May 14, 2022

Emor

Hello! My apologies for the delay. I clicked the send button yesterday afternoon as usual and it seems that it did not work. Let's try this again, eh?

CN: antisemitism, death by gunfire, violence against Palestinians, shoah mention, police violence

Jewish Calendar

Parshat Emor

Rabbi Emily Cohen drashed about wrestling with difficult texts for My Jewish Learning, and the Ben Yehuda Press parsha thread digs into the 2nd passover, including its reclaiming by queer jews.

Omer counting

I have a daily email reminder that will send you the text of the blessing along with something about that day's sefirot. It looks like it's getting caught in a lot of spam filters and I'm very sorry about that. Please tell your spam filter it's not spam.

Antisemitism, Zionism, Israel and Palestine

Lufthansa removed a large number of Orthodox Jews from the second leg of a flight to Hungary this week because a small number of them refused to wear masks on the plane. They were all on pilgrimage to Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner's grave, which is why there was a larger-than-normal number, but most of them were not traveling together in an organized group. Lufthansa has apologized.

I ran into a fascinating discussion on Ask Metafilter this week about whether it's possible to convert to judaism while supporting Palestine. I did my best to answer it (yes, definitely possible, but some people might give you shit about it even though they're not supposed to), but even if i hadn't the other answers covered some good ground and were fascinating from an anthropological viewpoint.

Shane Burley's article about Antisemitism Studies and its anti-Muslim bias was a very informative very uncomfortable read. Burley also wrote (along with antisemitism scholar Ben Lorber) about the ADL's misguided and irresponsible conflation of antizionism and antisemitism.

And a side note for fountain pen fans: Noodler's ink was always run by a libertarian weirdo, but he's progressed into overt antisemitism and QAnon leanings. Don't buy their products.

Assimilation and antisemitism

Thinking of "the jewish question" is inseparably connected to the Nazi final solution of genocide, which doesn't answer so much as exterminates. But maybe we can look into history and pick apart some interesting ideas outside of that happening. The jewish question was originally: how do jews become citizens, or how do we belong? How much assimilation is necessary, and how should it occur? This week, Lila Corwin Berman gave the Stroum Lectures at University of Washington (livestream link) titled "Does the United States Have a Jewish Question?" and "Belonging in Question: Jews in the American Civic and Legal Imagination".

I also watched another lecture recently discussing the assimilation process of American Jews: Melting Pots of Various Sizes: Jewish and Catholic Approaches to Americanization, from Anne Blankenship.

I recognize I'm a little more interested in all this than the average Jew: in rights, in history, in meaning-making and interpretation, in definitions of citizenship. But I am not an academic (believe it or not) or a trained historian, and I really think these lectures are beautifully (if painfully) suited to this moment and relevant to many of us flailing around trying to make sense of being Jewish in America in the 2020s.

Rest in Power Shireen Abu Akleh

Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead in Jenin while wearing a press vest and reporting on israeli military actions there. May her memory be a blessing. The IDF denies it, but this was an act of violence by the israeli army. New York Times violates their own style guide in describing her as "killed by gunfire". The way news is reported, and where, is deeply political. A Jewish pro-Palestine group in Germany was denied permission to perform a vigil in her memory as part of a wider German ban on Nakba Day marches.

Israeli police attacked the funeral procession and forcibly removed Palestinian flags (and tried to deny access to at least one person wearing a hijab with the flag colors).

Miscellaneous

I love this article by Aviva Engel about a holocaust survivor's collection of miniature books. Click through for some photos--they are SMALL!

There are cookbooks, musical scores, sports-themed books, novelties known as “mass-market minis” because of their ubiquity, and children’s literature, including “The Tales of Peter Rabbit,” first published between 1902 and 1909. Shakespeare features prominently in two nearly-complete 24-volume sets published between 1890 and 1930.  

A Jewish costuming youtuber put up a fascinating video about modern ways of investigating shatnez (mixed linen and wool fibers) in clothing, from burn tests to microscope analysis!

Sefaria's next learning journey is a four-week email series about Ruth Rabbah.

Trans youtube channel T4Torah has begun their Every Single Mitzvah series! 613 videos can you imagine.

The archives of Ladino newspaper La Vara, which ran from 1922 to 1948, are viewable online now! I don't read ladino but had a great time skimming one issue's art and advertisements just now.

The Onion's dipping back into jewish humor with Fascinated God Attends His First Shabbat Dinner.

Rooted in this world: a rad secular jewish gathering has a form out gauging interest in the (mostly virtual) group.

Jewish Zine Archive is looking for people to join the Jewish Zine Fest 5782 planning committee.

Classes coming up

• Jewish Anarchist Salon, a series of talks and discussions, every other Sunday 3/13-5/15 (drop-in)

• SVARA classes, including summer talmud zman 6/14-7/21

Events!

5/15 Jewish Queer Languages

5/16 Arab Jewish Life and Literature with Joyce Zonana

5/18 Moving Through The Omer: An Online Workshop with Mark Horn, from Romemu's online queer kehilla

5/25 Multilingual Jewish Prayer Throughout History: Performance and Analysis

5/25 Young Adult Author Panel Focusing on Jewish History

6/7-6/10 Yidstock

6/12-6/14 Kavod v'Nichum North American Chevrah Kadisha and Jewish Cemetery Conference

Jewish Pet of the Week

We have three foster kittens for Jewish Pet of the Week this week: Dewey, Riley, and Gale!

If you need a kitten in your life, they will be up for adoption through KC Pet Project in Kansas City soon.

Shabbat shalom!

<3

Meli