Friends,
Welcome to “Part II” of the Making of Jewrotica. I’m excited to let you in on the evolution of this project from idea to reality, and I’m glad that you came back for more.
Part II takes us back to June 2012. Toward the start of the summer, I participated in a summit that brought together young Jewish leaders and innovators from around the globe. An underlying theme of the summit was participant-generated content, and we were challenged to come up with “the next big Jewish idea” while not shying away from sharing whatever fun and creative musings surfaced.
I spent hours brainstorming possible contributions… a website to pair and match Jewish social innovators with business-minded entrepreneurs, a “Chabad on Wheels Honeymoon Fellowship” to relieve local Chabad couples while offering a continent-wide Jewish outreach tour, a public advocacy campaign to encourage Jewish teens to take on a year of global service post-high school. I even thought up a chain of ladies’ clubs called Mikvah Night to offer all-women lounge environments with a range of services on both coasts. I fleshed out five or six different ideas and – in partnership with other fellows – submitted them all.
At some point around 1 am – clearly a time of night when all good and sane ideas happen – I started thinking about Jewish erotica… or more specifically, the lack thereof. I drafted a proposal and got excited thinking about the possibilities – the topics, the characters, the plot lines. I began pitching the idea to the other fellows, and the reactions ranged from blushed embarrassment to general excitement to spiked libido, but everyone’s curiosity was peaked.
At this point, I had an internal debate: If I submitted this idea, would any of my other proposals be taken seriously? I had spent years building a reputation for myself as a Jewish educator, a public speaker, an entrepreneur and a professional. And I still had plans to take on leadership roles in Jewish communal work and the humanitarian world in the future. Was it ridiculous to involve myself in – let alone create – a community and project dedicated to the intersection of sexuality and Judaism?
I hemmed and hawed, but I had already dreamt up a vision of what this project could be, which made it feel quite real to me. I jumped in full force and there was no turning back.
My original proposal was limited to the arena of Jewish erotica, and I only later expanded the vision to include reflections, funny stories, text studies, and the like. But I needed to come up with a punchy name that would be edgy enough to draw in a crowd, and JewishErotica.org wasn’t going to cut it. The light bulb went on, the name Jewrotica was coined and – at 4:30 am – I reserved the domain from Jerusalem.
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
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.
Jewrotica was everything I had dreamed of and more: sexy attendees, tantalizing confessions, and well-written literature to boot! More importantly, it empowers us Jews to reach inside and own our sexy selves and heritage!
I’m into Jewrotica. I went in for my second circumcision.
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!
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
I love the inclusiveness – there is something for everyone, in and out of the Jewish community.
Jewrotica is something that the community has needed for a long time so that people can actually learn, express and share and have good relationships without having to stumble through life. Check out the site and learn something. Have fun!
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’.
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 rocks. It’s funny, it’s informative, it’s sexy, it’s interesting. Check it out!
Copyright © 2014 Jewrotica.org. All Rights Reserved.
Built with Love and Mischief.
Designed by Ayo Oppenheimer and
David Abitbol
2 Comments