Av 5784
Good personal news—I have a job again! Less good effect of that: I am not certain this newsletter will be quite as thorough or as well-edited as it has been, though I remain committed to sending something out each month.
Jewish Calendar
I started writing this as the Three Weeks begin, on the minor fast of the 17th of Tamuz. It is a happy time in my life and I am having an unexpected emotional journey while tackling this idea that I, along with the rest of the jewish people, should be mourning right now. Not that everything is sunlight and happiness—as Sam Brody says in his post on Jewschool regarding Gaza, “It’s a strange practice to mourn for something that happened 2500 years ago, when there is so much to mourn for right now”—but while I’m inhabiting good moods I should, what, turn around and rebuke myself? This is antithetical to my instincts to grab what’s good and flow with it while I can.
Even as I grapple individually with “when Av arrives, joy decreases”, I do recognize the huge need for collective mourning; many people think we have caused something of a rift in society in not adequately mourning the (continued) Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, and the grief for the victims of ongoing violence in Gaza is immense, when I let myself feel it. It is important to have dedicated time to mourn, mourning for ancient and modern things that don’t fall into any other date of mourning, mourning collectively even if we’re not inclined individually.
When we let ourselves feel it, grief can be overpowering. It is so important, I know, to have some kind of release valve, to have opportunities to sob or otherwise feel our grief solo or in community. I hope you have a cathartic tisha b’av, however you choose to mark the holiday.
Israel/Palestine and Antisemitism
Netanyahu spoke to Congress. I’m mad about it. Lots of congresspeople chose to not go, which is their right. Many people protested, and several were arrested, including relatives of hostages.
In other protest news, Rabbi Abby Stein and Lily Greenberg Call “Spoke Up For Palestine and Got Kicked Out of the White House Pride Party”. Good for them.
Delta Airlines threatened to kick someone off a flight for refusing to cover up a “Jews say ceasefire now” t-shirt. I sure don’t love that, as someone with a prominent jews for ceasefire button on a jacket I wear frequently.
Aron Wander’s Review of Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin’s Toda’at Mishnah, Toda’at Mikra is fascinating, going into the viewpoint of the mystics of tzfat that wherever we are, we are in galut. Even in eretz yisrael, in solidarity with the broken world!
Books and Language
Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Hanukkah Board Book is fundraising on Kickstarter.
Do you like nonbinary hebrew? What about amazing works of liturgical art? Maybe you are interested in a hard copy of Siddur Davar Ḥadash, whose content you can also check out online.
The Writing Werewolf: Rabbinic Identity and Linguistic Understanding in the Old Yiddish Mayse-bukh (Book of Stories, 1602) in In Geveb looks fascinating, as does the rest of In Geveb’s Old Yiddish Literature issue.
The 5785 Dreaming the World to Come planner is available for sale!
When I got the email about new prayers uploaded to OpenSiddur this week, Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadelupe stood out to me—then upon opening it i discovered some fascinating translation notes!
Want to host a pop-up in person event for Jewish Zine Fest?
Radical Bubbelehs zine has a call for work on the topic “what radicalized you?” open until 8/14
Miscellaneous
RIP Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who was a wonderful pioneer of sex education and also volunteered to fight in the Haganah in her youth. I do not think the damage done in her military years outbalances the good she did in her later life, including standing with the LGBTQ community during the AIDS crisis, but I do think it’s worth mentioning.
Let us also remember Ilana Schatz, the founder of Free Trade Judaica, who passed away aged 71.
Articles keep trickling out about Hebrew Union College's changes, like this one about remote ordination.
Julia Watts Belser was recently honored by SVARA at their anniversary gala. Check out the resultant 4 minute video on queer disability torah.
Public Domain Review recently featured some lovely art from Issachar Ber Ryback’s 1922 lithograph set Shtetl, My Destroyed Home: A Remembrance. I can’t get over the beautiful shading and contrast in these works.
Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg is hosting a year-long Jewish Ritual Leadership Cohort, “a year-long deep dive into bringing Jewish holidays to life […] for people who are organizing and leading rituals in their communities”.
erika riddick and Kavod v’Nichum put together a four page summary (and much longer report) on JOC’s end of life practices.
“She was a nice Jewish mother — and an organized-crime boss. Meet Fredericka Mandelbaum, who made a fortune from stolen goods and bank robberies”
Events
Summer queer yiddish programs at Kadima have started already this week, but it’s still worth checking them out! For slightly later intro yiddish learning, the yiddish book center has online alef-bays classes this September.
Worlds to Come, the hebrew-learning TTRPG run by The Torah Studio, still has spots available for August.
8/4 Ben HaMetzarim (In the Narrows): Grief Technologies for the Broken (Open) Hearted, “a workshop for Jews on an anti-Zionist path”.
8/5 TransHallel Rosh Chodesh Av (more info)
8/6 Advanced Yiddish Creative Writing Workshop from Rad Yiddish/Queer Yiddish Camp
8/8 Unpacking and Responding to Antisemitism from Bend the Arc
8/13 Responding to Instability: Viewing our Democracy Through the Lens of 9 Av, from Reconstructing Judaism
8/14-8/28 A (Re)Introduction to Israel-Palestine, from JFREJ
8/15 Deepening Our Roots: Preparing for the High Holidays with Soul and Substance, taught by Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum (Jews of Color only)
8/18 Embodied Resistance: AZ Jewish Sex Workers & the Fight for Liberation (sign up for the zoom here)
8/18-9/8 Decoding the Alef Bet: Learn your Letters to Study with Shel Maala!
8/21 Sand Into Pearls, a midrash storytelling class with Eli Ramer
9/4 Jewish Zine Fest
9/9-9/25 Sacred Time and Liminal Space: Ashkenazi Folk Magic at the Threshold class with Rokhl Kafrissen
9/15 In Every Tongue: Finding Your Voice in the Torah of Translation
9/15-9/16 Kavod v’Nichum's 22nd Annual Chevra Kadisha Conference, for “anyone curious about Jewish end-of-life rituals and practices”
Sept 2024-Feb 2025 Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out cohort through Kirva, a group bringing together Musar and social justice
Sept 2024-May 2025 Washington Coalition of Rabbis online Intro to Judaism Class
11/3-11/17 Queer Yiddish Camp!
Jewish Pet of the Month
The jewish pet of the month is the devout Mister Felix, of Friend of the Jewsletter (who has her own newsletter) ada morse!
Do you have a Jewish pet you’d like featured? Reply to this email (or get in touch with me otherwise) with a picture of the pet and their name!
With love,
Meli