read this instead

a party platter of bites for heart, brain and soul

Photo of a white masc person with a goatee and a cowboy hat outside, looking pensive
There's a Hasidic expression, "The King is in the field," to describe the month of Elul-- a month of tshuvah-- repentance and repair-- and compassionate mercy, to indicate that the divine is closer to us than ever. So here's a (drag) king in a field. (Gage Gatlyn, to be precise.)

This is Life as a Sacred Text 🌱, an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives. It‘s run on a nonprofit, so it’s 100% NAZI FREE. More about the project here, and to subscribe, go here:

Welcome back to our semi-occasional feature in which a potpourri of stuff is… featured!🌟

Here are some happenings:

(Should I do this whenever there's a Read This Instead post?)

  • Online, Weds, Sept 11th, Hadar Cohen teaches on Mizrahi and Sephardi experiences of antisemitism and Ashkenormativity, and creating pathways to a more whole communal future for everyone.
  • Online, Thurz Sept 12th, the great folks at Jewtina y Co. will be presenting research from a study of Jewish adoptees of color. "This conversation intends to increase understanding of the intersections of adoption and religion, as well as provide a community-building opportunity for those whose lives have been touched by adoption."
  • Chicago, Fri Sept 13th (this Friday night!) I'll be giving the drasha/sermon at Mishkan Chicago!
  • In NYC and Online, Sun/Mon Sept 15-16: A conference "organized by and featuring formerly Orthodox Jewish scholars, activists, performers, and artists, as [they] explore the cultural achievements that emerged from this break with tradition."
  • NYC, Sun Sept 22: Jewish languages of Brooklyn, a walking tour, led by the Endangered Language Alliance. "This unique walking tour focuses on a core zone around Ocean Parkway, featuring encounters with speakers of several Jewish languages and glimpses of Ashkenazi, Syrian/Levantine, North African, and Juhuri (Judeo-Tat) community institutions, including food and music."
  • Online Sun Sept 22, 29, Oct 6: A 3-part series led by Laura Elkeslassy on the liturgical poems (piyyutim) from the High Holy Day season in the Moroccan nusach/musical motif, open to all.
  • Boston, Thurz, September 26: I'll be teaching at the Lehrhaus in Boston– which, if you don't know, is an amazing Jewish " tavern and house of learning" that does all sorts of astonishingly inspired takes on global Jewish food and drink that landed it on a bunch of best-of lists in its first year and is soon to be expanding to DC.
image of a poster for an event featuring Gladys Mae Sellers, a Black woman cantor, in English and Yiddish
Chazzan Gladys Mae Sellers.

The work of public history, of honoring our trailblazers, continues.

Chazzan Gladys Mae Sellers first became known in NYC's Yiddish theater as “Madame Goldye Steiner” in the 1920's and 30's, and eventually became the first known Black American woman cantor (a clergy person who leads / sings Jewish liturgy). And when she made her cantorial debut in 1924, she seems to be only the second known woman cantor at all, after Cantor Sophie Kurtzer in 1920.

She was, this summer, finally honored with a grave marker thanks to Jewish singer and community leader Shahanna McKinney Baldon.

Her story is fascinating (more here and herecontent note: outdated, now-racially offensive language– and more about the work to preserve her legacy here.)

Yentl hungrily opening up a sacred book
Of course there was someone real behind this story. Deep down, you knew there was.

Speaking of honoring our trailblazers,

did you know that Isaac Bashevis Singer said that he based his story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy" on his actual real-life sister Esther Kreitman, who was also a writer? She published several novels, a short story collection and other works, translated Dickens and Shaw into Yiddish, ran a literary journal and was active in socialist circles. Her semi-autobiographical novel, Der Sheydim Tants, about growing up in a Hasidic family and life in Poland before WWI, is regarded as her masterwork. 

Yentl was inspired by Kreitman's frustrated attempts to educate herself– though some have criticized Singer for it, since apparently he didn't do much to help his actual sister along her quest in real life. And her books were never even reviewed in Yiddish daily The Forward, for which both he and his brother worked.

