On Holy Saturday, as Palestinian Christians tried to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Israeli security forces started attacking and arresting them, demonstrating a clear violation of religious freedoms.
When women actively support one another by sharing information, recommending colleagues for opportunities, and amplifying achievements, they help counterbalance these structural disadvantages. These behaviours reflect what psychologists often describe as prosocial leadership—using one's position or influence to help others succeed.
More than 1,000 Jews, mostly in their 20s and 30s, from around the world united over the past week in New York City to share experiences, hear lectures, make connections and build bridges with relationships. They arrived, spending time in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, from places ranging from Montana to Miami; Brooklyn to Birmingham, Alabama; London to Taiwan; Australia to South America; Singapore, Estonia, France and all over the United States, finding similarities and solidarity in a post-Oct. 7 world.
Then came Minneapolis. The massive ICE crackdown there - with its stories of federal law enforcement shooting U.S. citizens, separating families and deporting undocumented people, even those trying to go through legal channels - led Leigh to feel called in a new way, to go to Minnesota and join the opposition. He didn't end up doing it. But some of his congregants began pushing: What are we doing? How are we defending democratic norms?
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was a religious reformer, Puritan dissident, midwife, and alleged prophetess whose beliefs and influence brought her into conflict with the magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, especially its governor, John Winthrop (1588-1649), in 1636-1638. She was the central voice of the so-called Antinomian Controversy, which divided the colony and, to the magistrates, threatened its mission and continued existence.
For thirty years, I watched this woman explain every decision she made. Why she worked part-time when the kids were young. Why she went back full-time when they were older. Why she didn't want to join the PTA. Why she did want to take that art class. Always explaining, always justifying, always making sure everyone understood her reasons. Then she turned fifty, and it all stopped.
Putting on makeup. Like, we're supposed to disguise ourselves; otherwise, people think we didn't take this outing seriously, didn't care enough, or didn't act professionally. In some ways, beauty standards are social obligations. Keeping up with nails, clothes, hair, etc., that's almost an expectation in some relationships.