How can Jewish texts help us to think through the social politics of the contemporary climate crisis? Bringing feminist disability insights to ancient Jewish narratives, Julia Watts Belser argues that Jewish stories about the destruction of Jerusalem can be a powerful companion for thinking about climate disruption and the contemporary pandemic. This talk will grapple with the politics of risk, examining how race, class, gender, and disability intertwine to force certain bodies to bear the brunt of the storm. It will also explore how these stories invite us to reconsider the spiritual work of navigating tumultuous change so that we can reimagine hope from within the heart of crisis.

he 2021 Samuel & Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies are cosponsored by the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and the Disability Studies Program at the University of Washington, and by the Washington Coalition of Rabbis.