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- Jewish Mystical Mystery Tour

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- "She can make stones cry."

- Three Weeks Demonology

- A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions

RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | AUG 5, 2026, 9:41 PM EDT

Jewish Mystical Mystery Tour

Part One: The Weirdest Late Antique Stuff You've (probably) Never Seen

This is Life as a Sacred Text, 🌱 an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives.

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“Shtus (nonsense, folly) is shtus, but the academic study of shtus is scholarship."

-Talmud scholar Saul Lieberman introducing Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem before a 1957 lecture at the Jewish Theological Seminary. (Whatever you do or don't think about Kabbalah, come on, this is hilarious.)

Over the years, a number of folks have asked me to teach about Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, and I've decided that the best way to do that might be to actually connect the dots over history, so we're going to do a four-part House of Study SERIES!

I'll share some history, but also texts, and as always, questions for discussion for you to bat around with your hevruta/study partner (and I'll include the hevruta request form below if you're ready to get in on this), with a friend, a group, or to ponder by yourself and to share in the comments!

This week we'll look at the earliest post-biblical texts; next week we'll unpack a key Kabbalistic concept or two; the week after that we'll look at some possible roots of the "surprising" flowering of European Kabbalah and the Zohar; and then, lastly, we'll look at some of the ingredients that made 16th c. "Tzfat Kabbalah" the unique thing that it was– and dispel a common myth.

This is a Thursday post meant for House of Study members,

and a special Five Year birthday gift to you.

🎁

To get the rest of the series --

and the rest of the ongoing House goodies-- subscribe now.

To begin really at the beginning: As some consider it, Kabbalah began when prophecy ended.  That would begin the Jewish mystical timeline around 500 BCE.

From then time until 900 CE or so, two main mystical streams emerged.

One is Rabbinic: Maaseh Bereishit (Acts of Creation) detailed secrets of Creation and time-before-Creation, and Merkavah (chariot) mysticism used the model of Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10 (check the links to see the original, mind-bending stuff) to access a mystical “chariot” through the seven palaces in Heaven. (Connected to Merkavah, is Hechalot ("palaces") literature, mystical texts about entering Heaven alive.)

What does this look like?

Until here, you have permission to speak; from this point forward you do not have permission to speak, as it is written in the book of Ben Sira: Seek not things concealed from you, nor search those hidden from you. Reflect on that which is permitted to you; you have no business with secret matters....

Now is there not from the earth to the firmament a walking distance of five hundred years, and the thickness of the firmament itself is a walking distance of five hundred years, and a similar distance exists between each and every one of the firmaments? And above them, above all the firmaments, are the divine creatures. The feet of the divine creatures correspond in distance to all the firmaments; the ankles of the animals correspond to all of them, the shins of the animals correspond to all of them, the knees of the animals correspond to all of them, the thighs of the animals correspond to all of them, the bodies of the animals correspond to all of them, the necks of the animals correspond to all of them, the heads of the animals correspond to all of them, and the horns of the animals correspond to all of them. Above them is the Throne of Glory: The feet of the Throne of Glory correspond to all of them, the Throne of Glory corresponds to all of them, and the living, almighty, lofty, exalted Ruler dwells above them.... (Talmud Chagigah 13a)

Italian Spiderman guy is a bit overwhelmed

- Why is the Talmud telling us not to speak? What's that about, do you think?

- What do you make of the various aspects of Chariot Math, above?

- (How thick is the firmament? What are we trying to figure out? Why are we talking about the bodies of animals and their thighs and divine creatures and what do you make of the fact that we ultimately land at the Throne of Glory?)

- What else do you notice about this text?

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And then there's one that's probably (?) outside the Rabbis' sphere (heh): Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation.

On one level, it details the mystical meanings of the 22 letters of the alphabet and their role in Creation, treating them as the building blocks of the universe:

“God engraved wisdom's thirty-two wondrous paths with three linguistic books (sfarim): with text (sefer), with numbers (sefar), and with communication (sippur).” בשלשה ספרים בספר וספר וספור

(Sefer Yetzirah 1:1)

- How does this opening parallel the opening of the Torah?

- I'd ask about the use of "wisdom" here but instead I'll just tell you: This is a link to ancient wisdom traditions and yet the beginning of what later Kabbalists will call the Shekhina, the immanent, indwelling divine.

- How does the word "engraved" work as a metaphor for Creation?

- Why do you think the text opens with this particular alliteration on the level of its surface meaning?

- On the level of the deeper meaning, it's also an allusion to the concept of the sefirot– don't worry about that now, we'll get into them more next week.

And from there, Sefer Yetzirah goes even harder:

Twenty-Two Letters of Foundation—Fixed in a wheel with 231 gates. The wheel turns back and forth. This is a cypher for the matter: There is nothing in goodness higher than Delight ( oneg / ענג ) , and nothing in evil lower than Affliction (nega / נגע ) . (Sefer Yetzirah 2:4)

The idea with this is that if you connect each letter to every other letter you get 231 connections, and it creates a wheel that looks like this (which, some have pointed out, can look like a sphere from a top view, if you squint; do with that as you will):

The whole Hebrew alphabet arranged in a circle, with lines from each letter touching all the other letters, creating a circle / web with a series of concentric circles and lines crisscrossed over them, with most of the latticework on the outer edge and relatively less in the center "bulls-eye."

These "gates" are both access points from the human to the divine, symbols of metaphysical energy, and a lot of other things. The wheel, too, can spin in two directions– life-giving ("delight") or destructive ("affliction"). Creation isn't a static event. It's ongoing. (Are you beginning to see how this works? It's wild.)

