Youssef was waiting for us in the plaza in front of the Damascus Gate. When we got close enough that we could see him sitting on one of the steps leading up to the street, Sami slowed his pace a little.
“He doesn’t speak Hebrew, and just a little English.”
I nodded. When Youssef saw us he stood up and dropped the cigarette he had been smoking. He didn’t step on the butt, and as he approached I watched the embers glow orange and then die.
He was taller than Sami, and slimmer, but his face was the same, the skin tight on his cheeks and his chin very square. He wore glasses with thin metal frames, and his hair needed to be cut, but he was good-looking, and wore a shirt I remembered seeing on Sami a few weeks earlier.
“Hello,” he said, and put his hand out. I blinked, but then took it and we shook hands awkwardly.
“Hi, I’m Yael.” I forced a smile.
“Youssef.” His voice was like Sami’s, too, but louder and less hesitant.
“American?” It was a question, and I nodded but didn’t say anything. I put my hands in my pockets then, and looked at the ground.
Youssef said something to Sami then, the two of them going back in forth in Arabic for a few minutes. I tried to gauge the tone of Youssef’s voice, hearing what I thought was doubt, but might have just been exhaustion. Youssef shook his head at one point, and then Sami laughed and I looked up. Youssef asked something in Arabic, and Sami translated it for me.
“When do you go back to America?”
“In June,” I said, staring at Youssef.
“You like him?” he asked then, nodding toward Sami.
“Yes.” My voice was quiet, but I could tell he heard because he exhaled through his nose and then shrugged.
“Okay.” He shook my hand again and then looked back at Sami who said something in Arabic. Youssef smiled and gave me a little wave before walking back towards the gate. Sami moved closer to me then, and when he touched my back I realized I was shaking.
“My cab is in the parking lot,” he said in Hebrew, pointing across the street.
“Yeah,” I said.
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Jewrotica rocks. It’s funny, it’s informative, it’s sexy, it’s interesting. Check it out!
What an incredible night Jewrotica was!!!! There was this fantastic moment, in a sea of Jews of all sexualities, ages, backgrounds and denominations, that I realized we were all in this together! I hope that there are many more events coming to Austin soon!
I attended and participated in last month’s Jewrotica event. The engaging performers and Ayo, our inviting host, inspired the audience to feel like one big community. What a great way to inspire our community to embrace sex as a beautiful thing that can be fun, exciting, sacred, sensual, ridiculous, scary and everything in between!
While many people fear the “sex talk,” Jewrotica offers an opportunity for writers and audiences to speak about sexuality in a open and safe space. When I attended a Jewrotica reading, I heard stories that reminded me that love takes many forms, and that expressing it is a vital part of who we are as a people.
Learning about sex and what’s right and wrong when it comes to sex from a Biblical standpoint was an eye opening experience. I completely enjoyed it and think something like this could be a very cool thing to bring to even high school aged Jewish youth groups.
My opinion on Jewrotica is: It’s sexy. It’s awesome. It’s Judaism to the next level. It’s what we should all be getting into!
At Jewrotica’s Evening of Bedside Readings, students declaimed monologues on sexual encounters that had a Jewish twist. At Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the speakers pushed their own boundaries by performing a range of explicit narratives that challenged how the audience thought of the relationship to Judaism and sex. During the speakers’ preparation, the arguments about which narratives would be appropriate forced students to take a stand and voice their opinion on their own beliefs about Judaism an… Read more
Jewrotica is a great way to ask interesting questions about the interplay between sensuality and Jewish wisdom. Check it out.
I stepped out of my comfort zone to be a part of this. I was glad to open up the topic of sexuality in my community. We are trying to build a safe space to talk about sex. The result I am most happy about coming from this event is that hopefully now my friends know they can come and talk to me, that I can be their ‘safe space’.
The Jewrotica event “Evening of Jewrotica: Bedside Reading” was awesome. As Master of Confessions, I got to read the deepest, darkest secrets of people in the room out loud… It was scintillating, titillating, and – yes – even educational!
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