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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her)

@rabbiemma.bsky.social

310 followers 140 following 100 posts

Human. Friend. Daughter. Sister. Dog-mom. Tante. Canadian. Nerdy Jew. Achieved notoriety as the first female rabbi to work full time in Cape Town, South Africa. Torah. Life. Prayer. Justice. Music. Dogs. LEGO. www.rabbiemmagottlieb.com

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Mar 13

I mean. What the actual.

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Mar 13

That might have been the best tribal council ever. Can’t wait to hear your take on it!

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 19

How can we ensure that life is valued and protected in our communities, our country and throughout our fragile world? #parashapoetryproject #sacredwriting #5785goals #mishpatim #chooselife #prochoice

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 19

I am proud to be part of a people that values life so highly that we cling to hope even when it should have been long lost. I fear deeply for a world in which less and less of our leaders seem to value life at all - other than their own. (Continued in next comment)

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 19

rabbiemmagottlieb.com/2025/02/19/t...

This week some have focused their #parasha studies on Jewish views on abortion. Today especially, the question of how we value and evaluate life takes me far beyond the abortion debate, thinking of all the other ways in which life is valued or not in our world.

The Value of a Life (Mishpatim 5785) – Rabbi Emma Gottlieb

rabbiemmagottlieb.com

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 10

Heartbreaking but not surprising 💔

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 10

How can communities ensure that their leaders have the support they need so that they don’t feel crushed by the weight of leadership? #torahthoughts #parashaponderings with thanks to @steinsaltzcenter app for making daily studies so easy!

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 10

We often visualize leaders as standing above or in front of their constituents but it’s interesting to notice that here the people are standing over Moses. Sometimes being a leader is backbreaking, exhausting, overwhelming, even demoralizing. (Continued in comments)

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

How often do we miss the opportunity to educate or to comfort or to show compassion because we are judging from our own place of experience and privilege? Let’s learn from Moses’ mistake here. Let’s do better.

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Still others may have been acting from a place of trauma due to previous experiences of food insecurity. And yet Moses gets angry with them. How often do we jump to anger from assumptions? How often do we forget to find out why someone has acted counter to our expectations? (Cont to next comment)

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Todays #Torahthought as I study the #parasha: The Israelites seem to disobey Moses’ instructions. Some may have done so intentionally but this commentary notes that some of them may legitimately not have known any better (ie they never got the instructions). (Continued in comments)

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Now can you please build something to replace Facebook and Insta?

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Time to get our feet praying again.

Reposted by Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her)

StandWithUs @standwithus.bsky.social · Feb 7

Throwback: Jewish American Rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, marched in Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in 1965.
#BlackHistoryMonth

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Reposted by Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her)

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Feb 6

The world's richest man is taking food and medicine from the world's poorest children
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/o...

Opinion | The World’s Richest Men Take On the World’s Poorest Children

I’ve seen U.S.A.I.D. operate around the world, and it’s not woke — it’s lifesaving.

www.nytimes.com

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Is there something tangible people can do? I’m not in America but I can help spread recommended action items.

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 7

Great teaching from @steinsaltz.bsky.social Great teaching from @steinsaltzcenter - Every person must face a combination of the miraculous and the routine. How do we find the miraculous in the everyday moments? How do we uplift the routine and find sacredness within it? #torahteaching

Reposted by Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her)

Rabbi Sandra @rabbisandra.bsky.social · Feb 6

"In a place where there are no humans, strive to be a human." (Pirkei Avot 2:5)

When kindness is absent, be the one who shows it. When justice is ignored, be the one who speaks up. Judaism calls us to embody humanity, even when others don’t.

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 6

We must instead commit to the vision we have for the future and step boldly toward it, even if there is a wide wilderness of uncertainty between here and there.

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 6

How can we embrace the truth of our past and draw strength and learning of it to help us cope with and navigate the current moment? Romanticizing a past we cannot return to does not help us. (Continue to next comment)

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 6

They quickly forget their own desperate cries for redemption from slavery now that they have to take responsibility for their own survival. How true is this in our own lives? In what ways to we rewrite their past to escape the frightening realities or struggles of the present? (Cont to next comment)

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 6

Today’s thought on the #parasha inspired by my daily study with the @steinsaltzcenter app: The Israelites rewrite their memories of Egypt in their panic over surviving the harshness of the wilderness. (Continued in comments)

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Reposted by Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her)

Trisha Arlin @trishaarlin3000.bsky.social · Feb 5

triganza.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-pr...

A Prayer for Compassion

New modern and often personal Jewish tefillah and kavanot (prayers and intentions) written by writer/performer and rabbinic student, Trisha Arlin.

triganza.blogspot.com

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Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 5

These are the words we sing as we attain freedom - an acknowledgment that with it, comes the responsibility to accept our potential, and to use our freedom to sustain and not destroy. #chooselife

Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (she/her) @rabbiemma.bsky.social · Feb 5

We are taught that we are created in Gods image, which means we too have the potential to be life-sustaining (like breath) or life-destroying.

(Follow onto next comment for concluding thought)