Ki Tavo
Hello!
Content notes for this week's newsletter are: antisemitism (including holocaust), sexual assault, homophobia
A different kind of content note: the newsletter service I used changed some things, and I am adjusting. Pardon the dust as we are undergoing renovations, particularly regarding no more automatic embedding of tweets.
This week's parsha is Ki Tavo. It's a rough one! There's a lot of curses. Some blessings too, though, and the ritual of the first fruits.
One of a set of eight beautiful German Rosh Hashana cards from 1910-1911
Again, I've linked some options for online services and other high holy days programming in the events list at the bottom of the newsletter. There are a couple options I've been made aware of since last week's post, so take another look if you're interested!
Rabbi Koach Baruch Frasier has put together a beautiful three-part Elul chant recording.
This tweet from David Zvi Kalman relating Elul and Rosh Hashana customs to Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Under The Sea is hilarious. The king is in the field!
Both Art Lush and Tienda Chulito have Rosh Hashana jewelry collections right now, including these lovely hand-painted wooden pomegranate earrings.
Jewish Currents' newsletter interview between David Renton and Shane Burley was excellent. I almost didn't open it because I am extremely tired of anything involving the words "Corbyn" and "antisemitism". I'm glad I read it though, as the more general pieces involving antisemitism on the left actually reflected my own experiences and perceptions, but more eloquently than I could ever write.
I previously linked to a piece about a USY staff member accused of serial sexual assault. In the wake of this and possibly other horrors coming to light, USY and their parent organization USCJ has reworked their reporting process to involve an independent firm, with options to report by phone or email; however, despite being referred to as a topic-specific hotline, it looks like these are the regular contact options for the chosen conflict resolution firm.
Elsa Coussy's article about being Jewish and queer felt cathartic to read. When I was growing up, I don't recall any overt homophobia in jewish spaces but the only existence of religious queer jews was through rumors, and usually derogatory ones. There were queer people who happened to be jewish by birth, but those with a connection to judaism seemed to all be straight. I am very glad this is changing. I know so many queer Jews now, including Rabbis and others in positions of authority as well as regular community members like myself.
972+ Magazine published a piece by Mira Stern about unlearning zionism titled Laying the foundations for our Jewish liberation
Just a tiny book on a quarto for scale. Also, my three inch finger for further scale. Plus the tiny t.p., printed Verona, 1548, and the *replaced pages* added in (and also tiny!) by an owner who wanted the whole text.
Uncat B893.17 J641 pic.twitter.com/VvTO3Fy3YM— Michelle Margolis (@hchesner) August 23, 2021
I love this extremely tiny prayerbook so much.
The new head of Yad Vashem, the Israeli holocaust memorial, is a tech mogul and a settler who knows very little about the holocaust, Etan Nechin writes in HaAretz. Of course, the institution has always been political, but this is a new and unfortunate step, and the op-ed article explains some particularly horrifying pieces of the secular settler mindset.
There's something particularly about trauma in the air, and reckoning with how we were raised, individually or on the cultural level. It inhabits R' Ruttenberg's latest newsletter, which is about the binding of isaac. It inhabits a lot of musings about current issues including this one about climate grief, and it inhabits my own thoughts as well.
We are learning and unlearning trauma always. At every step, there is a choice: do we become the type of survivor (or descendant thereof) who decides nobody should have to live through what we (or our ancestors) did, or do we become jaded and close ranks? The first option is necessary for the survival of this world and the world to come, but much more difficult.
the shamir worm - used by King Solomon to cut the stones for the first temple, as no tools ever used in bloodshed could build a monument to peace. my favorite Jewish sacred monster & a symbol of creative, rather than deadly, destruction ✨
(digital & in color, i know! 😱) pic.twitter.com/CJuamAURsV
— EZRA 🗝 ROSE (@sheydgarden) August 22, 2021
Judaism Unbound launched their UnYeshiva, including both live online classes at a sliding scale and free deep dive playlists of "at your own pace" learning materials.
Ben Katchor linked to a 1970s film about a day at B&H Dairy kosher restaurant.
An old synagogue in Burlington, Vermont is being sold), including a chevra kadisha building and a mikveh. I hope the local group hoping to buy it puts out a crowdfunding effort--I know I would contribute!
