Jewish Grief: Does it Weaken Us or Unify Us? (Z3 Podcast Ep. 11: Dr. Mijal Bitton)

In the latest Z3 podcast episode Rabbi Amitai Fraiman, our host and head of Z3, is joined by Dr. Mijal Bitton, who serves as the Rosh Kehilla (communal leader) of the Downtown Minyan community in Lower Manhattan. Examining the effects of the Oct. 7 massacre on the Jewish communities in Israel and America, they dig into what the role of grief plays in the Jewish response to tragedy and how it can connect us and also empower us to action. They also discuss the ways in which different types of support are needed for different areas of communities: how do we support Israelis who were directly impacted and still suffer accutely? How do we support young people on campuses who are now facing rising levels of antisemitism? All this and more in this episode. More about Dr. Mijal Bitton: Mijal is a Visiting Researcher at NYU Wagner and the Director of the first national study of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in the United States. She earned her doctorate from New York University, is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and was featured in the New York Jewish Week’s “36 under 36” in 2018 as a “public intellectual” with ‘public values.” Mijal is a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, a Sacks Scholar, a Maimonides Fund fellow, and a New Pluralist Field Builder. Follow Z3 here: Instagram - instagram.com/z3project/ TikTok - tiktok.com/@z3project LinkedIn- linkedin.com/company/z3-project Facebook - facebook.com/Z3Project/ Twitter - twitter.com/Z3_Project Website - z3project.org/