Eilat Writers Guild

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Eilat Writers Guild, L.L.C.

The Deck I’ve Been Waiting For All My Life!

Today, I’m expecting to receive a deck I’m unusually excited about: Stav Appel’s Torah in Tarot, a polished reproduction of the Jean Noblet Tarot, a seventeenth-century French tarot deck first published in Paris around 1650.

In his book, Appel makes a fascinating case that this deck was a deliberate attempt to preserve and disguise Jewish tradition, including Hebrew letters, biblical stories, and religious practices, within the familiar structure of Italian playing cards.

He places the deck in a world in which Jews who had converted to Christianity, or whose families had converted, could face serious consequences if they continued to practice Judaism. His suggestion is that some crypto-Jews may have appeared to be playing trionfi while using the cards to remember and teach Jewish traditions, rather as Jewish folklore tells of children pretending to gamble with dreidels while secretly studying Torah.

That may sound far-fetched. One YouTube reviewer did a casual flip-through and dismissed the idea as fantasy. But I think I know the difference between projecting an idea onto an image and suddenly recognizing something that was there all along.

And once you see some of these things, they are very hard to unsee.

I used to turn up my nose at Marseille-style decks because I found the art crude and unappealing. Then Appel pointed out that the peculiar wheels on The Chariot resemble Torah scroll handles, and that the objects on The Magician’s table can be read as elements of a medieval mohel’s kit. Even the word “tarot,” whose origins remain uncertain, may contain a deliberate play on “Torah.”

Before rolling your eyes at yet another theory about the secret origins of tarot, take a moment to look at the cards themselves. The Fool is shaped remarkably like the Hebrew letter Tav. An Ayin appears in La Maison Dieu, The Tower, along with what Appel identifies as the tablets of the Ten Commandments. He reads the number of rays of sunlight as pointing toward the date Tisha b’Av. The marks on The Magician’s dice suggest the eighth day, when circumcision is performed. And most striking to me, once it was pointed out, is what looks very much like a mikveh in The Judgment card. At some point, the accumulation becomes difficult to dismiss as coincidence.

During periods of persecution, Jews who converted under pressure could be watched for signs that they were continuing Jewish practices. Hebrew books, ritual objects, and familiar customs could become dangerous. Yet people found ways to remember. Centuries later, some families still preserve customs whose original meaning has been forgotten, such as turning a picture of Jesus to face the wall before lighting candles on Friday evening or performing some small household ritual without knowing why. Such survivals of hidden Jewish identity have been documented in different parts of the Jewish diaspora.

So the possibility that crypto-Jews might have used a deck of cards to preserve fragments of Jewish knowledge does not seem entirely strange to me. It would belong to a much broader pattern of cultural camouflage: ordinary objects and ordinary customs quietly carrying something that could no longer be displayed openly, including traces of mezuzot concealed or carved into doorframes.

Why, then, has no one noticed the Torah in tarot before Stav Appel?

Perhaps because tarot has accumulated so many elaborate origin stories that people have learned to be suspicious of them. Egypt, mystery schools, ancient initiations, Kabbalah... almost every esoteric tradition seems, at some point, to have been declared the secret source of tarot. As much as I wanted to find Judaism in the cards, even I rolled my eyes at claims connecting tarot with authentic Kabbalah.

That is part of what makes Appel’s argument so interesting to me. He is not beginning with the proposition that tarot must secretly be Jewish and then assigning Jewish meanings to ordinary images. He begins with one particular deck and asks us to look closely at details already present in it: a letter, a ritual object, a biblical image, a gesture, a number. Individually, any one of them might be coincidence. Taken together, they make a much more interesting case.

Appel has persuaded me that the Jean Noblet Tarot deserves to be looked at with Jewish eyes. Torah in Tarot gives me a guide for doing that, and a way of recognizing symbols and stories I might otherwise have passed over completely. For someone already obsessed with tarot, that is an irresistible prospect.

My favorite writing implement? The eraser!

I just deleted 10 pages of my guidebook and replaced it with a clearer introduction. Real progress!

If you're curious, the footnote says: "Throughout this guidebook, I’ve italicized Hebrew titles and terms such as Sefer Yetzirah and sefirot. Quotations from authors such as Aryeh Kaplan retain their original formatting."

Poll Time! Help Me Choose a Title for My Tarot Guidebook

Vote! Select a letter below to help me choose a title for my LWB, "little white book." 📖

I’m still deep in the writing process, maybe halfway there, but I’d love your help choosing a title. It's for a guidebook to my Eilat Tarot, a Jewish deck that draws on the Sefer Yetzirah, the Hebrew calendar, the Land of Israel, and the symbolism of numbers and letters.

