we're back after our mid-season hiatus with our first episode in a long time that's just Jessie and Elana!

we talk about the present moment and some of our upcoming events, and at the end is a rewind to our Instagram Live episode on tu b'shvat from 2022 (which was somehow THREE years ago). we've obviously grown and learned so much since then but enjoy our baby selves talking tu bish

join us for our virtual tu b'shvat poetry event,find our events calendar here,and sign up for our newsletter!

comment and let us know if you want more of us chit-chatting 👀

In our midseason finale, we are joined by Eliana Rubin, who talks (among many, many other things) about their new book, “Taking the State out of the Body: A Guide to Embodied Resistance to Zionism.” Eliana builds transgressive relationships with bodies, land, and lineage through their work as a somatic practitioner, politicized facilitator, anti-Zionist organizer, full spectrum doula, land steward, and queer pleasure instigator. They run a somatic facilitation practice with Sanctuary Embodied aimed at resourcing organizers in developing embodied leadership and power for movements for justice.

While discussing her brilliant book, Eliana gives insight to what somatics are, how somatic practices can support us through challenging conversations with Zionists, speaks to some of the plants and body parts that informed the book - like calendula, redwoods, and the vagus nerve, and talks about the pitfalls of individualistic models of therapy. Eliana goes beyond fighting for liberation, and teaches us how to live for liberation. 

Find more of Eliana on their instagram or website, and go buy the book ASAP! We truly could not recommend it enough.

We will be back with more episodes in February, see you then!

[This episode was recorded in November 2024.]

Big thanks to Eliana for joining us, to Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠

Golems, Dybukks, Psychedelics, oh my! Today we are joined by Julie Weitz (she/her) - diasporic performance artist, Fulbright Scholar, and co-creator of the Tzitzit Project - some of you may know her as @MyGolem_is_here.

In this episode, Julie reflects on her time in Poland and the ways that we can reconnect with our ancestral homeland outside. Julie talks about recent and past projects, what brought her to performance art, and the ways her work is informed by anti-zionism. We can’t wait for you to listen!

UPCOMING OFFERING FROM JULIE:

Online Dybbuk Workshop

Sunday, December 8 at 11am pst / 1pm cst / 2pm est / 8pm cet / 9pm ist

Registration Link: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/event_step2/MTkzNzI1/289544 

Join artist Julie Weitz for a dynamic online workshop exploring ancestral folktales about the dybbuk and Jewish rituals of exorcism. Drawing from her extensive research and artistic practice, Weitz will share stories, images, and videos that illuminate the cultural and spiritual significance of the dybbuk. Participants will also explore simple, accessible movement techniques inspired by Yiddish dance, fostering embodied connections to their ancestors.

The session incorporates insights from Holy Names for Our Dybbuk, Weitz’s performance art project that reimagines dybbuk exorcism as a movement-based ritual at sites of Jewish memory in Poland. Conducted in English, this workshop welcomes participants of all backgrounds and requires no prior experience. Come dressed comfortably and ready to engage in storytelling, movement, and learning.

All ticket proceeds will support the artistic collaborators of Holy Names for Our Dybbuk.

If funds are a concern, use the discount code DISCOUNT50 at checkout for 50% off.

Links to things we mention in this episode:

-No State Manifesto

-Rabbi Aaron Tamares

-The Great Dominatrix

-Kosmic Kamels (@kosmickamels)

[This episode was recorded in October 2024.]

Big thanks to Julie for joining us, to Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠⁠you can do so here.⁠

We are joined by the brilliant Jules Pashall (they/he) for this episode! Jules is a fat, white, trans/queer Jew who holds space as a somatic, creative and spiritual practitioner. Their offerings are built on the belief that undoing violent hierarchies and how they live in our bodies is part of the path of soul retrieval and collective liberation. For 15 years, they have been exploring fat as a resource for transformation. Jules holds a master’s degree in Somatic Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and their writing can be found in The Fat Studies Journal and Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices: Toward an Inclusive Somatics.

