Shel Maala’s first guest teacher, Olivia Devorah Tucker, invites us to learn and bring new interpretations to an ancient communal ritual for responding to bad dreams:

“Deep in Berakhot (the Talmud volume on Blessings), the early Rabbis offer a zine-length treatise on dreams. ‘Dreams are 1/60th of Prophecy,’ they proclaim, offering both detailed guides for interpreting dreams and dire warnings about doing so. The Queer Jewish fasciation with dreams goes back as far as Jacob and Joseph, anscestors of our girl Rabbi Yochanan, whose transmogrificational ritual for nightmares and troubling dreams we will learn in this 5-session series.

Participants are encouraged to keep a sefer chalomot (dream journal) during the course, and are invited to develop and share artwork, poetry, and more connected to the themes of the class.

When we recover our ancestral knowledge of these magical Talmudic practices, we get to open exciting gateways to ancient texts and try out imaginative lenses for understanding and healing the world in unconventional ways.”

only req. is knowing your alef bet. contact xava&binya if u wanna take the class and need help getting ur alef bet! If you have never learned in the SVARA method before, you NEED to attend our crash course on 6/30, which can be found here: https://fb.me/e/XX9YTM4x

Apply for A Nightmare on Chelm Street here: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSf8wfhpIi3.../viewform...

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Sundays 7/4-8/8 (5 total), 3:30-6pm EST/1-3pm PST

We are SKIPPING Sunday, 7/18, since that is Tisha B’Av

3:30-4:30pm optional guided xevruta study

4:30-6pm shiur, incl. 10 minute break

$18/class ($90/total) sliding scale; NOTAFLOF

40 students max, so sign up soon!

(This class will be recorded, exclusively for the use of students who miss sessions)

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Olivia Devorah Tucker (they/them), puts the trans in translation and the femme in ephemera. A lifelong Pittsburgher (Shawnee land), they take part in vibrant theatre and leftist Jewish organizing, play tabletop role-playing games, collect queer sci-fi comic books, and bake challah inspired by the weekly Torah portion (“All Challahs Are Beautiful”). Olivia serves as Program Coordinator for SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, and will be a member of the upcoming Teaching Kollel: Cohort 4.