Tevet 5785
Welcome to the jewsletter for Tevet! This month has the fast day Asara b’Tevet but also starts off with a bang mid-Chanukah.
Jewish Calendar: Kislev/Chanukah
Happy chanukah! I hope you’ve been having a good one these past couple nights. I don’t have anything wise to say about the themes of the holiday myself, whether militarism or regenerating oils or light in the dark or assimilation, but plenty of other people do:
Chanukah resource lists and supplements abound! Jews of Color Initiative has one, as does rebooting. Jewitches has a ritual guide, and Rabbis for Ceasefire has a candle lighting companion (pdf link). Rabbi Rachel Barenblat’s chanukah writings from previous years have been great, too, and don’t forget Halachic Left and All That’s Left’s beautiful supplement and Gashmius’ The Light of the Other.
For a party where you learn a lot about calendars, check out Olivia Devorah’s video “Hanukkah’s Not Late” at the bottom of her videos page. To paraphrase a work of classic literature, “[Chanukah] is never late, nor is [it] early, [it] arrives precisely when [it] means to.”
As far as apocrypha go, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg put together a Judith-art-and-poetry centric newsletter post, and Judaism Unbound has their annual apocryfest running; also check out As the Story Goes: Hanukkah Spears, Cheese, and Goblins by Jack Zaientz.
I love this vintage chanukah wrapping paper design so much I almost embedded it in the newsletter. If novelty menorahs are more your thing (including a NSFW option) check out this article in the Forward or this star trek option, or this article from hyperallergic a couple years back!
A Prayer for All Eight Nights of Ḥanukkah, by Rabbi David Seidenberg
Other time of year things
I’ve been enjoying brin solomon’s one word torah blogpost drash series, especially last week’s about joseph and gender! Jewish Currents’ weekly dvar also continues to inspire, including this week’s by Aron Wander.
It’s been a dark year. The holidays are challenging. Let Isaac Bashevis Singer guide you, says Emily Tamkin.
Rebooting has a lovely thing they’re calling Erev Yalda centering pan-religious Persian winter solstice tradition Yalda from a Jewish perspective.
Israel/Palestine, Antisemitism, and Antifascism
There is still a genocide occurring in Gaza.
On Finding Our Temple Covered in Blood, by Joelle Novey: “I’m not a rabbi. I’m not a theologian. I’m not an expert on international politics. But I know what is holy because I experience it myself, and I know for sure that we’re not allowed to kill people.“
We’ve talked previously about jewish funders conditioning their funding on support for israel; turns out that is not solely a jewish issue. Jewish Currents reports in their Defunding Dissent article about wider withdrawals of funding from groups that express support for Gazans.
Internal Project Esther documents describe conspiracy of Jewish ‘masterminds’ seeking to dismantle Western values. Never trust right-wingers who say they’re against antisemitism.
Books and Language
I am currently midway through reading Safety Through Solidarity by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley and feel confident enough in the rest of the book to recommend it. Safety through Solidarity handles legitimately thorny issues calmly and clearly, and is inclusive of a variety of experiences within judaism (jews of color, sephardi/mizrachi, more "visibly jewish" people like orthodox jews) when it comes to contemporary experiences, though the history component is still a little euro-/ashki-centric. It’s not a chronicle of everything bad that’s happened to Jews, and if you go in from that angle you may feel it’s missed some crucial parts or skips around. It’s instead a selection of patterns antisemitism has followed as a guide on what to avoid in everyday activist life. If you’ve been paying attention, and/or faced much antisemitism yourself, this book will contain things you already know—but it might contextualize them in helpful ways for explaining why shit’s fucked up. Recommended for people who support Palestine and/or feel a little weird and complicated about antisemitism these days.
I also found out about two jewish middle grade books that look great! One is Emi Watanabe Cohen’s Golemcrafters, about jewish japanese siblings that learn the family, well, golemcraft. Check out a review here from Bookishly Jewish. I also recently heard about forthcoming middle grade book Golden Threads, a novel about a Moroccan Jewish girl in the 1920s with traditional craftwork and magic. (The author also wrote The Jewelers of the Ummah: A Potential History of the Jewish Muslim World if an adult-level book on the topic is more up your alley.)
Ethan Schwartz reviewed God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible for Ancient Jew Review.
Print-o-Craft is reprinting JT Waldman’s lavishly illustrated book of esther and it’s up for preorder!
I love ada’s zine hashkata: quieting; a meditation practice from the eish kodesh.
Miscellaneous
A Prayer Before Seeking Healing in a Psychedelic Journey, by Rabbi Zac Kamenetz
Halachic Left now has a halachic review service where you can email their rabbis for halachic advice!
Jewish Divination in the Greco–Roman Era, a scholarly article potentially relevant to some interests today
“An open letter to frum jews: Hi! I am a transsexual goyishe stranger that one of your OTDs found on the internet and ran off with. Can we talk about your collective sexual trauma for a moment?”
I missed this cute little essay Muestras Konsejas: Yogurt in Sephardi Life when it was originally posted, but I’m enjoying it now—Nesi Altaras on the ways Sephardic Jews involve themselves (ourselves?) with traditions and the “supposed to”s of life.
Fusing Klezmer and Kumbia Music: An Interview with Mariposas Galácticas’ Jonathan Sidharta-Leibovic, from Sarah Biskowitz
Events and Classes
Disability Wisdom as Soul Care, a disability mussar course led by Rabbi Lauren Tuchman, is once again courting signups for two cohorts—one all-disabled, one mixed disabled and non. I loved this class! Maybe you will too.
Sasha Berenstein will be starting another round of yiddish classes with Kadima starting in January!
Judaism Unbound has a new set of three-week mini courses on topics including sabbateanism and judeo-futurism, and The Torah Studio has their drop-in and intensive classes online for next semester as well.
12/25-1/1 Candle Lighting with Rabbis for Ceasefire
12/28 Apocry-fest LIVE: A Hannukah Havdalah Gathering from Judaism Unbound (more apocryfest here)
1/9 The Art of Jewish Papercutting with Deborah Ugoretz
2/2-2/3 Bad Yiddish Farbindungen yiddish studies conference
Pet of the Month
Today’s Pet of the Month is a rare non-mammalian entry: Mr. Snuggins!! Thanks to bluesky user Effective Nancy for your offer of his glorious visage.
Until next time,
<3
Meli