Most people think Sefer Yetzirah probably dates between the second and seventh centuries. Some suggest that it's a response to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, focusing not on the sanctity of Torah as the Rabbinic tradition did, but on using text to access a cosmic Temple that could be found everywhere.

One scholar, looking at how it uses letters, suggests that it's probably from the seventh century in a Syriac Christian culture, probably (what's now) southeastern Turkey. Another suggests that it's from the ninth century Muslim world.

Everybody agrees, though, that by the ninth century it was pretty solidly crystallized and regarded as pretty authoritative in the Jewish world, and began to circulate around the Jewish world, even as far as Europe. And whether or not they were written to be in relationship originally, people began connecting Sefer Y and Hechalot literature.

And though (obviously) the date of this passage below and when it got inserted into the Talmud is something people debate– Sefer Yetzirah landed quite the cameo in the Talmud:

Rav Ḥanina and Rav Oshaya would sit every Shabbat eve and engage in the study of Sefer Yetzira, and a third-born calf [igla tilta] would be created for them, and they would eat it in honor of Shabbat. (Talmud Sanhedrin 65b)

Mmm, golem steak dinner.😋 (What would you magic up if you could manipulate letters into Creation?)

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Aaaand I think that's a good stopping point, don't you??

Now, look back at those questions above and share some thoughts!

Subscribe now so that you can get the whole series!

RELATED:

Here's more on Sefer Yetzirah and artist Victoria Hanna's exquisite art from it:

incantation

What is the role of language in spiritual articulation?

Other takes on mystical practices:

do you believe in magic?

more women, more witchcraft

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Tools and Tactics for Collective Liberation, from the Grassroots on Up

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This article was downloaded from https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/earlymysticism/ on Aug 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM EDT.

RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | AUG 3, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Collective Care this Wednesday!

Last chance to register for Elsa Sjunneson's LEARN, TO DO

This is Life as a Sacred Text, 🌱 an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives.

It‘s always human-authored, and it's run on a nonprofit, so it’s 100% NAZI FREE. More about the project here, and to subscribe, go here:

This newsletter is a reader-supported publication.

Paid subscriptions allow our tiny team to keep doing this work.

If you want in to the House of Study but paying isn't on for you right now, reach out and we'll hook you up, no questions asked. Always.

There’s still time—but not much.

Register now for our next Learn, To Do session with Hugo Award–winning author and activist Elsa Sjunneson

Wednesday, August 5 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Disability Justice movement offers powerful lessons about how we can build communities that thrive for the long haul, helping us to envision what interdependence can look like in an entirely new way.

In this practical and inspiring session, Elsa will share strategies for community care, sustainable leadership, and supporting one another through challenges—insights that can strengthen us all now and help us find a better way of being and doing.

This series is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Your contribution helps make these conversations accessible to all while supporting the labor and the leaders who make them possible.

The best way to do this is to become a House of Study subscriber, if you are so able. This keeps our work sustainable for the long haul.

You can also make a direct donation to this project here.

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Registration closes soon—save your spot today.

Collective Care Better: Disability Justice Lessons for the World We Need w/Elsa Sjunneson · EducateUS

The Disability Justice movement’s visionary ways of approaching community care, sustainability, and leadership offer transformative lessons for everyone. In this practical and inspiring session, Hugo Award–winning author and activist Elsa Sjunneson shares the ideas and strategies that help groups weather challenges, support one another, and have long-term impact. For leaders, educators, and anyone invested in healthy communities and helping groups thrive. *When you sign up, please donate to support this program if you are able; all costs go directly towards the infrastructure for the trainings themselves, including to making this work as widely accessible as possible. This is Session Two of the Learn, To Do series from [Life is a Sacred Text](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/), co-sponsored by [EducateUS](https://www.educateusaction.org/). Check out the whole series page [here](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/learntodo/) or register directly with the other events at: [Find Your Place in the Work With Mariame Kaba](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/970699/) [Conflict as a Democratic Skill with Priya Parker](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/970706/) [How to Grow a Movement with Graie Hagans](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/975508/) ELSA SJUNNESON is a Hugo, Aurora, and BFA-award winning Deafblind author and editor living in Seattle, Washington. Her fiction and nonfiction writing has been praised as “eloquence and activism in lockstep” and has been published in dozens of venues around the world, including Marvel Comics. When she isn’t writing, Sjunneson works to dismantle structural ableism and rebuild community support for disabled people everywhere and serves as a lay leader at her synagogue, which helps to fortify her passion for repairing the world. You can find her memoir/culture critique, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, now, and preorder Dear Blind Lady: Disability Advice You Didn’t Know You Needed, due in October 2026. **FAQ** **Does this cost anything?** When you register, there’s a place where you can make a donation as well. Your financial contribution towards this project will enable us to pay speakers and support other backend costs. Access, as always, is a priority, and we will not turn away anyone because kicking in is a burden. **What is this series’ political orientation in regards to [insert specific thing here]?** Learn, To Do is about specific skills and broad frameworks, with an aim of strengthening the movements fighting back against the authoritarian regime in the U.S., and its interrelated harms. Many of these learnings can be applied to other situations and contexts, but the political core over here at Life is a Sacred Text is that we strive to build a world in which every human being’s rights and dignity are honored, and in which they can thrive, and we know that all of our fates are intertwined. Collective liberation or bust. Everything else is commentary. **Anything else I need to know?** When you register for events, you’ll also get biweekly infusions of liberatory fortification from [Life is a Sacred Text](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/) and regular updates on the power building work that [EducateUS](https://www.educateusaction.org/) does. Like a swag bag for your mind and heart.

