issue #012: to be turned on its head
from sorrow to joy to sorrow
this issue is packed! so many incredible radical and creative purim events in here, including in-person events in montreal, toronto, & vancouver, and virtual purim-themed workshops, parties, and a comedy show!
i know it’s a complicated time (to say the least) to cultivate joy, and as always my hope is that the offerings below bring you closer to community, healing, and justice.
some housekeeping
this newsletter post is “too long” for your email & will get cut off. go to shtetlcrier.substack.com to read the entire post
new events that haven’t appeared in a prior issue are marked with 🆕
an event appearing in this newsletter is not an endorsement of said event
this newsletter is free & compiled with love for community. and i wouldn’t say no if you ever wanted to buy me a coffee
i would love to see more canadian events outside of toronto in future issues. if you know progressive jews living outside toronto, please share this newsletter with them
& lastly: help me get the word out about 🧿SHTETL CRIER! share this newsletter / tiktok / instagram reel / instagram post / facebook post
🇨🇦 canadian events
event
🆕Let's Talk Gaza: Stories of Loss, Resilience and Hope (IJV-Winnipeg & Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba)
📆March 16, 2024 / 2-5PM CT
📍Manitoba > Winnipeg > Canadian Museum for Human Rights, 85 Israel Asper Way
Hear from Palestinians what the impact of Israel's genocidal war has been like for their families in Gaza, and what you can do to help bring an end to the war and justice for Palestine. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? message IJV-Winnipeg Facebookevent
🆕DISCORDIA Film Screening (IJV McGill + OPIRG McGill + SPHR McGill + ÉCOLE)
📆March 21, 2024 / 5:30-7PM ET
📍Quebec > Montreal > ÉCOLE, 355 rue University
Join us for a screening of Discordia.
“On September 9, 2002, a scheduled appearance by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked heated debate at Montreal's Concordia University. By the end of the day, the ""Concordia riot"" had made international news, from CNN to Al-Jazeera. This film documents the fallout from that eventful day, following three young campus activists as they negotiate the most formative year of their lives.” Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? ijvmcgill@gmail.comevent
🆕Purim Party | Fête de Pourim (Museum of Jewish Montreal)
📆March 21, 2024 / 8-11PM ET
📍Quebec > Montreal > Museum of Jewish Montreal, 5220 Boul. St-Laurent
Calling all queens, kings, and bon-vivants! We’re having a Purim party again and you’re invited!
Come dressed in your most dazzling disguise and join us for a celebration that you won’t want to miss. Featuring a costume contest with chances to win prizes from our favourite local vendors, sweets, music, and a drag performance, there’s no reason you wouldn’t want to celebrate one of our most spectacular holidays.
Featuring a special drag performance by Kitty Catcher and a vibe-filled DJ set by Marlaena Moore, this is a party you won't want to miss! Get your ticket while supplies last. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance
🤔Questions? anya@imjm.caevent
🆕Grager: A Purim Ball (Gliklekh in Goles)
📆March 22, 2024 / 7PM-midnight PT
📍British Columbia > Vancouver > Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave
Let’s make a racket for Palestine! Help us turn the world upside down and shake fascism out! Join us for a night of live music, theater, drag, and performance art as we trace in and outside of the lines of the Megillah. There will be seduction, femme ferocity, triumph over tyranny, Jewish hotness and much, much more!
Kid’s costume parade!
Hamantaschen tasting contest!
Costumes encouraged!
Our tiered ticket sales will redirect funds to Mohammed and Omar, two local Gazans seeking to bring their families here. Learn more
For: Kids, Youth, Adults
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? glikingoles@gmail.comevent
🆕Purim Party in 🎀BARBIE LAND🎀 - a fundraiser for Gaza! (IfNotNow Toronto + Rad Yiddish + Winchevsky Centre)
📆March 23, 2024 / 6:30-11:30PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > CSI Spadina, 192 Spadina Ave. OR virtual
Can Esther Barbie stop Haman Ken's rampant militarism and genocide? COME FIND OUT (in your best Barbie / Ken / Allan costume)!
🍉 All ticket proceeds donated to Gaza!
We'll have...
🎭 A Purimshpil (play) set in Barbie Land
🍹 Drinks & hamantashen for sale
🎵 Music & dancing
Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🎶Music, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? ifnotnowtoronto@gmail.comevent
🆕Purim Party (UJPO/MWS)
📆March 24, 2024 / 11-1PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 918 Bathurst Ave (upstairs)
Join the Morris Winchevsky School and the United Jewish People’s Order Toronto for a Purim extravaganza. We’ll have the Purim Shpiel (story), as told by a series of monologues, games, pizza, Hamantashn, and surprise guests. Be sure to come in costume!
