The Heller Museum, Ben Yehuda Press, and Jewish Book Council cordially invite you to the book launch for Accept Our Prayers: An Amidah Companion Writings by Bayit: Building Jewish
Featuring: Trisha Arlin, Rachel Barenblat, Mike Cockrill, Elisheva Cropper, Joanne Fink, David Markus and David Zaslow
Wednesday, October 21 at 6 p.m. Hebrew Union College’s Heller Museum
The Amidah prayer is the ancient heart of Jewish communal prayer. But liturgy is merely a recipe. Prayer requires the addition of intention and heart. In Accept Our Prayers, the Bayit collective – writers and artists, poets and liturgists, rabbis and laypeople – responds to each blessing of the Shabbat Amidah through contemporary prayers, poems, meditations, commentary, and visual art. Each blessing’s creative responses are preceded by its complete text in Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration. Together, these works invite us to encounter familiar liturgy anew and to bring the words of our mouths into deeper conversation with the meditations of our hearts.
Read this book—and, more importantly, pray with it—to enliven your experience of Jewish prayer, whether in community or alone. You could choose from its selections and assemble them into your own Amidah, or take a deeper dive into a single chapter and let it inform how you encounter that blessing—in synagogue, on a hike, at home, wherever and however you may be. Prayer leaders can use Accept Our Prayers both to deepen their own practice and to inspire the communities they serve.
Accept Our Prayers An Amidah Companion by Bayit: Building Jewish $24.95
We commissioned original music for our original prayers in Blessed Are You, Wondrous Universe: A Siddur for Seekers. Both editions of the book contain sheet music. Three composers — Shefa Gold, Eileen Kozloff, and Zach Mayer — provided the tunes: 13 original melodies for 9 of the Siddur for Seekers’ original prayers.
Like Bashevis’s “Stories from Behind the Stove”, Sutskever’s “Ode to the Dove” was also written after the Holocaust. But this poem is a message from a completely different world than Bashevis’s stories. The poet’s mission has nothing to do with “creating a country or a public,” explains Berger in his introduction to the book published by Ben Yehuda Press. The poet is an individual who creates his own temple of sounds.
“Here, with the pen, I conduct my own, silent chapel.”
Berger emphasizes that Sutskever actually uses the international word “temple” and not the literal “beys hamikdesh.” In this way, Sutskever continues the tradition of the Polish romantic poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Cyprian Norwid, whom he studied in the Polish-Jewish high school in Vilnius.
Berger ends his introduction with a question: To whom does Sutskever turn in this poem, which was written in 1954 in Tel Aviv?
And he speculates. “Perhaps to the dead who drag the poet from his bed and embrace him at night.”
Usually one reads Sutskever’s poems in poetry anthologies, one after the other. Berger’s book slowly soaks in the difficult rhythm and long lines of a single poem.
On each page, the reader’s gaze wanders between the Yiddish source above and the English translation below, and between the pages one pauses at the charming background illustrations by Liora Ostroff.
No digital copy can replace this experience of slowly reading and turning the pages.
First, a personal note. I felt I was in mourning when Rivka died. I loved her like I loved my own mother.
Now about Rivka.
Her husband, Mula, and she were twin souls. The Torah says about Jacob and his son Binyomin, נפשו קשורה בנפשו, “one’s soul was bound up with the soul of the other”, and that’s how it was with Rivka and Mula.
Here are two examples (from their lives together).
For Rivka life on Kibbutz Ha-Ma’apil was a slice of Eden. First, she watched the things she planted grow, and that was therapeutic for her. Then she became a teacher of Kibbutz children. In a poem entitled “With my students of the Rimon Class” she says of the children “and I discover/that the honey-/is in fact you”.
But for Mula life on the kibbutz was most unpleasant. He was a painter and he wanted to paint more than the few hours a week that the kibbutz allotted to him. He told Rivka he wanted to leave and without hesitation, she told him she would go with him. So the two left the kibbutz together.