In this episode, we explore all things fat. How Judaism loves fat, how fat is connected to liberation, how fatness is weaponized in our world, how people can be invited into - and celebrate! - their fat, and so so much more. Jules is an endless well of wisdom and we imagine you will feel as inspired by them as we do after listening! 

UPCOMING OFFERINGS FROM JULES:

-Feeding the Erotic: A Jewish winter journey spanning Hannukah to Tu Bshvat

Dec 19-Feb 13th Thursdays 8-10 ET / 5-7 PT (Led by Jules and elana june margolis)

-Tonguing the Divine: a Tu B’shvat Retreat at Mariposa Institute in Ukiah, CA 2/14-2/17 (Led by Jules and elana june margolis)

-One on one work with new clients for 10 weeks of “a season of practice” - follow him for more information!

You can read “thank god i’m fat: gifts from the underbelly” by Jules here and join his email list here to stay updated on upcoming offerings.

[This episode was recorded in August 2024.]

Big thanks to Jules for joining us, to Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, ⁠you can do so here.⁠

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Oren Kroll-Zeldin, who is the assistant director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco where he is also an assistant professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Oren recently published his first book, “Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine.” You can buy the book here!

“Unsettled digs into the experiences of young Jewish Americans who engage with the Palestine solidarity movement and challenge the staunch pro-Israel stance of mainstream Jewish American institutions. The book explores how these activists address Israeli government policies of occupation and apartheid, and seek to transform American Jewish institutional support for Israel.”

As we talk with Oren, we delve into the research that led to Unsettled and explore the growth of anti-zionist community and activism over the last few decades. We talk about necessary tools in liberation movements and the complex nuances of organizing. We are deeply grateful to Oren for this conversation and hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed having it.

Links:

Check out this article by Oren

Check out this article Oren mentions by Sarah Anne Minkin about Palestinians as present absentees

Join us as we talk to Ezra Star (he/they) and Jen Deerinwater (Jen), two organizers with Disability Divest, as we talk about Disability Divest and their work, how genocide is a mass disabling event, and how Ezra combines his drag and Judaism.

Ezra, also known by their drag name - Neuro Cosmos - is a queer, anti-zionist, disabled drag artist in DC and one of the organizers of Disability Divest.

Jen is the Founding Executive Director of Crushing Colonialism, Crushing Colonialism is an Indigenous-led nonprofit that uplifts and supports Indigenous people through arts, media, and traditional storytelling. Jen is a fellow organizer of Disability Divest!

Some helpful links:

Sins Invalid 

Disability Divest (@disabilitydivest) • Instagram photos and videos

Tefillat Trans - SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva

Big thanks to Jen and Ezra for joining us, to Jessie for editing the podcast, and to Nate for our podcast music. If you want to support our work, you can do so here.

Join us as we talk to ⁠Rabbi Chel Mandell (they/them). Chel is the founder and rabbi of TzimTzum Community in Santa Cruz, CA. Tzimtzum is a community of queer, trans, and gender-expansive Jews centering the Jewish diasporist experience; refocusing on Jewish tradition, ritual, and community gathering in Santa Cruz. 

We talk with Rabbi Chel about molding Jewish tradition for our communities, centering their practice around the surf, and the process of building their community. 

You can learn more about Tzimtzum here and we encourage you to join if you are in Santa Cruz!

Huge thank you to Chel for joining us for this episode, Jessie for editing the podcast, and Nate for our podcast music. If you are interested in supporting our work, ⁠you can do so here.

Join us as we talk to Leora Fridman (she/her). Leora is a Jewish writer whose work is concerned with issues of identity, care, ability, and embodiment. Leora is the author of upcoming book “Bound Up: On Kink, Power, and Belonging” which is “an autotheoretical journey through bondage, domination, and intimacy, [in which she] uncovers how Jewish historical trauma can be challenged and explored in embodied relations.” “Bound Up” comes out TOMORROW and you can pre-order it here!

