Cheshvan with Yishaq Ofori-Solomon

Dreaming the World to Come

This month's guest is Yishaq (also known as Yitshaq or Isaac) Ofori Solomon. Yishaq Ofori Solomon (he/him) is an educator, student, writer, and journalist who is a Black African (Beta Yisraelim and Musta’arabi) Queer Jew. They spend much of their time building communities based on solidarity. Here he shares much that is dear to him as a child of intersecting and rich Black, African, and Jewish Diaspora experiences.

Find Yishaq’s writing at https://www.heyalma.com/author/isaac-ofori-solomon/

Join our Patreon: www.patreon.com/dreamingtheworldtocome

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-PzunkdbVA4yrhBChIXY8od06z8POB4t

Show Notes:

High Holidays or High Holy Days - Holidays that mark the beginning of the Jewish year, including Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), as well as Sukkot (Harvest Festival), Shemini Atzeret (day after Sukkot), and Simchat Torah (where we roll the Torah back to the beginning).

Slow down / The Mother's Response - song by Riv Shapiro, https://soundcloud.com/user-828425998/slow-down-the-mothers-response

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement, many Jews observe by fasting for 25 hours, praying for forgiveness and to be written in “The Book of Life” for the coming year.

Sukkot - A joyous harvest festival that lasts for 8 days, when many Jews build a temporary outdoor structure called a Sukkah. Prayers for rain are traditional during this time, and it is also traditional to invited the “ushpizim” or beloved ancestors into the Sukkah to join in the celebration

TIshrei - The first month of the Jewish calendar, during which the High Holy Days occur.

Cheshvan - The second month of the Jewish calendar.

Sigd - "Day of Prostration," Beta Yisrael holiday on the last day of Cheshvan.

Ashkenazi - A term referring to diasporic Jews who trace their lineage back to medieval Jewish communities in the west of Germany, or eastern Europe.

Nun - The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, pronounced like the English letter “n”

Nes נס - Hebrew word meaning “miracle”

Beta Yisrael - also known as “House of Israel” or “Community of Israel,” or Ethiopian Jews who lived for many centuries between the modern-day Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia, most of whom immigrated to Israel in the late 20th century.

Ashkenormativity - The centering and privileging of Jews of Eastern European descent

Maghreb - The western part of North Africa and the Arab world, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia

Qessim - the Kohenim of Beta Yisrael

Nusach - language or tunes of specific lineage of prayer

SWANA - a decolonial word for the South West Asian/ North African region in place of “Middle East,” “Near East,” “Arab World,” or “Islamic World” (swanaalliance.com)

Karaites - a pre-rabbinic Jewish people largely from Egypt and Iraq

B'nei anusim - the children of the Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the insquisition

Conversos - (see above)

Am Yisrael - People of Israel

"Wise Ones," song written by Natanya Apfelbaum. You can find a recording of the original version on the Ancestralization album, track 20:

https://jewishancestralhealing.bandcamp.com/album/ancestralization