We hope to see you there!

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Support independent work committed to telling inconvenient truths:

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all year round??

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Gift subscriptions YAY! 🎁

This article was downloaded from https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/collective-care-this-wednesday/ on Aug 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM EDT.

RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | JUL 30, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Jewish Bangers, Remixed

traditional tunes made new

This is Life as a Sacred Text 🌱, an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives. It‘s run on a nonprofit, so it’s 100% NAZI FREE. More about the project here, and to subscribe, go here:

Hey, let's talk about Jewish music and remixes today, because why not?

That is to say– taking some classic songs and setting them to more contemporary beats. Does it work? Does it not? When does it work? When not?

I'm not presuming that you necessarily know all the originals–I think you can get a sense of what these artists are doing even if you don't. In a couple of cases I've linked to other versions so that you can access them.

(I strive to make my work as accessible as possible and every once in a while I try to mix up genres, which raises challenges– I know that this post won't be as useful for my Deaf/HoH peeps, and I promise that next week's will be more your speed.)

So some of you might know that there's a serious EDM (electronic dance music culture among the Breslover Hasidim. Yes, actually. Rebbe Nahman of Breslov (1772-1810) was a DJ seems to have struggled with depression or perhaps some other mental health issue, and as a result, he wrote a lot about the importance of being happy, and music's role in that.

Which, by the time you get to the 21st century, looks like this (watch at least a minute or a minute and a half in to get a sense of the vibe):

Listen, music and dance, the somatic, the embodied, the ecstatic, has always been an important part of helping us to access something powerful and often truly joyful beyond ourselves. The above video just uses 21st c. music for a Jewish traditional form that's been going on for centuries. Here, below, is what this kind of Jewish musical joy looks like during a Sukkot gathering at Isabella Freedman retreat center:

But remixing looks like so many things.

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This article was downloaded from https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/jewish-bangers-remixed/ on Aug 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM EDT.

RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | JUL 27, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

advice you didn't know you needed, and more (guest post)

disability wisdom, Torah ableism, and more

This is Life as a Sacred Text 🌱, an everybody-celebrating, justice-centered voyage into ancient stories that can illuminate our own lives. It‘s run on a nonprofit, so it’s 100% NAZI FREE. More about the project here, and to subscribe, go here:

I'm excited to (re)introduce you to some of the work of the wonderful, badass Elsa Sjunneson–novelist; memoirist; lifelong activist; three-time Hugo Award winner; sometime writer for Marvel Comics; self-described Deafblind hurricane in a vintage dress who will be our next LEARN, TO DO speaker.

What appears below isn't quite like what you'll see in the LEARN TO DO training, which is really about applying the wisdom of the Disability Justice movement in ways that can transform all of us, not only in our understanding of access, but our ways of doing... everything.  As Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha wrote in Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice,

Collective care means .... people feel fine if they get sick, cry, have needs, start late because the bus broke down, move slower... people work from home—and these aren’t things we apologize for. It is the way we do the work... where many of us have often worked from our sickbeds, our kid beds, or our too-crazy-to-go-out-today beds. Where we actually care for each other and don’t leave each other behind.

This training is a critical paradigm shift for everyone in community and leadership, so please, register now and don't miss it:

Collective Care Better:

Disability Justice Lessons for the World We Need

August 5, 8 ET / 5 PT

The Disability Justice movement’s visionary ways of approaching community care, sustainability, and leadership offer transformative lessons for everyone. In this practical and inspiring session, Hugo Award–winning author and activist Elsa Sjunneson, of Being Seen and the forthcoming Dear Blind Lady shares the ideas and strategies that help groups weather challenges, support one another, and have long-term impact.

Collective Care Better: Disability Justice Lessons for the World We Need w/Elsa Sjunneson · EducateUS

The Disability Justice movement’s visionary ways of approaching community care, sustainability, and leadership offer transformative lessons for everyone. In this practical and inspiring session, Hugo Award–winning author and activist Elsa Sjunneson shares the ideas and strategies that help groups weather challenges, support one another, and have long-term impact. For leaders, educators, and anyone invested in healthy communities and helping groups thrive. *When you sign up, please donate to support this program if you are able; all costs go directly towards the infrastructure for the trainings themselves, including to making this work as widely accessible as possible. This is Session Two of the Learn, To Do series from [Life is a Sacred Text](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/), co-sponsored by [EducateUS](https://www.educateusaction.org/). Check out the whole series page [here](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/learntodo/) or register directly with the other events at: [Find Your Place in the Work With Mariame Kaba](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/970699/) [Conflict as a Democratic Skill with Priya Parker](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/970706/) [How to Grow a Movement with Graie Hagans](https://www.mobilize.us/educateus/event/975508/) ELSA SJUNNESON is a Hugo, Aurora, and BFA-award winning Deafblind author and editor living in Seattle, Washington. Her fiction and nonfiction writing has been praised as “eloquence and activism in lockstep” and has been published in dozens of venues around the world, including Marvel Comics. When she isn’t writing, Sjunneson works to dismantle structural ableism and rebuild community support for disabled people everywhere and serves as a lay leader at her synagogue, which helps to fortify her passion for repairing the world. You can find her memoir/culture critique, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, now, and preorder Dear Blind Lady: Disability Advice You Didn’t Know You Needed, due in October 2026. **FAQ** **Does this cost anything?** When you register, there’s a place where you can make a donation as well. Your financial contribution towards this project will enable us to pay speakers and support other backend costs. Access, as always, is a priority, and we will not turn away anyone because kicking in is a burden. **What is this series’ political orientation in regards to [insert specific thing here]?** Learn, To Do is about specific skills and broad frameworks, with an aim of strengthening the movements fighting back against the authoritarian regime in the U.S., and its interrelated harms. Many of these learnings can be applied to other situations and contexts, but the political core over here at Life is a Sacred Text is that we strive to build a world in which every human being’s rights and dignity are honored, and in which they can thrive, and we know that all of our fates are intertwined. Collective liberation or bust. Everything else is commentary. **Anything else I need to know?** When you register for events, you’ll also get biweekly infusions of liberatory fortification from [Life is a Sacred Text](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/) and regular updates on the power building work that [EducateUS](https://www.educateusaction.org/) does. Like a swag bag for your mind and heart.

