Oy Vey Newsletter in the month of Elul
Dear Friend,
We’re halfway through Elul (the 14th, to be exact) — the month leading up to the High Holidays. It’s a month meant for preparing yourself for Rosh Hashanah (new year — the year 5787 is about to begin!), Yom Kippur (day of atonement — introspection and compassion), Sukkot (festival of booths — building huts, celebrating the autumn harvest and getting ready for the rain) and Simchat Torah (rejoicing of the Torah — rolling the scroll back to the beginning, a magical moment). But how do you do that… prepare?
Opinions differ, of course! 🙂 Some of us are itching to dive right in, others have mixed feelings about reflecting on behaviour and accountability, and others still may not be very familiar with this long stretch of holidays and traditions.
Rav Jericho Vincent writes: ‘The mystics point out that “Elul” is an acronym for a love chant in the sacred erotic text Song of Songs (6:3): Ani L’dodi V*dodi Li — I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. *the “V” in Hebrew can also make an “oo” sound. Love is the foundation that makes all things possible. Especially in times as unstable as these, we need to root in love. It is in love that we are made, it is love that we disappear. May you be blessed to be enveloped in love, wherever you are right now. May your aches and your longings be answered with a profound and unending love, so much love that you have the strength in this liminal time to heal, to take loving accountability, to grow, and to step into a beautiful, peaceful, year of shared abundance.’
So put on Leonard Cohen’s Boogie Street (It is in love that we are made, it is love that we disappear) and give some thought to how you might use these next few weeks leading up to 11 September. Will we see you on Saturday evening 12 September at the Uilenburgersjoel for Rosh Hashanah?
Finally: today, Oy Vey volunteers Lilit, Jesse and Yael teamed up with Belle (from the Seksualiteitsschool, which is also housed in Makom) and her team to take Makom and the Oy Vey Living Room another step further. Alongside some painting jobs, we worked hard on giving the floor a fresh coat and wrapping the fluorescent tubes in unbleached cotton. Lovely soft light now!
Wishing you all a loving Elul,
Lievnath
The High Holidays
The High Holidays are almost here. There’s plenty to do and plenty of chances to come together. Sign up as soon as you can, so we have an idea of how many people we’re catering for, etc.
As preparation for the High Holidays, we invite you to join us on Zoom at 9:00 each morning during the month of Elul for about 10 minutes, to hear the shofar sounded by Lior. We’ll keep going through Friday morning 11 September. Sign up here for the Zoom link.
Rosh Hashanah: 12 September at the Uilenburgersjoel, with a ceremony and vegan dinner.
Yom Kippur: 20 September — tashlich and kol nidrei in our living room.
Yom Kippur: 21 September — daytime, yizkor, ne’ila and breaking the fast together at the Uilenburgersjoel.
Sukkot: 26 September — a kids club, building a sukkah together in the woods & a picnic.
Shofar workshop on 15 September in our living room with the one and only Yael Gat (who’s bringing 15 shofarim… one for each participant to practise on).
Tamar van der Wouden and Merav Krone made the Oy Vey Card Set for the 10 Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. A great gift idea!
We’ve thrown around quite a few terms above… Here’s a quick rundown:
Tashlich – the ritual where you stand by flowing water and symbolically let go of what you don’t want to carry into the new year, often using breadcrumbs.
Kol Nidrei – the prayer that opens Yom Kippur, in which vows from the past year are released.
Yizkor – the memorial service in which you speak the names of your dead.
Ne’ila – the closing prayer of Yom Kippur, as the gates of heaven slowly shut.
Breaking the fast – the first bite after a fast day, marking the official end of the fast.
Shofar – the ram’s horn sounded at the end of Yom Kippur and on Rosh Hashanah.
Our calendar
The first Potluck Sunday takes place on 30 August. We’ll be talking together about the values of the Jewish Manifesto — What moves you? Which values speak to you? Where do you recognise yourself? And above all: how can we put those values into practice as a community?
The Singing Shtetl is scheduled for 5 September and 4 October. We’ll also be practising songs that we can then sing together on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So do come and join in these late summer months.
The Kaddish Club is back on Tuesday evening 13 October. We’re skipping the September edition — but if you’re looking for a place to mourn, come to Yom Kippur on the 21st, when we hold the Yizkor ceremony.
The Oy Vey Reads book club is discussing Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik on Sunday 11 October at 15:30 in the Oy Vey Living Room. Send us a message if you’d like to read along. In Tori’s words: ‘It mixes folktale and fantasy to tell the stories of three young women struggling against forces that they don’t quite understand. Their fates connected via Miryem, a young Jewish woman bumping up against social forces that endanger Jewish people as a whole and her family in particular, as well the expectations and violence of an ice-cold parallel land inhabited by a fairy race (when we say “fairy” we don’t mean Tinkerbell…).’
Missed the last Oy Vey Reads? On 22 November, Oy Vey Reads will be discussing Here Where We Live is Our Country by Molly Crabapple for the second time, from 15:30 to 17:00. Send us a message if you’d like to read along.
Spotlight
Re-visiting Yochanan — a reading workshop with Hannah Dawn Henderson
17 and 24 September, 19:00 – 20:30, Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 30
We’re proud that artist Hannah Dawn Henderson is bringing this two-part reading workshop to Oy Vey. Together we’ll read stories from early rabbinic literature about Rabbi Yochanan, a rabbinic scholar from the third century. He is a central figure in rabbinic memory, but the sources also show vulnerability, a body that departs from the norm, and versions of his story that contradict one another.
What does it mean to remember our sages differently? Alongside passages from the Talmud, we’ll read contemporary texts on illness, grief and queer experience, including Johanna Hedva’s Sick Woman Theory and Anne Boyer’s The Undying.
Hannah Dawn Henderson is an artist, writer and researcher based in The Hague. Her work explores diasporic memory, archives and bodily otherness. The workshop is part of her art project bruised flowers and was made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund.
The two evenings build on each other: to take part in the second workshop, you’ll need to come to the first as well.
More to enjoy
Storyteller Shonaleigh invites everyone to listen to The Tower of Ash online on Sunday 13 September — from the comfort of your bed or sofa. Have a look here for more information.
🔥Pets of Oy Vey
the duo-photo strikes again
Shira writes:
“these are Blackey and Piwi. Blackey has discovered the duvet”
We’d love to put your pet in the spotlight here! Just reply to this email with a photo and a bit of info — we’ll take care of the rest. 🐾
Peace, love and solidarity,
The Oy Vey team 💛