August 11, 2023

Elul 5783

Welcome to Weird Jewish Digest! Every month there is so much amazing stuff for me to link to, and this time is no exception.

Jewish Calendar

Before the next issue of Weird Jewish Digest goes out, we'll go through the following parts of the weekly torah reading cycle:

• 8/12 Re’eh / רְאֵה; newsletters from that week in 5780, 5781 and 5782

• 8/19 Shoftim / שׁוֹפְטִים; newsletters from that week in 5780, 5781

• 8/26 Ki Teitzei / כִּי־תֵצֵא; newsletters from that week in 5780, 5781, and 5782

• 9/2 Ki Tavo / כִּי־תָבוֹא; newsletters from that week in 5780, 5781, 5782

• 9/9 Nitzavim-Vayeilech / נִצָּבִים־וַיֵּלֶךְ; newsletters from those weeks in 5780, 5781 (nitzavim, vaiyelech), 5782 (nitzavim, vaiyelech)

high holy days

I am hoping to have some variety of online high holy days options in the next newsletter. Let me know if your shul or other organization has something online, especially low-cost or free, and I'll include it in there!

Physical Calendars

Jewish Farmer Network is selling a 5784 calendar To Till and To Tend, and there's always the radical jewish calendar and the Jewish cat calendar. If a planner is more your style, try Goldherring's Jewish lunar/solar one!

Books and language

Happy belated international cat day from the yiddish book center and jewish language project.

Apparently if you've got something you want to see in YIVO's archives but can't make it down there yourself, you can request a remote reference session.

The designer of a famous computer chip hid his name on it (in hebrew)

"The Jewish Book of Flowers explores 20 flowers that play important roles in Jewish ritual, culture and healing traditions today and throughout history, across the diaspora."

Science fiction anthology Jewish Futures is available for sale.

Jewish Museum of Maryland is putting out a monthly zine now!

Check out the kickstarter for Maggid Magazine, a magazine for monthly jewish comics!

Who wrote the siddur? asks Yosef Lindell on modern orthodox website 18forty, answering in a series of four essays, three of which are currently available: 1, 2, 3.

Miscellaneous

One of my core beliefs is that we leftist/queer/weirdos and other out-of-the-norms have equal claims to our heritages as those trying to push us out. As Abby Stein wrote on twitter about her experience visiting an ancestor's grave: "It's mine just like it's theirs."

Tbilisi, Georgia had its first egalitarian service lately as part of an interfaith effort with local christian and muslim communities. Beautiful!

Volume 2 of progressive neohasidic online magazine Gashmius is available now, with new articles, art, poetry, and text study materials! The authors and editors do amazingly well at grappling with a wide variety of texts and ideas, and IMO it is worth checking out regardless of whether or not you identify as a neohasid.

Carmel Tanaka writes about her vital work with jewish queer and trans elders on Lilith Magazine's blog.

Let's learn about Garlic in Jewish Magic!

The trans halakha project is recruiting applicants for seats on their steering committee and also for their next teshuva writing collective, on the topic of reproduction. If you want to read what other smart people have to say on that topic, check out Jewish Currents' Chevruta series: Must We Have Children?

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg recently published a page of resources for learning more about Judaism. It's mostly books, but there's some podcasts, newsletters, and websites near the bottom of the list.

A Sephardic woman is responsible for cat-eye glasses, and was honored recently with a google doodle.

Kavod v'Nichum is recruiting JOC research participants to discuss end of life rituals and practices.

Classes and events

Class series

Shel Maala's Frootcamp series is a series of one-off events: August 16th is about the daf, 23rd on Aramaic, and 30th is talmud terms toolbox! You can sign up for one or all of them on eventbrite.

Rabbi Adina Lewittes is teaching a mini-series of classes on Wednesdays 8/23-9/6 called Unetanah Tokef: Asking the Unanswerable, covering death-related topics and Unetanah Tokef.

Judaism Unbound is running an Elul mini course as well, also on Wednesdays.

Ayelet Hashachar and Brunem Warshaw are crowdfunding an online series of Ashkenazi Herbalism classes this fall.

Rabbi Avigayil Halpern's 10-week class "'Under Another's Power': Feminist Torah Through Masechet Kiddushin" looks fascinating.

Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages is accepting applications for their Michaelmas (Oct-Dec) term.

Singular events and holidays

8/15 Jewish Mysticism in Islamic Persia

8/17 Rosh Chodesh Elul

8/17 Creating Trans Jewish Futures: a workshop about the trans halakha project with Loud Jewish Collective

8/23 Jewish Futures: Stories from the World's Oldest Diaspora book event (info, livestream link)

8/29-31 Jewish Zine Fest; online events include a history of dadaism and a zine reading room

9/12 Emma Goldman, Radical Anarchism, and the Opera lecture

9/16-17 Rosh Hashana

9/18 Exploring Roman Jewish Break Fast Traditions for Yom Kippur with Leah Koenig

9/25 Yom Kippur

9/29-10/6 Sukkot

10/24-25 Rising Tide Gathering 2023: Elu v’Elu, Both/And: Multiplicity in Mikveh

Jewish Pet of the Month

The Jewish Pet of the Month this month is Bo! Such a great face.

See you next month,

Meli