As part of the Jews In Space exhibit, the Jewish Museum of Maryland had a How To Be Jewish In Space talk and and you can watch it now! The director of collections was also interviewed on the Yiddish Book Center's podcast about the exhibit back in December.
Bone and Sickle, a show about folklore, horror, and history, has an episode about dybbukim, including yet another debunking of the dybbuk box.
a fellow navajew told me that one of the several navajo words for jewish ppl that he’s heard is “ch’ah yazhí dine’é” or “little hat ppl,” which is a reference to the kippa and that is just the cutest thing i’ve ever heard 🥺😭😂
— isabella sheyd (@isabella_shey) August 20, 2021
EVENTS!
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.
8/25, 9/1: Do We Need to Engage in Collective Teshuvah?: Difficult Conversations on Israel with Rabbi Brian Walt and Professor Joel Beinin, co-sponsored by several Reconstructionist congregations
8/29 Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe book talk with author Dr. Erica Brown on Sefaria (streamed on youtube)
8/29 Sephardic Culinary History with Chef & Scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer): Fruits & Spiced Round Challah for RoshHaShana
8/29 Matir Asurim incarcerated penpal 101
8/29 25th Elul: Singing the Creation of The World sephardic erev slichot service
8/31 All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days Book Talk, about Jewish woman resistance fighter Mildred Harnack, "the only American in the leadership of the German resistance".
9/2 What is the future you dream of?): Australia-based Loud Jew Collective Launch
9/3, 9/12, 9/13, 9/14, 9/23, 9/24, 9/26 SVARA's drop-in Mishna collective), Days of AWEsome edition
9/7 Rosh Hashanah
New Synagogue Project, egalitarian non-denominational, EDT, RH morning, sliding scale $18+
Tzedek Chicago, pro-Palestine Reconstructionist, CDT, RH morning, $25-30 per service
Kehilla, shmita focused Renewal-ish, PDT, 2 days of RH, Shabbat Shuvah, sliding scale $20+
Hinenu Baltimore, justice-oriented reconstructionist, EDT, RH evening/morning, sliding scale $0-75
Beit Tikkun, music and politics, PDT, RH 2 days evening/morning/morning, sliding scale $36-250
Workers Circle Rosh Hashone, yiddishist secular, $25-36
Kadima, hippie Reconstructionist, PDT, RH evenining/morning, sliding scale $0+
Etz Chaim, Reform, CDT, no registration required (youtube streaming)
Kohenet, "chant, embodied practice, Torah reading, and more", EDT, sliding scale $45+
Jews in all Hues, JOCSM-led, EDT, sliding scale $0+
9/12 Virtual Walking Tour: Jewish Porto), Portugal, $18-36
9/12 The Last 100 Years of Ashkenazim in Mexico: Shifting Identity Definitions
9/16 Yom Kippur
Kanisse Egalitarian Sephardi, EDT, evening/morning/evening
New Synagogue Project, egalitarian non-denominational, EDT, YK Kol Nidre, morning, Neilah, sliding scale $18+
Tzedek Chicago, pro-Palestine Reconstructionist, CDT, YK evening/morning/evening, $25-30 per service
Kehilla, shmita focused renewal-ish, PDT, YK evening/morning/evening, Shabbat Shuvah, sliding scale $20+
Hinenu Baltimore, reconstructionist, EDT, YK evening/morning/evening, sliding scale $0-75 - Beit Tikkun), music and politics, PDT, YK evening/morning-thru-evening, sliding scale $36-250
Workers Circle Yom Kippur, leftist yiddishist secular, $25-36
Kadima, hippie Reconstructionist, PDT, YK evening/morning/evening, sliding scale $0+
Etz Chaim, Reform, CDT, no registration required (youtube streaming)
Kohenet, "chant, embodied practice, Torah reading, and more", EDT, sliding scale $45+
Jews in all Hues, JOCSM-led, EDT, sliding scale $0+
9/23, 9/30, 10/7 Shmita: Our Radical Ancestral Eco-Justice Solution for a Sustainable Future w/ Rabbi David Seidenberg (suggested donation $18-36, NOTAFLOF)
9/30 Secular Yidishkayt and Social Justice in the US South, with Josh Parshall by Yiddish Book Center
The Jewish pet of the week this week is Smoke, AKA Daf Smokey because she loves to help her human study Daf Yomi.
See you next week!
<3
Meli