Matot/Masei
Hi all!
Content notes for this week's newsletter are: murder/manslaughter (in parsha description), police, racism (from and towards Jews), antisemitism.
https://twitter.com/BluehairCoffee/status/1413570654952165383
This week, we have a doubled-up parsha: matot-masei. It's pretty gnarly. In Matot, we learn about vows (nedarim) and have some stuff I don't like (sexism, war). In Masei, there's wandering, more stuff I don't like, but then two things I do like: sanctuary cities (so people aren't rage-revenge-killed immediately), and the return of the daughters of Zelophehad and the questions of their inheritance from a couple weeks back.
But about the vows: words mean things, y'all. And that's important. Maybe even as important as "don't immediately revenge-murder a dude". Anyway, on with the more contemporary stuff.
https://twitter.com/ldkop/status/1413446934455410689
An unfortunate repeating refrain in judaism has been white jews grasping for whiteness, so i am sadly unsurprised by reports of the racism Moroccan immigrants faced immigrating to Israel in the late 1940s.
The Pink Peacock's Daloy Polizei tote bag is continuing to make waves, and Arielle Angel interviewed Pink Peacock founder Morgan Holleb about it and other aspects of the space.
We always get messages from people telling us “I’m queer and Jewish and have nowhere to go” or “I didn’t know there were other people like me,” and that’s really affirming.
You can support di rozeve pave, too! Especially if you need a Jewish Anarchism pin or a be gay do crimes one and are willing to pitch in a little extra for the shipping from Scotland.
Or, if you are shopping for something else, there's a new Verdant Dreams of HaOlam HaBa planner for 5782 out for preorder and it looks lovely.
Earlier this month JTA reported on a mother-daughter run judeospanish radio show in Madrid, the mother in question being a scholar of ladino and close friend of Borges back in the day in Argentina. You can check out the archives--I'm tempted to give it a listen!
Aimilios Charbis discusses the film "The City and The City," about Jewish Thessaloniki (Salonika) and how it fits into the way Greeks talk about Greek history. In the time around Tisha b'Av, the 9th of Av, I spend a lot of time thinking about mourning losses of Jewish communities but also what us Jews have created out of our ancestral losses and exiles throughout history.
In honor of Yidstock this weekend, the Yiddish Book Center reposted a special feature on sheet music from their archive, ranging from love songs to the leftist titles above.
It's possible I linked previously to In Geveb's roundup of universities teaching yiddish published in June, but just in case I didn't: here it is!
Queer jews often love golems. Many of us are drawn to queer monstrosity as an aesthetic sort of "fuck you"; others just like it; others are tired of it and want to just be people. I get it. I'm not sure golems are inherently queer, but there is plenty of material there to work with.
https://twitter.com/shvlman/status/1401279117719490571?utm_source=pocket_mylist
In this post on the Reclaiming Indigeneity blog, an indigenous Jew in Canada calls for solidarity and healing from jewish community to recognize and commemorate the massive losses of indigenous children in residential schools, proposing a mikveh-based ceremony for cleansing and healing.
it's important to teach the youth about our traditions, like text study:
one time i when i was like 10 me & a friend decided to make a “harry potter talmud club” because we didn’t know the phrase “media analysis” and the only frame of reference we had for the concept was jewish text study jsksjjdkskts
Once again, mainstream US judaism continues to disappoint: a rally against antisemitism that is more of a rally for Israel is only allowing sufficiently zionist groups to participate. Rabbi Andrue Kahn has a thread about it pointing out the issues here for anyone who needs a 101, though I have to say the Zionism litmus test precedent was made a long time ago and is re-intensifying lately. The big tent doesn't have room for me? Fine; I'll build community with others left out, and have a better starting point for solidarity with other oppressed groups.
https://twitter.com/emmatsalageek/status/1413532306472591364
EVENTS
7/9, 7/10 Plague Wedding, a performance by Abigail Weaver. fb event, trailer
7/11 Hishbati Lina Morales "Were It Not for the Fear It Inspires: Prayers for the State and Hishtadlus", registration required
7/11 Yidstock Featuring Songs of Social Justice ($18)
7/11 Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
7/12-7/15 JMI (Jewish Music Institute) Online: Klezfest 2021 Klezmer learning institute, £80-120
7/13 Jewish Prayer in Many Languages: From Sephardic Seattle to Syrian Brooklyn, Part Three (Shabbat part 2)
7/15 Yiddish & Zionism lecture from Rachel Rojanski through YIVO’s Yiddish Civilization Lecture Series
7/15 The Times They Were a-Changin’: Jewish Protest Singers of the 1960s, with Seth Rogovoy
7/17 Eicha Text Study with Lex Rofeberg (of Judaism Unbound) and Liana Wertman (of The Torah Studio). more details.
7/18 Tisha b'Av
7/18 The Bene-Israel of India: an ancient living community, sliding scale $9-36
7/21 Songs of Our People, Songs of Our Neighbors: Susan Gaeta
8/18 Songs of Our People, Songs of Our Neighbors: Susana Behar
8/24 Jewish Prayer in Many Languages: From Sephardic Seattle to Syrian Brooklyn, Part Four (High Holy Days)
The jewish pet of the week this week is Cupcake, a husky mix currently being fostered in a Jewish home near Dallas. Do you want to be Cupcake's forever human? Contact @SQLPi on twitter, or reply to this email and I can put you in touch.
https://twitter.com/SQLPi/status/1409687389182726150
See you next week!
<3
Meli