Jewish goth aesthetic

[dorchadas]

I've been thinking lately about trying to spin my usually goth/cyberpunk aesthetic in a more Jewish direction and wondering what exactly that entails. Just yesterday I ordered this necklace, and I thought, what else would fall under "Jewish goth"? Traditional goth stylings are about transgression, but usually with a very Christian or pagan spin--funeral veils, upside-down crosses or pentagrams, Norse runes, etc. How to do that with Jewish iconography?

So here's some thoughts:

• Ravens: Ravens are treif, obviously, but there's more than that. Noah sent out a raven first when the waters were receding, and then was forced to send out a dove when the raven never returned (Genesis 8:7). Midrash states that this was because the raven spent the whole time eating the corpses of the dead, which, metal. 🤘🏻 The ravens also brought food and drink to Elijah in the wilderness (1 Kings 17:6), indicating they are companions of the outcast, the voices in the wilderness.


• Fringed Shawls: I'm thinking black, or black and white, or black and dark blue, with a fringe on the end to evoke the tallit.


• Torn Clothing: In addition to the association with decay, this is explicitly funereal in Judaism. It's traditional to rend your clothing (קריעה keriah) on hearing of a death, dating back to Tanakh (Genesis 37:34, II Samuel 1:11), so wearing torn clothing all the time would indicate that death is always on your mind.


• The Moon: Night, obviously, but the sages also wrote that the moon and sun were originally of equal stature and size, but the moon complained to G-d about not being given a pre-eminent place. For her hubris, she was demoted to the lesser of the two, but provided with the stars as a slight compensation (Chullin 60b). Again, outcast, associated with night. There's some traditions that associate the moon with sin and redemption as well--it waxes and wanes just as people commit transgressions and then atone.


• Owls: Owls are associated with Lilith, visible in Isaiah 34:14 where the word variously translated as "night creature," "night bird," or "screech owl" is לילית lilit, "Lilith." The name Lilith itself is cognate with the word לילה laylah, "Night." Lilith has a lot of transgressive associations--she was Adam's first wife but refused to submit to him, she flies through the night attacking children in vengeance for G-d's slaying of her own children, and chose exile and the power of night over a diminished place in the hierarchy.


• Biblical Quotes: A lot of quotes from Tanakh are extremely goth. Take Isaiah 64:6:

  All of us have become like one who is unclean,
  and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
  we all shrivel up like a leaf,
  and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

  I'd definitely get that in Hebrew on a shawl or clothing somewhere. Pick something appropriate about mourning (Psalm 137), blood (Deuteronomy 12:23), vengeance (Jeremiah 46:10), bitterness and sorrow (Job 10), desolation (Lamentations 1), or death (Ecclesiastes 8:8) and go to town.


• Candles: I mean, we light candles at sundown, drink wine, and eat bread and salt every Friday. That's already pretty goth--it's not really much of a stretch.


• The Evil Eye: The hamsa is a common Middle Eastern symbol to ward off the Evil Eye, and you can still find older people who say kein ayin hara after complimenting someone in order to prevent the Evil Eye from falling on the focus of their compliments. I'm envisioning something like a Nazar amulet, but cracked, or with a red eye instead of blue, or one that's crying.
  
  I should say that I honestly wouldn't be comfortable doing this one , but it certainly fits. I'd be more likely to wear a hamsa straight, which evokes the kind of spooky supernatural aesthetic a lot of goths like (at least in America--they're everyday items in Israel) without explicitly inviting bad luck on yourself. I've thought about getting gloves with hamsas on the back. Someday.


• The Seal of Solomon: By this I mean the six-pointed star versions, not the later versions by Christian writers. The main distinguishing point from the Magen David is that the Seal of Solomon has interlaced triangles (in order to confuse demons), whereas the Magen David has overlapping triangles--at least in the past, though that distinction isn't really followed anymore. Even a Magen David can work if it's a little different--I have one that's done in Celtic-style interwoven knotwork, and I found this design modeled after bones with a bit of searching.


• Layers: I'm thinking here of reinterpreted tzniut, the way there's a lot of Victorian fashion among goths. Something like dark mori would work for women--no one could say that someone wearing a long skirt, stockings, boots, a blouse, a cardigan, a shawl, and gloves was dressed immodestly. For men it's a little harder, but still possible.


• Serpents: The serpent of Genesis 3 is the obvious inspiration here. It specifically says that the serpent is more crafty than any other creature, but there's no real motivation for its discussion with Eve given. Or is there? Genesis 2 says that after G-d said Adam needed a companion that the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky were brought to him, and only when none of them were found suitable did G-d make Eve. So the serpent was jealous--and possibly, according to the sages, asking a question: "What makes you so different from us, that none of us were suitable as a companion for you? Are you so far above us? What is the line between us that neither of us can cross?"
  
  Plus, the serpent was right. Eve says that if she eats the fruit she will die, and the serpent says that no, her eyes will open and she'll gain wisdom. Secret wisdom, forbidden truths, knowledge that other people shy away from--those are goth. (suggested by gothiklezmer)

More as I think of them.

I do a bunch of this already. I ordered that raven skull necklace, I have a knotwork Magen David, I have a black scarf with ragged edges that's tallit-sized, and I layer clothing all the time. And speaking of torn clothing, some of my clothing has rents incorporated into the designs, so that I've worn four layers and still had skin that wasn't my hands or face exposed to the cold. I have a ring with the first part of the Shema on it. But just in writing this down, I've already thought of a few more ideas. 🖤

Final note: I flopped back and forth between and for the icon, but eventually I had to go with the Yahrzeit candle.

Comments

[angelofthenorth]

Do you know liv? She sometimes does goth and Jewish.....

[dorchadas]

I do not! I think I've seen her comment on some of your posts, but that's my only interaction with her.

[tcpip]

This is a wonderful post.

On the cyberpunk-side it would be interesting to see the Kabbalah as a network diagram :)

[dorchadas]

I know I've seen something like that, because I printed it on my business cards when I went as techbro Haman for Purim one year (from "Shushan Analytics," motto: The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit [Esther 3:11]), but I can't find it now...