Chukat (draft attempt 2)
Hi all,
Housekeeping first: I am not going to be sending out a newsletter next week, but will return on July 2nd. Also I ran into a whole bunch of technical difficulties putting this together so as always, please be patient with my mishaps, and let me know if you spot any errors.
Content Warnings for this issue are: antisemitism, death and dying, brief discussion of inhumanity of prisons, immigration related deportation
This week we have parshat chukat. Miriam and Aaron die; Moses hits a rock and water comes out; there's some war stuff.
The rebbe has some things to say about prisons (technically it's 8 images; click through to view all of them):
https://twitter.com/leakypfaucet/status/1405211603302293510
It's an exciting time for Jewish music! My friend Sasha will be teaching Yiddish History Through Music And Song again ($99). Yiddish Book Center's Yidstock is July 11th, and JamJews Pride Festival 2021 is this weekend featuring local-to-me group The Debaucherantes and many others! I also found this lovely piece of sephardi music while browsing around:
Sefaria has some webinars coming up and you can also find links to past recordings on that same page. - 6/21 Sefaria 101 https://sefaria.typeform.com/to/QbNb098f - 6/28 Sefaria deep dive https://sefaria.typeform.com/to/eCUx1ITx
Regarding other online resources, wordreference.com dictionary is getting Ladino! You can learn more on Youtube this Sunday.
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College will soon be led by Black Jewish scholar Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi. Good for her.
https://twitter.com/rabbihayon/status/1405703563892858884?s=12
Jewish movement elder Shatzi Weisberger turned 91 this week! JVP highlighted her on twitter including a link to an interview they did with her about, in part, her activism around access to a "good death".
Tablet published a shonde of an essay calling jews like me and Mrs. Weisberger "un-jews", which apparently they are using as the new "self hating jew". Newsflash: just because you don't like someone's opinions doesn't make them not jewish. You're stuck with us! We're here we're queer get over it, et cetera.
https://twitter.com/ek_rosenthal/status/1390720199624699912
Never Again Action has a new campaign around the absurd, inhumane realities of the US immigration system and its tendency towards deportation.
Recordings from events you may have missed:
- A Black Lens on Palestinian Liberation from JVP
- Jewish Prayer in Many Languages: From Sephardic Seattle to Syrian Brooklyn, Part 2: Shabbat
This weekend is Juneteenth, the date the last enslaved people in the US learned of their freedom. Jews of Color Initiative has put together a great resource list, and JFREJ also has a twitter thread listing resources, including this call to reallocate our resources towards Black liberation:
https://twitter.com/JFREJNYC/status/1405951820237885442
Events, starting with tonight!
6/18 Juneteenth Kabbalat Shabbat from Bechol Lashon.
6/19 Juneteenth Havdalah with Kol Or
6/20 Juneteenth Celebration Registration Black Jewish Liberation Collective (Black people only, jewish or nonjewish)
6/20 JamJews Pride Festival 2021 online music festival of queer jewish musicians
6/20 Hishbati Zackary Berger Are the Ways of Peace Enough? Jewish Autonomy, Community, and Obligation in Healthcare, registration required
6/20 informational event about a new ladino-english digital dictionary resource
6/20 Pink Peacock queer midsummer party
6/22 Jews of Sudan talk from World Jewish Congress
6/22 From the Margins to the Center of the Cosmos: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein in conversation with Carolivia Herron with Lilith Magazine
6/24 In the Midst Revisited: An Interactive Program featuring Anthony Russell
6/24 Reverie: Tu B'Av Queer Cabaret
6/23 Hishbati Reb Enn "The Glass is Half Jewish: Intermarriage and Mixed Heritage Jews", registration required
6/27 Hishbati Everett Gendler "Confronting 'Jewish Nationalism': Might It be an Oxymoron?", registration required
6/28 Pride in the Jewish Community: A panel of perspectives
6/30 Shel Maala: Intro to Your Talmud Toolbelt, an intro to svara-style talmud study from Xava Lilith-Nitzan De Cordova and Binya Kóatz
6/30 Hishbati Barat Ellman "Who or what is Israel?", registration required
6/30, 7/7, 7/14 Not Your Bubbe’s Brisket: Jewish Food Past, Present, and Future With Michael Twitty sliding scale $85-$110
7/1, 7/8 The Last Days of Pompeii: A Jewish Perspective, sliding scale $36-60.
7/11 Hishbati Lina Morales "Were It Not for the Fear It Inspires: Prayers for the State and Hishtadlus", registration required
The Jewish Pet of the Week this week is Spriggan! Look at this perfect sleepy angel. Such a little baby.
https://twitter.com/sheydgarden/status/1402759332882694144
See you in two weeks!
<3
Meli