All are welcome! Bring your family and friends! Learn more
For: Everyone, Kids
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? info@ujpo.orgevent
Vashti's Purim Ball - A Mazon Canada Fundraiser! (Mazon Canada)
📆March 24, 2024 / 7-11PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 967 College St.
אַ פּורים באַל געלטשאַפֿער פֿאַר מזון קאַנאַדע
Join us for a night of drinks, costumes, and laughs to celebrate Purim, Mazon Canada style! This event is 19+.
Historically, Purim Balls existed as part of the avant-garde from New York City to Interwar Eastern Europe to landsmanshaftn (mutual aid societies) as a way of bringing people together in celebration and radical joy. They offer an inclusive, progressive, artistic space for those seeking community – a lineage which we are honoured to continue, all while fulfilling the Purim mitzvah of Miscloah Manot by feeding those in need. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, 🎶Music
🤔Questions? info@mazoncanada.caevent
🆕Arabs and Jews Choosing a Shared Future (New Israel Fund of Canada & Standing Together)
📆March 26, 2024 / 7-9PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Toronto Reference Library (Appel Salon), 789 Yonge St.
At a time when strife has skyrocketed between Jews and Arabs around the world, millions of people have been inspired by the enduring Jewish-Arab partnership of Standing Together (Omdim Beyachad-Naqif Ma’an).
Standing Together is a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. Since October 7th, their message of mutual solidarity between both peoples – and for peace – stands in stark contrast to deepening polarization and rising hatred.
Join the New Israel Fund of Canada for an important conversation with Rula Daood and Itamar Avneri — leaders of Standing Together — about achieving a shared future with safety, freedom, and equality for all. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? hannahb@nifcan.orgevent
🆕The People's Purim Sanhedrin (Hamakom - Madison Slobin & Cantor Shira Asiyo-Stanford)
📆March 31, 2024 / 3-5PM PT
📍British Columbia > Vancouver > 1539 East 14th Ave
A Sanhedrin is an assembly of Rabbi’s and/or elders who have the power to make decisions on behalf of the community. At our Purim Sanhedrin we are inviting YOU THE PEOPLE to decide what is good or bad for the Jews (yes, this is a binary). At this event, your fellow community members will be debating one another and appealing to you, in the hopes that you will vote in their favor. We, as a community, will be deciding on some of the most important issues of our time.
All those who attend will be part of the decision-making Sanhedrin body. If you would like to join our roster of debators send us a message!
Debate Roster:
Stomp, Clap Revival Music is good/bad for the Jews
Taylor Swift is good/bad for the Jews
Cheese Culture is good/bad for the Jews
Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose in "Maestro" is good/bad for the Jews
Star Trek is good for the Jews
Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? madison.slobin@gmail.comperformance
The First Jew in Canada: A Trans Tale (Miles Nadal JCC, Ontario Jewish Archives, S. Bear Bergman)
📆March 31, 2024 / 7-7:55PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave.
In 1738, a young transgender man named Jacques LaFargue set off from France to what is now Quebec City, determined to make for himself a new life. The First Jew In Canada: A Trans Tale is his largely untold story, embroidered onto the bones of nine verifiable facts about his life and existence, and interwoven with the modern experience of a trans and Jewish immigrant to Canada three hundred years later. A thrilling and illuminating tale, The First Jew In Canada takes its audience on a stubbornly Jewish journey of optimism, faith, and joy - including the joy and affirmation of finding an ancestor you never knew you had. Learn more
For: Youth, Adults, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, Theatre
🤔Questions? emunahw@mnjcc.orgevent
🆕The Anarchist Lunch Movie Night (UJPO)
📆April 3, 2024 / 7-9PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > YWCA Toronto, 87 Elm St.
Please join us for a fascinating evening of films and conversation. Kicking off the event, we'll showcase two incredible films directed by UJPO's own Rachel Epstein and Amy Gotlieb, both films that celebrate intergenerational activism, legacies of Jewish radicalism and the intersections of family love, community and political action.
As an almost 100-year-old organization, UJPO includes many multigenerational activist families. Our panel following the films on April 3 will include: Rachel Epstein & Sadie Epstein-Fine; Alan Silverman & Karine Silverwoman; and Marilyn Tate & Dylan Tate-Howarth & Sasha Tate-Howarth. We’ll be talking about the good, the bad and the ugly of growing up with activist parents. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, ✊Social Justice
🤔Questions? program@winchevskycentre.orgcourse
🆕Shoresh Outdoor School - Spring Edition (Shoresh)
📆starts July 4, 2024 / 12-2PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Cedarvale Ravine and Riverdale Park
The Shoresh Outdoor School bridges meaningful Jewish learning with hands-on, nature-based experiences! Spring edition registration now open.
