Lekh Lekha
Hello!
Content notes for this week's newsletter are racism, antisemitism, legacies of colonialism, white feelings (mine), shoah, abortion, crisco
https://twitter.com/shvlman/status/1447210630340087810?utm_source=pocket_mylist
Jewish Calendar
This week's torah portion is lekh lekha. go to yourself. I have had the relevant Debbie Friedman song stuck in my head the entire time writing this newsletter.
Israel problems and antisemitism problems
The first link in this section is not actually about antisemitism or israel, but a parallel experience. Historical context first: while Japan held the Korean peninsula as a colony, they forced quite a few Korean women into longterm sex work for the Japanese military, often referred to as the "comfort women" system. Recently a legal scholar opined that since some of these women signed contracts they must have consented to the experience, and thus he doubted the sex trafficking narrative despite historical evidence and first-hand reports to the contrary. Dr. Paula Curtis is one of many Asian Studies scholars who pushed back on this, and she recently wrote about the resultant harassment from Japanese right wing nationalists. Quite a few parts will sound familiar to people who speak out on twitter or elsewhere to criticize Israel:
neto uyo dug through our online media profiles and professional pages (screencapping and sharing them), tweeted at our employers and funders calling us racists
The worst of the harassment was reserved for female researchers, whose credentials were relentlessly questioned, as well as native Japanese scholars, who received comments questioning their ethnicity.
their position that any criticism of Japan (current or historical) amounts to anti-Japanese activities that must be surveilled and quashed
In both cases, it is a group of nationalist extremists doing this, not every Japanese person or every Israeli--and in fact, many of the zionist harassers who target those of us jews around antizionism are not israeli at all. The harassers often espouse racism or other bigotries when it suits them, and cast doubt on whether Jews/Japanese people that don't share their opinions are really Jewish/Japanese. They also rely on historical denialism, like saying Palestinian identity doesn't exist and Palestinian peoplehood is a brand new invention (debunking available here).
https://twitter.com/LilaCBer/status/1448755487135211525
Lila Corwin Berman's short thread about Michael Leven's sizable donation to Canary Mission has some real bangers. Please note the article about the donation includes some descriptions of stalker-like behavior by Canary Mission folks against JVP members, as well as the normal nonsense like calling them fake jews. (related: Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's basically said 'you think i am antisemitic? lol absurd' in an interview and let me tell you, i feel that.)
Jewish Currents also set the internet on fire again with a comic from jb braeger about indigeneity to Palestine. Seems like a lot of people are reacting from their feelings rather than what's actually said. It has some good points and strong educational value. I'll admit I don't fully understand what being indigenous means, but I do think it's not the place of white non-mizrachim to declare whether any jews are indigenous to Israel; though certainly most of us are not and most (all? i don't know!) palestinians are. If someone's family is from Jerusalem going back many generations and part of a vibrant intermixed culture there, it is slightly ridiculous to say that they're not indigenous if they're jewish but they are with that same background if they're muslim or christian. It seems that "no jews are indigenous to Israel" is as incorrect as "all Jews are indigenous to Israel". (but is the question of indigeneity oriented around english speakers only?)
There are some pretty terrible bigots in the israeli government.
https://twitter.com/sarahw/status/1448027506670510088?utm_source=pocket_mylist
An anonymous group of Google and Amazon employees spoke out against their employers' $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli military and government. Good for them. You can sign and send a letter in solidarity with them, and read more about this refusal, at https://www.notechforapartheid.com/.
Talia Lavin's On Borscht is, yes, about beets, but also about growing up modern orthodox and about Poland and about the holocaust and about learning Russian.
Miscellaneous
https://twitter.com/eleheba/status/1448004987431395340?utm_source=pocket_mylist
I missed Michigan State University's Serling Institute for Jewish Studies' recent talk series on Romaniote Greek Jews, but was able to watch it on youtube. Gave me a lot of feelings though, since, as one of the presenters said, Jewish Ioannina is "a world that no longer exists", really. Just a few people there--my dad has a cousin--and those of us sprinkled through the diaspora that identify with something that was.
Miroushe Zylali has a little article on the JWA site about her work on historical fashion, including making her own entari dress.
Whither queer yiddishkeit? asks Alicia Svigals on In Geveb.
The Forward published a set of nine people's abortion stories.
I loved Rachel Greiner's writeup of Sadie, Sadie the Rabbi Lady, a Jewish founder of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of drag queens I have always admired the heck out of.
https://twitter.com/katriddell/status/1449095800185839621
Methuselah had a fancy demon-slaying sword and i think that's neat.
Chai Studio Boutique has some lovely embroidered necklaces for sale on etsy alongside some bigger pieces and embroidery patterns.
100 years ago, a movie called The Golem was released. This year, Reboot Judaism has rescored (and possibly remixed?) it for release on Oct 28th.
I love this writeup about Tlaim: the Patchwork Cookbook, from Jews of Color Initiative. If you're a jew of color and have recipes to contribute, think about submitting them!
Events!
10/16 the inaugural Di Feygl Sho, a weekly queer yiddish event. rsvp form, $5-20 sliding scale, NOTAFLOF
10/17, 10/24 Mizrachi dance lessons on Bukharian, and Yemenite dance, $10/session
10/17 HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project Gala Celebrating the Documentation of Endangered Jewish Languages
10/19 Book launch: A Frog under the Tongue: Jewish Folk Medicine in Eastern Europe (UK)
10/21 The Rise of the Rabbis: lecture by Simcha Gross as part of the Canon in Context series
10/21 This Used To Be A Synagogue talk from Amy Shreeve, who is behind the @OldShulSpots twitter account.
10/26 Burning Bushes: Queer Yiddishism and the lesboerotic, with Mira Schlosberg and Hinde Ena Burstin. (Australia-based, 9 PM PDT)
11/14 Documenting Endangered Jewish Languages: Practical, Ethical, and Cultural Issues (panel with speakers of Judeo-Shirazi, Judeo-Arabic, Jewish-Neo-Aramaic, and Judeo-Georgian)
Jewish Pet of the Week
The Jewish Pet of the Week is Obie! Love a stripey baby with bonus white socks.
<3
Meli
PS. if you have a pet you'd like to submit for jewish pet of the week, reply to this email with a picture and their name! My queue is getting short once again, and also I like seeing everyone's animal companions.