This ethic is not prescriptive for anyone. By all means, have all the sex you want with whomever you want, or don’t. I hope you enjoy it. This is simply an ideal to strive for, a better framework and a better experience of sex with our partners in whatever context we find them. This is a Jewish ethic and must be based in text. But it is based in new kinds of Torah, and as such it must recognize the dissonance between God and man and religion, and recognize the awesome potential to expand the framework. It must be wrestled with and argued over. This is not an ethic for everyone, nor is it an ethic for every Jew. It is an idea of how observant Jews- might face the challenges of post-modernism and boldly move forward while still retaining the identity of Torah-Judaism. Jewrotica is this new Torah, providing space for experience, confession, advice, knowledge and paradigm shifts, and means of production.
Jewrotica comes to celebrate all fantasies, experiences, challenges, and desires. It is media as a platform for the transmission of a continued multiplicity of revelations, building a community of We-Thou, and the space to move forward together. There is an idea in Judaism that every idea, every word, every letter of the Torah has 70 “faces,” or interpretations, and all are correct; all are the word of God. We must remember the 70 faces, many of which we have yet to see, as we find space for all to be citizens in the slow walk from real to ideal.
83 – Cisneros, Sandra, This Is How You Lose Her, By Junot Díaz, (New York: Riverhead, 2012).
84 – Janson, H. W., and H. W. Janson. Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2011) 687.
85 – Horstman, Judith, The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex, and the Brain: The Neuroscience of How, When, Why, and Who We Love (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012) 187.
86 – Buber (I and Thou) 62.
87 – Buber (I and Thou) 62.
88 – Buber (I and Thou) 156-157.
89 – Westheimer, Ruth K., and Jonathan Mark, Heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition (New York: Continuum, 1996) 15.
90 – Schwyzer, Hugo, “My Sweet Boy, My Goy Toy,” Jewrotica. (N.p., 13 Nov 2012: Web Nov 2012) .
91 – Plato, The Symposium (New York: Penguin, 2006) 27-29.
92 – Plato (The Symposium) 31.
93 – Clack, Beverley, “Virgins and Vessels: Feminist Reflections on Dominant Models of Spirituality,” Religion and Sexuality, Ed. Michael A. Hayes, Wendy Porter, and David Tombs (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998) 244-245.
94 – Hacking, Ian, “Our Neo‐Cartesian Bodies in Parts,” (Critical Inquiry 34.1, 2007) 78-105.
95 – Plato (Symposium) 32.
96 – Marcus, Bat Sheva, “Sex and Holiness,” Jewrotica (N.p., 15 Aug 2012: Web Dec 2012) .
97 – Genesis 24:67
98 – 2 Samuel 11
99 – 2 Samuel 1:26
100 – Ruth 3:7
101 – Westheimer (Heavenly Sex) 71.
102 – Biale, David, Eros and the Jews: From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America (Berkeley: University of California, 1997) 20.
103 – Westheimer (Heavenly Sex) 70-71.
104 – Westheimer (Heavenly Sex) 59.
105 – Buber (I and Thou) 135.
106 – Ruttenberg, Danya, The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism (New York: New York UP, 2009) 4.
107 – Buber (I and Thou) 84.
108 – Winkler (Sacred Secrets) 96.
109 – Winkler (Sacred Secrets) 97.
110 – Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot 25b.
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
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!
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.
I’m so glad that Jewrotica is represented here at Jewlicious! It’s bringing voices that need to be heard in the Jewish discussion and Jewish climate environment.
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!
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.
I love the inclusiveness – there is something for everyone, in and out of the Jewish community.
Jewrotica is awesome. It expands the mind and for people who were raised with narrow views on sexuality. Whether you are Jewish or not, or in different sects of Judaism like Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, no matter what your background or where you’re from, Jewrotica gets you to see Judaism and how it relates to sexuality in new ways. I really appreciate Ayo being here and helping us learn different ways to connect with our sexuality.
The people behind Jewrotica are quite quality! I have confidence that any project these folks take on will be equally quality.
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’.
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!
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