Give your kids the gift of Jewish learning… in the great outdoors! Through urban wilderness experiences, students (JK-grade 6) explore Jewish holidays and cycles, mitzvot and rituals, and ethical teachings, while being active, building community, and experiencing moments of deep nature connection. The Shoresh Outdoor School is pluralistic and open to the many ways that our community members live and learn Jewishly. Learn more
For: Kids
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌿Nature, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? sabrina@shoresh.ca💻 virtual
course
Let Justice Well Up Torah Study Series for Jewish Women of Color (Erica Riddick and Mayyim Hayyim)
📆next one April 13, 2024 / 5-6:30PM ET, 2-3:30PM PT
💻virtual
This is for nonbinary & women Jews of Color. Let’s study together! Register for a justice-focused creative process text study experience with non-binary and women of color. We will look at Torah text alongside secular sources, tap into the Jewish Studio Process creative practice, and weave wisdom from our intersectional identities in ways that bring us to Torah and Torah to us. These interactive sessions approach text study with the belief that our lived experiences prepare us for study and we don’t need any special preparation. Each monthly session is designed for learners of all backgrounds and can be taken individually or as a series.
Session topics include:
• 4/10 Bilhah & Zilpah in Modern Times: Ancient Womanist Wisdom for Justice
• 5/8 Waters of Home
• 6/12 Listening: Creative Practice for Justice
• 7/3 Choose Your Own Adventure: Resource Sharing & Closing Siyum
Learn more
For: Jews Of Colour
Tags: 🥳Social, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? danserica@gmail.comworkshop / class
🆕Jewish Witch Circle (Temple of the Stranger & Beit Kohenet)
📆March 17, 2024 / 3:45-5PM ET, 12:45-2PM PT
💻virtual
Join Rabbi Jericho Vincent of Temple of the Stranger and Kohenet Or Har-Gil for this monthly circle, to explore the legacy, gifts, and practices of Jewish witches. Welcoming folks of all genders & backgrounds. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? or.hargil@gmail.comevent
Queer and Trans Jewish End of Life, Death, and Grief Support Zayin Adar Gathering (Co-curated by Community Chevra)
📆March 17, 2024 / 5-8PM ET, 2-5PM PT
💻virtual
We’d like to extend a warm invitation to this community event to bring together queer and trans Jews + active allies participating or interested in Progressive Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Sacred Burial Community) and end of life, grief, and death support care work. We aim to create a deeply supportive learning and sharing queer and trans led and centered space for us to build on together. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews, Progressive Chevra Kadisha Members, Allies
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? communitychevra@proton.meworkshop / class
🆕Queer BIJOCSM Singing Circle: "(Re-)Building" with Has Bhatti (A Queer Nigun Project)
📆March 17, 2024 / 8-9:30PM ET, 5-6:30PM PT
💻virtual
In this circle, Has Bhatti (they / them) will facilitate us through a process of building (and re-building) our voices into a closer community together. There are times in the formation of BIJOCSM spaces in Jewish communities where people experience both a high and a nervousness tied to being together for the first time in this format. It feels like both an opening and a closing at the same time: where it feels like a release to be together in our identities and yet also feels like an obstacle on how it isn't often clear how we may build (and weave) our disparate experiences and identities intentionally together.
There is no fierce roadmap we can rely on here, because we are the roadmap ourselves every time we try to make this happen. And at the same time, perhaps when we craft a space where our voices can be opened, we can inspire each other to open up a voice inside of each other we didn't expect to see or hear (and in so doing, help us to 'build' – or 're-build' – a roadmap towards community together that we can feel together and follow in its flow).
