Eikev
Today is the 17th of Av, and this week’s parsha is Eikev. Moses talks a lot. I’ll be honest, I love torah but am super bored by this part of Devarim so no mini-dvar for you this week, only links.
Sephardic Jews of Thessaloniki (a city in Greece that once had a vibrant Sephardic community) are starting a center for Spanish, Ladino, and Sephardic education funded by Spain’s cultural outreach office.
There’s a zine coming out of work by trans jews, including a few I know. It’s called Dodi and you can buy it here. https://activewitness.storenvy.com/products/30668653-dodi-my-beloved
Despite last week’s statement about taking cues from celebrities, another Jewish celebrity had a take I liked. Mara Wilson’s someone I tend to agree with pretty well in general though, and she’s very relatable (go team chronically ill bisexual jews!). This tweet is part of a thread of something I’ve seen other Ashkenazi jews talk about, how the monoculture of American Judaism doesn’t just involve ashkenormativity but a further flattening into the type of upper middle class fancy bar mitzvah jewish fraternity/sorority life I grew up in, which is *an* option but far from the only one, and some of us and/or our families just aren’t quite … that.
Speaking of Jewish socialist-anarchist contingents, next week there’s an online anti-fascist klezmer event featuring Brivele, Geoff Berner, and Ira Temple. Tune in Thursday the 13th at 5 Pacific time.
I’m starting to see some online resources for the annual Elul soul searching but haven’t figured out what I’ll be doing yet, personally. Probably nothing too in depth this year, as I struggle with it emotionally and there’s kind of a lot going on in the world.
If you have spare funds please consider donating some of them to Lebanon in the wake of the explosion there. More info, including what happened and where to donate, can be found at https://lebanoncrisis.carrd.co/. I’m giving to the Lebanese Food Bank and Offrejoie, a multifaith Lebanese NGO focused on providing shelter to those who lost their homes.
And to end on a lighter note, the Jewish Pet of the Week is Jordan, @jaymanji_’s dog. It’s her birthday today! Look at that cute face!
See you next week!
<3
Meli