Eikev
Hello and welcome! B'ruchim habaim!
Exciting news today! I have over 200 subscribers so I will be having a cupcake to celebrate.
Content notes for this week's newsletter are: antisemitism, israeli war crimes against Palestinians, nazi mention(s).
https://twitter.com/aesthetikeit/status/1420937528018759686
This week we read parshat Eikev. It's got quite a bit in there, including the 2nd paragraph of the Shema (after the v'ahavta), some potentially interesting stuff around foreign riches and idols, a retelling of the story of the golden calf, and another reminder to be kind to the stranger as we were strangers once, which Rabbi Brant Rosen posted an excellent decolonial take on.
I would suggest that the commandment to “love the stranger” can never be truly honored if it comes from a position of power or noblesse oblige. It can only be honored when those in power step back and amplify the voices of strangers so that they may assume a rightful place of prominence in the narrative. In so doing, we may yet come to see that the decolonization of the text is in fact inseparable from the decolonization of the world in which we live.
Today is the 21st of Av, which is kinda almost Elul! During Elul we self-reflect and do an accounting of the soulin preparation for the high holy days. I asked around for Elul programs available online and found a few particularly neat ones:
- Hadar's virtual Beit Midrash has a number of classes ranging from machzor liturgy deep-dives through talmud and mishna study.
- Every Elul Rabbi Jordan Braunig, a university chaplain, emails out daily prompts: "daily spiritual prompts with a mix of traditional teachings, lyrical poetry, folksy anecdotes and the occasional culinary metaphor."
- Along similar lines, Jewels of Elul will email you daily inspirational insights
- Free online Elul intensive called The Shofar Project 5781 from Jewish Spirituality Project, which includes yoga classes and mindfulness meditation alongside daily torah prompts and optional paid smaller-group sessions.
- JewishLIVE's Holidays for Heretics program has a special weekly show stretching from Tisha b'Av through Rosh Hashana called Seven Weeks of Hope.
If you know of another online Elul resource, let me know and I'll be happy to link it next week!
This screenshot of someone confusing Bnai Brith and Bara Brith cracked me up.
https://twitter.com/tombomp/status/1417203864189784064
This week President Biden named Deborah E. Lipstadt as the special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism. I am in some ways glad and in other ways trepidatious--she is absolutely a legitimate expert on the topic, but one who has in the past been given to some both sides-ism around criticism of medinat yisrael.
On the entire other side of reputability regarding antisemitism opinions, we have Hitler-admirer Madison Cawthorn attempting to throw his hat in the ring via a house resolution that "rejects 'any moral equivalence between the United States and any regime that represses minorities, abuses its’ citizens, murders civilians'". Hmm. If you'd like to read it, you can do so on Congress's website.
Frankly, I would like to understand LESS about the Israeli far right, but if you want to know more about them Shane Burley has a recommendation thread for you.
Human Rights Watch is bringing Israeli war crimes to the attention of the International Criminal Court regarding their actions this past May, reports Democracy Now based on a July 27 reprot from HRW regarding Gaza; the report does point out that Palestinian rockets were also a violation and states HRW will report on that separately. There is also a new expert opinion regarding Palestinian homeownership in Sheikh Jarrah just released today: Dr. Ronit Levine-Shur states that the Israeli government inherited the responsibilities of the Jordanian government when it took control in 1967, and thus is responsible for ensuring Palestinian land owners maintain their rights.
While Ben and Jerry of Ben and Jerry's sold their company years ago, they wanted to speak out in approval of the brand's recent actions in stopping sales to the settlements. Their opinion statement in the New York Times is hilariously (and probably accurately) titled We’re Ben and Jerry. Men of Ice Cream, Men of Principle.. JTA has some quotes and additional context in their article, including that they (and Unilever) take the position that it's not within BDS because the withdrawal is from selling in the settlements only, not areas within the green line. The BDS campaign's official website views it differently, however, as one of several impacts made this year so far. Progressive Jewish groups have a variety of opinions, unsurprisingly, but generally do not want this to be a big expensive embarrassing challenge to anti-BDS laws, which are unconstitutional whether they want to admit it or not.
https://twitter.com/GenizaLab/status/1419384072502054912?utm_source=pocket_mylist
Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russel posted a cute video lead-in to his klezkanada concert ($20, 8/24) on twitter today.
University of Pennsylvania Press is offering 40% off all their books with a coupon code, so if you've had your eye on anything from their Jewish Culture and Contexts series or their wider Jewish Studies collection now is a great time to buy.
I learned this week that avgolemono soup is based on a Sephardi sauce called Agristada!
https://twitter.com/1c3B3rgMama/status/1419087005615460354
Do you like Jewish library work? Would you like to see Baruch Spinoza's death mask? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, check out this article by Marianna Najman-Franks, a current student at Barnard. The blog's previous entry is about one of my favorite twitter bots which posts hebrew manuscripts from Columbia's collection.
A valuable book from JTS's library ended up in a book auction oops haha turns out JTS has been selling them without telling anybody. "The seminary is using the library as a cash cow," said a former library employee. Oof.
Speaking of Genzaym, the auction house in the aforementioned article, their catalog is absolutely wild. Twitter user @incunabula has a whole little thread about it.
https://twitter.com/incunabula/status/1420570643381239808
Friend of the Jewsletter Quiara Hazlewood has an article on Alma about their "atypical jewish community" which I'm thrilled to be a member of. Growing one's own community is difficult and onerous but sometimes we're stuck doing it, and the spaces that result are beautiful.
Two takes on Jewish criminality, past and present. Criminality is not an inherent trait of any demographic group or any one person; it is defined (literally!) by the rules and expectations of society, and who is seen as a criminal (and what kind) is heavily influenced by desperation, poverty, and corrupt justice systems.
Sephardim descended from Inquisition victims can apply for Spanish citizenship, but apparently Spain has been denying quite a few applicants this year. It's a nice offer but the inquisition was a long-ass time ago and maybe some of us haven't been keeping records for the entire intervening time. It's interesting to me also that this is due to a shift from the notaries being the gatekeepers at intake to the government rejecting applications afterwards; were the same numbers of people being rejected informally before this?
Are you a trans Jew who wants to make art about Torah?
There are some absolutely gorgeous havdalah candles available from Stargaze Candles, including a customizable option!
https://twitter.com/xaihowareyou/status/1419722911213043719
Events!
8/9 Rosh Chodesh Elul
8/9 Selichot sessions with Ramon Tasat begin, lasting through Elul. Register on zoom here.
8/12 Jews of Color Initiative Survey Results Talk
8/18 Songs of Our People, Songs of Our Neighbors: Susana Behar
8/22 Queer Women's Torah Workshop from Shawn Harris
8/23-29 KlezKanada, including concerts, lessons, kids' programming, and more! You can register for the whole festival or only a portion, so the fee varies.
8/24 Jewish Prayer in Many Languages: From Sephardic Seattle to Syrian Brooklyn, Part Four (High Holy Days)
9/7 Rosh Hashana
The jewish pet of the week this week is Eggs (larger grey cat). He and his sibling Oatmeal (orange tabby, previously featured as a pet of the week) are very curious about baths.
See you next week!
<3
Meli