*This is an affinity space for Queer BIJOCSM (Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi, Mizrahi) community.* Learn more
For: Jews Of Colour, Queer & Trans Jews, Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews
Tags: 🥳Social, 🎶Musicworkshop / class
🆕Veils of Revelation: Connecting Purim to Our True Selves (Ammud: Jews of Color Torah Academy)
📆March 19, 2024 / 5-6:30PM ET, 2-3:30PM PT
💻virtual
We dress up during Purim, but what is the deeper spirituality of it? What does Judaism say about how Purim is connected to Yom Kippur? How does Purim connect to our unique experiences as Jews of Color and how we navigate multiple identities and the parts of ourselves we share or do not share with the world? We'll explore the act of masking during Purim as a metaphor for the complexities of navigating multiple identities, including the unique experiences as Jews of Color within the broader tapestry of Jewish life. Learn more
For: Jews Of Colour
Tags: 📚Education, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Identity
🤔Questions? team@ammud.orgworkshop / class
🆕Igniting Your Creative Spark: A Series on Jewish Spirituality & the Arts (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆starts March 20, 2024 / 8-9:15PM ET, 5-6:15PM PT
💻virtual
What do the arts have to teach us about what it means to be human beings, created b’tzelem elohim – in the image of our creator? How might awakening our creative spirit enliven, enrich, and help to guide us on our spiritual paths? Join us for a series of four innovative workshops with working Jewish artists, each making a mark in their respective fields. Each workshop runs for 75 minutes — the first half of each session is devoted to a conversation between our host and the guest artist about their creative process and the role that Jewish spirituality plays in their work. During the second part of the workshop, the guest artist will lead participants in a short artistic exercise — a chance for you to make your own creation — independently and with others.
The lineup of guest teachers is: March 20 (music with Chana Raskin), March 27 (dance with Miriam Peretz), April 3 (visual art with Maya Kosover), April 10 (poetry with Devon Spier). Each session is hosted by Rebecca Schisler and features a different art form and guest artist. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.orgworkshop / class
The Asherah Pole: An Ancient Bridge to our Future Liberation (Rebekah Erev and Aliko Weste)
📆March 20, 2024 / 8:30-10:30PM ET, 5:30-7:30PM PT
💻virtual
Wherever Jews have landed, the teachings of the Asherah Pole came with us. Discovered in burial grounds and ceremonial sites through archeological findings, the Asherah pole signified a core aspect of ancient spirituality. A pole between the stars and earth, a tree. The Torah, our central text speaks to the tree of life, the rabbi’s and later the kabbalists expanded on these teachings, inviting us into esoteric and somatic experiences of the tree as our spiritual conductor between earth and sky, the life essence who supports our belonging and responsibilities to living well on earth. This workshop invites us to partner with a lineage of teachings to heal our inherent connection with earth, root ourselves in resistance work and extend our branches to meet our souls calling.
If you have been struggling to find energy to keep engaging in activism, if you have felt shame for being Jewish in the face of zionism, if you are curious about mystical Judaism, if you have lost touch with the gems of earth based spirituality: this workshop is for you. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🌿Nature, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? rebekah@rebekaherevstudio.comworkshop / class
Four Faces Of Purim: Drag Makeup Mastery (LGBTQ+ at the J)
📆March 20, 2024 / 7-8:30PM ET, 4-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
Happy Adar - it's the season of mishloach manot, masks, and makeup, and LGBTQ+ at the J has you covered with a drag makeup workshop! Featuring two Jewish drag artists showcasing four archetypal characters from the Purim story, we will learn how to get made up for megillah. Everyone can be anyone this time of year - will you be a queen, a king, a villain, or something else entirely? We can't wait to see! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🌚Holiday Observance
🤔Questions? emunahw@mnjcc.orgworkshop / class
Have You Made Art About It Yet? Purim Edition! with Rabbi Adina Allen (Jewish Studio Project)
📆March 21, 2024 / 12-1:30PM ET, 9-10:30AM PT
💻virtual
Explore the power of art making as a tool for personal and collective renewal! Purim invites us into the freedom and delight of not-knowing. On this holiday we let go of everything we think we know and all we think we are, and, in celebration and joy, turn it upside down for the day. Using the Jewish Studio Process - a unique methodology combining practices from the field of art therapy with a reimagined approach to Jewish learning and spirituality - we’ll flip our regular ways of being and drop into the playful, sacred spirit of this upside down holiday. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@jewishstudioproject.orgevent
🆕Doppelbanger: A Queer Anti-Zionist Purim Spectacle
📆March 21, 2024 / 7PM
💻virtual
Beloveds, we invoke YOU!
YOU: Queer, Trans, Jewish, Anti-Zionist, Revolutionary, Wild Agents of Change. You who have put your body on the line in solidarity with Palestine. You whose hearts have been broken wide and are flooded with love. You who are wrestling Judaism away from Zionism. You who are lost. You whose arms are tired from holding the lamp for others to find their way. You who know despair. You who are fueled by love. You who long for catalytic catharsis: YOU.
