| Yaakov Akiva

I’m incredibly honored to have my art chosen for

I’m incredibly honored to have my art chosen for the month of Sivan in the @radicaljewishcalendar for 5785. This calendar is SO chock full of talented artists with powerful pieces and is raising funds for Palestinian-led orgs this year, and I’m so very grateful to be a part of it.

What I shared with the art, which features @wizard_bisan1: This piece is an attempt to honor a powerful Palestinian voice, one of many voices witnessing their people’s truth at a volume that refuses to allow the world to look away from genocide and an occupation that must come to an end. Bisan’s statement should not be a revolutionary idea, but it is worthy of a revolution. Sivan is a time of preparing to receive Torah, of gathering wisdom. Can we ever fully step into wisdom when we are not all free?

#freepalestine #ceasefirenow #antizionist #propalestine #jewishcalendar #5785 #sivan #bisanowda #digitalart #jewishart #armsembargonow

My bouquet of Elul things. @torah_patch and I are

My bouquet of Elul things. @torah_patch and I are doing something new that I talked about in a newsletter today, and I’m enjoying the smattering of creative and communal spaces being offered. Chodesh tov. Free Palestine.

From the newsletter:

“I’ve long wanted to find a similar practice for the month of Elul, but I’ve never landed on my practice, one that feels right in the way that counting the Omer does. I love blowing the shofar, I’ve spent some time with Psalm 27, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of different offerings each year, but my personal practice hasn’t fully solidified.

This year, in musing about the month and past practices, I mentioned off-hand to my dear friend Leia that I’d been toying with the idea of reflecting on one of the names of G-d for each day of Elul, looking at my relationship to that face of G-d, how well I’ve embodied those traits in my life over the past year, and how I might better embody that face of G-d in the coming year.

Things took off from there, and we’re doing the thing! I think that this year will result in something that we’d like to offer others, but for this year I just want to offer the idea and welcome you to incorporate it into this month in any way that resonates for you.”

The final week of #CountingTheOmer is there. Sover

The final week of #CountingTheOmer is there. Sovereignty, nobility, responsibility, indwelling presence of the Divine. All I have to say about that in this moment is that there is no true sovereignty on stolen land that holds the tears and blood of stolen lives. FREE. PALESTINE. isnotreal is a barrier to any right relationship a Jew can have with the world and our potential nobility and sovereignty in it.

#countingtheomer #omerreflections #antizionistjew

Scenes from a week with Yesod. Much of the week wa

Scenes from a week with Yesod. Much of the week was a rough course of antibiotics, but I added some more visual delight to the new ride, went manga shopping yesterday with kiddo, grew roots out on the deck all weekend. Also, these Irish kids really created a summer banger. 🎶

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #yesod

Yesod. I’m thinking a lot about what needs to be

Yesod. I’m thinking a lot about what needs to be torn down in order to rebuild foundations that truly support those depending on them. How seeds planted in imperialism and watered with the blood of innocents won’t grow to bear fruit, but instead take root in the immeasurable pain to be born by those forced to give up or share that soil without room for what they were meant to plant there instead. #Yesod isn’t just any foundation, but the foundation that supports and tends those who depend on it. Free Palestine.

“Each of you pick up a stone. The street is filled with children.”

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #freepalestine #foundation #antizionistjew

It’s been a week. One highlight was taking the p

It’s been a week. One highlight was taking the power chair for its first trip to the park with a friend, got to try out my first custom joystick. Hod was hard to sit with during this phase of counting the Omer, but I found a few moments, mostly trying to rest during kiddo’s first week of summer break, recover from some fresh new medical trauma, and send money and signal boosts and rage at a world that watches children die and keeps turning.

Welcome to Hod week. I am humbled by the fight for

Welcome to Hod week. I am humbled by the fight for Palestinian liberation, by the resilience of those who are surviving in spite of an ongoing genocide, and I hope we can all carry ongoing cries for a permanent ceasefire as a prophecy for true liberation for us all. Free Palestine.

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #hod #sephirot #freepalestine #antizionistjews #antizionismisnotantisemitism

Scenes from Netzach week. 💛 Slowly making progr

Scenes from Netzach week. 💛 Slowly making progress on the ramp building for the front of the house, our converted vehicle finally came yesterday so I can actually use the power chair that my insurance approved in April, and I managed to fit Jewishness into my Gubbins results. My endurance this year for the week of Netzach has been trusting that I am slowly but surely finding my way through a life newly shaped by disability. Now to add some visual majesty (Hod) to my mobility aids and the new car so that I can zoom around in style.

Week 4 begins with a victory created through compa

Week 4 begins with a victory created through compassion and expansive love and all that brings to mind tonight is a free Palestine. From the river to the sea, let our expansive hearts endure in this fight until Palestine is free.

