April 15, 2022

Pesach alegre!

Jewish Calendar

Pesach starts tonight!

"What to the Black Jew is passover? It should be haven from white supremacy." full article link. Related: don't sing Go Down Moses at your seder if you're not Black.

The pandemic continues. COVID prevalence is rising once again. Please consider mitigation measures if you are having an in-person seder, such as:

• eating outdoors or having the full seder outdoors

• masks on while not eating

• a smaller seder

• vaccinated guests only

• same-day COVID testing for all attendees

• extra air purifiers

If you need a virtual seder to attend, poorqueerdisabledjews on instagram has put together a spreadsheet of options in various time zones.

Helen Bennet of Tzedek Lab has compiled a list of social justice haggadah supplements, if that's your jam. And don't forget Escape the Plagues!

Omer counting

We count the omer starting on the 2nd night of pesach, so Saturday night. I have a daily email reminder that will send you the text of the blessing along with something about that day's sefirot.

Heavy stuff

periodic reminder that israel is an apartheid state, pointing this out is not antisemitic, and you should not rely on jewish insider for anything.

Jewish Currents latest issue is about soviet/post-soviet jews, and there are some stunning pieces in there. One of the best I've read so far is Eli Rubin's The Soul of the Worker article about soviet oppression of chabad and of the (false, constructed, yet still happening for some reason) perceived binary choice between socialism and religious observance.

Related: translation of A seyder in der tayge, or: a (fiction) story about how one time in a gulag a bunch of jewish women held a seder.

Miscellaneous

Want to chill out and watch jewish movies? Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival has 50% off streaming options with code passover, if you purchase by 4/17 and watch within a week after purchase.

JOC-oriented cookbook Tlaim is still looking for recipe submissions!

Delicious tunisian croquettes (banatage) recipe for passover and year round

Classes coming up

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

• Unyeshiva mini classes (3 weeks each, 4/25-5/15 or 5/16-6/5). Isaiah, Karaites, psychedelics, gender, whatever.

• Planting Cucumbers By Magic: or, How to Get Away with Jewish Witchcraft, 4/24-5/15 Sundays, taught by Olivia Devorah thru Shel Maala

• Pirkei Avot for Goths 4/25-5/31 Tuesdays with Sophia Zohar

• Sefer Yetzirah: Meditation, Magic, & The Cosmic Architecture with R' Jill Hammer through Kohenet, April-June (check out their other spring classes too!)

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

• Sweetening the Spirits: Introduction to Sefardi Herbalism, 4/26-5/22 Tuesdays or Sundays from bibiandni / Naomi Spektor. "This class will explore Sefardi herb traditions around two major themes: herbs for protection, and herbs for joy & blessedness."

Events!

4/17 Pink Peacock trans liberation seder!

4/18 my birthday. send me cat photos.

4/18 Beyond Borders: Exodus and the Art of Siona Benjamin

4/21 Experimental Liturgy Test Drive: Pésaḥ 7, an evening service using brin solomon's siddur davar chadash!

4/22 Earth Day Seder with Kadima

4/23 Secular Third Seder with United Jewish People’s Order/Morris Winchevsky School (fb event with more info)

4/25 Seharaneh Storytime: Tales from Jewish Kurdistan

4/25 Herbal Wisdoms, Queer Magic, & Ritual in Torah & SWANA traditions with Mazal Etedgi of B'samim Apothecary, at Romemu

5/2 “What Does Your Dream Tell You?”: B. Rivkin and Yiddish Occultism in America lecture. "The writer B. Rivkin (Borukh Avrom Weinrebe, 1883–1945) is known to scholars today as an important anarchist thinker and Yiddish literary critic who formulated the notion that Yiddish literature must strive to serve as a non-territorial homeland for the Jewish people. Less known is that Rivkin was also a firm believer in the occult who attended spiritualist séances and speculated about the possibility of telepathic communication." UM.

5/3 The Hebrew Bible and Disabilities from Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, RespectAbility, the Hunter College Jewish Studies Department, and ROSIES. (more info)

5/4 Jewish and Catholic Approaches to Americanization lecture

5/15 Jewish Queer Languages

5/15-5/27 Queer Yiddish Camp, an online intensive, 5/15-5/27. More info at the website.

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

The Jewish Pet of the week is Chauncey, a gorgeous floof!

Shabbat shalom,

<3

Meli