November 18, 2022

Kislev 5783

Before we begin: I rely on twitter for finding and embedding content in this newsletter, and that service is--to put it politely--undergoing some upheavals due to new ownership. I am writing this newsletter as if everything is fine, and since the embeds work for now I am sending it with them as is. If they break some time between when i send this and when you read it, I apologize in advance, and will send a better one next time.

Content notes include: antisemitism, transphobia, racism, genocide (shoah), war in Ukraine

Jewish Calendar

Before the next issue of Weird Jewish Digest goes out on December 16th, we'll go through the following parts of the weekly torah reading cycle:

• 11/19 Chayei Sara / חַיֵּי שָֹרָה; jewsletters from that week in 2020 and 2021

• 11/26 Toldot / תּוֹלְדוֹת; jewsletters from that week in 2020 and 2021

• 12/3 Vayetzei / וַיֵּצֵא; jewsletters from that week in 2020 and 2021

• 12/10 Vayishlach / וַיִּשְׁלַח; jewsletters from that week in 2020 and 2021

Sigd is at the end of the current month (Cheshvan), or 11/23 in the secular calendar; it is a holiday celebrated in Israel and traditionally in Ethiopian Jewish communities. The very next day we begin to celebrate Rosh Chodesh Kislev.

Chanukah

Chanukah is at the very end of Kislev, so it will actually be after I send the next newsletter, much like Sigd is in Cheshvan but occurring after this goes out; but I will have some chanukah related links in both as I see them.

Finally Someone Made a Hanukkah Sweater for Reptiles. Or maybe you want a d20 dreidel, or some lovely judaica from Sarah Day Arts' winter drop.

Antisemitism and other bigotries

Dave Chapelle, noted transphobe, pulled some antisemitic shit on SNL. Both transphobia and antisemitism, as they show up these days, rely on a small sneaky traitorous portion of the population having undue power to manipulate others, so it's pretty unsurprising that people likely to fall for one are likely to fall for the other.

That being said, there were some inappropriate responses on social media from white jewish people that i'm not going to repeat or otherwise platform, only to say: don't be racist, okay? okay. glad we're on the same page. Also, Black and Jewish is not a binary, with anyone being (at most) one or the other--Black Jews exist!

If you need some help on wrangling your brain into antiracism, JOCI recently released a document (which, full disclosure, i have not read all of yet) about racial equity informed philanthropy, and the non philanthropy specific parts of it are worth a read whether or not you are involved with philanthropy in particular.

Meanwhile, the shonde that is the tikvah fund hosted Abigail Shrier. happy trans awareness week! love to be jewish and trans! Do not take the tikvah fund's money or pay attention to their programs! Don't be transphobic!

Yeshiva University's LGBTQ club saga also continues, with the university announcing in late October their own lgbtq club called Kol Yisrael Areivim. YU Pride Alliance has responded to the Kol Yisrael Areivim move, pointing out that, while this is a positive move from YU in terms of queer acceptance, it is not a student club seeing as it doesn't seem to have any student members. Fred Macdowell wins best joke about this as far as I'm concerned by doing a quote tweet about the fracas with the word "Birobidzan".

Books and Language

Twitter user Josh Raclaw posted a lovely Sesame Street clip, including characters conversing in english, ASL, and yiddish!

Vanessa Paloma Elbaz reviewed Eastern Mediterranean Judeo-Spanish Songs from the EMI Archive Trust (1907-1912). It's a relatively dry academic review but does come with links to the online content associated with the release, including online streaming music, a concert recording, and a PDF of the booklet.

The Golden Peacock and the Green Owl: Analyzing Yiddish Language Learners’ Experiences with Duolingo

Tal Levin's excellent newsletter, The Sword and the Sandwich, will be starting a book club of Emma Goldman's memoir.

You had me at queer jewish sci-fi shakespeare retelling: Learn more about The Stars Undying, which seems to be Emery Robin's version of Cleopatra-but-in-space-and-jewish, in an essay from the author on John Scalzi's blog.

Podcasts

• Rebooting Jewish Life will be starting a new podcast soon called The Jewish Bizarre with Tony Michels, Eddy Portnoy, and Jessica Chaffin!

• Theatre Dybbuk has just begun season 3 with an episode about Chaya Rochel, who moved to Dallas from Poland and was an active member in the Arbeter Ring / Workers Circle.

• What Magic Is This podcast featured Jewish angel expert Mika Ahuvia on their podcast!

Miscellaneous

While this drone photography and mapping project dedicated to cemetery preservation looks very cool, it does make me feel a little like we're living in a cyberpunk dystopic parody universe. The money--again, being used to document cemeteries--comes from a fund dedicated to fostering jewish life! The UAV-related news site I read details on opens their article with a reference to the drone bombings in Ukraine! You know, that same war that resulted in finding a previously unknown mass grave of Jews killed from the 1917-1930 in Moldova! Drones drop bombs outside the university, but inside, they're being used to checks notes foster jewish life by taking pictures of cemeteries in areas jews used to live in but no longer do. It's weird, right? It feels weird.

Mazel tov to the Jews of Color Initiative's latest grantee cohort: Achim Sheli, Kulanu@Senesh, Sephardi Mizrachi Q Network, and Moorish Jewish Confluences!

I loved this article about new documentary film Queen of the Deuce, focusing on the life and times of Chelly Wilson, a holocaust survivor, greek jewish lesbian, and porn theater owner from Thessaloniki. So far as I can tell, it is only viewable via DOC NYC, but I hope it gets a wider release.

Dr. Justin Sledge wrote in the Reboot blog about the thorny link(s) between halloween and judaism.

How did the vikings end up with golems? Learn in a twitter thread from Jess Nevins. TLDR: some vikings probably learned in France, specifically in an area where there were jews and large potential for inter-religious learning; but really, read the thread.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has some notes on anger for us this week.

I loved Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin's introduction to Ibn Ezra this week, which built on a few threads she's made on twitter and really contextualize Ibn Ezra as a person rather than as the body of work he left us.

I cannot even tell you how excited i am to track down Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond, especially the episode where Miriam Margoyles and Alan Cumming go to the Pink Peacock (!!!).

There's some cool classes and/or lecture series coming up too:

• Ratzon PGH's Beit Midrash is having a zoom-based halacha series

• Judaism Unbound mini-courses, including Spirit-Guides and Past Lives: Reincarnation in the Kabbalistic Imagination

Events!

11/20 Jewish Traditions & Futures of Mutual Aid: A Conversation with Dean Spade and Dori Midnight — free, but make sure to donate to Matir Asurim if you can!

11/20 Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz

11/21 Avodat Lev with Simcha Halpert-Hanson

11/24 TransHallel Kislev!

12/4 UW Ladino Day 2022: Past, Present, Future

12/7 Irena Klepfisz: Her Birth and Later Years: New and Collected Poems, 1971-2021 book talk

12/7 Adventures In Yiddish Storytelling And Their Consequences from Dara Horn

12/7 An Arts Spectacular: The JFREJ Winter Fundraiser

12/13 "Fear and Other Stories," with Anita Norich, translator of the collected stories of Chana Blankshteyn

Jewish Pet of the Month

The jewish pet of the week month this Kislev is Chroma, a black cat who looks lovely amongst the houseplants!

<3

Meli

PS. don't forget: it's almost shabbat!