judaism – NaturalPagans

The Dinner Parties: On the Power of Repetition

October 11, 2024 Eli Effinger-Weintraub holidays, judaism, pagan, pagan stuff, reclaiming naturalism, ritual, spiritual practice, tashlich

A great thing about Tashlich is that we come back to it every year. If I do teshuvah “wrong” this year, I can learn from that mistake and try again next year, and the year after that. I love this circular approach to time in Judaism.

As If it Were the Last

October 10, 2022 Eli Effinger-Weintraub deathwork, holidays, judaism, pagan, pagan stuff, reclaiming naturalism, ritual, spiritual practice, yom kippur

Yom Kippur was this week, and I found it trickier to integrate into my Pagan practice. While Rosh Hashanah has several lovely rituals that felt easy to respectfully adapt, Yom Kippur is literally 25 hours of fasting and asking God to put away the smitey stick for another year, which jars with my beliefs about sin and the sacred. So I took a while to find my bearings with this holiest of Jewish holy days.

A Naturalistic Pagan Casts Their Harms on the Waters

September 27, 2022 Eli Effinger-Weintraub holidays, judaism, pagan, pagan stuff, reclaiming naturalism, ritual, rosh hashanah, spiritual practice

Now that I’m no longer Christian or a daughter, I feel pulled to reconnect with that erased part of my ancestry. I have -0% interest in converting, but I’m slowly and cautiously integrating small bits of practice and culture when I feel I can do so in ways that respect both Judaism and my own beliefs and values.