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necklace depicting three figures found in an amulet of protection against lilit from the sefer raziel.

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The exit sign of a middle school hallway is a sort of mezuzah for tween boys if you really think about it.

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This morning was day 4 of being back in a ceramics studio! These are my WIPs in various stages, ranging from fresh off the wheel to bone dry greenware ready to be bisqued. Everything shown here is thrown, with the exception of two soft slab soap dishes. I'm particularly excited about the little kiddush cup that says 'Shabbat Shalom' (last two pics). Everything that survives trimming and firing will be posted in my shop once it's done.

After nearly a decade and a half without throwing, I'm pleased with how quickly it's coming back to me. I still don't have much control back yet with what shape pieces turn out, but I can center up to around 3 pounds, and I can throw off the hump. Nearly everything is turning out alright, and I'm not generating excessive amounts of slip.

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There are still copies available from the Art of Abandoned Jewish Cemeteries of Hungary Zine!

If you are interested in cemetery and death symbols, judaism, european ashkenaz jewish culture, linocut or think that preserving abandoned jewish cemeteries is important, this is something for you.

Check the zine at Behance and make your order at Etsy!

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Look at what my grandma made for me ☺️ It's so pretty

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- leonard cohen

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The two reactions to jewish law

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At my old shul, they have a Torah scroll that is about 400 years old. It is a Shoah survivor and it was preserved bc it was smuggled out of what is now the Czech Republic, IIRC, during WWII, with some other refugees.

And now it is retired and in a conservation case bc it is too fragile to touch anymore, but almost a decade ago now, that was the first Torah I held, the day of my beit din & my conversion being final. This is also the case for Emet, and for Cat. Cat's confirmation class was the last class to read from it during their confirmation -- when it was used, before it was retired, it was only ever unrolled once a year, to the same spot, which is the parsha that the confirmation class always has, to minimize damage, and they retired it when it became too fragile even for that. Like, when it tipped over from 'incredibly fragile' to 'probably not kosher anymore,' they had to set it aside.

Remembering that made me feel … bittersweet happy, because it feels like the way we keep and remake and renew connections no matter what happens, to be realizing, "Oh, I should tell [my friend's wife, who is a Sephardic Jew from Prague], about the survivor Torah." I remember when they handed it to me thinking that it weighed just about as much as Cat did when she was born… and was somehow also immensely weighted. At the time, someone asked me if it was heavy, and I said, "Not at all, and incredibly."

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Song of Songs — Kurdistan ca. 1858 and 1864

The hollow lettering on this siddur is characteristic of Kurdish art.

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The Or Torah Synagogue in Akko, Israel is Tunisian, and decorated floor to wall to ceiling with beautiful tiles from Italy. Gorgeous.

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Jewish girls in Djerba holding a baby. Tunisia, 1950s.

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Fun fact: the anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews having lots of money/being greedy/cheap began in the Middle Ages thanks to Christian laws.

The Christian church began forbidding Christians from having professions that involved lending money, banking, or pawn work. It was because the church believed that money was ultimately unclean so although it was considered a necessity, Christians were instructed to deal with it as little as possible.

But someone still needed to run all of those money-based businesses. So these societies which were already run by Christian leadership basically made it a rule that these businesses had to be run by Jews since they were already “unclean”. Furthermore, due to other restrictions on Jewish people in these areas, these money-based positions were pretty much some of the only jobs Jews could legally hold.

This eventually led to numerous stereotypes involving Jews and money. And the acidity of these stereotypes grew when Christian people and leaders became resentful of the livelihood Jews were able to achieve for themselves with these jobs.

So to sum up: Christian society forces Jews to hold down money-centered jobs since, according to the church, Jews were already going to Hell. Then, once they made lives with these roles they were forced into, Jews were mocked and hated for being successful.

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Antique Jewish Hamsa amulets and other Jewish talismans from Morocco, Kurdistan and Israel. 🪬 (png)

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  Pomegranate made of gold, rubies and emeralds

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interesting that joseph's brothers smear his coat with goat's blood. i know it's not 1:1 but i was definitely thinking there are parallels to scapegoating there. joseph is being held responsible for his brothers' misplaced feelings of insecurity. and they seem to think casting him out it will erase their fears of being insufficient. but then he ends up saving all of them in a very roundabout manner.

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Yismechu - Batya Levine