co-create a more possible world

Life is a Sacred Text is blooming— and we need your help. 

Back in February, I announced our new chapter. I told you how, after four and a half years of Torah commentary, we’re entering a whole new world.

And we’ve been doing just that: Writing toward defying empire; offering practical tools for more effective changemaking; tips for perservering; walking you through ways to nourish and replenish yourself through it all. We've also begun to get into the moral and narrative perspectives on the prophetic books, and navigated some big questions about a couple of holidays in between.

But there’s a piece of the puzzle that's missing: Who we are and why we need you to be a part of this process.

Amidst the sea of billionaire-owned media, Life is a Sacred Text is entirely reader-funded, so that we can keep telling the truths that love on our world and come up with strategies to fight harm– and build something bigger, together.

In 2024, we moved off Substack—that Nazi-tolerating, Elon-sycophantic for-profit machine. Then nestled into our home here on Ghost—recently recognized as a “digital public good” by the DPGA— making us a fully independent public education project.

This is more than just a newsletter: We're a community of readers building a movement that ties our own becoming to the grander project of collective liberation. And we have big plans.

But to build towards this, we need your support. We need more House of Study members. 

And, so we're all clear: in addition to our content changes, we are actively laying the foundation for the growth of this community (here, in no particular order:)

1. We're working on a training for liberatory work series with absolutely unbelievable guest teachers that's soon to be unveiled and can have a real impact, I believe.
2. We’re upgrading the website, big time. We’re working on a new look and more streamlined navigation. There’ll be a LiST menu, of sorts. You’ll be able to return to the pieces you love, sort by theme or need, and find treasures you may have missed. All coming very, very soon. 
3. With that, we’ll be making more opportunities for more active participation, both within this space and beyond. We're hoping that this upgrade will make it easier to have more engaged conversation together in a number of ways, both in this virtual space and beyond.
4. And as part of that, we’re working on ways to move the conversation off the page. That is to say: We're working towards building local networks of readers so that you have access to the other folks who share this part of yourself with you. So you can connect, meet up, support one other in many ways. Keep an eye out for that soon, too.  

But we can't do any of this in a vacuum.

Joining the House of Study is the most direct way you can support LiST’s vision. And if you're already a member, consider upping your tier, telling a friend about this project, or both?

As you know, we grow off the algorithm. So, spreading the word to even one friend who might enjoy better understanding the world, having new ways to nourish themselves and/or tools to make the world better is everything— literally. 

In other words, if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to jump in:
Now is the time. 

Let’s keep this thing blooming, yeah? 

With utmost gratitude,  

RDR❤️🌱

House of Study Nourishment

For just six bucks a month (ONE FANCY COFFEE) or $60 per year (17% discount), House of Study Members get: 

• 📚Exclusive Thursday essays: conversations with more wild, transformative teachings, healing modalities, ways to navigate this moment, peeks behind the curtain at my process
• 🌱Ask the Rabbi and Ask the Community opens threads: bespoke advice, recommendations, and connection.
• ❤️Supporting the labor that goes into these longer, free Monday essays 
• 🎉Free goodies & so much more! 

And, as always: Thank you.