Standing Out or Blending In? Passing vs Looking Jewish in Texts and Today

A virtual event presentation by Rav Sarah Mulhern

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Chai & Temple Emanuel        

About the Event: 

Is there a value to being publicly identifiable as Jewish? Is there a value to looking more like our non-Jewish neighbors? In this session, we will explore how Jewish texts have engaged with these questions over time, and interrogate our instincts and experiences. We will focus on classical Jewish texts about distinctive Jewish dress to launch a broad conversation about the ethics of passing and outing oneself and when and how we wish to display our Jewishness or other identities to the broader world when we do not, and why.

About the Speaker: 

Rav Sarah Mulhern is a Rabbi, educator, and community builder. She serves as the Rabbi of Silverstein Base Lincoln Park, opening her home and her heart to young adults in Chicago. She passionately believes that Torah matters and that Judaism can enrich human life and better society. 

Rav Sarah is also a nationally-regarded Torah educator, frequently teaching in a wide variety of Jewish adult education settings, particularly on topics of ethics, gender, and Jewish practice. As a rabbi, some of her areas of focus include grief support, feminist and queer niddah education, and crafting joyful halachic egalitarian life cycle rituals. She is deeply committed to inspiring traditional prayer and is a passionate shaliach tzibur. 

Rav Sarah was ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, where she also earned a Master's in Jewish Education, and received private rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes. She is an alumna of Brandeis University, Yeshivat Hadar, Pardes Institute, Drisha Institute, Beit Midrash Har El, the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and the David Hartman Center Fellowship. She can be reached at sarahemulhern@gmail.com or @Rav_Sarah.

*Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ROWtjcrXYoV_Gxzz-l184CLig_xVkAxv/view

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