Anniversaries, Academics and Fantasies

Dear Friends,

Last week was the one year anniversary of Jewrotica’s inception at the 2012 ROI Summit. Can you believe it?

It’s wild to think that this project has been a reality for a year, and that we’ve been in full operation for just over eight months! We’ve already accomplished so much with many more plans to come, and I marked the occasion with this op-ed for Jewish Boston.

We have a special treat for you in the coming days. Many of you know that our usual posting schedule is Fiction Mondays, Poetry Tuesdays, Essay Wednesdays, Column Thursdays and Double Mitzvah Fridays with the occasional Confession thrown in.

We will pause our daily publishing schedule next week to share a series of academic articles on Jewish sexuality penned by NYU student Chelsea Garbell for her senior honors thesis in the department of Media, Culture and Communication. You’re in for a treat!

Since our last update, we launched our Sex with the Rabbi column. We kicked off the series with activist Rabbi Rachael Bregman from Atlanta GA and were subsequently graced with Torah commentary from jazz scholar Rabbi Neil Blumofe of Austin TX. Next up in the series is Hillel Rabbi and festival-maker Drew Kaplan from Long Beach CA.

Would your rabbi like to be featured in our Q&A or Double Mitzvah columns? We are now accepting nominations for our August features and welcome rabbis, commentators and teachers from across the denominational spectrum!

Lastly, a musing on fantasies and the stirrings of a new column: Fantasies are an important component of Jewrotica’s offerings precisely because they allow us to “walk the walk” of being sex-positive while providing a vehicle for readers’ sexual expression and creativity. Until now, the series has primarily consisted of a selection of fantasies from Dr. Limor’s Jewish clientele, but we want to hear from YOU – our readers who are the heart of Jewrotica.

What are your fantasies? Are they situations that you would wish to experience, or dreamt-up imaginings purely for the fantasy realm? How, if at all, do Jewish culture, symbols or tradition inform them? We will pause our fantasy series for the next couple of months while we compile a new batch of reader-inspired Jewish fantasies to share with you.

Fantasies and erotic fiction are at the center of a long-held and somewhat contentious debate: Should these writings and stories be instructional, informative and educational in any way? More specifically, should fantasy writing include mentions of safe sex, communication and ethical dilemmas? Some believe that incorporating ‘positive modeling’ into fantasy content is a must, whereas many others argue that fantasies exist precisely to whisk readers away from real world concerns.

At Jewrotica, we believe that both forms of writing have their place. To further serve our mission in offering a hub for Jewish sexual expression and to round out the images painted by the current fantasy series, we will soon be launching 48-Hour Sex Diaries. Diaries will provide insight into the interpersonal lives of real people and readers through a 48-hour snapshot reflection on relationships, day-to-day life, sex and sexuality. Authors will be anonymous, but all writings will be accompanied by an introductory paragraph that describes the author’s environment and living situation.

So, perhaps you are a single mother in the Jewish community? Or newlyweds navigating your way through religious observance in early marriage? Or possibly a divorcee looking for love on JDate? Whatever the case may be, we want to hear about two days in the life! Submit your story to “48 Hour Sex Diaries” here.

Anniversaries, academics, fantasies and diaries – it’s going to be a busy summer! Wishing each of you a beautiful July.

Light and Love,