"Judeo-Paganism? Isn't that a little bit synchretic to be considered 'Traditionalist'?" Answer; given the region we're talking about, no. Cultural purity, on any appreciable level, is something one sees in sedentary societies. The Middle East has always had a heavy nomadic presence and that blurs cultural lines - up to a point. Please understand that this is, to borrow an Asatruar term, a "Volkish" list with a specific cultural focus; the only cultural syntheses we have an interest in pursuing are the ones history has presented us with. Wiccan/New Age material is off-topic here; please respect that fact.

Judeo-Paganism is hardly a modern novelty, as the prophets of the monotheistic strain of Judaism were bitterly protesting its existence, thousands of years ago. In its modern form, Judeo-Paganism frequently reinterprets modern Jewish traditions in terms of the older, mixed pantheon of the Canaanites and their neighbors, celebrating and reviving Middle Eastern culture along the way. This is not to say that all Middle Eastern traditions should be viewed as being Judeo-Pagan, but Judeo-Paganism does seem to be the most common of them in our city and it does seem at home in the role of middleman between a variety of Middle Eastern cultures.

Please keep in mind that this is not a "free speech" list. We do reserve the right to try to maintain a certain level of civility on it, and that means that certain elements of the Pagan community aren't welcome here. Please do your best not to become one of them; we'd like to keep this list unmoderated and on the honor system if possible.

Obvious questions ...

1. "I noticed that the name of the list seems to be "Chicago_JudeoPagans". Is this list just for people in Chicago?"
   
   
   

   Answer: No, though originally it was. We would change the name to something more inclusive, but then we would end up breaking every link leading to this list. Just take the name as being part of the history of the list.



2. "History? What history? The founding date given for your list is May 31, 2004. I've got cartons of yogurt that have more history behind them."
   
   
   

   Answer: Yes and no. A few years back, we set up a list called "Chicago_JudeoPagans", which is what "The Witches' Voice" and a few other sites linked to. For reasons obscure to us, Yahoo placed that list on its Canadian server and it only appeared in searches of its Canadian site. There aren't a lot of people in Toronto looking for events in Chicago. Our feeling was that this peculiar listing was harming "Chicago Judeo-Pagans", so we ended up destroying the list in order to save it. To be exact, we changed the old list's name to "Chicago_JudeoPagans2", created a new list named "Chicago_JudeoPagans" (on the correct national server this time), added the membership of the old list to the new list, and then deleted the old list.
   
   Yes, it's a drastic step, but if prospective members can't find us, then we aren't going to be getting anywhere anyway.



3. Question: "Who's the list for, then?"
   
   
   

   Answer: A great many people. The topical focus of this list is broader than that of the older majordomo-based Judeo-Pagan list. If you want to post about the Qabala or Jewish mysticism in general, go right ahead. Jewish or Near Eastern history or culture in general are welcome as topics for posts. Canaanite or other Near or "Middle Eastern" Reconstructionism, and blends of the same with Judaism are welcome as well. What is not welcome is posting about Wicca, or other religions that bear no historical connection to the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), Arabia or its northern neighbors (eg. Persia and Mesopotamia). Given the semi-eclectic nature of both Jewish and Middle Eastern culture, and the diffuse boundaries that any Jewish Polytheism will have, we feel that an attempt to stay strictly on-topic will not allow any real discussion to get going, but that doesn't mean that we should have a free-for-all. You can wander off on tangents a bit, but try to return to the subject.
   
   Events announced on the list should take place in the Midwestern United States, defined here as consisting of the Central Plains states (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin) and their neighbors just across the Mississippi (Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota); places one might realistically road trip to from Chicago, or from which people might road trip to Chicago. Ideally, we would like to see people meeting each other through this list, and so it will have some regional focus. That much having been said, visitors from all parts of the world are welcome to take part in the discussions, and if some of them would like to drop in on events in our area, that sounds good to us. Maybe even essential, considering the painful period of isolation many endure upon relocating to a new area, and the potential relief that building bridges between different regional communities might bring.



