Nitzavim
Hello!
Content notes for this week's newsletter are: antisemitism, racism (including overt white supremacy), death, natural disasters, homophobia
https://twitter.com/red_loeb/status/1433485063430328322
So, Nitzavim has a lot of things I don't like, including yet more curses. I cling to Dvarim 30:11-14 (translation lovingly tweaked from the JPS version):
Surely, this mitzvah which I enjoin upon you this day is not too extraordinary for you, nor is it very distant.
It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may do it?”
Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may do it?”
No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.כִּ֚י הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לֹא־נִפְלֵ֥את הִוא֙ מִמְּךָ֔ וְלֹ֥א רְחֹקָ֖ה הִֽוא׃
לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲלֶה־לָּ֤נוּ הַשָּׁמַ֙יְמָה֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
וְלֹא־מֵעֵ֥בֶר לַיָּ֖ם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲבׇר־לָ֜נוּ אֶל־עֵ֤בֶר הַיָּם֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
כִּֽי־קָר֥וֹב אֵלֶ֛יךָ הַדָּבָ֖ר מְאֹ֑ד בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖ לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃
This portion of the parsha is probably most well-known for לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא (it is not in heaven) being quoted in the oven of akhnai story but the beginning and end of the section ring truer to me than the middle. There is a crucial piece of torah-wisdom and of judaism and of justice: the first steps are near to you, in your very heart. You can begin on the right path from anywhere. You cannot reach the heavens in one step, nor cross the ocean; but a single small move towards the greater right thing is within reach of each of us. Nobody is gonna cross the ocean to bring motivation to you in particular; but you also don't have to wait for a grand calling from heaven in order to help people survive as best you can.
The first time I tried to write about this parsha it came out a lot angrier. I have been holding quite a bit of anger at hashem and at the wider world; perhaps this is a better response. I've been trudging through hope, and overcoming burnout, based on advice from long-term activists. I try to move my stubbornness in a positive direction, as @maimonides_nutz does in her own excellent thread about hope and not giving up in the face of, well, all this.
How do we do teshuva in these times? How do we come together separately (or distanced and outdoors) again and chant: who by fire, who by water, as we hear of deaths from each of these reasons and more?
I don't know, but a step towards it is right here, in your mouth and in your heart.
Apparently the national library of Poland has uploaded scans of public domain yiddish postcards. I don't speak or read yiddish but I can read "lshana tovah" (fb source).
The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood has included a number of Sephardic Rosh Hashana resources in their most recent newsletter, including a yehi ratsones guide. This Tunisian t’fina pkaila (spinach stew) recipe has author Healy Slakman's family's Rosh Hashana seder customs in it, and Hey Alma put together a wide ranging Rosh Hashana recipe selection as well including another tfina pkaila.
There's also some specific content and projects I've seen lately relating to the Days of Awe, the 10 days from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur:
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I've done 10Q, a service that asks you a question each of the 10 days of awe then locks them up on Yom Kippur until the next year, and found it enlightening. I have no memory of what I put in last year, though. Guess we'll find out!
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Sefaria has put Erica Brown's book Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe on its site, and had a lovely interview webinar with her about it.
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TEKIAH! (tiktok repost) -- this made me fall over laughing multiple times and thus I must spread it
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I will be doing a pop-up shabbat morning service on Shabbat Shuvah, 9/11, starting at 10 am pacific time on zoom, with password ShabbatShu.
https://twitter.com/spikeeinbinder/status/1431013616317341699
Jewish Currents' 2019 illustrated guide on how to give yourself an abortion is unfortunately relevant again. The author of that guide did a quick little interview with a current abortion fund staffer for this week's Jewish Currents newsletter too.
The Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, a shonde of an organization previously responsible for the "Jewish Harper's Letter" (context in a previous issue) has published a new screed titled "Critical Social Justice Ideology and Antisemitism". Fortunately, David Schraub read it so we don't have to. I am a little surprised Schraub did not mention israel or zionism in his blogpost even once, when that's clearly the unsaid scaffolding beneath so much of the Jewish anti-CRT push. I skimmed the whitepaper myself but had to step away to prevent my own brain from exploding; there's only so many times you can read people blaming critical race theory for the "jewish privilege" 4chan op. Anyway, Tema Smith is correct once again in saying:
https://twitter.com/temasmith/status/1433538198609829889
On a brighter note, Shane Burley wrote a lovely piece about JAWN (Jews Against White Nationalism), a coalition project bringing together IfNotNow, JFREJ, and Bend the Arc concerned with tracking right wing antisemitism in a way that does not conflate it with antizionism.
