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Thursday, August 26, 2021

Jewish Voice for Peace has a strange concept of "Mikveh"

In 2017, Jewish Voice for Peace published a document that explains perfectly what a sham the organization is.
 As the majority of what makes the earth, water is in one sense an ordinary resource. As those in Palestine and Puerto Rico are denied access to adequate water, water as an extraordinary resource is amplified.

Mikveh is a simple ritual. In it’s simplicity, it is extraordinary. We hope that this ritual will bring you closer to an experience of Jewish culture. We hope this closeness fuels your work for justice in Palestine. We hope a depth is integrated between your one simple life and the extraordinary movement we are all in together.

Enjoy this mikveh guide and check out this incredible project queer Jews are doing with mikveh in the spirit of living in diaspora.
The "Mikveh Ritual Guide" is a truly bizarre mishmash of new-age nonsense that has literally nothing to do with Judaism except for its gratuitous use of some Hebrew words. In fact, parts of it are pretty much idol worship.

Excerpts:

WHO GETS TO DO MIKVEH?
Everyone! Mikveh practice is available to all of us as a healing tool at any time. You don’t need any credentials. Your own wisdom is all the power you need to be a Jewish ritual leader. We do mikvahs in lakes, rivers, bathtubs, showers, outside in the rain, from teacups and in our imaginations.

Mikveh has been continually practiced since ancient Judaism. It is an offering of unbroken Jewish lineage we have claimed/re-claimed as our own. We want to make mikveh practice available as a tool to all Jews and non-Jews who want to heal wounds caused by white supremacy and colonialism.

 Queer mikveh is a ritual of Jews in diaspora. We believe the way we work for freedom for all beings is by using the gifts of our ancestors for the greatest good. We bring our rituals as gifts. It acknowledges that our path is to live on lands that are not historically our peoples and we honor the Indigenous ancestors of the land we live on, doing mikveh as an anti-colonialist ritual for collective and personal liberation....You don’t have to be Jewish. Queer mikveh is an earth and water honoring ritual.

A lot can be said about divination practices and Judaism. Using divination can assist you in setting your intention. Oracle and tarot decks are both helpful tools.

For some people, doing mikveh in drag will feel most vulnerable, with all your make-up and best attire.

HOW TO MAKE MIKVEH A NON-ZIONIST RITUAL
Reject all colonial projects by learning about, naming & honoring, and materially supporting the communities indigenous to the land where you hold your mikveh. Name and thank the Indigenous people of the land you are going to do your mikveh on. Take time to vision our world to come in which Palestine and all people are free.

SOUND MIKVEH:
One way that’s felt very meaningful for many is a “sound mikveh.” This can be a group of people toning, harmonizing or chanting in a circle. One person at a time can be in the center of the circle and feel the vibrations of healing sound wash over their body. Another method of sound mikveh is to use a shofar or other instrument of your lineage to made sounds that reach a body of water and also wash over you.

TEA CUP MIKVEH:
Fill a special teacup. If you want, add flower essence, a small stone, or other special elements. Sing the teacup a sweet song, dance around it, cry in some tears, tell the cup a tender and hopeful story, hold the teacup above the body of your animal friend for extra blessing, balance it on your head to call in your highest self. Use the holy contents of this teacup to make contact with water. Mikveh to go. We've always been people on the move.

FERMENTATION MIKVEH:
Some food goes through natural changes by being immersed in water. If we eat that food, we can symbolically go through a change similar to the one the food went through.

Jews don't worship water. They don't worship the Earth or the sun or holy teacups.  Jews worship God, which JVP redefines as the "spirit of the world." 

The entire point of "Jewish Voice for Peace" is to subvert Judaism for their own political purposes. Here, they are trying to attract dopey Jews and non-Jews to their anti-Israel movement by creating a new religion that they claim is a valid form of Judaism - and then they can say they oppose Israel; "as Jews."

(h/t Irina)

UPDATE: I didn't look at the end - one of their links is to "Shekinah Ministries," a Christian missionary group. Perfect.