4. "Civility? What do you mean by that?"
   
   
   

   Answer : Let's start by saying what we don't mean by that. We are not adopting the country club, "Emily Post" standards that some will take for granted, speaking of "civility" when they should be speaking of "ettiquette". This is a culturally specific list, and the cultures in question are not Anglo-Saxon ones. There is no logical reason on earth why we should be expected to abide by Anglo-Saxon mores any more than we should be expected to abide by, say, Albanian ones. The traditions we look at bear no cultural connection to the British isles, and one might say the same about much of our region. Why, then, should that particular cultural tradition enjoy a privileged status, its own dictates being viewed as being above question? Nobody ever says, though more than a few people online will go on ranting jags if one doesn't cave in and live by their customs. "All cultures are equal" is the line that many pay lip service to, but the "tolerance" offered is a hollow one, in that while one is allowed to hold onto some of the forms of one's own culture, one is pressured in a very belligerent and thoughtlessly ethnocentric fashion to discard its spirit. This, we will not accept.
   
   The mores that will guide the moderation of this mailing list will be unapologetically Jewish ones, and when we say "Jewish", we speak of the customs seen during a weekday discussion, not those seen during Shabbes. If you lie, expect to be called a liar. If you post an absurd claim or argument, expect to see it challenged. And if you start ranting because of this, thinking that we will eject the person you are ranting about because we will be moderating this list on the usual appeasement basis, don't be too surprised if we end up showing you the door, instead. Ours is a people that has been civilized for a long, long time, and which collectively rejected the barbarian ethic of "conflict resolution through competing attempts at intimidation" thousands of years ago. We, as moderators, will not be tolerant of attempts to reintroduce that which our ancestors worked so hard and did so well to discard; whether that attempt is direct or indirect is immaterial. Those who have an issue with that, know how to find their way out. The rest, we hope, will be able to breath a little more easily around here, knowing that they will not be called on to endure a political trial by combat.
   
   We don't log in very often, so if somebody does genuinely start trolling, it may be a while before we take action, at least until we get to know and trust a few of you well enough to make you moderators. Please be patient and don't unsubscribe - we will log in eventually, and we will take action. In the meanwhile, remember that these are but letters on a screen. They can't physically hurt you, and if you've been the reasonable party, you will get backed up, no matter how many supporters your opposition may have recruited. Our best advice, should this arise, is to send us a message about the situation, put the offending parties' addresses into your mailfilter, grab a mint tea and a good book, and post about something you enjoy talking about, ignoring the crazies. The only power they have is the power the rest of us let ourselves be manipulated into giving them, and they'll be gone soon enough.



5. "Sort of a safe place to get away from anti-semitism and anti-arab attitudes? What do you mean 'sort of' or 'semi-safe', and has racism really been a problem in the Pagan community?"
   
   
   

   Answer : As we've said, we don't log in every day. We aren't tolerant of anti-semitism or anti-arab bigotry, and we will ban those who express such sentiments on this list, but to say that this is absolutely a safe place would be to promise something that we can't deliver on : that we'll always be able to stop the offending parties in a timely fashion. We wish we could, but we just can't. Yet.
   
   

   Yes, racism really has been a problem in the Pagan community. The 90s just made it go underground, and not by that much. In the last few years, some have attempted to lay down a pseudo-philosophical foundation for an ideology which would rationalize their not very well concealed racism (at least so far as it applies to religion), but some who one would expect better of haven't even tried to conceal their bigotry at all. Comments about "the brilliant European civilization falling under the pall of a Middle Eastern darkness", "middle eastern savages baking their brains out in the sun" at Sinai, and any number of other remarks reading like something straight out of Kipling's worst moments, only directed against Semitic people instead of Indians. Some of us do sometimes find ourselves wondering why we are even here, and we won't deny that this is a source of added appeal for the concept of Judeo-Paganism from our point of view : a return to our own roots, as we shy away from cultures which are turning on us for no discernable reason. Maybe this isn't a completely rational reason for a theological choice, but it often does feel right.

Returning to the list...