Kriyat Habonim Blog

The Only Jew in the Village Growing up Jewish at a non-Jewish state school “Jewish or Private?” This was one of the first questions my mother was asked a few months before I entered secondary school. “Neither, she’s going to the local mixed comprehensive.” My mum...

Habonim Dror United Kingdom Yom Hashoah Tekkes 2020: Remembering Through Memory On Tuesday 21stApril, Habonim Dror came together with members, alumni and parents to commemorate Yom Hashoah. Our movement members bravely and beautifully shared the memories of their...

We’re approaching pesach - one of the holiest chaggim in the Jewish calendar. We celebrate the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian rule and think deeply into what it means to be oppressed. Whilst I’m all for delving into my Jewish history and learning about our...

Max with the fax Well...March 2020, probably the most significant and memorable of months for all of us. A lot happened in March: a virus has spread across the world effecting thousands, Harvey Weinstein finally saw justice and the Me Too movement had a big win and...

Purim is a confusing chag. Like many chaggim, it’s when we remember a story from our collective past, and like many other Jewish stories it includes a pretty substantial amount of suffering. But why on Purim, remembering a time when Haman literally wanted “to destroy,...

‘Tit-illation’; Double Standards and the Censorship of the Female Breast I’m sure we’re all familiar with the #FreeTheNipple movement - it’s slogan is often the butt of a joke or the half-baked battle cry of someone trying to mock modern Western feminism’s current...

Tu bishvat Tu B'Shevat is the Hebrew date specified as the new year for trees. Trees are vital. As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give life to the world's wildlife, providing them with habitats and nutrients...

Disability vs Impairment Recently on my uni course we have been talking a lot about disability and impairment and how they have become social problems, rather than just things that people have in their lives.  One of the main discussions that is brought up is that of...

Shalom chaverim, In this blog entry, I’ll be delving into the issue of categorisation, and discussing this phenomenon’s lasting impacts on the societies in which we live today. To many of you, categorisation is likely not a topic that you will have considered with...

The story of Chanukah is a fairly simple one. A typical “they tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” Torah story. The most controversial part of it is in fact the spelling of the name of this chag (Chanukah, Hanukah, Chanukkah, Hanukka etc). However, I feel more...