#countingtheomer #omerreflections #jewish #jewsforpalestine #antizionistjews

I had a fairly big health crash, despite all effor

I had a fairly big health crash, despite all efforts to hold it off, over the weekend and so in lieu of a week’s worth of Omer scribbling, I’ll give two sources of joy from the week: some Zohar time with @leia_joy and @hornpipebotherer and this lovely box set edition of Asiri and the Amaru by @nataliahernandezauthor that was a gift to myself for Mother’s Day. I kept up with #countingtheomer and my #omerreflections but no pretty compilation this week. Stepping into Netzach with love and compassion for myself which is pretty perfect for Chesed she b’ Netzach, no? Song chosen is related to discussion in class with @avra_kdavra through @judaismunbound, which has been lovely so far.

Shavua tov.

Week 3 begins. Welcome to Tiferet. #omerreflecti

Week 3 begins. Welcome to Tiferet.

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #jewish

Goodbye to Gevurah. Week 2 is complete. #omerref

Goodbye to Gevurah. Week 2 is complete.

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #jewish

Welcome to week 2: Gevurah. #countingtheomer #om

Welcome to week 2: Gevurah.

#countingtheomer #omerreflections #jewish #sephirot

Week 1: Chesed… complete for this year. Keeping

Week 1: Chesed… complete for this year. Keeping it simple. #countingtheomer #omerreflections #jewish #sephirot #chesed

Given the increased action on campuses and observa

Given the increased action on campuses and observance of Passover in the past week, there have been a lot of opportunities for me to attend something virtually that is happening in-person or to view video of protests and large gatherings, and I’m heartened by an uptick in masks in some spaces, while weary to see the lack of them in others.

Specific to some of my experiences during the week last week, I want to offer this as feedback for any event that offers a “hybrid” option intended to include people virtually: if your in-person portion of attendees are unmasked, you are just asking disabled/high risk people to sit at home and watch a group of people do something that we can’t do partly *because* of how you’re doing it, and asking us to feel “included” instead of deeply exhausted/sad/angry. Do better. There are places that ARE doing it better, so go find guidance if you don’t know what that looks like.

Shavua tov. FREE PALESTINE. Wear a mask for yourself, for others, to thwart surveillance tactics, for a million good reasons. Pick one.

Last night began the counting of the Omer, my favo

Last night began the counting of the Omer, my favorite Jewish time of year. I’m most likely not going to be posting daily this year. There are two years worth of Omer artwork that I’ll share in IG stories, but I’m enjoying a different energy this year of going inward, being in community with a handful of you on Discord, and also sitting with my prior years’ creations.

Link in bio for all the things… the journal (only 2 print copies on hand right now until my other batch arrives!), the Discord group, the Music League for weekly Omer themed playlists, all of it.

I’ll be giving out weekly coloring sheets via the newsletter, reading to you and having low pressure hangs on Discord, and I’m envisioning a little listening party on Saturday nights to check out the playlist we make together. 😊 You’re welcome to join me however you’d like. Folks who count together… they remember to count! 🙌🏻

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #chesed #kabbalah #jewish #sephirot

Another year completed yesterday, and with cake (s

Another year completed yesterday, and with cake (sometimes my birthday is during Pesach, creating a cake conundrum). I asked for a @seagullguitars Merlin stick dulcimer and have sore fingers from immediately deep diving into mediocre song learning. Shavua tov, chag Pesach sameach, happy Earth Day, and free Palestine.

The last slide is a stellar take on Passover, IMO, which is a holiday I always struggle with as a Jew without easy access to seder participation, who has also grappled with how to sit with it this year.

Counting the Omer begins tomorrow night and I can already feel the beginning of my inner desert wandering. Link in bio for Discord community if you need a community space for counting together, regardless of what chosen method or resource you’re using.

#countingtheomer #omerreflections #hbdtome #birthday #chagsameach #pesach #passover #antizionistjew

It’s been a lovely weekend and I’m so grateful

It’s been a lovely weekend and I’m so grateful for love received related to my Omer counting offering. I packed these first several print copies with a lot of love and excitement, and I’m so excited to see how folks use the journal! Forthcoming info this week if you want to low key socialize with me and others while counting (I’m deciding on a couple options).

#omerreflections #countingtheomer #jewish #passover #shavuot #journal #sephirot

Print copies are here!!! I am so excited to hold a

Print copies are here!!! I am so excited to hold a copy of this journal. #countingtheomer #omerreflections

Welcome back, Nisan. 🕯️ May we expand to main

Welcome back, Nisan. 🕯️ May we expand to maintain a hold on the kind of breathtaking endurance that will yield liberation for all. #roshchodesh #freepalestine

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