If you're based in NYC, check out ⁠Leora's New York launch event for Bound Up: October 10, 2024⁠. If you're outside of NY, you can still see Leora on her book tour!

Leora is an absolute trove of knowledge and links to the various things she mentions can be found below:

Huge thank you to Leora for joining us for this episode, Jessie for editing the podcast, and Nate for our podcast music. If you are interested in supporting our work, you can do so here.

Join us as we talk to Chaia (she/her), a Jewish dance music artist who makes Kleztronica - electronic and techno music that uses samples from yiddish and klezmer music. Chaia’s first single is out TODAY and we are so excited to share our conversation with her where she talks all things yiddish, techno, kleztronica, and everything in between.

Listen to Chaia's new single, ⁠Borough Park⁠, out as of 9/13/24.

If you are in NYC, check out the ⁠Diasporic Techno Night ⁠Chaia mentions, happening Friday 9/13 all evening.

If you’re on the West coast, Chaia has lots of events coming up there! You can also find her at the Pop Montreal Festival. You can find all her events on ⁠her website⁠.

Chaia writes about her single, “Borough Park samples my grandmother describing her childhood growing up in Borough Park. She would always tell me a story of her childhood there by prefacing it with “this might shock you.” Her childhood in the Jewish community there was very different than we imagine Jewish community operating today. It was pluralistic, interdenominational, mixed gender, mixed class. It sounds like the community that I imagine creating today. A community that I found small microcosms of in the queer Jewish, anti-state, and klezmer communities. A community that I’ve also found in the techno world. This is a story of that community paired with a Yiddish song called Oyfn Oyvn (sung here by a young Ethel Raim), which talks about a girl who convinces a boy to sit with her on an oven not by appealing to his background, or by physical force, but with gentle love and embrace."

Chaia is a wealth of knowledge and she shares so much of it with us in this episode. Some of the things she mentions are:

Thank you to Chaia for joining us, Jessie for editing the podcast, and Nate for the podcast music. If you are interested in supporting our work, ⁠you can do so here.⁠

[This conversation was recorded live on 8/18/24 as a part of the Embodied Resistance event.]

Join Making Mensches for a conversation with Leilah Feinstein and Ayelet Cartolina, discussing Tu B'av, s*x workers in Judaism, and how s*x workers play a role in our fight for liberation.

[The images mentioned by Ayelet can be found here!]

Ticket sales from this event allowed us to raise $308 toward evacuating two families from Gaza, and we encourage you all to continue sharing and donating: Venmo & PayPal — @minahilakbar76 CashApp — $4shM3   PayPal: ⁠[email protected]⁠

If you're interested in going to the Sex Worker Open Mic Night and bringing letters or art for the solidarity book mentioned, it's ⁠Sept 20th from 6-10pm at Starr Bar in Brooklyn⁠. 

We encourage you to check out ⁠A Stripper’s Guide Podcast⁠ - a resource for sex workers and femmes. You can find Leilah at ⁠@leilahfeinstein⁠!

You can read more of Ayelet’s work ⁠on his blog⁠.

Some resources that we used to inform our conversation are below: 

⁠Tu B'av⁠

⁠https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.12.18?lang=bi&aliyot=0⁠ 

⁠https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.23.16?lang=bi⁠ 

⁠https://www.sefaria.org/Kiddushin.40a.17?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en⁠ 

⁠https://www.nswp.org/country/israel⁠ 

⁠https://decriminalizesex.work/why-decriminalization/briefing-papers/decriminalization-is-the-only-solution/⁠ 

⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/xai-how-are-you/id1500147124⁠  

Here’s t⁠he specific link to the episode about kink work and Talmudic halakhah⁠.

⁠https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/maacah-wife-of-david-midrash-and-aggadah⁠