The only part of the Muslim Quarter I’d ever been to was the market that started outside the David Citadel, and stretched to the courtyard overlooking the Western Wall. It was a dark, crowded passage, full of men in kafiyehs trying to sell Hebrew t-shirts and fancy brass tea sets to American tourists. Walking that narrow path always made my breath shallow and nervous. I walked with my head down, not making eye contact with any of the merchants, and not examining any of the things they sold. I could never shake off the feeling that I was invading their space, and outnumbered. Most of my time in Jerusalem was spent in ways that made it easy to forget there even were Muslims in the city, but there they all were, and seeing them made me guilty and afraid.
“Have you always lived there?”
“My grandfather was born in the house. We’ve lived in it since the Turks.”
“Is it just your immediate family?”
“No.” He smiled. “There are seventeen of us.”
“Is it a big house?”
He shrugged. “It’s old. There are lots of very small rooms.”
I leaned back heavily against the couch. I hadn’t expected that there would be so much other stuff mixed in with the sexual tension. I was curious about him, and I wanted to talk to him, but the distance between our lives was hard to ignore.
We were quiet for a minute, and then Sami touched my hair, moving it behind my shoulder. The anxiety I’d been feeling spiked for a second and then fell away as he leaned towards me, smiling and making a soft shushing noise with his lips. I remembered the way this part worked from when I’d had a boyfriend during sophomore year of high school: the angling of the bodies, and the way kissing was always more work than I expected. I let my hand rest flat on Sami’s chest, and I felt his fingertips on my thigh.
We kissed for a long time, with me slowly moving so that I was almost sitting in Sami’s lap, kneeling between his thighs with my elbows on his shoulders and my hands cupping the roundness of his skull. My mind wandered through the sounds of our lips moving, the feeling of his tongue against mine, the taste of coffee in both of our mouths.
After a few minutes he closed his mouth and let his head fall back against the wall, breathing hard. I sat back on my heels and watched his Adam’s apple bob. He was looking straight up at the ceiling, and I waited for him to make eye contact, counting to five slowly, the soft sliding fear moving back into my chest. When he still didn’t face me I stood up and went to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water. The water was warm from the faucet, but I drank it without letting my gaze travel up from the counter, putting the empty glass next to the sink when I was done, and then walking back over to the couch. Sami stood up, smiling weakly.
“I need to go home.”
“Okay.” I followed him towards the front door. I had decided I was not going to walk him downstairs to the gate.
“May I call you tomorrow?” We faced each other, and his hand rested on the doorknob.
I shrugged. “If you want.”
“Okay.” He leaned down to kiss me, and before I realized I had decided to turn my head I had already done it, offering him my cheek and watching him grip the doorknob tightly. I wanted to undo it then, seeing his face as he straightened up, shame obvious in his expression. As he stepped out of the door I allowed myself to touch his bicep and smile, but I’m not sure he noticed.
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
I love the inclusiveness – there is something for everyone, in and out of the Jewish community.
Jewrotica is inspiring Jews and erotica with holiness and coolness, and is the pride of progressive Judaism. Jewrotica – awesome!
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
I’m into Jewrotica. I went in for my second circumcision.
I’m Heshy Fried from Frum Satire and I am very, very frum. And I completely support Jewrotica – it’s doing a service to the frum community. We need some sort of kosher sexual education. Jewrotica even has a system that allows frum filters to filter out certain things to make it PG for us. It’s mamish Torah. It’s like The Little Midrash Says for sex.
Such an amazing experience! The Sarah Lawrence Jewrotica workshop was more than I could have ever expected – a comfortable, safe, sultry environment where participants clearly felt good about sharing or listening to each other’s intimate experiences and relating them to sexy stories from the Torah. From the moment the workshop began, Ayo had a sweet presence that was kinetic and spread around the room; her storytelling abilities had everyone enraptured and made the conversation topics relata… Read more
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!
Bedside Reading with Jewrotica was funny, sexy, and hot all at once. The readings were honest about all kinds of sexuality, but the highlight of the evening was definitely the confessions, written by audience participants. Nobody knew who wrote them, and most were tell-alls that would make your bubbe blush. Unless your bubbe was very, very cool. Then maybe she’d make YOU blush!
I had a great time deejaying at the Jewrotica event at Columbia University. The live readings were hilarious, informative, and in some cases, deeply moving. I know that I, along with many of my AEPi fraternity brothers, loved being able to connect our Judaism and our sexuality in a way that made all of us feel comfortable and welcome. I look forward to being a part of this again in the future!
You may not tell your mom that you’re going to a live Jewrotica reading (or whatever clever name you will dub these events) but you will tell your friends. However, both would be jealous if they find out that they missed it. I think it will only be a matter of time before Jewrotica helps us reclaim the term “Dirty Jew” the way rap music has done for “The ‘N’ Word.” I know I am now proud to be a Dirty Jew!
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