Years later, when Rivka was studying for an MA in literature at Columbia University, Mula was homesick for Israel (He was simply unhappy in the Diaspora). When he told Rivka this, she reacted much as Ruth said to Naomi: “Wherever you go, I go, too.” And so the pair left for Israel together.
I was always surprised at Rivka’s optimism.
When I asked her about this, she said: “What can I do? God created me like this”.
I got a similar response when we watched a film about Rivka at Bet Leyvik.
There I saw Rivka in uniform holding a rifle. “Rivka”, I said, “you never told me you were a soldier!” She responded with “What could we do? They attacked us. We fought in self-defense.”
Another time, when we sat around the table shooting the breeze at Bet Leyvik, one of the folks there announced that he had something to say, but he begged every one’s pardon, he would speak in Hebrew, and not in Yiddish.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Rivka said. “Hebrew is also a Jewish language.”
Would you like a thread with ten handpicked poems from trans Jewish poets to celebrate?
Read & enjoy!
The Shortest Skirt in ShulEverything ThawsShekhinah SpeaksThe Criminal
Poems will be in no particular order. I try to link poets' websites when possible, and their latest book (the poems I picked will not necessarily be from that book).
Purchase links will be Amazon associate links or our webstore, but we also rec your local bookstore & library.
Everyone is Jewish and non-cis in some way (trans, nbi, gnc, gq etc.), though specific identities of course vary. At least three of the poets are also intersex in addition to being non-cis.
There are definitely more than ten Jewish trans poets, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. I encourage you to post your favorite poems #JewishTransPoets#JewishTransPoetry 🙂
I tried to pick both established & upcoming poets.
Joy Ladin @JoyLadin is one of the best-known Jewish trans poets. She taught English at YU until recently. Besides her poetry, she's also known for her memoir and other academic nonfiction work (I recommend those too!).
R.B. Lemberg @RB_Lemberg is a fantasist, poet, fiction writer, translator… (many hats!) who was born in Ukraine and currently lives in Kansas. Like Joy Ladin, they also write academic nonfiction too.
We are publishing their poetic memoir Everything Thaws early next year – growing up in Ukraine and Russia, climate change, migration and more.
"The Three Immigrations" originally in @strangehorizons will be partially incorporated into this larger work:
Max Wolf Valerio @hypotenusewolf (Blackfoot/Sephardic) was one of the first trans poets worldwide, and he is still active and creating. He's also a memoirist (The Testosterone Files).
From Sass Orol I chose the poem "Brit" that's reprinted on the book's preview page (sorry, can't link directly; click through and then in the left sidebar):
“But all of these things, if you don’t like the shape,
everything can be cut further.”
angelic proof is a Russian-Jewish poet living in Canada. "They are currently the Poet-in-Residence at the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre" (from their bio) and they are also a spoken-word performer.
"the boys want [My Dick] \my romance
but can't handle [My Dick] \my transness"
Rivers Solomon @cyborgyndroid is primarily known as a fiction writer (most recently of Sorrowland, read it!!), but I read these poems on faer Patreon years ago and they came to mind immediately when starting to assemble this thread –
"We crawl
out on miniature knee caps, or scoot. We cannot hold
our heads up yet on this trail of cracked ovum shell,
on this path of scoliosis spine."
– from "Ibeji"
(cn from the author: late term pregnancy loss)
I think this is the only poem in the thread that isn't available free online, but I recommend backing faer patreon, fae is in the process of reorganizing it and you can give input to what you'd like to see in the future!
Fae doesn't have a poetry collection yet, so I'll put Sorrowland here:
AJ Odasso @ajodasso has a poetry collection The Sting of It, and they are also a fiction author and a poetry editor at Strange Horizons!
From AJ Odasso I chose "Sargasso Sea" originally in Remixt, reprinted in Intersex Quarterly (also a poem that's stayed with me for many years) –
"Back under. All spoils
but wayward gonads
plundered. Cervix
untethered, that
ungainly hatch."
Percy Amichai Hill @lianlianmin just started publishing poetry in 2022 ("a self-proclaimed baby poet") – I really liked all three pieces he had out so far.
