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Havdalah #20: Protecting Workers, Deep Ties, & Shavuot

3 Sivan, 5784 / June 8, 2024

Author

White Rose RI
June 08, 2024

White roses on either side of the word "Havdalah" in front of fireworks

Dear Neighbors,

Shavuot is this week! James has shared a powerful message about the holiday in the Sidebar. And if you’re looking for an opportunity to celebrate, learn, and connect, we encourage you to check out ShavuotLIVE, a 24-hour online event happening right now, offering learning opportunities continuously through the night and all day tomorrow until 5pm — you can tune in for just one session or as many as you want! Wishing every one of you a happy holiday.

In solidarity,

Lee

mountains framing the night sky
The words "Bill Tracker" next to a set of scales, with roses on either side

George Floyd Litmus Test Amendment

Bill Number: H7263A / S2096A

Summary: Amends the “Officers’ Bill of Rights” to give the police chief the authority to terminate the employment of a police officer who uses deadly force in violation of departmental policies and regulations.

Our position: FOR / IN SUPPORT OF

Current Status: Transmitted to the Governor

How You Can Help: Contact Governor McKee and Attorney General Neronha and urge their support for this amendment.

Resources: Please see this op-ed Harrison Tuttle of Black Lives Matter RI PAC wrote for Steve Ahlquist’s Substack:

Criminal Offenses — Commercial Sexual Activity

Bill Number: H7165A

Summary: This bill claims to provide immunity for sex workers when they report a violent crime, including assault. However, Coyote RI and The National Center on Sexual Exploitation have pointed out several issues with this legislation, which you should read below in Resources. It’s so convoluted and occluded that we don’t feel like we can adequately explain it.

Our position: AGAINST / IN OPPOSITION TO

Current Status: Placed on House Calendar

When: June 11, Rise of the House (around 4:00pm)

Where: House Chamber, State House

How You Can Help: Please consider contacting your Representative before June 11th to tell them how important it is that they do not pass this legislation.

Resources: Coyote RI has posted an open letter elaborating on the danger this bill poses to sex workers. Amanda Milkovits has also posted a statement from The National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

The word "Education" surrounded by books, with roses on either side

  • When: June 1st through June 30th

  • Where: James T. Giles Community Room, Central Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston, RI 02920

  • The Cranston Public Library will showcase an exhibit with a rare and unusual look at the history of Chinese women in the U.S. Curated by Dr. Chang C. Chen, Herstory 2: The Legal History of Chinese American Women (1912-2020) highlights the ordinary women who fought for their rights, and in doing so, helped shape a new world for Chinese American women in the rest of the country.

The word "Sidebar" between a scroll and a courtroom, with roses on either side

Shavuot is my favorite Jewish holiday.

It has stiff competition, for sure; Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and Hanukkah are always endangering its position at the top of the list. But however much I love the apples and honey, the homes and starlight, and the candles and songs, Shavuot stands apart by virtue of being far and away the holiday that makes me feel most Jewish.

This is not an insignificant metric for a convert.

I don’t typically share this fact about myself publicly. For one thing, it’s no one’s business; the world has no right to this knowledge. For another, while halacha compels other Jews to treat me no differently (and even prohibits asking me about conversion unless I volunteer the information), we all know that halacha is aspirational, not descriptive. I feel no shame about my history, only an awareness of the likely consequences of divulging it.

I have been Jewish since I was in the fifth grade, the first time I ever referred to myself as Jewish. My teacher snidely denied it, but I knew it was the truth before I ever knew it.

The first time I observed Shavuot was 2020, a year before my mikveh. I tuned into Judaism Unbound’s ShavuotLIVE, hosted by my friend Lex (and you definitely should, too). Intrigued by the concept of pulling an all-nighter to study, like some nerdy Jewish slumber party, I left my iPad logged into the Zoom for nearly the entire livestream, dozing in and out. At the time, I was living in Tampa, and that night, one of Florida’s typical thunderstorms camped out over my apartment, as though it too wanted to receive Torah. In the dark, my pillow lit by the little Zoom squares, the pouring water rattling the windows, I heard a presenter explain that we are all at Mount Sinai together this night. The present tense was deliberate.