JOIN US! COME prepared to encounter radical joy as resistance. COME and taste the fruits of every tree and let the seed see you. COME experience a Judaism beyond Zionism. COME to be inverted, spun, shaken loose from the illusion of all binaries. COME to reclaim. COME to heal. COME to unravel, COME to know, COME to love, COME to laugh, COME to dance, COME to weep, COME in Sacred Confusion, COME to Doppelbang. COME for A very queer Purim play written to meet the magnitude of this moment. Learn more
For: Everyone, Queer & Trans Jews, Anti-Zionist Jews
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestineevent
🆕Making Mensches Anti-Zionist Purim (Making Mensches)
📆March 24, 2024 / 3-5PM ET, 12-2PM PT
💻virtual
not quite feeling the Purim spirit in the midst of month 5 of ongoing genocide? same here! while Adar and Purim are normally a time for joy and revelry, we can’t justify celebrating like normal while people are being starved and murdered in Palestine.
join us for an intentional, anti-zionist Purim gathering on zoom 🔗 so everyone gets to come! Learn more
For: Everyone, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? makingmensches@gmail.comevent
🆕Radical Yiddish Purim Games & Costume Contest (Rad Yiddish + Queer Yiddish Camp)
📆March 24, 2024 / 4-5:30PM ET, 1-2:30PM PT
💻virtual
GAMES
There will be 2 rounds of Radical Yiddish games led by Avi Fried, Sorke Schneider, Tamare Gleason Friedberg, and Zip Notis! Each round will have games in English, easy Yiddish (with all Yiddish translated), and fully in Yiddish. The English game will be in the main room with Zoom auto-captions. No Yiddish experience necessary!
COSTUMES
Between rounds you're invited to strut your stuff on the virtual Ketsvegl (Catwalk/Catroll) to show off your Radical Yiddish Costume - Dress your Rad-est! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, Yiddish
🤔Questions? radyiddish1@gmail.comevent
🆕PURIMJOB - An Online Queer Jewish Comedy Spectacular (Milk and Meat Queer Jewish Comedy Collective)
📆March 24, 2024 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
Jewish Halloween is here and the yids are getting topsy TURVY. Whether you're a slutty Vashti or a stone butch Haman, get ready for the most hESTHERical show of your life, featuring: two hours of Purim-themed deviancy, 6 of the greatest Jewish comics ever to be brave enough to be gay, all hosted by your favorite humor-dominatrix, Auntie Semitism (@auntie.semitism). BEST COSTUME award judged by our comedian panelists.
BYOHAMENTASCHEN. 50% to Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Learn more
For: Adults, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🥳Social, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine, 🌚Holiday Observance, Comedy,
🤔Questions? bkoatz@gmail.comcourse
The Global Journey of Yiddish Literature (Yiddish Book Center)
📆starts March 27, 2024 / 7-8:30PM ET, 4-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
The literary journey of Yiddish has spanned hundreds of years and six continents. Join Professor Ilan Stavans of Amherst College and take a voyage around the world to discover Yiddish literature in its incredible breadth and depth, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, Mexico to Melbourne. Along the way you’ll encounter the writings of authors such as David Fram (South Africa), Mimi Pinzon (Argentina), and Pinchas Goldhar (Australia), among others. All materials will be available in English. Registration closes March 22. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 📚Education, Yiddish
🤔Questions? jyoung@yiddishbookcenter.orgcourse
Sacred Wiggles (Shel Maala)
📆starts March 31, 2024 / 2-4PM ET, 11AM - 1PM PT
💻virtual
As we pray, we shiver and shake. We bend, rock, stiffen, and fall. We step and wobble. The Jewish tradition sanctifies all these wiggles as holy. A prayer is not mere words, but a multimedia sensory experience, a fabulous musical theater number complete with music, lyrics, and choreography. As sung by biblical twink David Hamelech, “All my bones say to you, God, who is like you!” In this four week class (plus a bonus co-learning happy hour!) we will mine the wisdom of the sages past and present, to learn what these wiggles mean to them, and rock the beit midrash til we have the Torah singing a new queer song. Learn more
For: Everyone, Adults, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? shelmaalayeshiva@gmail.comworkshop
🆕Jews of Color Monthly Mindfulness Sit (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆April 3, 2024 / 12-1PM ET, 9-10AM PT
💻virtual
Slowing down and resting are one of the ways in which we move ourselves to greater liberation. Join us in a space dedicated to Jews of Color (JoC) for a monthly opportunity to slow down together and take a mindful pause. This JoC-led space is one part inspiration, one part meditation, one part community connection! Led by Keshira haLev Fife, IJS Faculty Fellow, Yoshi Silverstein of Mitsui Collective, and other guest JoC leaders. Next sessions are Apr 3, May 8, and Jun 5. Learn more
For: Jews Of Colour
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.orgcourse
🆕Shabbat: Rituals of Rest with Rabbi Bluth (The Torah Studio)
📆starts April 4, 2024 / 12-1PM ET, 9-10AM PT
💻virtual
Shabbat is the heart of Jewish practice. Each week we are invited to enjoy a taste of the world to come – but how? Shabbat is built through a number of rituals that create the container carved into time. Together we will explore the rituals that create this container. We’ll understand their power and empower you to feel inspired and able to weave Shabbat into your lives.