Rabbi Abby Stein, a trans woman, tweeted a short thread explaining one history of the gendered morning blessing and a very old egalitarian alternative, including a link to this amazing article about 15th century women's prayerbooks.
WOC-centric website gal-dem is doing a special diaspora-focused edition, and they've included an article by Sandy Rashty about Iraq's former jewish community, touching on the Farhud and other crises faced by that community.
Jewish Liberation Theology Institute has another round of discussion groups opening up, each meeting for ten weeks at a sliding scale ($99-249). The groups are led by Rabbi Lucia Pizarro.
https://twitter.com/ezrafurman/status/1432066072446914563
EVENTS!
9/7 Rosh Hashanah
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New Synagogue Project, egalitarian non-denominational, EDT, RH morning, sliding scale $18+
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Tzedek Chicago, pro-Palestine Reconstructionist, CDT, RH morning, $25-30 per service
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Kehilla, shmita focused Renewal-ish, PDT, 2 days of RH, Shabbat Shuvah, sliding scale $20+
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Hinenu Baltimore, justice-oriented reconstructionist, EDT, RH evening/morning, sliding scale $0-75
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Beit Tikkun, music and politics, PDT, RH 2 days evening/morning/morning, sliding scale $36-250
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Workers Circle Rosh Hashone, yiddishist secular, $25-36
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Kadima, hippie Reconstructionist, PDT, RH evenining/morning, sliding scale $0+
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Etz Chaim, Reform, CDT, no registration required (youtube streaming)
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Kohenet, "chant, embodied practice, Torah reading, and more", EDT, sliding scale $45+
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Jews in all Hues, JOCSM-led, EDT, sliding scale $0+
9/9 The Role Jewish Holiday Food Plays in Jewish Family Traditions, with Leah Koenig
9/11 10 AM PDT pop-up shacharit led by me, with pw ShabbatShu. We will use the reconstructionist Kol HaNeshama siddur screenshared pdf, which is mostly transliterated.
9/12, 9/13, 9/14, 9/23, 9/24, 9/26 SVARA's drop-in Mishna collective, Days of AWEsome edition
9/12 Virtual Walking Tour: Jewish Porto), Portugal, $18-36
9/12 The Last 100 Years of Ashkenazim in Mexico: Shifting Identity Definitions
9/12 National Sephardic Selihot (will also be livestreamed on facebook, just like last year's)
9/12 Yom Kippur Drash from Hadar: Can We Reverse the Irreversible? Teshuvah for a Broken World by Dena Weiss
9/16 Yom Kippur
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Kanisse Egalitarian Sephardi, EDT, evening/morning/evening
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New Synagogue Project, egalitarian non-denominational, EDT, YK Kol Nidre, morning, Neilah, sliding scale $18+
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Tzedek Chicago, pro-Palestine Reconstructionist, CDT, YK evening/morning/evening, $25-30 per service
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Kehilla, shmita focused renewal-ish, PDT, YK evening/morning/evening, Shabbat Shuvah, sliding scale $20+
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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
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Workers Circle Yom Kippur, leftist yiddishist secular, $25-36
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Kadima, hippie Reconstructionist, PDT, YK evening/morning/evening, sliding scale $0+
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Etz Chaim, Reform, CDT, no registration required (youtube streaming)
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Kohenet, "chant, embodied practice, Torah reading, and more", EDT, sliding scale $45+
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Jews in all Hues, JOCSM-led, EDT, sliding scale $0+
9/19 Sukkot Drash from Hadar: The Gap that Can’t be Breached: Longing for God's Presence by Rabbi Avi Strausberg
9/19 Medieval Spain: A Conversation on Art, Literature, and History, co-organized by Fordham’s Center for Jewish Studies and The Met Cloisters, "focusing particularly on Jewish presence within and across the geopolitical regions at the meeting points of Christian- and Muslim-ruled Spain"
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)
9/20-27 Jewish Ancestral Healing summit
9/30 Secular Yidishkayt and Social Justice in the US South, with Josh Parshall by Yiddish Book Center
9/30 Don't Ask Don't Pray: Gender Resistance and Sexual Recognition in Reform Jewish Holiday Rituals
The Jewish pet of the week this week is Junior Varsity!
https://twitter.com/profit_is_theft/status/1423403372640620546
See you next week!
<3
Meli