In Der Sheydim Tants, Kreitman writes,

“In his heart of hearts, Reb Avram Ber disapproved of his wife’s erudition. He thought it wrong for a woman to know too much, and was determined that this mistake should not be repeated in Deborah’s case. Now there was in the house a copy of Naimonovitch’s Russian Grammar, which Deborah always studied in her spare moments, but whenever her father caught her at this mischief he would hide the book away on top of the tiled stove out of her reach, and then she would have to risk her very life to recover it.”

And risk she did, evidently– again and again. And now we can make the choice to become part of a deeper recovery process by reading her and telling her story. 

More about her life here, and her books here and (begrudgingly) here.

ּBlack and white photo of a young woman with a book, looking pensive
The actual real Esther Kreitman. 
Tenderness and Rot
by Kay Ryan

Tenderness and rot
share a border.
And rot is an
aggressive neighbor
whose iridescence
keeps creeping over.
No lessons
can be drawn
from this however.
One is not
two countries.
One is not meat
corrupting.
It is important
to stay sweet
and loving.

The work to undo the legacy we choose for ourselves continues, too.

That is to say, if you haven't heard: According to charges filed by the Department of Justice, Russia has been working to interfere in our elections again, whoo! This includes funding conservative social media influencers to parrot useful-to-them talking points and– get your shocked face ready–having agents pretend to be both media companies and people that they weren't in order to sow discord, disinformation, and divisiveness.

Including!

creating “a full-fledged three language” information project that would “target Jewish communities across the globe, first and foremost in Israel and the US.”
David Rose schitts creek me??
A special attitude towards Russia and the President of Russia in general is characteristic of the right and moderate in Israel. Thus, for example, the former Prime-Minister of Israel ’ last interview includes a description of his negotiations with the Russian President in spring of 2022 and literally overflows with compliments addressed to the outstanding, perceptive, and wise Russian leader. It’s obvious that we need to support the legitimate Israeli government against the left-wingers supported by the . It is also obvious that the Jewish population of the US is divided with regards to the issues of Ukraine and Israel, just as the population of Israel itself. Influencing the public opinion of Israel will impact the public opinion of Jewish voters in the US prior to the 2024 Presidential Elections.
An excerpt of the Russian plan to divide the Jewish community, from the DOJ filing. DOJ blackouts, not mine.

TL;DR if you are or have seen more progressive Jews being attacked viciously online by what appear to be more right-wing Jews or Israelis, it's entirely possible (probable? likely? ??) that they weren't real Yids Behaving Badly Online (can confirm that this also happens), but rather Kremlin actors hired to sow division. Hard to know?? Cool, cool. 

In any case, the usual rules continue to apply: Take whatever you see and experience on social media with a rock formation of salt–

and if you don't like the idea of foreign governments tinkering with our election, phone bank, text bank, and canvass harder.

Recently, some early demos/tapes of the great Lou Reed (né Lewis Allen (Rabinowitz) Reed, z"l, have been found. This set of tracks from 1965 is wild; it's got some of the of the songs that would change the world as Velvet Underground-- but here, Reed sounds more like the folk mood of the day, more Dylan or Peter, Paul & Mary than he would after John Cale came into the picture. More on the story here and here, and the whole album at the link.

Public service announcement
This public service announcement is over
No but REALLY please make sure you are registered in the state from which you will be voting!!!! Do it today! Here's how! And get registered if you're not!
What is Not Sacred? A Haiku
By Simone Hanchet

what is not sacred?
find me that thing and i will
hold it up for you
🌱

Liora Ostroff makes amulet prints and other art based on traditional Jewish forms, often working with powerful essays by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Here are excerpts from Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Dissent” arranged as an amulet. (Some of you may remember that we talked about amulets here.)

Scroll through the carousel to see the essay.

What Jewish Looks Like is a powerful intersectional anthology that lifts up Jewish heroes across time and geography– and though it's pitched at older elementary school kids, I found it legitimately moving, and learned a bunch of stuff, too. May be worthwhile no matter your age, but definitely a get if you have littles in your life. Order from here and tell them that you're with me in the checkout process and you'll get a signed book with two free prints in it as well. (!)

 WHAT JEWISH LOOKS LIKE marching for our lives. living by your convictions. setting out menorahs on tribal land. signing the Torah portion from the bimah. challenging your own community to make change from within. turning dreams into reality for yourself and bringing others along. being "Black by birth, a Jew by choice, and a revolutionary by necessity." flying the rainbow flag over city hall. adding kimchi on the Seder plate. defining yourself by what you can do, not what you can't. transforming pain into art. defying tradition to build something better. becoming the flyweight champion of the world. sailing through rough waters to prove anything is possible. writing your own story as an act of resistance. living to see a world filled with joyous liberation. creating mashups that make way for inclusivity. becoming one of the greatest basketball players of all time. turning oppression into a Nobel-prize discovery. embracing chutzpah in the face of obstacles. leading with purpose. revering the lifesaving joy of discovery. creating a hidden escape network that saved thousands of lives. organizing for change. fighting for immigrant rights. finding the courage to start over. living out loud. cooking up Koshersoul. claiming your identity while fighting for others. mixing cultures with delicious results. topping the charts by staying true to who you are. stepping into the spotlight. connecting with your roots to reimagine what's possible. being "the only Black, Puerto Rican, one-eyed, Jewish entertainer in the world!" embodying irreverent creativity in all its forms. returning home and sharing it with the world.

Here, have a gorgeous chant for the month of Elul from rabbi dr koach baruch (kb) frazier:

And lastly, this prayer/ poem by Rabbi Ariel Tovlev, which plays off of the blessing that we say over bread ("Blessed are You, God... who brings forth bread from the Earth.")

May we remember to use the wisdom we are given.

The One Who Makes Peace RABBI ARIEL TOVLEV blessing bread bought from the supermarket our blessing says, thank you God for bringing forth bread from the earth but this bread didn't come from the earth it came from a store from a factory from flour ground from wheat from the earth this bread did not sprout forth it was created from human hands we don't thank God for the wheat which actually came from the earth God did not create bread but God knew we could my kids ask, why do we pray for God to make peace? I tell them, God makes peace like God makes bread which is to say we have all the necessary ingredients peace will not sprout forth it will be created from human hands thank you God, for giving us the wisdom to turn wheat into bread thank you God, for giving us the wisdom to turn love into peace

Amen, amen, amen.

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Like this? Get more of it in your inbox every week. 🌱

For free every Monday—sign up at the ‘Subscribe now’ button just below.

And if you become a paid subscriber, that's how you can get tools for deeper transformation, a community for doing the work, and support the labor that makes these Monday essays happen.

Please spread the word about Life is a Sacred Text! 🌱
Especially without Substack's built-in network, word-of-mouth– forwarding emails, sharing on social media, etc– matters more than ever. Thank you. 🙏 ❤️

A note on the subscription model:

I want my work to be as accessible to as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible. That's why the Monday essays are free, and why we donate subscriptions to anyone for whom paying is a barrier to the House of Study posts.

I also believe people should be paid fairly for their work. Needless to say, these two values sometimes seem to be in conflict, but I do what I can to find a fair balance. I offer many resources for free, and charge for others. When you donate generously or pay at the top of our scale, that helps support the work I do, provides access for those who have fewer resources, pays for the infrastructure and the technical and practical support that it takes to do this, and helps us keep the work sustainable.

And as always, if you want in to the Thursday space but paying isn't for you now, just email support@lifeisasacredtext.com and we'll hook you up.

And if you’d like to underwrite one of these donated subscriptions, you can do so by signing up at one of the higher subscription points.

And if it resonated with you, please share this post.

Sending a big pile of blessings and goodness your way. 💕

Comments

Sign in or become a Life is a Sacred Text member to read and leave comments.