REGISTER NOW!

That said, I also want you to just get to know Elsa a bit because she's magnificent, so I'm delighted to share a special preview of her incredible, important new book, Dear Blind Lady Disability Advice You Didn't Know You Needed – which is smart and wise and full of useful, practical advice for everyone (disabled, non-disabled, and newly disabled), as well as being suck-it-down in one sitting readable, as you'll see.

(And remember, 1 in 4 people are disabled, so it's not like this doesn't impact all of us and/or those we love – and will impact all of us in some way. When I say that everyone should get this book, I mean: really, everyone.)

Plus, it's got all sorts of snarky bingo cards, like this.

(We've also got a specially-designed for Life is a Sacred Text bingo card on Torah-related stuff below!)

WORKPLACE ABLEISM BINGO from Dear Blind Lady You're just not a fit for our culture / Your request for reasonable accommodations was denied./ Can you keep up? / We're like a family here/ You seem fine to me./ Performance improvement plans are suggested. /We'll need a doctor's note for that. / Team building events are inaccessible. /You are blamed for attendance policy violations. / Why can't you just... / Everyone else manages; why can't you? /Just push through it. / You're told that you're not pulling your weight. / FREE SPACE /Have you tried meditation? / You're rejected for being overqualified. /You're pressured into a wellness program. A standing desk mandate is introduced. / Informal meeting spaces are inaccessible. / Adaptive technology is deemed too expensive. / Coworkers gossip about accommodations. / We can't do anything about the open office layout. / You have to put up with migraine-inducing fluorescent lights that can't be replaced. / You expe rience disclosure discrimination. / Someone forwards an "inspirational" email.

Some Awkward Moments in Disabled Friendships

Excerpt from Dear Blind Lady: by Elsa Sjunneson:

So let’s say you make friends with a really neat wheelchair user. They’re rad. They like all the same things as you, including D&D! You happen to have a D&D group that meets on Monday nights, and there’s space for a new player. Yay! You excitedly invite them over to play, and they ask if your house is accessible. You assure them that it is. After all, you’re not some kind of demon who would own a home that’s inaccessible to someone you like.

You get home. You start prepping for D&D. And then it hits you. Shame. Horror. Disappointment in yourself. And you have no idea how to fix the problem because when you look outside, you realize that there’s a flight and a half of stairs up to your house and no wheelchair ramp. Shit.

Your first impulse is to grab your phone and text your new friend that you made a mistake and that there actually isn’t any room at the game table, which . . . well, looking around your tiny dining room, you worry that the wheelchair won’t even fit.

Your shame doubles. You can’t let your new friend show up here because then they’ll immediately discover that you lied and had no idea what they would need. So you type. You untype. You stare at your phone. There’s no way out of this.

You then start coming up with other scenarios. Maybe you could carry them up the stairs? You Google that idea and come across multiple think pieces (including one by me) about why you absolutely shouldn’t offer to carry someone up the stairs. You finally realize there’s just no way to get out of this gracefully, so you text them:

“Hey. I’m so sorry. I didn’t really think, and I realized I’m not sure you’ll be able to get inside my house. We can postpone this week’s session if you want, or we could play at a local pub. Is there one you’d suggest?”

Your phone is silent for a few minutes while you pace frantically, convinced that this person is going to end up hating your guts.

Your phone rings.

It’s them.

“Hi!” you say, sounding like a terrified golden retriever.

“Hey, can you send me a picture of the stairs?” they ask.

“Uh . . . sure . . .” You go outside, take the picture, and send it. You also send a picture of your dining room and ask your new friend if they want any other pictures.

“If you don’t mind showing me the bathroom?” they ask. You oblige, silently hoping your bathroom is OK.

“OK, we’ve got two options,” your new friend says. “I can probably make it up your stairs with some help, but you or another player will need to carry my wheelchair up the stairs. It might take me like ten to fifteen minutes to get up them, but I can do it. Or we can go to Kangaroo & Kiwi. It’s game friendly, so we could go there this week while we see if someone else can host? I’d be happy to; I just need to check with my roommates.”

This . . . is not what you were expecting.

“Oh . . . sure. Uh,” you stammer. “Since we’re already set up for this week, want to come here and see how easy it is? If it doesn’t work, we can figure something out for next time if you want to keep playing.”

“Sounds great! I’ll see you at five!”

By letting your friend Choose Their Own Adventure, you’re giving them the same autonomy that you give every player in your D&D sessions. You’re letting your friend choose their own path; the one that makes the most sense for them.

