Introducing Ketoret

Making meaning in difficult moments

Allow me to introduce my brand new newsletter, Ketoret.

Some of you know me as the author of The Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah, which shocked Amazon (and me) with its international success in 2017. I’ve done two other Harry Potter/Judaism crossovers — Morality for Muggles and The Unofficial Muggle Megillah, and I'm hard at work on my next project.

But that’s only one chapter of the story. I’ve also been a congregational rabbi for nearly three decades and a Judaic studies educator at SAR Academy in New York for much of that time. Somewhere along the way, I also taught high school English. Today, I’m doing distance learning with my elementary school students while battling cancer. I’ve been wearing different hats and combining different subjects for quite some time, in other words. Allowing Harry Potter and Judaism to cross-pollinate was just one example, and it produced something meaningful that thankfully connected with many readers around the world. In my experience, the same is true when one mixes Torah with technology, education, literary fiction, and the wider world.

Simply put, I like finding meaning in less familiar combinations. The results can be inspiring, enlightening, even shocking. They can also shed light on some of our deepest concerns. That’s what this newsletter is about, and I hope you will join me on this journey.

The name of the newsletter — Ketoret — refers to the incense that was used in the ancient Jewish Temple. With its unusual combination of aromatic spices, including some, like the helbena (galbanum), that were pungent and discomforting in isolation, the ketoret yielded an unmatched fusion and a singular scent. It’s my hope that we’ll be able to create our own ketoret together, learning from the good and also the bad.

Don’t worry, I don’t intend to overwhelm your inboxes. At most, you’re likely to hear from me every couple weeks, with material that will make you think and see things in new ways, and find connections in things that seemed unrelated. At some point, I’ll probably offer some form of paid subscriptions for those who want and are able to support this work, but pretty much all of it will be free. That includes everything from insight into current events from the Jewish tradition to sneak peeks at my new Harry Potter/Judaism crossover project. With luck, it may just put you on the road to making some ketoret of your own.

All my best,

Moshe

PS: If you know anyone—perhaps a haggadah fan—who might enjoy being on this list, please feel free to send this their way, so they can sign up and not miss a single installment.