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[darkhei-noam]

By the way…

IT’S FREE!

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“The first occurrence of plague in the recorded history of the Middle East was known as the “Plague of Justinian”, named after the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I. It made its way to the Land of Israel from Egypt around 541-542 AD. The results were documented in detail by the emperor’s court historian.

A thousand years later, the residents of the land were still dealing with fairly frequent outbreaks. Throughout the 16th century, plague spread across different parts of the Middle East. The common wisdom in Jerusalem of the period spoke of a new wave of pestilence hitting the city every six or seven years. In the writings of the sages of the holy city of Safed (Zfat), in the northern Land of Israel, we find evidence that these rabbis sought to fight off the plague with the help of special amulets, among other things.

We found the amulet below in a copy of the book Shaar HaYichudim (“The Gate of Unifications”) by the famous Safed Kabbalist Hayyim ben Joseph Vital. The Hebrew title appearing at the top reads “This amulet is for plague from the holy ARI…” (The holy ARI was Rabbi Isaac Luria, Vital’s teacher). The charm in fact consists of two different amulets joined together, one on top and one below. The image here is taken from a later printing of the book which includes various commentaries on the writings of Vital and Luria, but the amulet, or similar versions of it, appear in earlier printings as well. This edition was published in 1855 in the city of Lemberg, today’s Lviv, in western Ukraine. Isaac Luria perished during an outbreak of plague in the year 1572, when he was only 38 years old.”

[darkhei-noam]

Happy Purim! I’m proud to debut the latest entry in my annual tradition of Purim package design, creating elaborate boxes to fulfill the ritual of mishloach manot, giving gifts of food to friends. (Find the last few years’ here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) This year’s boxes were inspired by the mashrabiya and jaali, latticework traditions of the world “from India to Ethiopia” — regions ruled by Achashverosh (Esther 1:1). Each little box is filled with fun treats, as well as a little LED balloon light. Close the box and place the light in the peak, and the words “Happy Purim” shine on the tabletop. 

Colloquially called “harem windows,” these screens provided privacy and shade to those inside. In the Purim story, Esther lived hidden in the king’s palace. But when the time was right, at the darkest time, she revealed herself and saved her people. She shined. “The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor,” (Esther 8:16), and so may we all.

I made two designs while prototyping this box, and being unable to pick which I liked better, I made both! Which do you prefer?

[darkhei-noam]

Purim is coming - and it’s International (Working) Women’s Day too! 🎉 💪🏽 👸🏾 ✊🏾 So I thought I would share some images of Esther as a working woman - a scribe! - in tribute to the many women who continue to mentor and inspire me. These images are from illustrated megillot from Italy, Germany, and Holland, ca. 1650-1750: the earliest images, to my knowledge, of female scribes in Hebrew manuscripts (although I’d be happy to be corrected!).

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Any Jew born after 3830 can't offer sacrifice, all they know is kosher restaurant, light candles, gesticulate, be traumatized, eat matzo, and daven

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[darkhei-noam]

kuttithevangu mentioned you in a post

@darkhei-noam​ thank you for turning this BBC-based WTF moment into some neat exploration of sforim history I'm so delighted

My pleasure! I only need the slightest suggestion to derail my whole day into another side research project on Jewish book history and I’m off to the races. Interestingly, this ended up connected to something I had actually previously researched — this Mishnah translation was done by Willem Surenhuis, who relied on two other earlier translations (one in Latin, and another in Spanish), done by two Sephardi brothers, Jacob and Isaac Abendana. I had written a research paper on Isaac Abendana and his role as a Hebrew scholar vis-a-vis Christian Hebraists, so I had already run into this! Another link is that Abendana was connected with the Orientalist Edward Pococke, who in 1655 edited the first book in Hebrew characters printed in Oxford — Maimonides’ Judeo-Arabic commentary on the Mishnah, Porta Mosis.

Here’s the title page and the first page of Middot from the Amsterdam 1702 edition of the Mishnah with Maimonides’ commentary, Mischna sive totius Hebræorum juris, rituum, antiquitatum, ac legum oralium systema, cum Maimonidis & Bartenoræ commentariis integris:

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are you Jewish, LGBTQ+, AND interested in the study and/or practice of Jewish magic & mysticism? we want to hear from you!

https://forms.gle/AvyVo3979zXNbaaRA

mod Ezra here - as you know, this community & the intersection of topics that brought us together is near & dear to my heart, so it’s been a goal of mine to try to understand that connection better in order to collect/create more resources specifically for us! this survey, which is mostly open-ended short written response, was created as a tool to help get bigger conversations rolling & collect some data for us to think about. there’s more info at the link about how the information will potentially be used/shared, but in short - it’s up to you if you want to be totally anonymous or if you want to be cited and/or interviewed at more length. 

i’ve got a couple of related projects in the works & possibly some opportunities for where this might go - right now i’m mostly interested in gathering info & keeping it open. please share widely & don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the survey! 

[image: three small bird-like angels that protect against Lilith, from a diagram in the Book of Raziel, colored with the black & brown striped rainbow flag]

[darkhei-noam]

2, 3, 5, 9?

2. What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?Knowing me, I think you’d be surprised to find any book NOT on my shelves.

3. What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb. I laughed, I cried, I vowed to change my life. The real deal!

5. Who was your most beloved book character as a child?Depends when! As a young child, Bugs Potter and Clever-Lazy. As an older child, Granny Weatherwax. 

