We'll be reading John Berger's "Twelve Theses on the Economy of the Dead" in conversation with Mishnah Berakhot 3.1, to learn more about what blessing does, and to get a sense of the ways in which our dead ground Jewish community and spiritual practice generally.

David Mahfouda (he/him) is a Rabbinical Student and Teaching Fellow at Hebrew College, and recent Student Rabbi at Congregation Or HaTzafon in Fairbanks, Alaska. Prior to attending Hebrew College, David was an artist and curator at the Proteus Gowanus Gallery in Brooklyn, where he co-founded the Fixers Collective — an anarchist repair community that gathered weekly to fix broken things. He was also the founder and CEO of an early digital ride shaing platform, Bandwagon — which operated for 10 years, facilitating shared taxi rides at New York City Airports and other transportation hubs. David really loves gathering (people), and practice (all kinds, spiritual, Jewish, athletic, artistic, etc.), and believes that his artistic and technical inclinations stem from deep-rooted Jewish values around redemption and interdependence. In addition to rabbinical school, David loves dancing, cooking, hiking, and singing — and he’s really excited about the new project he’s co-directing at Hebrew College — the Shul Lunch Coop!