Episode 7: The Jewish Space-Time Continuum (with Yoshi Silverstein)
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The Jewish Space-Time Continuum
In this first full-length interview episode, Eliana connects with Yoshi Silverstein, founder of Mitsui Collective. We dig into embodied Jewish practice and what it has to do with racial justice, prayer, and the concept of time. It goes some pretty wonderful and wild places, just like a canoe in the river (a reference you’ll understand once you hear our conversation!)
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(0:25) Learn more about Mitsui Collective here.
(0:59) Learn more about Repair the World here.
(6:21) Tefillah – תפילה – our word for both prayer and prayers, liturgy and personal practice.
(12:43) Shabbat – שבת – is the Jewish day of rest.
(15:06) Learn more about Reverend angel Kyodo williams Sensei here. You can find her book, Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation here.
(24:37) Watch Victoria Hanna’s 22 Letters here.
(35:23) Sukkot – סוכות is an eight day holiday, a harvest festival in the fall. Part of the tradition of Sukkot is that we build a sukkah – סוכה – a temporary dwelling.
(46:20) Learn more about Resmaa Menakem here. He’s the author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies.
What Somatic Abolitionism Is (website)
Read: Healing Ancestral Trauma to Heal Our Democracies — Resmaa Menakem & Rabbi Tirzah Firestone
Listen: Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence — Resmaa Menakem Interview (June 4, 2020) — On Being with Krista Tippett.
(52:49) Neshama – נשמה – is the Hebrew word for soul. Neshima – נשמה – is the Hebrew word for breath. Notice how they both have the same letters.
(56:05) Btselem Elohim – בצלם אלוהים – in G!d’s Image.
(58:13) Mitzrayim – מצרים – Egypt.
(59:18) Shamati – שמעתי – I heard.
(59:31) Midrashim – מדרשים – interpretations.
(1:04:23) Kabbalah – קבלה – is Jewish mysticism. You can learn more here.
(1:06:21) Siddur – סידור – is a prayer book.
(1:07:20) Mitsui – מיצוי – is the Aramaic word for the activation of potential. The following words come from the same root word:
Matzah – מצה – the name for the unleavened bread eaten on Passover
Motzi – מוצי – is the prayer we say for bread
Limtzo – למצוא – to find.
(1:09:10) Mourner’s Kaddish – קדיש יתום – is a prayer recited for the dead. It is recited in the presence of 10 people, known as a minyan – מנין. You can learn more here.