9. You’re hosting a dinner party. Which three authors do you invite?Living authors: Michael Twitty, Avivah Zornberg, and Saidiya Hartman.Deceased: Tolkien, AJ Heschel, and Margery Kempe.

Sorry for the very long delay! Apparently I forgot I had a drafts folder. These are from a previous book ask here.

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C, I, X?

C: Do you remember the first book you ever read?Answered here!

I: Do you have a favorite poet?I do love Mary Oliver. And Marie Howe! And Yehuda Amichai. And Walt Whitman! The list goes on.

X: What book has your favorite cover art?Answered here!

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R and y!

R: How many Penguin books do you own?Not as many as I thought! I just a bookshelf survey, and the results are:Penguin Classics: Fables of Aesop; Farid ad-Din Attar’s The Conference of the Birds.Penguin Books: R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages; Gabriele Mandel, How to Recognize Islamic Art; P.G. Wodehouse, Performing Flea; Benson Bobrick, Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible.

Y: Do you have a favorite quote?I feel like I have a lot that float around in my head, but when I’m asked this question none come to mind!

[darkhei-noam]

Hello :) for Books and you... C F X Y Z 💕

Oh! This reminded me that I had reblogged a book-themed ask prompt and then I went to my drafts folder to discover three other unanswered asks about it! Oops. So sorry, friends! I’ll get right on that. Here’s number one:

C: Do you remember the first book you ever read?I don’t! I started reading very early, like before kindergarten, and I honestly have no idea what my first book was. I do remember the very first book that I acquired myself, which was (to the surprise of absolutely no-one), Donald Borror’s Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms.

F: What’s your regular order at Starbucks?Not sure what this has to do with books... But I don’t drink coffee, so I always get a chai latte or some kind of tea.

X: What book has your favorite cover art?Hmmm, good question! I love the florid covers of fantasy novels, although I don’t think I have a specific favourite. For academic books, my favourite is Marc Michael Epstein’s Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, which is a stunning piece by Barbara Wolff with raised gold lettering, really a work of art.

Y: Do you have a favorite quote?Too many, friend.

Z: If you wrote a book, what would it be about?Presumably, you mean apart from my dissertation (almost a finished book!) and my anthology... I don’t know! Maybe a novel of historical fiction? I also have a long list of future academic research projects, including one on the history of the tallit, which I think would be a fun book.

The other answers are coming!

[darkhei-noam]

A Medieval Gay Brawl in the Synagogue On Yom Kippur

Sometimes the finds of the Genizah are so incredible that you have difficulty believing that it’s really there, that you are really peering through this window into the lives of medieval Jews around the Mediterranean. This story caught my attention in a footnote of Goitein’s and I thought I would post it for Yom Kippur… It’s not really magic-related, except that I think there’s a certain magic in recovering and reclaiming the past.

The fragment shown here, T-S 8J22.25 in Cambridge, is a letter from a Jewish pilgrim named Hasan ben Mu’ammal, who had gone on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the High Holidays, Tishrei 4813 = September 1052 CE. He reports that a certain Daniel had wished to see him but he was unable to, because of “the altercation” that had happened in synagogue. Apparently, on Yom Kippur, many pilgrims had gathered from around the Mediterranean, and “a man from Tiberias and a man from [Tyre] became involved in love, and the Tiberian began fondling [?] the Tyrian in the sight of everyone… and the people from Tiberias and those from Tyre began to fight with one another and went out to […] and they brought the chief of the police to the synagogue and […] until the people calmed down.” Hasan goes on to report that Daniel had told him that “such is the behaviour of these people every day,” and concludes the letter with best wishes to the recipients (his brother Abu Nasr and family). A wild ride from start to finish. Goitein drily observes that the letter indicates that homosexuality was regarded as a “vice rather than a deadly crime… [and] it did not form the object of great social concern.” 

Shana tova — welcome to 5777! May all who are fasting have a meaningful, enriching, and affirming day… and hopefully a peaceful one too!

[darkhei-noam]

יַעֲלֶה תַחֲנוּנֵנוּ מֵעֶרֶב. וְיָבוֹא שַׁוְעָתֵנוּ מִבֹּקֶר. וְיֵרָאֶה רִנּוּנֵנוּ.עַד עָרֶב:

May our supplications ascend from the evening. May our cry come in the morning. And may our song appear until evening.

- Yom Kippur Machzor

[darkhei-noam]

ken goldman, “kisses torah mantle,” silk and lipstick

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Books and You

Reblog if you want your followers to inbox you with any of the following questions: A: What’s the first book you see with a red spine? B: What’s your most expensive book? C: Do you remember the first book you ever read? D: What book do you hate that most others love? E. What are three book blogs (besides macrolit natch ;D) that I should follow? F: What’s your regular order at Starbucks? G: What’s your favorite reading spot? H: What’s the longest book you’ve ever read? I: Do you have a favorite poet? J: Favorite woman writer? K: Favorite male writer? L: What’s your favorite guilty-pleasure read? M: Favorite classic? N: Favorite YA? O: Favorite contemporary novel? P: What’s your favorite book by a person of color? Q: What’s the first book you see with a yellow spine? R: How many Penguin books do you own? S: Hardcover or paperback? T: Used or new? U: What’s your favorite used bookstore? V: What’s your reading goal for this year? W: If you had to eat the same thing every day for a week, what would you choose? X: What book has your favorite cover art? Y: Do you have a favorite quote? Z: If you wrote a book, what would it be about?