"here, i say, take a couple nickels,
chew on them, we'll call this gelt."
Adrian Belmes @adrian_belmes is an author, bookmaker and small press publisher of Badlung Press (check out Depression Cookbook, there is a free pdf); he was born in Odessa, Ukraine. You can find both him and his press here:
"I swallow
the scroll you hand me,
fighting my body as you
reach into my throat
to push scripture deeper"
Thank you for reading! Now it's your turn to share your Jewish trans favorites! (Poems can be about anything!) Tell us about your own work too!
Confetti: 🎊🎊🎊
(Adding more bc I cannot stop)
Izzy Wasserstein @izzyxen has been writing more fiction than poetry lately (and has a great short story collection coming soon), but she's made her debuts with poetry.
Stephanie Burt @accommodatingly is a poet and poetry critic! She teaches at Harvard and has had several volumes out + also a book about reading poetry, the amazingly titled Don't Read Poetry.
Something else: I am finding out about several trans poets that they are Jewish! Which is awesome!
I was expecting I'd also find out about Jewish poets that they are trans, which hasn't happened yet while making the thread. (Please don't out people who are not out)
Here is the entire, LONG version of the poem from Even Bochan by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, thank you @opensiddur!
The Torah is often considered a document by and about men. But women have been there at the dawn of Jewish history, and since then, as spiritual leaders of many kinds.
Jill Hammer and Taya Shere write about The Hebrew Priestess, richly sourced:
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) February 15, 2022
We also have books really quite not for children.
The Comic Torah: Reimagining the Very Good Book by Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig does not shy away from the blood, the gore and the sex in the original 🙀
I always feel fond of reading nuclear anything into the Bible, so here is a small excerpt featuring the priests…
(We’ve posted quite a few more excerpts from this book & you can find them by carefully searching our parsha threads!)
Radioactivity by Sue Swartz
*The priest is to enter and when he looks, and here — Tzara'at has spread in the house, it is acute affliction in the house, it is unclean —
"Power Company Buys Ohio River Village Plagued by Clouds of Acid."*
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) April 7, 2022
We are probably one of the foremost publishers of Torah poetry (and now we are also venturing into Talmudic poetry), so let’s take a look at some more –
Abe Mezrich writes poetic midrash on the parsha, with two volumes now available & a 3rd coming!
We actually want to post a new excerpt from this one soon, but we’ve had some already… Here is something about who Jacob REALLY fights when he fights the angel.
The first Torah tidbit we picked is from Shmuel Klitsner's Wrestling Jacob: Deception, Identity, and Freudian Slips in Genesis.https://t.co/hHmaPF6dCL
This book examines Jacob's stories, also taking a look at their psychological aspects & how the word choices reflect that
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) November 19, 2021
(I can’t believe that was in the Bible! And in the absolutely plain sense meaning of the text!)
Another book that gives you that sense of discovery about what’s REALLY in the Bible is Esau’s Blessing from Ora Horn Prouser!
It takes a look at the disabled people in the Torah (and there are many of them)
Here we had a thread about Esau, and his extremely relatable struggles with leaving his hunting equipment at home.
We promised you an Esau thread and here it is!
❓Did Esau have ADHD? ❓
It might explain several events in the Bible…
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) November 8, 2021
I also must add this from the Psalms (ok, the Psalms were not given at Mount Sinai, but!) –
✨ G-d is disabled according to the Bible ✨
Thread! 🧵
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) September 14, 2021
If you’re interested in something mystical, but at the same time want to do something… you can quite literally WALK through the Torah with Rabbi Shefa Gold –
We learn about this from TORAH & COMPANY by Judith Z. Abrams.
This book matches some Mishna & Gemara to each Torah portion, so that the Mishna and the Gemara will provide some company and the Torah portion won't be so sad all by itself. ( 🥺 💕 )https://t.co/vudYIuHcki
— Ben Yehuda Press | Shavuot sale pinned! (@BenYehudaPress) October 15, 2021
So we’re at the point where the National Review and the New York Times are attacking Joe Biden for how he grieves.
I suppose it’s only fair to criticize president for being too human; after all, we criticized his predecessor for being too inhuman.
If one does want to engage seriously with the world of parental grief, three of our authors are in that very sad category of bereaved parents, for which Hebrew has a more redolent word, שכול.
B. J. Yudelson’s memoir, “With an Outstretched Arm,” encompasses the arc of her life, from growing up very Reform in the South to being a grandmother and a member of an Orthodox congregation in the snowy north.
(Note that the @nytimes got both Ruth’s last name and age wrong.)
Our favorite review: “Buy this book NOW, curl up on your couch with a box of tissues and this book. I have not been so moved and so deeply touched by a book in a long time. BJ’s illustrative storytelling pulled me into her story, her experiences, her struggles and victories.”
But her heart was still broken, because that’s the curse of being a bereaved patent.
So she embarked on a path of trying to help others. She studied to be a hospital pastoral counselor. That was a new field in Israel, where hospital clergy was there to certify kashrut, not minister to emotional needs of patients.
“Sherri Mandell has done it again with this deeply personal and profoundly moving book about caring and compassion under the most trying of conditions. Reaching for Comfort will inspire readers with its compelling prose, riveting narrative, and uplifting spirituality.”
That’s from historian, novelist, ambassador, and New Jersey native, Michael Oren.
“A poignant, deeply human look at the author’s attempt to deal with her own unspeakable pain by opening her heart to the pain of others.” That’s from an Amazon review.
(To return briefly to the political realm, which launched this thread: It’s worth highlighting the contrast between this who would “deal with [their] own unspeakable pain by opening her heart to the pain of others” and those deal with their pain by inflicting pain on others.)
Parenting on a Prayer was already finished and in the editorial pipeline when Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah’s 19-year-old son Josef died, nine months after a brain cancer diagnosis.
The book looks to the siddur to find 18 principles for parenting, combining explanations of prayers with anecdotes from Amy’s years as a mother of three.
“Every page of this inspiring work is filled with lessons to live by.” — Rabbi Naomi Levy
Obviously, the book takes on added poignancy under the cloud of Josef’s death, described in the book’s dedication and afterward. And since all parenting takes place under the shadow of the potential of this infinite grief, that works. #MashiachNow
Jay Michaelson wrote The Gate of Tears in response to the grief he felt at the death of his mother.
I’ve always wondered what B. J. Yudelson would have thought about Gate of Tears. For the first several years of Ben Yehuda Press, she proofread every book. But by the time The Gate of Tears was ready for proofing, she was too ill from the cancer that would take her life.
But I don’t have to wonder about what she would say about people criticizing Biden for he handles his grief. Or about the people at the @nytimes that decided this was a story.
Rabbi Shefa Gold’s personal memoir shares how she has cultivated a pathway of living life each day as if she is on a spiritual pilgrimage. Through her stories and life experiences she teaches the reader how to live a life of exploration. In each place you “travel” you gain insights on how to see the awesome beauty of the moment, the gift of your own life, and the opportunity to give and receive blessings! These lessons apply to every opportunity: from eating dinner with your family to trekking through a safari in Africa. This book is short, clear, and deeply inspiring and I’m giving copies to all the fellow spiritual travelers in my life.
“The Sabbath Bee” reviewed by Roger S. Kohn for Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews
These 77 prose poems comprise short vignettes to “welcome the Shabbat bride not like a weekly visitor but as a long-awaited, yearned-for beloved.”
At the Shabbat service, Gottschalk “felt that Shabbat herself was sharing our eagerness for a true reunion,” and she writes how she “began to image Shabbat in various guises, making a unique entrance every week … If Shabbat can be a queen, doesn’t it stand to reason that he can also be a grandparent, a blanket, a jealous girlfriend …hundreds of thousands of facets all taken together might form a reasonable outline of ineffable perfection.”
Recommended to all so inclined to experience the Jewish day of rest.