This class is for people with any or no experience with Shabbat. Deepen your own individual relationship to the practice of sacred rest. Unlike other Torah Studio classes, classes will be full-group discussions centered around Bluth’s curated ritual guides. Each session will be one hour long, with time for schmoozing and questions after. Our goal is not for everyone’s observance to look the same–we want to nurture a Shabbat practice that works for you!
Join a community of learners seeking to deepen the joy of Jewish practice. Build the weekly rituals that nourish you. Sink into the liberatory pleasure of Shabbat! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? lexi@thetorahstudio.orgworkshop / class
🆕Creating with the Moon: Rosh Chodesh Nissan (Jewish Studio Project)
📆April 7, 2024 / 1-2:30PM ET, 10-11:30AM PT
💻virtual
Ground yourself in the power of the new moon! As the tiny crescent becomes visible in the night sky, Rosh Chodesh offers us an opportunity to refresh our dreams and desires. Together we’ll reweave ourselves into the cycle of Jewish time and nourish our creative spirit so that we might enter the month refreshed and renewed.
During this 90-minute, virtual session we’ll use the Jewish Studio Process, a unique methodology combining practices from the field of art therapy with a reimagined approach to Jewish learning, to cultivate our inherent creativity as a spiritual practice. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? info@jewishstudioproject.orgcourse
🆕From Older to Elder (Wilderness Torah)
📆Applications due April 8 (hybrid), program starts August 2024
💻virtual OR hybrid with retreats in California
This is a program for people aged 64+ who want to explore their identity as elders and reflect on what to do with “this one precious life” during your next phase of life. We believe that there is a difference between being old or elderly, and being an elder—a role of continuing personal growth and service to one’s community. In this program, we hope to support you to find ways to fulfill your potential in this last stage of life. It is for people who identify as Jewish or are connected to Jewish life and want to participate in a program in a Jewish context. Learn more
For: Adults Age 64+
Tags: 🌿Nature, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@wildernesstorah.orgevent
🆕Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz (Queer Yiddish Camp + Rad Yiddish)
📆April 8, 2024 / 7-8:30PM ET, 4-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz is an informal conversation practice circle for 2SIAQTBLG+ & Questioning Yiddishists and Yiddish learners, with three self-selecting breakout rooms by Yiddish level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and an English-speaking room in the main Zoom room. No Yiddish experience necessary!
It's a chance to build rad Yiddish community, learn how to speak about issues we care about in Yiddish, and co-create contemporary Yiddish culture while improving (and improvising) our Yiddish. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, Yiddish
🤔Questions? info@queeryiddish.campevent
International Symposium on Jewish Meditation (HaMakom)
📆April 14, 2024 / 9AM - 5:15PM ET, 6AM - 2:15PM PT
💻virtual
Teachers and academics from around the world, with a variety of different outlooks on Judaism, will come together online to discuss their shared interest in and love of Jewish meditation. There will be news, views, texts, dialogue and more, with opportunities for practice and reflection. You are warmly invited, regardless of your previous experiences of Judaism and meditation. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? roland@theenglishcantor.co.ukcourse
🆕Omer Pulses (Nomy Lamm & Elana-June Margolis)
📆starts April 16, 2024 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
Join us for Omer Pulses, a 9 week journey towards & through the Counting of the Omer in beloved queer/trans community. In this time of enormous shattering & unspeakable horror, we will invoke the mysterious pulsing potencies of the Omer to guide & hold us through the transformation required to meet this moment together, in service of our personal healing towards collective liberation. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? elana.june.margolis@gmail.comworkshop
🆕LGBTQ+ Monthly Mindfulness Sit (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆April 17, 2024 / 3-3:45PM ET, 12-12:45PM PT
💻virtual
Join Rabbi Myriam Klotz, IJS Senior Core Faculty, and guest leaders for a monthly Jewish mindfulness sit offered by and for those who identify as LGBTQ+. In this affinity group space, you can slow down, become more present, and practice mindfulness in community with others who identify as LGBTQ+. Guest leaders include: Rabbis Ari Lev Fornari, Ellen Lippmann, Jay Michaelson, Dev Noily, Toba Spitzer, Rachel Timoner, neySHEV leader Aviva Chernick, and Karen Erlichman, DMin, LCSW. The next sessions are on Apr 17, May 15, and Jun 12. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.org🌎 retreats outside canada
retreat
🆕Come to Know Liberation A Queer/Trans anti-Zionist Passover Retreat (Elana-June Margolis, Ayelet Hashachar, Shai Schnall & Rayna Grace)
📆April 25-28, 2024
📍USA > California > Ukaiah > Mariposa Institute
Beloveds! YOU are invited for a Queer/Trans anti-Zionist Passover retreat at the Mariposa Institute in glorious Ukaiah, California (unceded Northern Pomo territory). This 4-day / 3-night retreat will be an unprecedented opportunity for us to gather in beloved queer/trans community to encounter the potency of Passover as a vehicle moving us towards collective Liberation. Together, we will co-collectively weave a container for experiencing a Judaism released from Zionism - a potent spiritual and cultural vessel for hospicing out empire and midwifing in Olam ha Ba (the World that IS Coming).