Every Jewish soul was — is — present at Mount Sinai when the Covenant was — is — accepted. No exceptions were — are — made for circumstances as trivial as the linear experience of time. Every Jewish soul that ever was or ever will be is here, sitting at the foot of this mountain, eating Jarlsberg and Wheat Thins, consuming copious amounts of caffeine, struggling not to fight with strangers in the Zoom chat, receiving Torah from the summit and from rabbis irrespective of ordination. The departed mingle with the yet-to-come, the mythic and the folkloric discourse with the material and the corporeal. I have spoken with Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, about Sansa Stark; I have taken sides with Hershel of Ostropol during an argument about latkes; I have offered my snacks to myriad mazzikim and my blankets to a plethora of dybbukim; I have listened to a golem’s treatise on Frankenstein, Asimov, and shoggoths.

I have been Jewish since my mikveh immersion: June 4th, 2021.

My mikveh was the Gulf of Mexico; Pass-A-Grille Beach in St. Pete. I told the rabbi who led the ceremony that I wanted my Hebrew name to be followed by ben Michal v’Chana Elisheva, the Hebrew names of my two witnesses. I didn’t want to be marked out for my difference even while I was codified by halacha as the same as every other Jew. He still pronounced me ben Avraham v’Sarah, choosing tradition over my reservations.

I felt no more and no less real before I was immersed than I did after I surfaced. The beit din had passed me and the mikveh had blessed me, and yet I still felt as though I had lied my way through my qualifications and somehow gotten away with it. The ritual felt like a mask I could now wear to disguise the truth: nothing was real, least of all me.

I am used to the ocean providing for me (I was born and raised here, after all). My mikveh was the ocean, and yet it was as though that higher power had tasted me and found me wanting.

I have been Jewish since I met my sister: Spring 2014. She was the one who informed me, not very long after meeting her, in fact. I share her Hebrew name within my own. It was her that always believed in the reality of me, and it was her that drove across state lines to make sure that others would see it too. Like the scansion of a verse, she learned the path of me so that she could forget it, and then daven it, but never think of it, so that it would be located in her bones and I would be no different from herself. Would that I shared this mountain with only people like her.

I do not disclose my conversion status for the very simple fact that there are likewise people who wish they did not share this mountain with me.

It’s not lost on me, for example, that if the rabbi who oversaw my beit din and my mikveh knew of my staunch and unyielding anti-Zionism, he would regret converting me. A congregation in Florida once attempted to craft a dress code specifically to curb my transvestism, though it never did materialize. The rabbi of my college’s Hillel, when informed of my lack of nationalism, angrily ambushed me with photographs of men lynched from cranes, in an effort to make me grateful I'm American because, “this is what happens when you’re gay in Iran.”

Disagreements in the past with Jewish (former) friends who know of my conversion have more than once ended with them invoking my history as though it were an argument in their favor. My acceptance within Jewish communal space, and sometimes within Jewish relation, is conditional.

It is fortunate, then, that my Judaism is not conditional upon the acceptance of others. The only acceptance it is contingent upon is mine, of the Covenant, to worship no god but the god of Abraham (and to worship no god still meets the brief).

I have been Jewish since Shavuot, 2020.

But no, that’s not quite right, is it?

I was — am — at Mount Sinai along with everyone else. I have been Jewish as long as there have been Jews.

Shavuot is the moment of conversion for every Jew; the acceptance of the Covenant, the revelation of the Torah, the presence of every single witness. A mass mikveh in which we are all immersed, naked as a soul. What, then, makes me any different from the rest?

This holiday is my favorite because the one thing the ocean could not provide me, I was given at the mountain: revelation of my own reality. I struggle still — especially now, when my cognizance of my neighbors here is particularly heavy. When other Jewish people justify genocide and ethnic cleansing, sometimes I question why I hiked here at all. I often need to remind myself what Judith Butler wrote in Parting Ways: “We cannot choose with whom we cohabit the earth.” And really, that’s the key to all of this —

I share this mountain with many people who believe ugly things, who say disgusting things, and who do unforgivable things. But they also share this mountain with me.

