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Who Are You to Judge?
Aug 18, 2023 By Ellie Gettinger | Commentary | Shofetim
Writing about Shofetim (Judges) feels like too much at this particular moment, when the judiciary of both the United States and Israel are beset by challenges. In Israel, judicial reform pursued by the ruling party is shifting the balance of powers, pushing Israeli society to a schism. In the US, questions of judicial ethics are at the forefront. What does it mean to have a lifetime appointment, and what is the line between friendship and bribery? Shofetim positions the need for righteous people to preside over courts while acknowledging the ever-present challenge human nature presents to this ideal.
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The Hollywood Blacklist and the Whitewashing of American Culture
Dec 12, 2022 By Ellie Gettinger | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The Hollywood Blacklist is one censorious aspect of the larger Red Scare that limited the freedoms of speech and assembly through the 1950s. Yet the political policing and litmus tests required for screenwriters, actors, and producers in this period led to a monumental shift in the way that American culture was represented on screen (both large and small). This session explores the political climate that led to the blacklist and how it fundamentally changed the film industry.
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The Blessings of Curses
May 27, 2022 By Ellie Gettinger | Commentary | Behukkotai
It is easy to see the last two years as a curse. A million people have died in the US alone; lives have been upended. We are in a constant state of emotional whiplash, responding to whatever new national emergency faces us. Reading the curses at the center of Parashat Behukkotai, I was struck by how chaos and lack of control presented within the tokhehah, or admonition, dovetails with the constant emotional disruption of the pandemic.
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