This retreat is open to anyone who would like to experience the magical potency of Passover and Judaism beyond Zionism in a space facilitated by & centered around queer/trans anti-Zionist Jews. You do not need to identify as queer/trans, Jewish or anti-Zionist to attend. Learn more
For: Everyone, Queer & Trans Jews, Anti-Zionist Jews
Tags: 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? elana.june.margolis@gmail.comLegacy Trip Alabama: Jewish Edition with Kohenet Dr. Harriette E Wimms (Legacy Trips)
📆May 3-5, 2024
📍USA > Alabama > Montgomery
Together, we will face the truth of America's history of anti-Black racial terror and violence, self reflect on the ways each of us have upheld and perpetuated white supremacy in our lives, and embrace our ability to affect change and dismantle racism, first within ourselves, and then in our families and communities. Our purpose is to listen to and learn from Black leadership, utilize antiracism tools and resources to strategize ways to do less harm, be better co-conspirators to BIPOC and develop ways to move forward with mindful action toward collective liberation. Learn more
For: Everyone, Black Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, ✊Social Justiceretreat
🆕Let My People Sing! Summer Retreat (Let My People Sing!)
📆July 11-14, 2024
📍USA > Connecticut > Falls Village > Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
SAVE THE DATE! The summer retreat is coming back for another year at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, July 11-14th, mark your calendars! We can't wait to sing with you again ❤️
More info on registration coming soon. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🥳Social, 🎶Music
🤔Questions? info@letmypeoplesing.orgfestival
🆕Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music (Yiddish Book Center)
📆July 11-14, 2024
📍USA > Massachusetts > Amherst > Yiddish Book Center
Yidstock is back! Now in its twelfth year, Yidstock brings the best in klezmer and new Yiddish music to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. This four-day festival will include musicians and performers at the forefront of the Yiddish music scene. In addition to seven concerts, the lineup also includes four workshops, ten talks, and one special film screening, all in celebration of Yiddish music, language, and culture. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🥳Social, 🎶Music, Yiddish
🤔Questions? info@yiddishbookcenter.orgretreat
🆕We Are Family: JOCSM In-person Shabbaton (The Jews of Color Mishpacha Project)
📆July 12-14, 2024
📍USA > Maryland > Reisterstown > Pearlstone Retreat Center
SAVE THE DATE! You are cordially invited for a weekend of connection, rest and release! We welcome Jews who are People of Color, Sephardic, and Mizrahi of every age, gender, orientation and denomination, their families and allies. Come participate in JOC-led learning, prayer and ritual, spirited singing, to connect with nature — and of course to enjoy nourishing kosher farm-to-table meals. Programming is available for families with children, youth, and adults, including diverse prayer options and varied affinity spaces! Learn more
For: Jews Of Colour, Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌿Nature, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? JOCMishpacha@gmail.com📢 announcements
announcement / request
🆕Call for Artists for the 9th Radical Jewish Calendar! (Radical Jewish Calendar)
📆due April 21, 2024
The call for artists for the 9th Radical Jewish Calendar is here! Organized by Jewish month, layering Jewish & Gregorian dates. Living in Jewish time, learning Jewish and radical movement history.
