Vayigash
Today is the 10th of Tevet, a minor fast (sun-up to sundown), as well as being some goyishe holiday. This week’s parsha is vayigash and the hell year is almost over on the gregorian calendar.
Rebecca Epstein-Levi wrote in Bitch about fanfiction, which you would not think is itself jewish but as a scholar of jewish ethics, she always brings a connection to the rabbis and their wisdom and/or folly. Text study in chevruta keeps talmudic/mishnaic/etc texts alive as the social bonds of fandom keep more contemporary ones alive.
Batya Ungar-Sargon, who i hate, is leaving The Forward. No idea who they will replace her with but I hope it’s someone less awful. Relevant background about the change in The Forward in the past few years here, in a Feb 2020 piece from Mairav Zonszein.
A teen in vermont has made it his project to restore that state’s oldest jewish cemetery. He’s thinking about putting a genizah up. Good for him, I’m glad to hear his gofundme is going well. Being in an old dilapidaded cemetery that maybe holds some of your ancestors is an emotional trip.
I have mixed feelings on this essay from Cornel West in Jewish Currents about AJ Heschel. He did good work, but I am so tired of the endless hagiography, and it feels like this is just more of that but from the leftist side rather than an actual dig into the details. Side note, I wish i understood the lure the Prophets hold to social justice oriented rabbis of the 20th century. Whenever I read them i end up either in a “this is not relevant” space or a “i feel like i’m just being yelled at” space. A piece I did like: “[Heschel] feared that the onward march of nihilism ultimately fans and fuels fascism. For Heschel, staring into the abyss must ultimately lead us not into despair, but toward one another.”
But I don’t feel like i need to reckon with the attachment to zionism Heschel and MLK had. They both died decades ago so we can’t exactly convince them otherwise, they don’t have the cultural context of what’s happened since 1972/1968 (respectively), and many of the people they influenced and continue to influence have a whole variety of views on the subject. Is this relevant to today? I feel it is more pertinent to reckon with the overlarge place zionism has in judaism today, and ensuring that our antizionism isn’t just a reactionary backlash.
There’s a phenomenon in a lot of lefty jewish circles where antizionism has to be the core of someone’s connection to judaism for them to be a real leftist. That medinat yisrael, the state of israel, has to be brought up and fought against constantly. I do believe we have the ethical imperative to struggle against injustice there, but it is not more of an ethical imperative than (say) white jews have in the struggle against racism in the US. If one is meant to be the core of our judaism and not the other, why?
This probably isn’t actually a good summary of my views. I’m tired and I have a sinus headache. But it’s all you’re getting right now.
To come back around to the original link, I loved the excerpt from William Sloane Coffin’s eulogy of Heschel: “He knew that reverence for God meant a certain irreverence for all institutions, including and particularly the State.”
On a lighter note, I read this essay about backgammon and instantly remembered my dad and papou playing tavli, which is enough of a connection to link it here. my house my rules.
Also here is a thread about Job/Iyov as a trans man.
This shit is why i love text study in a way that involves the original language, even if it’s hella slow and definitely not the only way i study these.
Anyway, on to events:
Every Saturday night 5:30pm PST Micha Chetrit runs a sefardi/mizrachi style zoom havdalah!
12/26-12/30 Yiddish culture festival Yiddish New York is a whole festival that’s online this year.
Class on Yiddish History Through Music Monday evenings starting 1/4 taught by my buddy queer Yiddishist Sasha Berenstein
1/6 learn about Bukharan jews from Sefardi Mizrachi Q Network founder Ruben Shimonov
The Jewish Pet of the Week this week is Izzy’s Mischka, who is honored and alarmed to be given this title.
see you next week in the new year! may 2021 be better than 2020!
<3
Meli