Written by Dirty Di. Dirty Di is the author of Astray and Deborah and Aviva.
A note from the author: This is the first section of “Teshuva, Tefila, Tzedaka.” “Teshuva, Tefila, Tzedaka” is part of a series called Holiday Indulgence. The series follows the adventures and misadventures of our heroine Malka Berkovich throughout the Jewish calendar, a fictional character that simply can’t resist celebrating and cherishing her Judaism.
Each installment can be read as a separate piece, although because of the character and the story’s development, I wouldn’t advise it. The first part, Shavuot, can be found here.
“I have a confession to make,” Hannah said.
“Do tell. And hello to you too,” Malka answered with no malice, shuffling some random papers on her desk while she spoke over the cell phone. Hannah’s frequent phone calls were becoming some sort of guilty pleasure for her.
“I hate the High Holidays.”
“Oh?” she said, surprised. Of all the confessions that crossed her mind, this was not one she was expecting.
“They depress me,” Hannah continued.
“How come?”
There was a pause and Malka heard a loud sigh before the other woman continued. “I have never told anyone this. I don’t like my family and I don’t think they like me all that much either.”
“Wh—”
“Which is fine most of the times, I don’t really care, but on the holidays I simply can’t avoid them! I have to go to all these family dinners and gatherings and I really wished I could just stay away from all that.”
Malka thought of something to console her friend, but before she could think of some sympathetic cliché phrase, she continued talking.
“What do you do on the High Holidays?”
“Honestly?” Malka asked, her line of thought interrupted. “I ignore them.”
“What?”
“Yes. I simply overlook them for a while and then they’re gone. It’s like magic.”
“Malka…” Hannah said, and Malka felt like she was being scolded for eating cookies before lunch.
“It works.”
“You don’t fast on Yom Kippur?”
“I do.”
“So… you just come to work like any normal day but you spend the day fasting?”
“Something like that. Why is it of importance, anyway?”
“Do you go to listen to the shofar? How do you know when the fast ends?”
“When I’m hungry enough, Hannah. Don’t change the subject, why are you so interested in knowing what I do?”
“Well…”
“Hannah…” She said, now her time to sound like a teacher.
“I may have bought tickets to New York.”
“What?”
“Erm… yeah, you know. To spend the holidays with you. I told you before I was going to the big apple in a couple of weeks.”
“But I thought it was work related. I thought you were going to audit my behind once again.”
“No, I just— I don’t want to be here making lame excuses not to meet everybody. I’d rather be with you,” she says. “And make no mistake, I will be auditing your behind.”
“So you can escape your family,” Malka said, purposely ignoring the last phrase.
“If circumstances warrant.”
“And what, pray tell, are those circumstances?”
“I may have told them I have to visit my girlfriend.”
“Right,” Malka said, skeptically. Wait, girlfriend?
“Okay, okay, fine. I told them I had a boyfriend in New York and that I promised him we would spend Rosh Hashanah together.”
“Ok, then.” That’s more like it. “In that case, I wish you and your boyfriend a fruitful relationship and an enjoyable holiday,” she said with evident mirth.
“Come on, Malka, don’t be that way.”
“Whatever do you mean by that?”
“I can’t tell them I have a girlfriend. That would lead to many conversations I’ve actively avoided over the years!”
“So now we are girlfriends. Since when? I don’t remember agreeing to such thing.”
“I was kinda hoping to persuade you over the holidays,” Hannah said, the sultry voice back.
“Hm.”
“Come on. Say yes? Please?”
“I’ll have to think about it.”
“Really? Well, then, call me when you decide. My boyfriend and I will be very busy snuggling in my couch while you make up your mind.”
Malka’s chuckles were interrupted by a buzz on her office phone.
“I have to go, Hannah. We’ll talk some other time.”
“I arrive on the 2nd and stay until the 15th.”
“Why that that long?”
“I have vacations. And apparently, I need all that time to convince a certain lawyer to be my girlfriend.”
“Good bye.”
“Bye!”
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
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.
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.
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’.
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’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.
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!
Jewrotica rocks. It’s funny, it’s informative, it’s sexy, it’s interesting. Check it out!
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
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I’m into Jewrotica. I went in for my second circumcision.
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