Hello friends! It’s good to see you, or at least to send out another missive. I’ve been sick with a garden-variety cold the past week or so and it’s limited my capacity, so this month’s newsletter might be a little thin, but I’ve otherwise been fine. How are you?

Jewish Calendar

I don’t have much to say about Tammuz! I do have some things to say about June. It contains Juneteenth, for one, and happy juneteenth next Friday! Jews of Color Initiative has a Juneteenth resource list including events and links about Juneteenth from a Jewish perspective.

Happy pride month, also! Jewish Language Project had a cute instagram post about the word for lesbians in haketia (judeo-spanish from north Africa). There’s also A Blessing Before a Dyke March, by Anastasia bat Lilith.

Also for Pride Month: Ben Yehuda Press is offering a discount on their LGBTQ+ books, covering poetry, halacha, and more!

Israel/Palestine, Antisemitism, and/or Antifascism

It’s interesting seeing a growing split in the jewish left around whether we form separate institutions (as Jewish Currents has argued we should!) or pull our current ones towards better ethics; I believe both these are worthwhile and we can only see who will win if we have a true diversity of tactics. Jewish Currents writes about IfNotNow’s current strategy of working within synagogues and other institutions to pull them towards ending US arms sales to Israel; for the more separatist side, check out The Backstory of the Jewish Diaspora Movement and Jewish Diaspora Movement’s website itself, which does include IfNotNow as a member. RNS also had an article about JDM!

A bunch of Jews in Toronto led a diaspora fest in opposition to the Walk with Israel. Looks cute!

A Field Guide to Antisemitic Comment Sections, from Nexus Project—a quick guide to some of the coded language you’ll see in antisemitism online.

Who are canaries when not in coal mines? Why Antisemitism Studies shouldn’t displace Jewish Studies

Books and Language

Harvard Divinity School has begun publishing ASHERAH: Innovations in Jewish Prayer & Ritual (not yet read, but looks fascinating!)

“Reflections on Jewish ‘Authenticity’ in Today’s World:
Sometimes I feel like we are living in the middle of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are”: a post from Shaul Magid’s substack involving musings on, well, jewish authenticity, reacting in part to reactions to ASHERAH’s launch.

Tlaim: The Patchwork Cookbook, a global jewish project from Bechol Lashon, is complete and available to order in print or view free online!

Rad Yiddish has a shop full of zines like Queer Lefty Yiddish Futures and some radish stickers!

Gazoz De Frambuaz: The only Ladino-inspired, raspberry-themed quarterly zine in Miami. Found via An Open Letter to Dr. Nissim Yaakov Malul in Der Spekter. I have not read the article or any issues of the zine, but it sounds cool!

Inspired by a queer Bundist poet, this Jewish composer set her work to Yiddish music

The Rise of Talmud Review Forum in Ancient Jew Review might be of interest to some of you! (not yet read)

Ha-Siddur ha-Metsuyan, a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld (1973) (not yet read)

Miscellaneous

Behold, a fish amulet.

Donny Gluckstein and Janey Stone wrote in Jacobin about The Radical History of New York City's Jewish Women about labor actions around the turn of the century. It’s an excerpt from their book The Radical Jewish Tradition: Revolutionaries, Resistance Fighters and Firebrands (not yet read (the book or the article)).

let’s read about katz’s deli!

Signal Fire Coop, home of the Radical Jewish Calendar, started a shop mostly full of art!

Rest in peace and/or power, Stuart Kelman, who was the founding rabbi of Berkeley’s Netivot Shalom and a leader in the jewish death space.

Why Removing a Problematic Donor's Name Is Harder Than It Looks, about the Wexner Foundation and its recent changes to its leadership programs.

Jewish witchcraft isn’t as weird as it sounds, writes Mira Fox in the Forward about YIVO/Center for Jewish History’s “Jews are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Psychics” exhibit.

Speaking of jewish witchcraft, jewitches has the fabulous doykeit necklace back. While you’re shopping, also check out Matir Asurim’s t-shirt fundraiser ft. Dona Dona art contributed by Joey Nicholson-Landau.

Classes and Events

Songs for the Soul, with rabbi dr. koach baruch frazier & Marques Hollie, is a JOC-only online song group running from June 23 to July 28.

Dip Your Hands into Scribal Arts with Julie Seltzer is a one-week course this July teaching the fundamentals of holy writing and the halacha which governs it.

Events

6/14 and 6/16 Plant Preservation in the Pale (class happening twice, pick a date)

6/15 Gender Justice in the Yiddish Language: An Interactive Workshop on the Current Status of Trans Yiddish Scholarship

6/17 The Unfinished Fight: 250 Years of American Democracy and Civil Rights from Nexus Project

6/18 Di Nest: Yiddish Arts Incubator—A collaboration between Boston Workers Circle and Rad Yiddish

6/19 When do we pray? Exploring Talmudic Prayer Times with a Crip Lens — Jews of Color only

6/24 We Can Fix American Jewish Philanthropy - Together! from Jewish Liberation Fund

7/7 The Musical Legacy of Iranian Jews

Pet of the Month

The Jewish Pets of the Month this month are Simurgh (orange) and Noghreh (gray), chosen this month in celebration of their human becoming an official member of the Jewish people! Everyone say mazel tov and welcome!

With love,

Meli