Needle Drop: “Not The Jew I Had in Mind”, Geoff Berner

The words "Fash Watch" in the style of letters cut from magazines, next to a torch, with roses on either side

News Round-Up: NSC Nazi, PINE blowhard, & Fash Watch recurring guest Stephen Farrea gets busted for child pornography

Dossier on Stephen Farrea (By Way of Plymouth, August 7, 2023)

To refresh your memory: Two R.I. men who spread white supremacist fliers in East Providence plead no contest to obstructing police (Amanda Milkovits for The Boston Globe, September 13, 2022)

R.I. neo-Nazi member accused of possessing child pornography (Amanda Milkovits for The Boston Globe, May 29, 2024)

News Round-Up: Fascism at Home & Abroad

The student uprising is fighting for all of us (Nasser Abourahme for Mondoweiss, May 25, 2024)

The Deep Ties Between the US Drug War and Israeli Forces (Jackie Goldman for Filter Mag, May 30, 2024)

Netanyahu is back and leading the polls, all thanks to the ICC (Jonathan Ofir for Mondoweiss, June 2, 2024)

Israel is committing genocide. Its enablers can be held to account. (Thomas Becker and Emily Wilder for Mondoweiss, June 2, 2024)

Do you condemn Hamas? (James Ray for Mondoweiss, June 5, 2024)

Biden’s asylum halt leaves migrants unsure and rattled (Valerie Gonzalez and Elliot Spagat for The Associated Press, June 6, 2024)

The Year in Hate & Extremism 2023 (Southern Poverty Law Center)

Pod Recs: It Could Happen Here and Bad Hasbara

“The CZM Guide to Touching Grass This Summer” (It Could Happen Here, May 31, 2024)

Bad Hasbara (Matt Lieb, 2023 — Present)

Artistic Interventions

The Year Without Sunshine (Naomi Kritzer for Uncanny Magazine Issue Fifty-Five, November 7, 2023)

HOW DO WE KILL CHILDREN (Max Lavergne in Infinite Gossip, May 28, 2024)

The words "Mutual Aid" surrounded by interlocking hands, with roses on either side

Weekly Mutual Aid Distribution with the John Brown Gun Club

Every week, folks meet at Kennedy Plaza to distribute food, hygiene supplies, harm reduction supplies, and more, usually for about 45 minutes. JBGC has been doing these weekly distributions since 2018 and helps about 30 people each week.

To make a donation, visit their mobile-friendly website that has links for direct donations, Amazon wish list, and the Etsy store where 100% of the proceeds fund mutual aid distribution.

If you have questions about the distribution or ways to donate, you can reach out to them on their Instagram (@jbmutualaid) or Twitter (@rijbgc).

If you’d like to help with distribution, the JBGC asks that you wear an N95 mask and be up to date on boosters and flu shots.

The words "What's On" in front of a silhouette of protestors, with roses on either side

Continuing Actions for Palestine

Power Half-Hours for Gaza

JVP RI Weekly Flyering

  • When: Every Wednesday, 5:00pm-6:00pm

  • Where: Providence Train Station, 100 Gaspee Street, Providence, RI 02903

  • JVP RI invites all to join them in their efforts to spread the word about their work and simple actions people can take to demand an end to the genocide in Palestine. They meet on the Statehouse side of the train station.

Weekly Kaddish

  • When: Every Sunday, 1:00pm-1:30pm

  • Where: Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge, Providence, RI 02903

  • JVP RI and allies will be hosting a weekly gathering on Sundays to recite the Mourners Kaddish and communally grieve the Palestinians murdered by the Israeli military. You need not be Jewish to attend; all are welcome to participate.

Ceasefire Today Toolkit

  • This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more.

  • Ceasefire Today Toolkit

News Coverage

  • As always, especially when getting news from social media, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.

  • Al Jazeera Coverage of the War on Gaza has continued to be a reliable source.

    • Note: you may have heard that Al Jazeera has been banned from Israel; it is still trying to do good reporting in Gaza and Palestine. However, it has been shut down from operating in, reporting from, or broadcasting to Israel, and the future of information output from Gaza is still up in the air.

  • Mondoweiss is another news source doing good work in this space.

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