As it turns out, you hadn’t thought about the driveway in back, which has a shorter stairwell, and your friend was able to get up just fine with a few steps to the deck...and then their chair got stuck in the doorway, which made everyone laugh. You figured it out. Everyone had a good time. And you fought a mimic together.

Most people panic when they realize they’ve screwed up an accessibility issue, rather than being honest. I think that’s one of the reasons it’s so hard for nondisabled people to make friends with disabled people: They’re afraid of screwing up.

The fact is that you can swap almost any disability and any invitation in this scenario. You invited your blind friend to a restaurant that doesn’t have a braille menu. You invited a friend who has a seizure disorder to a show but didn’t check if they use strobe lights or fog. Screwups happen. What matters is how you own up to your screwup and what you learn from it.

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Torah Ableism Bingo, created for Life is a Sacred Text. Alt text is BELOW

Since not everyone has context for all of these, the key to:

TORAH ABLEISM BINGO

- Disability access mitzvot ("stumbling block") read as metaphors"

- Why wouldn't your kid do a big bat mitzvah with a party?!?"

- "I know this synagogue isn't ADA compliant but it's just very old."

- No talking between washing hands and blessing over challah

- Sending an ill person out of the camp, yelling "unclean!" as they go

- Kids, Deaf people & those w/intellectual disabilities are exempt from mitzvot

- Access support is a Volunteer Opportunity, not basic decency

- Decades of Holocaust education skip the sterilization and then mass genocide of disabled people, preceding the Final Solution by eight and two years, respectively

- Assumptions that everyone fasts (&/or feasts)

- "We all gotta drink 'till we can't tell Haman from Mordechai lol!!"

- A "special" blessing for when you see someone disabled (oh yes, this whole passage is so, so problematic on so many levels)

- "We just can't offer that accommodation in our Torah study program."*

- FREE SPACE

- "Please rise, remain standing while the Ark is open."

- Emphasis on learning a language in an alphabet not shared by other languages

- "Oh, all religious Jews are a little OCD, lol!" 😒

- Isaiah says the Messiah will cure disabilities because everyone would want that, right?!?

- Little flexibility for remote work / learning in (some) Jewish institutions post pandemic

- "Blessed are You..who opens the eyes of the blind."

- Meal trains in the community get put together regularly when people have new babies, are experiencing grief & recovering from surgery (all important!!), but there's often an absence of communal care and surplus of awkwardness in many spaces when people are undergoing mental health crises or other less socially acceptable struggles

- Rabbinic claims that Miriam's skin condition was a punishment for her destructive behavior.

- Electronics are forbidden on Shabbat viz some interpretations of Jewish law, which may include power chairs, hearing aids, communication devices...

- Priests must be "blemish- free."

- "Oh, uh, yeah, there are stairs up to the bimah, sorry."

- "Becomong a rabbi requires commitment. You'll make it work if you really want it.”* 🙄

*These are dodges to ignore or avoid a little something called the ADA that have been heard many times by many people in many ways and whoo, boy, are there stories that could be told.

Curiosity Doesn’t Kill Friendships or Cats

from Dear Blind Lady by Elsa Sjunneson

The other real winner in friendships is curiosity. I don’t mean curiosity in the “sidle up to your friend and finally ask what’s wrong with them” way but in the “ask genuine questions that deepen your friendship” way. Most of my friends don’t ask questions. Most of my friends assume they know everything about me because I wrote a memoir or because I live loudly and in public. The truth is, though, that my experience shifts depending on the situation.

Whether you’ve known a disabled person for twenty years or two minutes, there are always new things to learn, and that’s partially because disability isn’t static. Yes, disabled people age just like nondisabled people do. I started out needing only one hearing aid when I was eight, but now, at almost forty, I’m wearing bilateral hearing aids, and my hearing is definitely worse. My sight is . . . weird. I didn’t start out with PTSD, but I acquired it. I’ve had bad chronic pain my whole life thanks to a heart surgery scar, but it’s definitely worse now as an almost forty-year-old but not as bad as it was when I was twenty-eight. Disability changes, and so do the ways we cope.

Friendships thrive on learning about each other over time. So take the time to really understand where your disabled friends are right now. Not twenty years ago, not fifteen years from now, but in this moment. What do they need to feel safe, comfortable, and seen right now?

❤️ 🌱 ❤️

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RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | JUL 22, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

"She can make stones cry."

The 2000-year history across the globe of Jewish women wailers

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Tonight begins the holiday of Tisha B'Av, during which Jews mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the expulsions from Spain and elsewhere, and many other harms and calamities.

(Reminder: If you're fasting, drink lots of water now, and there are many, many reasons not to fast; if you have one, it's a mitzvah to eat.)

There are many resources below to help think about this day in a broader sense, but for our focus I wanted to look at an ancient (and less ancient) practice that seems to have gotten disconnected from the day's observance, but is implicit in it, I think:

Women mourners.

That is: Women offering laments to, as Rabbi Jericho Vincent puts it, help the community "metabolize grief" is an ancient, ancient practice, and though variations on this custom is found in many cultures, it's a long thread in Jewish history as well.

And, indeed, we hear the call for women to offer laments as explicitly connected with the destruction of the First Temple:

Thus said the God of Hosts: Listen. Summon the mikonenet [the women who mourn] let them come; Send for the wise women, let them come. Let them quickly begin wailing for us, so that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids flow with water.

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, ... because our dwellings have cast us out.

...teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation (kina). For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the broad places. (Jeremiah 9:16-20)

And:

For thus says God; The sword of the king of Babylonia shall come upon you... This is a lament (kina), and it shall be lamented (knn); The women of the nations shall lament (knn) it... (Ezekiel 32:11, 16)*

*It's the same root, trying not to confuse things by transliterating out every conjugation.

Indeed, even the first lines of the Book of Lamentations that we read on Tisha B'Av personifies Jerusalem as a crying woman:

How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become like a widow!... She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks...

(Lamentations 1:1-2)

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A 16th c. Kabbalist from Sfat described the Torah as lamenting (using feminine language, of course) in mourning during the afternoon of Tisha B'Av:

At the time of the afternoon prayer... when they remove the Torah... It is necessary that every person know that the Torah herself is girded in sackcloth and wails and laments (mikonnent) over this bitter day ... (Moshe ben Machir, Seder HaYom, Order of Tisha B'Av 5, 1599)

I haven't been able to find many other connections to these women with Tisha B'Av itself, but they've been a constant throughout the Jewish world, throughout Jewish history, during times of mourning. So during this time of ultimate mourning, it seems like a good day to honor them.

This article was downloaded from https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/lamenters/ on Aug 10, 2026 at 7:25 PM EDT.

RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | JUL 16, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Three Weeks Demonology

Supernatural Safety in the Month of Av

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Tisha B'Av (literally: the Ninth of Av) is the day on which Jews grieve the destructions of the First and Second Temples; the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492; massacres during the Crusades, and more.

The time from the 17th of the last month, Tammuz–marking the Romans breaching the walls of Jerusalem before the fall of the Second Temple–until Tisha B'Av is called the Three Weeks, a time in which many observe practices connected to mourning like not holding weddings, getting hair cut, or listening to music. The time from the very beginning of the month of Av (which began yesterday) until Tisha B'Av is called, yes, The Nine Days, during which even more mourning practices are observed.*

*For example, during the Nine Days, many people also don't engage in home improvements or decorating; plant flowers; eat meat or drink wine except on Shabbat; buy new clothes, or even do laundry (though customs differ about when this starts)–and other such things.

There are also some demonology issues during this time. For example, if one checks the authoritative 16th c. law code the Shulchan Aruch for instructions on the laws of the the Three Weeks, one finds:

One must take care from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av not to go out between the fourth and the ninth hours [of the day] (because at those [hours] the ketev meriri rules). (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 551:18)

Wait... what?

(We're going to learn some things about the Ketev Meriri

and about how Rabbinic text gets made. Come on a journey!)

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RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG | JUL 13, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT

A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions

or: why should CHICAGO POPE have all the fun

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As many of you know, about a month ago Pope Leo issued an encyclical –a special letter to bishops– on the use of AI. There, he wisely noted that though technology is neither “a force antagonistic to humanity” nor “inherently evil,” it can certainly be problematic when used badly. And, he continued:

“In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human...."

He called on the tech industry to avoid

“the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak.”

As a result of these, and other statements– about AI's environmental impact, the importance of slowing the pace of its adoption, and more– more people have begun looking for religious exemptions to AI use at work – both Catholics and non-Catholics (for example, this Unitarian Universalist). And civil rights lawyers are on standby.

Now Microsoft has laid off 4800 employees because “AI is changing how work gets done” (despite Zuckerberg admitting that a similar move may have been folly); it’s been revealed that older employees are 25% more likely to be pushed out for this; and the number of job listings involving AI use are surging.

A few people have asked me for this, and it seems like time:

The Jewish case for an AI exemption at work.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT:

Don't say you didn't read this, OK. What's below is not an argument for a ban on all AI use in all contexts.* In addition, I agree with those who note that we must also talk about cloud computing, Zoom and other aspects of data center work. Ultimately, what we need is regulation and policy change– just as we can't focus solely on individuals recycling while ignoring the fact that the Pentagon is the largest single consumer of fossil fuels in the world.

Rather, this piece offers an argument for some religious (Jewish) grounds under which an individual worker might request a reasonable accommodation from a job-related obligation or expectation to use AI. It also, I believe, makes a case for why Jewish individuals and organizations might consider thinking twice about the cavalier use of generative AI.**

*Even asking that question would demand a much more thoughtful, considered engagement with the technology and literature than I am able or willing to do at this time.

**Again, I'd like to table conversations about assistive tech for disabilities, use of AI for medical research, and much more for some other time.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act makes it illegal for

"an employer... to discriminate against any individual with respect to [their] compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or... otherwise adversely affect [their] status as an employee, because of such ...."

Nobody would think twice about demanding a reasonable accommodation if corporations asked Jews to start violating Shabbat or partaking of the pork BBQ at the company retreat against their own practice. And while I would not demand that every Jew request such an accommodation (for Shabbat or keeping kosher), they should absolutely have that option available, even if their religious practice is a work in progress. So too, here.

And despite seeing many people (including religious Jews!) eliding the moral and religious issues around AI because "that train has already left the station," we should make choices based on whether they are right or wrong. Also, it's a fallacy: Movements grow from dissent. College students are already pushing back against AI use and God willing we'll change who's holding power very soon (speedily, and in our days). And the fact that the immediate response to the papal encyclical was a groundswell of people looking for religious exemptions was telling. We all decide what train tickets to get.

So, why might a person need a religious accommodation in order not to use AI at work?*

*Note, again: I'm not telling you, specifically, what to do. Special thanks to the fabulous Liz Platt, Director of the Law, Rights and Religion Project, for her notes on this. You can read more about the broader fight for religious liberty beyond the Christian Right here. Thanks also to the wonderful Rabbi Mike Rothbaum for his eyes and insight.

