Judaism Unbound Judaism Unbound Episode 421: Radically Jewish Time – Ariana Katz, Jessica Rosenberg
Ariana Katz, founder of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl, sees rooted ritual and radical organizing as her Jewish legacy. Jessica Rosenberg, author of Introduction to Trauma, Healing and Resilience for Rabbis, Jewish Educators and Organizers, is a teacher on integrating trauma-informed pedagogy into Jewish education, ritual and organizing. The two are co-authors of a new book entitled For Times Such as These: A Radical Guide to the Jewish Year, and they join Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation about it — and all things radical-Judaism!
[1] Be sure to check out Ariana Katz and Jessica Rosenberg’s book, For Times Such as These: A Radical Guide to the Jewish Year, and keep tabs on all things book-related via their Instagram, @fortimessuchasthesebook. You can also listen to our previous episode with Katz at Episode 361: Spiritual Abundance – Ariana Katz.
[2] Rosenberg refers to putting oranges and olives on the seder plate.
[3] Katz shouts out Judith Plaskow’s Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective as a forebear to For Times Such as These.
[4] Rosenberg cites the 1994 massacre carried out by Israeli-American Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians and injured 125 in Hebron, while invoking the Purim story’s instruction to blot out the enemy, Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19). Listen to this episode from podcast Unpacking Israeli History to learn more about the massacre, and check out this source sheet by Toba Spitzer to explore the text of Amalek and what it implies about our relationship to the other.
[5] Rosenberg mentions congregation Tzedek Chicago and their anti-violence approach to reading the Book of Esther on Purim.
[6] Lex describes Arthur Waskow’s Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays and Jill Hammer’s The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons as important constituents in the lineage of radical 21st-century accompaniments to the Jewish calendar. Katz later adds the Radical Jewish Calendar to this list.
[7] Lex makes some kind of math analogy about roots and radicals that sounds like it’s probably really creative. If you want to actually find out what he’s talking about, here’s a middle school math lesson on the subject. Best of luck. Also, here’s an article that articulates some of what Lex was getting at, tying the mathematical and political notions of “radical.” (drawing on Angela Davis).
[8] Rosenberg thanks Dori Midnight and Sol Weiss for their artistic contributions to For Times Such as These.
[9] Rosenberg says that Ross Gay’s essay collection, Inciting Joy, is the text at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Adar – that’s now! So read up. She adds that another of Gay’s collections, The Book of Delights: Essays, is another great late-winter read.
[10] Lex refers to IsItAJewishHolidayToday.com and says he wishes that every day were a Jewish holiday. It can be, if you listen to our podcast!
[11] Katz refers to the time between holidays as the black fire to the white fire of the holiday seasons. This is a reference to a Talmudic passage stating the Torah was given to Moses written with white fire on black fire (Yerushalmi Shekalim 6:1).
[12] Rosenberg quotes Aurora Morales’ book, Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals, which calls ancestral stories as the medicine of our time.
