Adar 5785
It’s February, so happy Black history month to any Black Jews in particular!
I once again apologize for the length of the Israel/Palestine, Antisemitism, and/or Antifascism section—thing after thing has been coming along faster than I can keep track of, and I’ve got additional good-looking relevant articles bookmarked that didn’t make it in there as is.
Jewish Calendar
It is Parshat Yitro as I write this, and it will be at least a week past that when you read this, but I really liked Aron Wander’s short drash about (among other things) freedom and mutual obligation.
The next month on the calendar, Adar, contains Purim! I am not ready for that yet, and based on the dearth of links to online events you are not either. Still, I hope you have a good Purim, maybe featuring plans with friends and in community.
Israel/Palestine, Antisemitism, and/or Antifascism
Israel raided two locations of a notable East Jerusalem bookstore, arresting the owner and his bookseller nephew for “disturbing public order” on suspicion of “incitement” and included a coloring book called From The River To The Sea as part of their reasoning. More from Yair Wallach in ArtReview.
Proud to be one of the 350 rabbis signing this statement — an ad in the NYT today and a declaration of our values. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/13/rabbis-ad-trump-gaza-plan?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other For more—and to sign— go to saynotoethniccleansing.org
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@theradr.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T14:12:27.757Z
Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman on Israel-Gaza and the ceasefire has sprouted a variety of opinions across the political spectrum both in favor of and critiquing this short comic. But it’s here! And it’s important, and I think people may be more willing to receive these messages in this format and from Art Spiegelman than they would otherwise.
Universities keep giving into far-right Jewish orgs’ pressures rather than looking to their internal expertise, says an article in Jewish Currents by Peter Beinart.
Shaul Magid is three parts into a four part series on his substack on Why Do Jews have such a hard time talking about Antisemitism? (2, 3) covering sticky topics including holocaust uniqueness. (Deep Dive: How Has the Gaza War Divided Holocaust Scholars? says Inkstick Media, pulling from a scholarly article at the Journal of Genocide Research, also partly about holocaust exceptionalism/uniqueness.)
Recently in Florida, a Jewish man thought two nearby Israelis were Palestinian and shot them. One of the two people who were shot included ‘Death to Arabs!’ in a facebook post about the experience. There’s a lot to unpack here around bigotries and assumed identity and risk and Jewish safety (for more around Jewish safety, see this post from Emily Tamkin’s thread on AJC’s antisemitism survey).
Clarence B. Jones writes “I starred in a Super Bowl ad on Black, Jewish partnership. But Israel divided us.” Was Oct 7 “the beginning of the end of the Black-Jewish civil rights coalition in the United States”? I hope not—but the way some people act, it might have been.
A Reconstructionist Reckoning: Reconstructionist congregations can vary widely with their approaches to Israel, so I’m not surprised to see RRC showing an example of these clashes.It’s also interesting to explicitly see reported “ideological Reconstructionists who are actively funding the movement have a very expansive vision that makes space for anti-Zionists, but that does not promote anti-Zionism,” and the open secret that most antizionist rabbis are not employed doing rabbinical work.
I wish we could trust things that say they’re against antisemitism but since they keep getting used in mask bans and shitty executive orders we can’t.
It’s hard to know what we can do in these times, amidst President Trump and the horrors. This zine is really helpful for anyone wanting to plug into activism who isn’t sure what they have to offer.
Books and Language
I missed Jeffrey Hoffman's Weaving Prayer: An Analytical and Spiritual Commentary on the Jewish Prayer Book when it came out but it sounds fantastic based on this preview thread on bsky.
Peter Beinart has been on a book tour, including a long New Yorker Chotiner interview and a short one from Leila Fadel at NPR, about his book Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. There’s critical reviews too, like Brant Rosen’s in Religion Dispatches.
My First Night in the Sanatorium by Daniel Charney published first in yiddish in 1947, translated by Jacqueline Nekhe Krass, wrangling with chronic TB and the holocaust
The Latest in Yiddish Studies in English: 2024, on In Geveb; a nice collection of books, chapters, special issues, and more relevant to Yiddish Studies. See also their new yiddish translations list.
36 Great Books on Jewish Women’s History collected by Rabbanit Dr Tamar Ron Marvin
Manuscripts of the Yemenite Jewish Experience
Miscellaneous
To Say I Was Here: Arabic, Greek, Judeo-Spanish, and Turkish Speaking Jewish Recording Musicians, 1907-69; a free collection of music affiliated with an exhibit at Jewish Museum of Maryland.
American Jewish Historical Society podcast The Wreckage is in season 2, focusing so far on the beginnings of the (second) red scare.
Disability Torah Project is sending out weekly emails / posting weekly parsha commentaries from a disability lens.
Events and Classes
Building Your Jewish Community: A Practical Guide to Creating Meaningful Connections; a weekly class from 3/10 - 5/12 from Rabbi Andy Kahn and Liana Wertman.
Under the Mountain - Subversive Talmud for Godd-Wrestlers is a four-week SVARA-style class this March taught by Emèt and sent in by a friend!
Yiddish Book Center’s Spring 2025 Online Course Taught by Samuel Kassow is Cultural Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto: The Legacy of Rokhl Auerbach and Emanuel Ringelblum, running this March through April.
Judaism Unbound’s 8 week classes have some cool highlights, including the next round of their intro class Judaism Inbound and a diasporism(s) class.
2/20 Seeking the Hiding God conversation at Oxford Interfaith Forum (book link)
2/28 BU’s 2025 Conference on the Jewish Left, virtual and in person
2/28 TransHallel Adar
2/28-3/1 Rosh Chodesh Adar
3/2, 3/9 Purim, Power, and Palestine class by Aron Wander
3/9 Rediscovering a History of Jewish Anarchism book event with Kenyon Zimmer, Anna Elena Torres, and Shane Burley
3/14 Purim (and pi day! Pie for purim!)
3/25 Book Talk: The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai
Pet of the Month
The pet of the month this month is Foxy the longhair chihuahua!
Thanks for listening! See you next month,
Meli