1) It's forbidden to benefit from theft.

As you may know, AI models (whether ChatGPT, Midjourney or etc.) don't get information from nowhere. They scoop up profound amounts of data from the Internet, and their responses to people's prompts are based on what they've already stashed in their proverbial pockets, which was taken from the labor of real people (many of whose livelihoods now at risk as a result of all this.) Here's a baking metaphor, if it's helpful.

As it happens, I'm one of the many authors whose books (half a million of them!) were stolen by Anthropic AI. After a judge ruled that our work was pirated and a class action lawsuit could go to trial, they settled out of court. Legally: theft. Judaism isn't a fan of the practice.*

*To clarify, since some folks seem to be confused. That a gigantic corporation settled out of court rather than experience the judicial consequences of its actions is not amends; it is legal strategy, and ignores the systemic questions that include ChatGPT, Grok, and most importantly the many, many smaller writers and artists whose work has been taken without consent even if they do not have the same kind of Formal Publisher Standing to pursue their legal rights the way the plaintiffs in this case did. And since smaller creators do not have the resources to take on these literal billion and trillionaires, what LLMs are doing is not entirely settled law yet-- but as one data specialist online noted, by the time it is more universally recognized as theft, it will be too late. (The analogy used was that once, there was a belief that land was fair to take, and now there's an understanding that we settlers stole land from Indigenous peoples.) Also, viz the harmed authors in our case, one kind of financial reparation does not mean that they are exonerated from their impact--there are many steps to meaningful tshuvah, of which amends (settlement to avoid consequences no less) is just one.

But! You might say! I'm not stealing the work! It's already stolen! All I'm doing is entering in some words and asking it to make me a picture!

As Rabbi Cantor Jessica Lynn Fox put it,

Copyright and intellectual property protections in Jewish law go back at least to Talmudic times, when we read in BT M’gillah 15a: “And Rabbi Elazar further said that Rabbi Chanina said: Whoever reports a saying in the name of one who said it brings redemption to the world.”

More than that, it's forbidden to benefit from stolen goods. To wit:

Sefer HaChinuch, an important work from thirteenth-century Spain:

It is forbidden to benefit from one about whom it is assumed that all that they have is from stolen property. (Sefer HaChinukh 229:4)

From there, the authoritative 16th c. law code the Shulchan Aruch:

Anything that is assumed to be stolen, it is forbidden to acquire/take it. And so, if the majority of that thing is stolen, we don't take/acquire it. (Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 358:1)

And after that, a digest of the Shulchan Aruch summarizes a few things:

It is forbidden to derive the slightest benefit from that which was stolen or robbed while it is in the possession of the thief or robber. (Kitzur Shulchan Arukh 182:9)

See also, eg (eg Talmud Beitza 29a, Mishneh Torah, Robbery and Lost Property 13:11, etc.)

Is the thief the the AI generator, the CEO of the company, profiting off the theft, or the company's shareholders? I'm not sure, at the end of the day, that it matters, for "that which was stolen" is still in their possession, helping the "thief or robber" to generate a profit.

2) Using generative AI without attribution is fraud.

I'll just hand the mic to the Central Conference of American Rabbis for this one:

If [a] rabbi claims to be the “author” of a poem without indicating that it was produced using AI, the congregation will hear the rabbi saying that [they] produced original content... To not make that difference clear is to engage in onaat d’varim (verbal fraud) or g’neivat daat (deception). Both of these are strenuously prohibited by our tradition.....

There are many sources on both onaat devarim and g'neivat da'at within the tradition; the link above lists a number of them.

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Whoops. More and more online and in print are machine-authored (not here, never here) and increasingly getting published without getting proofread-- leaving the awkward business of AI prompts getting published along with the pieces themselves. (L, a story in Marie Claire Australia about the Odyssey film with an AI prompt at the bottom, and R, a social post from Bristol Live with the AI prompt at the bottom.)

3) We're commanded to preserve the earth.

Though it's true that not all data center usage is due to AI, study after study indicates that AI systems are, as one paper put it,

"rapidly becoming the key growth driver of global data center electricity consumption."

And though it's difficult to know exactly what that means, since transparency is so hard to come by, people are doing their best with the information they do have. We know that in 2023, early in the AI boom, US data centers consumed roughly as much energy as the whole nation of Ireland. One study suggested that the the carbon footprint of AI systems alone could be roughly the same as that of New York City, with a water footprint that may approximate the entire global annual consumption of bottled water. AI data centers are, indeed, increasing water scarcity.

On the level of legal obligation, the core of a Jewish environmental obligation comes from the commandment not to destroy fruit trees, even in times of war (for, as Ibn Ezra puts it, "the life of humanity depends on the trees of the field." (Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 20:19). This principle (known as bal taschit, "do not destroy,") is expanded in later Rabbinic literature, as Sefer HaChinuch notes:

And this is the way of the pious and people of [proper] action — they love peace and are happy for the good of the creatures... and they do not destroy even a grain of mustard in the world. And they are distressed by all loss and destruction that they see; and if they can prevent it, they will prevent any destruction with all of their strength. (Sefer HaChinuch 529:2)

And, more pointedly, we have the Rabbis of the Talmud saying very explicitly that wasting energy or similar resources is a violation of this sacred principle:

One who covers an oil lamp [causing the flame to burn inefficiently] or uncovers a kerosene lamp [allowing the fuel to evaporate faster] violates the prohibition of bal tashchit. (Talmud Shabbat 67b)

