Adne Sadeh
@adnesadeh.bsky.social
Apprentice Jewish monster hunter, podcaster, storyteller, teacher (occasionally), blogger (and AI researcher by day). He/him. https://linktr.ee/adnesadeh
Upgrading my library with facet classification, online search, and STICKERS!!! I’m at enough books that I’m starting to not be able to find books I reference less frequently. My books are mostly in LibraryThing already but I’m adding shelf location and search tags. Not a small project but fun!
New books! Carved Memories: Heritage in Stone from the Russian Jewish Pale by Davis Goberman. Burning Girls and other Stories by Veronica Schanoes.A Book that was Lost: Thirty Five Stories by S.Y. Agnon
Lizard Hamsas! North African Jewish hamsas sometimes use a lizard motif. According to Shalom Sabar "The lizard represents regeneration and was used for the protection of mother and child." Here's one from the William Gross collection from Sabar's entry "Amulets" in Enc. of Jews in the Islamic World
OUT NOW from Michael Panush, MITZVAH MACABRE is a story inspired by a key bit of Jewish folklore: the belief that the spirits of dead emerge from the cemetery, enter the synagogue, and conduct their own services. #Books #WritingCommunity madnessheart.press/product/mitzva
New book! “Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch” by Katia Ariel. “Blending biography, memoir, and cultural history, Katia Ariel brings to life the remarkable story of Ephraim Finch OAM—a deathworker, community builder, and guardian of cultural memory”
Shabbat Shalom everyone. Dunno about you, but I need a nap. And a book.
Lol. My buddy Meg got annoyed at a dude who read Bereshit Rabbah 22 about Cain & Abel arguing over who would get to marry the First Eve & thought they were talking about their mother (eww) even though Bereshit Rabbah 18 explained that the First Eve was a different person.
Reading parsha Vaethchanan. The Me’am Lo’ez commentary has multiple explanations for Moses pleading to enter the promised land including a desire to die there. ML describes souls who die outside the land being surrounded by angels of destruction and “suffer in roundabout paths until it can ascend”
New book! The Schocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies” by Louis Jacobs. “A unique and inspiring collection of accounts by people who have encountered God, from Biblical times to the present”
Starting to think about stories to tell at this year's Monsters and Mulled Wine event. I'm hunting for a chevre kadisha (burial society) story and ran into this fun anecdote from the Israeli Folktale Archive "676*D The Brave Man at the Cemetery" folkmasa.org/ifa/mi_sipur...
Whew. Been super busy with a work project but am now on a short vacation, reading Lasser’s “ Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam.”
I ran into bit of Jewish love magic of "he loves me, he loves me not" variety documented Yitzhak ben Yitzhak in Chinon, France around 1250. It starts with gematria (numeric values of of the bride and groom's names), math, numerology, and then an astrological look up table. (1/3)
One of the Baal Shem Tov's house protection rituals includes reciting certain Psalms after burying quicksilver (mercury) in small jars, sealed in wax, under your doorposts and corners of the house. Check out these small British jars and their description. I wonder if they served a similar purpose?
Was listening to Rafe Neis @postrafelite.bsky.social on the Frankely Judaic podcast. Great discussion about talmudic rabbi's understanding of species and generation including the idea that Adne Sadeh and sirens as being the wild/land and water versions of humans. soundcloud.com/user-7807164...
Rafe Neis,
In this episode, we explore the work of Raphael Rachel Neis, a professor of ancient history at the University of Michigan, whose book, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven, delves into ancient rabbinic
soundcloud.com
My art submission to The Altneu synagogue gallery got rejected. All good. Was fun submitting and I appreciate them putting out an open call. The call is open until the 10th in case anyone wants submit. www.instagram.com/p/DWO-ipZjvIm/
The Altneu New York on Instagram: "Our gallery space is always on the look-out for new talent. Share this opportunity with your artist-friends ➡️"
695 likes, 61 comments - altneusynagogue on March 23, 2026: "Our gallery space is always on the look-out for new talent. Share this opportunity with your artist-friends ➡️".
