chevrahachachamot

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Mayyim Hayyim
Living Waters Community Mikvah
Paula Brody & Family Education Center

Two of their upcoming events. Go the events page to see these and others listed here: https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/events/

The Heart of the Sea and the Mouth of the Well: What stories are the waters telling us this Pesach? (suggested donation $18)
Thursday, April 11
6-7:15pm ET / 5-6:15pm CT / 3-4:15pm PT Zoom
Register Here: https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/event-details/the-heart-of-the-sea-and-the-mouth-of-the-well-what-stories-are-the-waters-telling-us-this-pesach/

Have You Made Art About It Yet? Passover Edition with Rabbi Adina Allen (class is free!)
Thursday, April 18
12 - 1:30pm ET / 11am - 2:30pm CT / 9 - 10:30am PT Zoom
Register Here: https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/event-details/have-you-made-art-about-it-yet-passover-edition-with-rabbi-adina-allen/

To learn about Mayyim Hayyim and their efforts to bring more miqvaot to communities, including their miqvah guide training program, go here: https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/

A lot of non-orthodox folks consider miqvah to be patriarchal in some way, but there is a lot going on to reclaim miqvah rituals for women's spirituality. This is one org doing so.

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

How Women Used Cars To Fuel Female Empowerment
From a 1915 suffragist road trip to the “First Lady of Drag Racing.” by Nancy Nichols March 20, 2024

"...Fear of women drivers was less about concern over car accidents and more about discouraging a behavior that was widely threatening not just to men, but to the larger social structure in general. “From the beginning,” historian Michael Berger writes, “everything about the car seemed masculine, from the coordination and strength required to operate it, to the dirt & grease connected with its maintenance.”

This is exactly the reason that women aren't allowed to drive in fundamentalist Islamic regimes - expect to see similar legislation arise if the christo-fascists gain power here in America. Women's autonomy flies in the face of patriarchy & they don't like it one bit.

See also: Former Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Woman: I Grew Up In Kiryas Joel And I Wasn't Allowed To Drive https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kiryas-joel-women-driving-goldberger_n_6580568

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/women-in-automotive-history-shirley-muldowney

#/WomensRights #Mazeldon

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

beyond nostalgia
really, the cucumbers weren't great in Egypt

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Mar 25, 2024

"...I think about the people who finally, finally told the truth, who began to generate some momentum–to be told by their institutions that recourse and accountability was coming, only to find that what they were offered fell far too short of acceptable. Only to be put in the position of having to push again, and again, and again.

I think about the people who have been trying, often single-handedly, to move organizations and institutions from the inside, listening to stakeholders whine and kvetch and resist and try to pull their way back to those oppressive systems, all the while feeling that exasperation, even extreme burnout, that Moshe does in this moment..."

https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/institutional-nostalgia/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Parsha #parashat

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Why Rabbi Shai Held says love is the cornerstone of Jewish belief and practice by Andrew Silow-Carroll March 24, 2024

“My aim,” he writes, “is to tell the story of Jewish theology, ethics, and spirituality through the lens of love and thereby to restore the heart — in both senses of the word — of Judaism to its rightful place.”

Held, 52, is the dean and president of the Hadar Institute...the flagship of the “independent minyanim” movement: lay-led congregations that function independently...

...in the book of Hosea where God is portrayed as saying, “I wish I could abandon you, Israel, but I am God and not a person” (Hosea 11:9). What makes God God are the inextinguishable and unfathomable depths of God’s love. Now, I understand that is not the way most of us experience the world. And it’s also not the way many of us were taught the Jewish tradition. But I’m trying to engage in an act of restoration, of recovery..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/24/ideas/why-rabbi-shai-held-says-love-is-the-cornerstone-of-jewish-belief-and-practice

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

That Time I Dressed as a Mechitza… for Feminism
Danielle Durchslag May 31, 2022

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” my dad would declare after such services. I’m sure it was, for him and the men around him. He described, with moist eyes, the powerful kinship & connection he felt with the other men praying, fellow daveners, even without a shared secular language.

Never, not once, did I have an analogous encounter in the women’s section. Those spaces, whether in Europe or South America or Northern Africa, tended toward sparse attendance & mumbled, bored participation. Even in balconies fairly close to the action, the heat emanating from the men’s chanting & swaying...never reached our seats...

Let me be clear. We’re talking about a super modern orthodox congregation, in Brooklyn...I did not perform this art protest in a rigidly conservative space, because I do not, as a rule, enjoy verbal and physical violence against my person..."

https://lilith.org/2022/05/that-time-i-dressed-as-a-mechitza-for-feminism/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the anti-abortion extremists who brought this case, it would impact access to mifepristone in states across the country — including in states without abortion bans.

NCJW will be outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, March 26 (if you’re able to make it, join us at 9am!): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOFFSQd7vkFDZ-Hl2t8nF1Cc2H4-PNSQFNZ6bmMEE7bUTeTg/viewform?emci=a0b60443-abe7-ee11-aaf0-002248223794&emdi=404e7c18-4ce8-ee11-aaf0-002248223794&ceid=10700798

Then at 2pm ET/11am PT, we’ll be going LIVE on Facebook for our Medication Abortion at Risk: Supreme Court Watch event: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/medication-abortion-at-risk-su/1451541402236961/

This case, coupled with another abortion case the Supreme Court will be hearing next month (more on that later!), threatens what is left of federal protections for abortion access. Join us now — right now, click this link and sign the pledge — to raise your Jewish voice in support of abortion access: https://www.jewsforabortionaccess.org/actions/not-on-our-watch-jewish-communal-pledge

Onward,
Shira Zemel and Glenn Northern
Abortion Access Campaign Co-Directors

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #WomensRights #ReligiousFreedom #NCJW #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Also in June...

Love at the Center: Revolutionary Optimism Shabbaton

June 28 – 29, 2024
Silver Spring, Maryland

Registration is now OPEN!
https://aleph.org/june2024shabbaton/

With Rabbi Shefa Gold and Dr. Paul (Pesach-Lev) Zeitz

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Shabbaton

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Save the Date!

Radical Amazement: A Renewal Shavuot Retreat

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Shavuot

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Obituaries - Jewish Life Stories: The inventor of the poodle skirt, Time Warner’s ‘Jewish, frumpy intellectual’ By Andrew Silow-Carroll March 20, 2024

"Juli Lynne Charlot, 101, singer who invented an iconic mid-century skirt

Juli Lynne Charlot, 101, a classically trained singer who performed with the Marx Brothers and bandleader Xaviet Cugat but is best known as the inventor of the iconic mid-century poodle skirt, died March 3 at her home in Tepoztlán, Mexico.

Born Shirley Ann Agin in New York, she was married to an unemployed viscount when, in 1947, she designed a circle skirt with felt appliques, including a poodle. Teens snapped up the design at a Hollywood boutique, and Charlot was soon running a factory with 50 workers.

Later she designed updated versions of traditional Mexican dresses at a factory in Mexico City that was destroyed in a 1985 earthquake..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/20/obituaries/jewish-lives-the-inventor-of-the-poodle-skirt-time-warners-jewish-frumpy-intellectual

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

2 investigations underway following complaints of sexism at Ziegler rabbinical seminary By Asaf Elia-Shalev March 20, 2024

"...The investigations were launched after a group of former rabbinical students, who attended Ziegler at different times over the past 20 years, coalesced to address what they describe as a shared experience of male favoritism and disrespectful treatment by Artson and Peretz at the Los Angeles seminary.

In interviews & a formal complaint to the ethics committee, which JTA has reviewed, the former students allege that the two deans have presided over a sexist and homophobic campus culture rife with inappropriate jokes, and that the deans have mishandled at least one case of sexual harassment between students. The former students cite examples of individuals whose experience at the school led them to leave Ziegler for other rabbinical schools or abandon their dreams of becoming rabbis altogether..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/20/united-states/2-investigations-underway-following-complaints-of-sexism-at-ziegler-rabbinical-seminary

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishEducation

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Purim and the Betrayal of American Jewry

By Tzvi Freeman
March 17, 2024
Chabbad.org

"...Who has betrayed us? Not the white supremacists, not the neo-Nazis and the ignorant, brainwashed skinheads—there’s no element of surprise there—but the educated, humanitarian left, that segment of society that Jews have embraced more than any other, both ideologically and socially. The gentle souls who walked with us in sympathetic conversation have turned with teeth, claws, and venom against us...

...What prompted their betrayal? Because they saw that it was possible to murder, rape, and torture over 1,200 of us, abduct our babies and elderly, and get away with it. That was “exhilarating” and “awesome.” ...Only later were they angered that we dare attempt to rescue our loved ones and protect ourselves from those who would destroy us, dampening the perverse antisemitic exhilaration that comes from seeing a Jew suffer..."

https://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/6366328/jewish/Purim-and-the-Betrayal-of-American-Jewry.htm

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Purim #Antisemitism

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

The Deep Roots of Nowruz
By Maggie Phillips
March 17, 2024 in Tablet

This year the Jewish festival of Purim and the Zoroastrian celebration of Nowruz are in the same week.

Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to annihilate them in ancient Persia, as recounted in the book of Esther. This direct link to Persian history exemplified the deep rooted connections between Jewish and Iranian peoples.

Nowruz, the Zoroastrian New Year celebrated on the vernal equinox, marks the triumph of spring over darkness and symbolizes renewal and joy, deeply ingrained in Iranian culture for over 3000 years.

Historically, under Islamic rule, both Jews and Zoroastrians were classified as dhimmis, facing forced conversions, state sanctioned violence, and persecution...

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/deep-roots-nowruz-zoroastrianism

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Purim #Nowruz

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to disability

Meet the Jewish activist fighting for the rights of people with disabilities
By Larry Luxner March 19, 2024

"...Rosenthal says he was inspired to become an activist on this issue by the grassroots efforts of civil rights activists in the 1970s and ‘80s – especially parents of children with disabilities. Disability activists and lawyers worked to shut down places like the Willowbrook mental health facility on New York’s Staten Island. In 1972, Geraldo Rivera, then a young TV news reporter, described it in an infamous TV exposé as a snake pit for 5,300 residents, “filled with children lying on the floor, naked and smeared with their own feces.”

“But it was the disability activists, the parents of kids with disabilities and the civil rights lawyers that made change happen; that inspired me,” Rosenthal said..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/19/global/meet-the-jewish-activist-fighting-for-the-rights-of-people-with-disabilities

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Disability #Activism

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Ritual Well Presents...

The Jewish Approach to Conflict Transformation - Recurring Event $250

Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18 and May 2, 9, 16, 2024 from 12-1:30 p.m. EDT. Cost is $250 for 6 sessions

Jewish tradition is a storehouse of wisdom and practical application on how to navigate the world of conflict and how we respond to it... In this Ritualwell Immersion, we will explore what conflict transformation might look like for the Jewish community in our times. Using parts of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies Center for Conflict Resolution “Constructive Conflict” curriculum, we will navigate both ancient and modern approaches to conflict...in contexts from the interpersonal, intercommunal, to the international realms...We will imagine a Jewish community that knows how to show up in disagreement..

All sessions will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

https://ritualwell.org/event/the-jewish-approach-to-conflict-transformation/2024-04-04/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Lilith Presents...The Vital Act of Memoir Writing

This special opportunity is made possible thanks to a generous grant from Barbara Taff to honor the memory of Ann Jackowitz, a memoir-writer and activist who was always inspired and motivated by women’s life stories. Get a taste of her wry and warm writing here: "In My Journey for Self-Acceptance, Could the Third Nose Be the Charm?" (Forward, June 14, 2016)

Zoom Registration Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-2srTIpGtcwwFesg59kFmbszrGVe_LW#/registration

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishWriters #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Svivah Life in Sisterhood

Ye’ud: March-April Cohort
Connection. Expression. Meaning.

An intimate community of learning led by Rabbanit Dalia Davis

The last few months have been so hard! We have all been carrying so much, and in need of community more than ever. I know that the most meaningful and uplifting moments recently have been times that I have been able to truly connect with others. Many women have shared with me that these months they have experienced heightened feelings of loneliness and isolation, and I know exactly what they mean. Ye’ud offers us an opportunity to be together, in a small and intimate group setting, and to carry each other through.

For more information: https://www.svivah.org/gatherings/yeud-mar2024

Submit your application by Friday March 22nd: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1hX72MiYxE3mtkLkqRl8ZP8n48ADC0dLyJ-O3w2GRW0ODjw/viewform

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishArt #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Sunday, April 7
The Nightingale of Iran

The event is sponsored by JIMENA.org, JCCSF and will be moderated by podcaster Asal Ehsanipour. About the Speakers:

Danielle Dardashti: ...is an Emmy award-winning documentary writer/producer, a former on-air TV news reporter, and a Moth StorySLAM champion who has been featured on NPR’s Moth Radio Hour. She is the co-author of the Jewish Family Fun Book (Jewish Lights) and co-founder & Creative Director of live storytelling show StoryBoom...

Dr. Galeet Dardashti: ...is a trailblazing vocalist, composer, and anthropologist of Middle Eastern Jewish culture. She is widely known as leader of the all-woman Sephardi/Mizrahi ensemble, Divahn. In her new award-winning release, Monajat, she sings and composes around remixed samples of her famed Iranian grandfather with an acclaimed ensemble of musicians...

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-nightingale-of-iran-tickets-861763918077

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishMusic #Sephardic #Mizrahi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Jewish schools must embrace Sephardi and Mizrahi culture

What do students learn about Sephardi and Mizrahi artists? What melodies are used in prayer? How are holiday programs structured?

By TY ALHADEFF

"...Our resources on the devastating impact of the Holocaust on Sephardi & North African communities will provide useful guidance for many Jewish educators and be able to offer a more thorough & comprehensive lesson plan.

We are excited about the potential to create change on a large scale in day schools across the country. Adaptations and adoptions of Sephardic pedagogies and worldviews into modern educational spaces can naturally help Jewish schools become more inclusive of all students, especially those who are ethnically & culturally diverse. With this approach, schools will be able to provide students with a deeper & more accurate understanding of Jews worldwide & in the United States in particular..."

https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-792219#google_vignette

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Sephardic #Mizrahi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

A superhero, a scientist and a T. rex who scares his seder guests star in 2024’s new Passover children’s books

By Penny Schwartz March 18, 2024

“Matzah Ball Chase”
Rachelle Burk; illustrated by Brittany Lakin
Apples & Honey Press; ages 3-6

“Where is Poppy?”
Caroline Kusin Pritchard; illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; ages 4-8

“Tyrannosaurus Tsuris”
Susan Tarcov; illustrated by Elissambura
Kar-Ben Publishing; ages 3-6

“Beni’s Tiny Tales: Around the Year in Jewish Holidays”
Jane Breskin Zalben
Christy Ottaviano Books; ages 4-8

“Matzah Man to the Rescue!”
Eric A. Kimmel; illustrated by Charlie Fowkes
Apples & Honey Press; ages 5-9

“Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah”
Linda Leopold Strauss; illustrated by Tim Smart
Kar-Ben Publishers; ages 4-8

And more! Click through to see all the titles coming out this year.

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/18/culture/a-superhero-a-scientist-and-a-t-rex-who-scares-his-seder-guests-star-in-2024s-new-passover-childrens-books

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Passover #Pesach

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Virginia school district will let students opt out of Holocaust lesson, citing Jewish students’ ‘trauma’

By Andrew Lapin March 18, 2024

“Recent media reports have suggested that Cooper school officials offered an opt-out to excuse non-Jewish students from learning about the Holocaust. These reports are erroneous,” Guila Franklin Siegel, the JCRC’s associate director, said in a statement. “Rather, as Fairfax County Public Schools noted in its response, the opt-out was designed specifically for Jewish families due to Jewish children in the past being subjected to bullying, teasing, taunting, and other forms of unacceptable behavior specifically during Holocaust-related lessons and programming.”

Siegel continued, “It is deeply disturbing that antisemitic harassment continues, and that schools must in some cases resort to these types of measures in an attempt to protect Jewish children.”

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/18/united-states/virginia-school-district-will-let-students-opt-out-of-holocaust-lesson-citing-jewish-students-trauma

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Holocaust #Shoah

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Harassing people literally on the other side of the globe about something a foreign government like Israel is or is not doing is not activism. It's antisemitism, full stop. There are no Israeli government officials secretly living in your town. American Jews do not have any influence over the government in Israel, any more than muslim americans can stop fundamentalist Islamic terror overseas.

The left is now full of hypocrites who would never accept on themselves what they're dishing out.

"...And despite the precautions, the events can still draw protesters: A crowd still showed up outside his Valentine’s Day event, shouting “Nazi scum” and “Zionist freak” at people entering the venue and handing out fliers reading, “No matter where they are, they shall not know peace.”

...“there were a couple red flags” among ticket buyers — in other words, indications of protesters who bought tickets to discover the event’s location..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/18/ny/to-evade-pro-palestinian-protests-some-jewish-and-israeli-events-are-keeping-their-locations-low-profile

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Oct7

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

This Ta'anit Esther / Fast of Esther (March 21st), The Shalom Center is erecting a Tent of Mourning for all whose hearts are open and tender enough to grieve both Palestinian and Israeli lives lost since and beyond October 7th. In collaboration with over a dozen local and national partners, and inspired by Queen Esther's ritualized grief in the Purim story, we are curating a full day of sessions, teachings, and self-directed ritual to support attendees in deepening and expanding their grief. With a mix of traditional and creative mourning practices, we are opening to the possibility that, through our shared mourning, new paths towards peace might shake loose for us as individuals and more broadly.

Registration, List of Sessions Scheduled, and other important info:
https://theshalomcenter.org/tentofmourning

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Oct7 #ShalomCenter

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Join East of the River, led by Nina Stern and Daphna Mor, to celebrate the release of their album, Ija Mia.

Ija Mia braids together the rich vocal and instrumental traditions of the sephardic diaspora with soundscapes from throughout North Africa and the Ottoman Empire.

Nina Stern and Daphna Mor are joined by acclaimed American Armenian oud player and composer Ara Dinkjian, Silk Road Ensemble founding member Shane Shanahan, Palestinian multi-instrumentalist Zafer Tawil, and innovative Israeli bass player Tal Mashiach.

Tickets Here: https://bj.org/event/ija-mia-a-night-of-sephardic-and-ottoman-music/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishMusic #JewishWomen

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Notes towards a theology of prose

Exploding our creative boundaries can help us seek a connection with the divine that is lived, messy, and sublime.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Mar 18, 2024

"...I’m not particularly interested in absolutes or answers, and I’m not certain that we can find them. I’m perfectly comfortable holding two (or more) contradictory understandings of the divine in one place & allowing them both to be true–or truth, anyway. I’m constantly allowing my understanding of God to shift the way my understanding of what form my work used to take would shift...

...But I'll tell you this much: Our existing paradigms have created spaces and theologies, philosophies of halakha/Jewish law & ways of living in community that are still deeply racist and misogynist, ableist, homophobic and transphobic, that protect power over the interests of justice or those harmed all too often..."

How we interpret bronze age ideas is up to us.

https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/prose/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi

chevrahachachamot, 2 months ago to random

Israel establishes an annual commemoration of the Oct. 7 attack — but not on Oct. 7
By Ben Sales March 18, 2024

"...The Oct. 7 attack presented another complication because it occurred on a Jewish holiday, Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah, which falls on 22 Tishrei, and which meant the annual commemoration had to be held on a different date. The following day, 23 Tishrei, presumably didn’t work because it is still a Jewish holiday outside of Israel. The chosen date, 24 Tishrei, is the day after that...

But the choice is still raising eyebrows. That’s especially true because the same Israeli government that made this decision has done so much to impress the date of Oct. 7 onto the international public consciousness. ...Talking points from an Israeli government official about an “attack on 22 Tishrei” would mean little to most people..."

Personally, I would observe a yahrzeit on both days, the English and the official Hebrew dates.

https://www.jta.org/2024/03/18/israel/israel-establishes-an-annual-commemoration-of-the-oct-7-attack-but-not-on-oct-7

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #Oct7