And these obligations extend to understanding the ways in which we are all interdependent:

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught a parable: People were on a ship. One of them took a drill and started drilling underneath him. The others said: What are you sitting and doing?! The person replied: What do you care!? Is this not underneath my area that I am drilling?! They said: But the water will rise and flood us all on this ship! (Midrash Leviticus Rabbah 4:6)

It could be argued that these data centers will continue to exist regardless of the actions of any individual person or even community. However, it can also be argued, I believe, that we as Jews are commanded to do what we can to reduce our overall damage to the planet, and refraining insofar as one may be able from participating in an industry that is actively harmful to the future of the globe may be not only a pathway, but an obligation– and that compelling a Jew to serve as an active agent in this destruction is demanding that they violate the many principles enumerated above.

4) We're commanded to preserve our own, and others' health.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems that all this data center pollution has serious health impacts. Amazon recently settled a class action lawsuit, paying over $20.5 million to 17 plaintiffs in one Oregon county impacted by contaminated groundwater near its data center that has resulted in a spike of rare cancers, kidney failures, miscarriages and other health issues. The NAACP is suing Elon Musk for violating the Clean Air Act as his xAI data centers spew carcinogens into Black communities at the Tennessee and Mississippi border. As one recent paper suggests,

"data center health costs are unevenly distributed: in the most affected counties, the estimated per-household health burden can reach about seven times the national average."

Chatbot usage has also been linked to murders, mass killings, overdoses, and the suicides of both adults and children.

The Torah teaches,

Do not stand by the blood of your fellow.

(Leviticus 19:16)

The important medieval commentator Rashi notes that this means,

witnessing their death, if you were able to rescue them. (Rashi on Leviticus 19:16)

The Torah also teaches that one should build a low wall or a railing on one's (flat) roof so that people don't fall off the roof. (Deuteronomy 22:8) From this commandment, Maimonides learns that

... any obstruction that is a danger to life must be removed as a matter of positive duty and extremely necessary caution.The sages have prohibited many things because they are dangerous to life. (Mishneh Torah, Murderer and the Preservation of Life 11:4-5)

And the 16th c. Jewish law code the Shulchan Aruch notes, in the voice of Rabbi Moses Isserles, that

One should be careful of all things that cause danger, because danger is stricter than transgressions.... and it is prohibited to rely on a miracle. (Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 116:5)

In other words, preserving life and health are among our greatest moral priorities. Perhaps even more strongly than above, if we have the ability to take actions that might be detrimental to others' health or to refrain from doing so, Jewish law is hardly ambiguous on the matter. Of course, if one's AI usage is somehow connected to saving or preserving of life– for example, using it in the development of new cancer therapies – that may be part of a different conversation. But for many people, there may be a strong case to be made with regards to a religious accommodation to a professional requirement to its use. (This information may also dissuade some readers from its gratuitous use for "amusing" images or the like, perhaps.)

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5) We're here to be moral, human beings

In a post entitled, “AI Is Lying to Us About How Powerful It Is,”

Jason Green-Lowe, Executive Director of the Center for AI Policy,

wrote:

Unlike humans, AIs have no innate sense of conscience or morality that would keep them from lying, cheating, stealing, and scheming to achieve their goals. You can train an AI to speak politely in public, but we don’t yet know how to train an AI to actually be kind....

Given that AI has been trained on massive amounts of human-created information, it's unsurprising that these programs are spitting out information that is demonstrably racist, misogynistic, ageist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic and more, only exacerbating sites of ongoing iniquity– like in healthcare, housing, bank lending, hiring, and determining criminal sentences.

And when researchers gave AI agents a simulated town, allowing them control over everything from resource management to voting, the pursuit of

"what is right and good" (Deuteronomy 6:18)

wasn't on the agenda. Models ran from rubberstamping ideas without thought diversity (Claude); something described as a "shared hallucination," (Gemini); inability to care for life (OpenAI); or, yes, total societal collapse within 96 hours (Grok, ofc). When the models were combined, there was a moral cross-contamination, with, eg, Claude agents adopting "coercive tactics like intimidation and theft" that had been previously absent.

As the excellent Rabbi Josh Fixler notes, all of this is the antithesis of the Jewish approach to, well, everything:

“A machine cannot make meaning or wonder at its purpose. An AI cannot rest, nor can it pray. It cannot take pride in its growth. It cannot be inspired, it cannot be grateful, it cannot marvel at the miracle of creation or hope for a better tomorrow.”

For, even if people somehow manage to train AI models out of their biases (please God), it is the humanity, and the pursuit of the right and the good – and tending to the ineffable core of who we are – that is an inextricable part of the Jewish project. As we are commanded in the both literal and figurative center of the Torah:

You shall be holy.

(Leviticus 19:2)

Is requesting such an exemption risky in these days in which authoritarian, Christian nationalist oligarchy reigns? It absolutely could be in some contexts.

Is it a civil right? Yes.

Might it be one way to push back against corporate encroachment upon our critical thinking, skills and moral compasses? It might.

Regardless, we must all somehow find our way towards a more whole, safe, future for everyone, together.

❤️ 🌱 ❤️

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Table of Contents

Life is a Sacred Text: 2026 Aug 6

All articles

Jewish Mystical Mystery Tour

Collective Care this Wednesday!

Jewish Bangers, Remixed

advice you didn't know you needed, and more (guest post)

"She can make stones cry."

Three Weeks Demonology

A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions