Judaism Unbound Episode 492: The Torah of the Tarot - Stav Appel
Tarot is known to be a practice of reading, of uncovering important meaning behind the symbols each card evokes. But what if there’s an even deeper, secret connection to not just our lives as a whole, but our lives as Jews? For data scientist and author Stav Appel, happening upon a 17th century forgotten tarot deck took him on a journey through Torah and time.
[1] We’re honored to share with you a new podcast series that speaks directly to the evolving conversation around Jewish identity, trauma, and resilience. Door to Door is a five-episode journey through four generations of one Jewish family — from a quiet village in Germany to the reverberations of the Holocaust, and into the present-day search for meaning, memory, and continuity. If your Jewish identity is shaped by memory, migration, trauma, or transformation — this podcast is for you. Join our Executive Director Miriam Terlinchamp in this journey focused on pilgrimage and reclamation. You can catch the trailer before it launches on July 23rd!
[2] To see more of Appel’s work, you can visit his website.
[3] Appel’s Deck and accompanying Booklet, analyzing the Noblet Tarot’s connections to Jewish tradition, are available for preorder through our friends at Ayin Press.
[4] Some visuals from Appel’s deck. From right to left: XII Hangman/Le Pendu, XXI The World/Le Monde, XVIII The Moon/La Lune.
[5] Appel interprets The Hangman/Le Pendu as being connected to the antagonist Haman in the Book of Esther.
[6] Another common tarot deck is the Rider Waite Smith deck.
[7] Check out another one of our episodes on Jewish Magic: Judaism Unbound Episode 345: When Jewish Meets Jewitch - Ketzirah Lesser.
[8] Appel references the Zohar, and debates about whether it was written in the 2nd century CE, or 1,000 years later. For more on this check out Episode 161: The Zohar - Daniel Matt.
[9] Dan mentions A Podcast of Biblical Proportions. Check out their podcast at PodcastOfBiblicalProportions.com and their appearance on our podcast via Episode 295: Reading the Bible Differently - Omri Harel, Gil Kidron.
[10] Check out the deck of playing cards that tells the story of the book of Esther, referenced by Dan in this episode and created by David Zvi Kalman, via this link.