": Rabbi Mike's video as part of Joel Chasnoff's "digital Haggadah" project - March, 2021
Following our fundraiser with him, Joel Chasnoff asked Rabbi Mike to be part of his digital Haggadah project. Click on the image to access Joel Chasnoff's digital Haggadah project site and scroll down to Rabbi Mike's video.
ActonTV Interview - February, 2021
Vivian Kobusingye Birchall recently interviewed Rabbi Mike about Jewish identity and racial justice on ActonTV. He talked about his experience as a Rabbi pursuing racial justice in the Town of Acton.
Rabbi Mike also talked about some of the reasons behind anti-blackness, the idolization of whiteness and ways in which religion is weaponized against people of color and other minorities.
Click the below image to watch the interview!
"The Commission on Unalienable Rights: A U.S. Assault on Human Rights" a webinar held on May 7, 2020. The U.S. State department created a Commission on Unalienable Rights, with a purpose of establishing a very narrowly-defined set of “religious” values by which to guide U.S. diplomacy regarding human rights. The RFK Center is lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to disband the commission. Rabbi Mike was invited to be on a panel with Kerry Kennedy and representatives of other human rights organizations, to represent a religious point-of-view. Read more about the webinar | Read more about the lawsuit | View the webinar Rabbi Mike is introduced and then speaks around minute 57:00.
"Celebrating Passover and Easter in the Time of Coronavirus" on KPFA radio, April 10, 2020. Listen to the podcast in which Rabbi Mike participated.
"Passover During a Pandemic: The Art of Surviving and Thriving", Sojourners magazine, April 1, 2020.
Rabbi Mike’s "Prayer for Workers": Written by Rabbi Mike. Published during the Coronavirus pandemic in published in Ritualwell and on Open Siddur”
On Human Rights Day, 70 Jewish Communities Start Confronting Racism :This post was co-written by Rabbi Ellen Lippmann and our Rabbi Michael Rothbaum, on behalf of Truah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.
At services this Rosh Hashana, a familiar social justice refrain (Religion News Services) Rabbi Mike was quoted.
Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parshat Re’eh with Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (Jewish Journal, August 31, 2019)
Rabbi Mike was invited, on Rosner's Torah Talk, to discuss this week's Torah Portion, focusing on economic justice in the parsha.
We Jews Must Resist Assimilating Into the Whiteness Pushed by Trump and Netanyahu //Ha'aretz.com
I Marched for Hector // Unions.org
'Good Jew' or 'Bad Jew'? How U.S. Progressive Activists Police Jewish Participation // Ha'aretz.com
How Jews Can Reclaim Our Country From The Gaslighter-in-Chief // Forward.com
Text Study
For T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights,a text study regarding housing, jobs, and income. Everybody’s Got A Right to Live: Jobs, Income, the Right to Organize and Housing
For T'ruah, about the "Black Friday 14", a group of Black Lives Matter activists who chained themselves to a BART [Bay Area subway] train on Black Friday 2014 to protest police violence. A Plan Devised Against Them: Oppression and Justice, Then and Now