Adar with Elana June

Dreaming the World to Come

Elana June (she/her)’s life’s work is dedicated to realigning texts and traditions towards healing and collective liberation. Elana June currently lives in Lenapeoking (NY), where she teaches at the Brooklyn Waldorf School and collaborates with a wide and wild web of Queer Jewish Witches and other Wise Ones. Learn more at www.elanajune.com.

Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dreamingtheworldtocome

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-PzunkdbVA4yrhBChIXY8od06z8POB4t

Show notes:

Adar Convo:

• Hamentashen: A sugar cookie folded into a triangle with a jam filling. Poppy seed, prune, and apricot are common fillings. The triangle shape is said to resemble Haman's ears or hat.
• Divine feminine: The vulva shape is often used as a representation of goddess energy. We looove this sacred and maligned body part, while recognizing that not all women have vulvas, and not all people with vulvas are women.
• Purim spiels: Plays or performances that tell some version of the Purim story, often with references and allegories to current events. “Spiel” is Yiddish. "Purim play" is a more inclusive way to say it.
• Vashti’s tail: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/85881?lang=bi
• Queen of Nettles: The Talmudic rabbis compared Vashti to nettles, as an insult, but Rebekah has reclaimed Vashti as Queen of Nettles. Nutritious, boundaried, and supporting us in our own boundary-setting.
• Mordecai breast-feeding Esther: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/263938?lang=bi
• Book of Esther: Also known as the “megilla” (scroll), this story is told on Purim. Megillat Esther is included in Ketuvim (“Writings”), sacred texts that post-date the Torah. It tells the story of a Jewish woman named Esther who becomes the Queen of Persia, and averts a genocide of her people.
• Netivah: A Hebrew Priestess archetype
• Leitzanit: Sacred Fool
• 18/chai: In gematria, which is a form of kabbalistic numerology, the number 18 corresponds to the word Chai, which means Life.

Interview:

• JFREJ: Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, https://www.jfrej.org/
• Albany landfill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Bulb
• Haggadah: A booklet used to lead the Passover Seder. Creating our own haggadot is a time-honored tradition, especially for feminists, queers, and other Jews reinterpreting the story of liberation.

This Way to Olam haBa:

• Ravyn Wngz:
  • https://www.artistsinpresidents.com/ravyn-wngz
  • https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/as-a-queer-trans-and-afro-indigenous-woman-i-believed-that-i-could-never-be-a-representative-of-black-liberation/
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/CC5CFNHhL24/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
  • Follow Ravyn Wngz: @ravynwngz
  • Buy the Sins Invalid Coloring Book: tinyurl.com/SinsShopping
  • Follow Syrus Marcus Ware: @syrusmarcus
  • Follow Sins Invalid: @sinsinvalid

Song:

Makht Oyf: Yiddish Purim song. You can hear a historical recording of it here: https://ruthrubin.yivo.org/items/show/2042. You can find the lyrics here: http://www.jewishfolksongs.com/en/makht-oyf