Av 5785
Hello friends! This month is Av, a month traditionally associated with mourning, but we’ve got plenty to enjoy in this issue as well.
Jewish Calendar
The main holy day in Av is a fast day and a day of mourning, the 9th of Av (tisha b’av), commemorating the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a lighter mourning period that started on the 17th of Tammuz, and the Nine Days, a more intense mourning period from Rosh Chodesh Av to the 9th of Av.
Olivia Devorah has a song for the 17th tammuz and the three weeks; you can learn more about it and listen to the recording! Also, Never Again Action and Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) put together an action planning toolkit for Tisha b’Av: Not in our Name: Our Collective Cry to Rebuild Sanctuary, and there’s a grief-centered event from Rabbis for Ceasefire in the events list at the bottom of this email.
Israel/Palestine, Antisemitism, and/or Antifascism
Judith Hertog interviewed Shaul Magid about zionism and israel. While the editor’s lead-in to the article feels a little… new to disillusionment with zionism, the interview itself has good meat to it.
UK-based left wing jewish website Vashti has had an interesting series of posts around the Facing Antisemitism report on antisemitism in Britain, most recently a rebuttal by the authors of the book titled Against Political Purity, bringing up interesting questions around coalition-building and when it is okay to focus on diasporic antisemitism without bringing in issues of zionism.
Meanwhile, Jewish Currents explores How Support for Palestine Became a Hate Crime.
Shane Burley investigates Inside the resurgence of Jewish-led Palestine solidarity in conversation with author Oren Kroll-Zeldin.
For some of the horrifying details of what we have to fight against domestically, Rümeysa Öztürk wrote for Vanity Fair: “Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison. ICE must be destroyed, and many of her experiences echo those of non-ICE prisoners in the US as well, including overcrowding and medical neglect. See Interrupting Criminalization for some educational resources around imagining a better future.
if your antifascism is of a socialist flavor, or if you’re interested in traditions of leftism and antifascism, i recommend checking out one or more of the streamed panels from the socialism 2025 conference.
Books and Language
Aaron Kreuter’s new jewish summer camp novel Lake Burntshore looks interesting!
Horror isn’t my jam, genre-wise, so i haven’t read this but maybe it’s yours: The Circumcision: A Story of Shaydim by Elie Lichtschein, inspired by a story from Kav Hayashar.
Bob Lardine’s donation of tapes to the internet archive included an absolute gem: a collection of recordings including interviews and music from The Jewish Hour radio broadcast!
Rafael Magarik in Jewish Currents’ shabbat reading list recommended The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren, which I immediately put on hold at the library; I have a soft spot for examinings of the history of Jews in the US and our indigenous neighbors even though it’s not a happy history (For a PNW section of the history, you can check out my and Thursday Bram’s essays in our tu bishvat zine, or some of our sources listed in its bibliography.)
Miscellaneous
Queer yeshiva Svara is going through some changes! They’re trying out a new gemirna kollel longer-term intensive alongside their shiur klali, which more closely resembles past offerings of classes. They also spun off the trans halacha project into its own project. Svara founder Benay Lappe has also been podcasting with Judaism Unbound cofounder Dan Libenson: The Oral Talmud Podcast.
The Torah Studio is also adding a longer-term section to their classes by putting together a certificate in liberatory torah education, a one-year program aimed at educators including ongoing torah studio class enrollment.
80 years after the Holocaust, Jewish circus returns to Germany
I believe it was Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg who linked to this posting of a 1947 article Utopia in the Catskills, primarily about co-operatives in the Borscht Belt.
The First Modernist Sephardic Artists: The Sephardic Nationalist & The Radical, the third entry from Devin Naar for Ayin Press on modernist sephardic artists, this time focusing on Daniel Kabiljo and Angel Castro.
Events and Classes
Washington Coalition of Rabbis is running their online intro to judaism class again this year starting in September.
Kavod v’Nichum is holding their Care, Compassion & Community: An Introduction to the Chevra Kadisha class this August. Highly recommend if you are interested in knowing more about Jewish death rituals including Chevra Kadisha work.
There’s a recording of Rabbi Andy Kahn, Ben Lorber, and Shane Burley discussing combating antisemitism earlier this month.
7/20 Halachic Left Forum Presenting Works on Nationalism, Community, Boundaries
7/22 Study with Shel Maala and Na’amod UK: Like All Other Nations: Jewish Desires for (and against) King and Country
7/23 Yiddish Shakespeare, with Joel Berkowitz at the Workers Circle (I cannot get over “Vilyam Shekspir”. Love it)
7/24 We Will Not Be Silenced: Embracing Palestinian liberation and Building Anti-Zionist Jewish Community
7/26 Rosh Chodesh Av
7/27 Fragments of Sinaiism: a conversation with Sam Brody & Ken Lassman
8/3 Rabbis for Ceasefire Tisha b’Av grief ritual (registration link)
9/7, 9/30 Kirva Teshuvah Workshop for 5786
Pet of the Month
The pet of the month this month is Pickle! I am friends with Pickle’s non-jewish mom but never fear, she also has a jewish one. In this house we respect mixed-religious-household jewish pets (particularly since we have one!)
With love,
Meli