There's a new Deviant Yeshiva starting June 15 and more...
You can learn more about the photo in The Forward
Oy Vey organizes Jewish learning opportunities, events, and get-togethers in Amsterdam, The Hague, and beyond.
Hello All,
This picture was taken on the streets of Sarajevo during World War 2. It shows a Jewish woman walking with a Muslim woman who is covering the yellow star with her veil. It’s kind of amazing that this record exists and that we know so much about the two families involved and how they saved each other from fascist violence. Both families lost their homes to war. First, the Jewish Kavillo family when the Germans bombed Sarajevo in 1941. And later the Muslim Hardaga family in 1994 when the Serbs bombed Sarajevo. The Hardagas became the first Muslim family to be entered into The Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem.
Why are we talking about this? Because this the photo Yoni Busquila chose to represent the most recent offering from the Deviant Yeshiva.
On June 15, Oy Vey will be initiating a new series of the Deviant Yeshiva. It’s eight sessions, face-to-face, and begins on Sunday, 15 June in Den Haag. The focus? Israel/Palestine. Honest talk. Wrestling with history, identity, and justice.
Why is Oy Vey doing this?
We believe that avoiding difficult conversations doesn’t make them go away – it just makes them more toxic. If we’re going to engage with Israel-Palestine meaningfully, we need to do it with both intellectual rigor and emotional honesty.
Why The Deviant Yeshiva?
Traditional yeshiva study is all about wrestling with complex texts and uncomfortable questions – but it usually stays within certain boundaries. Our Deviant Yeshiva series takes that same approach of deep learning and rigorous questioning, but applies it to the messy, contemporary issues that traditional spaces often avoid. This course embodies that spirit: we’re going to study this topic like our ancestors studied Talmud – with multiple perspectives, heated debate, and the understanding that easy answers are usually wrong answers.
So, here’s the deal: 8 Sundays, real conversations, actual history – not the simplified and sanitized version you get from most sources.
From our friends
Pride Shabbat with Ruach Shalom
Time: 19.30
Date: 27 June
Ruach Shalom, an intergenerational, inclusive Jewish chavura, invites you for this year’s Pride Shabbat celebrating our diverse sexualities, gender identities, and expressions. All LGBTQIA+ Jews and all allies are welcome and encouraged to come participate. Join us for a celebration of LGBTQIA+ liberation, emancipation, and inclusion.
The service will be both in-person and on Zoom, beginning at 7:30 pm on Friday evening 27 June 2024. Sign up at https://bit.ly/ruachshalomnl,and you will be sent a confirmation with the address and Zoom link. We meet in an apartment with limited space, so we might not be able to accommodate everyone who signs up. If you haven’t joined us before, leave your contact information and tell us about your connection to Judaism.
We’ll use the siddur the team put together last year. Everyone is encouraged to contribute (for example, but not certainly not limited to: personal stories, a song, a poem, a prayer, a dance, or a reading) during the service. Contributions can be in English, Dutch or Hebrew (with English or Dutch translation). If you have something you would like to add to the service, please send it to Shulamit (shulamit.levine@gmail.com) by 21 June, if you want everyone to be able to read it, or bring it that evening.
l’Shalom,
Shulamit, Bob & Lior (the Pride Shabbat team)