instagram.com
Just for fun, I'm doing a series of digital collages called Chanukat HaBayit ("dedication of the house") using images from a protection (shemirah) for a house from Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov described in Shivhei ha-Besht]. Just playing around with styles. This first one's a bit wild :)
Got my copy. Great fun. Kinda a John Constantine: Hellblazer vibe. First graphic novel is a bit overstuffed with activity and a bit under character-developed but has me excited for the next installment. Great job! @golempress.bsky.social
Adne Sadeh@adnesadeh.bsky.social · 6mo agoHunters of Sheydim! There's a new Jewish mythology themed comic out from Golem Press. It's "a supernatural action-horror graphic novel rooted in Jewish mysticism, ancient tradition, and modern conspiracy." Looks fun. Check it out. www.golem-press.com
Hunters of Sheydim! There's a new Jewish mythology themed comic out from Golem Press. It's "a supernatural action-horror graphic novel rooted in Jewish mysticism, ancient tradition, and modern conspiracy." Looks fun. Check it out. www.golem-press.com
The Passover Haggadah is built on fours, including four questions, four children, and four cups of wine. But the rabbis of the Talmud considered doing things, such as drinking, in pairs (four= two pairs) an unlucky number that could attract sorcery and demons (shedim). (1/2)
Lol. "In my own city, I am honored for my name; in a place that is not my own city, I am honored for my clothing." Was reading some Elijah stories and ran into this fun quote from Talmud (Shabbat 145b).
Seder prep. Fun seeing some of planning notes and themes from previous years and adding more. I always start the Seder with a question to get us going. This year’s will be “where are you going and what sustains you?”
Reading about Elijah & ran into a fun bit of Talmud about magical/medicinal use of spit. To save a marriage (the husband is a jerk) & at the prompting of Elijah Rabbi Meir "pretended to have a sore in his eye & said: ‘Does anyone know how to cure an eye with a charm?’" The wife then spits in his eye
![Another interpretation, “seek peace and pursue it” – there was once an incident involving Rabbi Meir, who was sitting and lecturing…. *And a certain woman came to hear his lecture. That woman went home. It was Shabbat eve, and she found that her candle had already become extinguished. Her husband asked her: ‘Where have you been until now?’ She said to him: ‘I was listening to Rabbi Meir lecture.’ That man was a scoffer, and he said to her: ‘I swear, you will not enter my house until you go and spit in Rabbi Meir’s face.’ She left his house. Elijah, of blessed memory, appeared to Rabbi Meir, and said to him: ‘Because of you, that woman has left her house.’ Elijah, of blessed memory, informed him how the incident transpired. What did Rabbi Meir do? He went and sat in the great study hall. That woman came there to pray and he saw her. He pretended to have a sore [in his eye] and said: ‘Does anyone know how to cure an eye with a charm?’ That woman said to him: ‘I have come to cure by using charms.’ She spat in his face. *That was the cure for an eye sore. He said to her: ‘Say to your husband: I have spat in Rabbi Meir’s face.’ He said to her [further]: ‘Go and reconcile with your husband.’ See how great the power of peace is.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d2dog7qrhd4e6ddscgleicun/bafkreifubmcn4a2wbaeztkvqt5kpf3skyqok2derhnybljcpjobgkypplu)
😂 still excited but also foiled! Got a print copy of Dan Ben-Amos dissertation which is titled “Narrative Forms in The Haggadah.” How Passover appropriate right? Nope! He means “aggadah” (non-legal rabbinic lit). Not “Haggadah” eg Passover seder text. Yay transliteration! Ok, back to Elijah then.
So how did the Israelites know to follow Moses? According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer it's because the immortal Serach bat Asher lived among them. She remembered that, 400 years ago, Joseph had promised that God would "deeply remember them."
Leading a Seder this year. Got to get my head in the game.
I've got the day off and am reading @krislindbeck.bsky.social's excellent book "Elijah and the Rabbis." I plan to annoy everyone at the Passover seder's I attend with lots of Eliyahu Hanavi facts. It's her fault I'm obsessed with finding a copy of Dan Ben-Amos dissertation.
Ugh. I desperately want to get a copy of Dan Ben-Amos 1967 Indiana Univ. dissertation “Narrative Forms in the Haggadah: Structural Analysis.” I think ProQuest has it because they bought University Microfilms International who had it. Sigh. Anyone have ProQuest access?