We are looking for 13 people or teams (no more than 3 people per team) to design the art for each month and the cover. Please note: this year we have a theme. Existing artworks are welcome! You are invited to submit art, collage, visually compelling text, that:
- Expresses solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people and lands
- Captures a moment in radical anti-zionist~Jewish history (expansive definitions of both)
- Captures a moment or a concept of doykeit/hereness/diasporism (a la Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz)
- Portrait of a person, teacher, elder, movement leader related to anti-zionism, Jewish leftism, and Palestinian solidarity
Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? RadJCal@gmail.comweekly event
🆕Estranged Family Support Group (Jamie Aster/PQDJ Archive)
📆Sundays / 7:30-9PM CT, 8:30-10PM ET, 5:30-7PM PT
💻virtual
a peer support group that supports anti-zionist jews who are experiencing family estrangement. while you don't need to be queer or disabled to participate, this is a space that centers these identities. Learn more
For: Adults, Queer & Trans Jews, Disabled Jews
Tags: ✨Wellness, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? pqdjarchive@gmail.comannouncement / request
ShpellCheck: The SpellCheck of the Radical Jewish Diaspora (Binya Kóatz and friends)
IF YOU WANT YOUR RADICAL JEWISH TATTOOS AND PROTEST BANNERS CHECKED FOR SPELLING ERRORS PLEASE EMAIL SHPELLCHECK@GMAIL.COM
You have an idea for a sick diasporic tat, but only know a few yiddish words. You wanna show up to a solidarity demo with Ladino on a sign, but only your great grandmother spoke it. If you have protest banners, tattoo designs, zine covers, or more that have Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish (or other Jewish languages) on them, and you want some rad queers who speak these languages to check it out to make sure it's spelled right, conveys what you're trying to say, and sounds good, send it to shpellcheck@gmail.com
Share with all your friends and tattoo artists. FREE. WE JUST WANT TO SAVE THE LEFTY JEWISH WORLD FROM MORE MISSPELLED TATTOOS. Let ShpellCheck shpell check it first! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? shpellcheck@gmail.comdaily event
IJS Daily Online Meditation Sit (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆Mondays – Fridays / 12:30-1PM ET, 9:30-10AM PT
💻virtual
Join one of our expert teachers as they lead a live daily guided meditation, sharing 30 minutes of Jewish mindfulness with people from around the world. Open to all, no experience needed. Learn more
For: Everyone, Adults
Tags: 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.organnouncement
Coalition of Jewish social workers & therapists for social justice! (Tikkun Olam)
Introducing Tikkun Olam -- a new coalition of Jewish social workers and therapists advocating for social justice and Palestinian liberation. Please share widely!
website: jewsfortikkunolam.com
Instagram: @jewsfortikkunolam
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556524277979
X / Twitter: @jews4tikkunolam
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? jewishsocialworkersnotinmyname@gmail.comweekly class
IJS Online Jewish Yoga (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆Mondays / 11-11:45AM ET, 8-8:45AM PT
💻virtual
Mindful body practices help us find shelter right where we are, in our bodies in this very moment. Yoga teacher and IJS faculty member Cantor Lizzie Shammash guides you in an all-levels yoga and movement session informed by Jewish spiritual teachings and designed to relieve stress as we increase awareness of breath and grounding through our bodies. Open to all, no experience needed. Learn more
For: Everyone, Adults
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.orgweekly workshop
Krium Yachad: Diasporist Grief Work for the Long Haul (JVP Havurah)
📆Mondays / 8:30-9:45PM ET, 5:30-6:45PM PT
💻virtual
Kruim Yachad (Torn Together) is a weekly space for Jews to gather to metabolize our grief over the recent and (at the time of this writing) ongoing genocide in Palestine. Weekly sessions will incorporate a variety of Jewish grief technologies, including (but not limited to) prayer, kriah (tearing fabric), song, movement, lighting candles and work with sacred plants. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? elana.june.margolis@gmail.comweekly workshop
Shevet: A Jewish Mindfulness Community for Young Adults (Institute for Jewish Spirituality)
📆Mondays / 8-8:30PM ET, 5-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
Amidst the great challenges and joys of our ever-changing world, spiritual practice in community can nurture our capacity for wise response, compassion, resilience, and well-being. Join IJS and our growing young adult community for 30 minutes of weekly Jewish mindfulness practice for folks in their 20s and 30s. Hosted by IJS Core Faculty Rebecca Schisler, each live Zoom session is guided by a leading guest teacher of Jewish spirituality and mindfulness, and includes an additional 15 minutes of optional Q&A and sharing. Participants are invited to join our Shevet Jewish Mindfulness Community WhatsApp group to connect with other spiritual seekers. Learn more
For: Young adults in their 20s & 30s
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? support@jewishspirituality.orgyelling into a virtual megaphone 📣
while ringing a virtual bell 🔔
while unfurling a long parchment scroll 📜
— and sending love as i do it,
💖 vlada, AKA your shtetl crier