Which title do you like best? Feel free to vote for more than one, or suggest your own twist!

A. The Eilat Tarot: Little White Book
B. Eilat Tarot: A Tarot of Sunlight, Stone, and Water
C. The Eilat Tarot: Numbers, Letters, and the Land

D. The World Was Created With Letters: A Jewish Tarot Companion
E. Path of the Desert Letters: A Mystical Guide of Desert, Voice, and Vision
F. Letters of Light: A Kabbalistic Tarot Guide

G. Voice in the High Places: The World Was Created With Breath and Speech
H. The Tarot of Returning: A Tarot Guide Through Soul, World, and Time

I. The Tarot of Formation
J. Letters of Formation: The Tarot of Creation According to the Sefer Yetzirah
K. Formed in Silence: A Tarot Guide Through Soul, World, and Time

Thanks for helping me shape this journey! Your feedback means a lot. 💙

I’ll post updates as the project continues!

The Jewish Tarot That Isn’t-- Yet

For years, I daydreamed about finding a Jewish tarot deck. Then, I started dreaming about making one. Betzalel Arieli's Tarot Yehudi almost convinced me I’d found one! Eugene Vinitski's Tarot of Magical Correspondeces came so close! And it gave me the idea of making a collage deck rather than a unimaginative combinaton of PCS image and Tree of Life glyph.

Here are my attempts to brainstorm two of the cards. They’re nowhere near finished and definitely not collages. They've been gathering dust on a shelf, but this project keeps tugging at me.

Maybe it will remain a daydream forever.

But I really want to make it real!

The Aces in the Arieli Tarot

Havdallah and the Aces:

Aces in most Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) style decks show a Divine Hand dispensing gifts that are the elements of our existence in this world. The symbols of the four elements are usually a cup, a sword, a wand, and a coin (pentacle).

However, in The Jewish Tarot, the cards show a human hand engaged in the order of havdalah, a ritual that is observed at the end of Shabbat and other biblically mandated holidays. The ritual begins after sunset, when three stars are visible in the sky. Havdalah brings joy at what might seem a time of sadness: the ending of a holy day or the departure of Shabbat.

Havdalah separates, or distinguishes between sacred time and secular time. During havdalah, we engage all our senses: hearing, touch, taste, smell, and sight. The acrostic, Yavneh, can be used to recall the order of blessings during the ritual: yayin (wine), besamim (spices), ner (candle), and havdalah (the prayer of separation). Ashkenazim and Sefardim recite the same four blessings during Havdalah, but different introductory passages. (Yavneh is the town where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai, the ריב״ז‎, began a school to preserve the Oral Tradition after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.)

Havdalah is a reenactment of creation, of God creating light and separating it from darkness and water from water. Arieli’s Aces emphasize that humans are partners in creation and that our actions here affect the divine realm. “As below, so above.” Divine Light descended the Tree to create the universe, and in response, we strive to bring light back up the Tree, and to reunite the Divine Presence with the Holy One of Blessing. (Reflecting this, the directions associated with the elements used in the ritual are addressed in counterclockwise direction.)

In the RWS and the Arieli Tarot, the Aces are assigned to כתר, Crown, the highest sefirah on the Tree of Life. Keter is the first place on the Tree where Divine energy enters creation. As a literal crown sits upon the head, this sefirah is metaphorically above the human mind’s abilities to comprehend it. The gifts represented by the Aces are more awesome than we usually recognize.

Ace of Goblets
Element: Water
Direction: South

Arieli’s Ace of Goblets shows a human hand holding a Kiddush cup upon which are engraved, in Hebrew, words from the first blessing of Havdalah, “Who creates the fruit of the vine.” The cup is filled to overflowing, representing both our desire for abundance and the actual abundance the Divine has already provided. Oddly, the sky in this card shows that the ritual has begun during daylight.

The elemental assignment of Water to the suit of Cups also suggests a connection to an introductory prayer of the havdalah ritual. “You will draw water joyously from the wellsprings of salvation,” and references the Water Drawing Ritual that was performed during Sukkot when the Temple still stood.

Arieli assigns these meanings to his Ace of Goblets:

Upright: sensitivity, mental depth, pleasure, a source of blessing and abundance, spiritual harmony, extra-sensory perception
Reversed: an excess of emotion that may cloud the mind, lack, intoxication

The RWS Ace of Cups shows the Holy Grail and other Christian imagery. Four streams of water overflow the brim into a lily pond. Each droplet around the falling water looks like the letter yud (י), which is said to represent divine grace.

Generally, the Ace of Cups indicates the gift of emotions, emotional awareness, compassion, creativity, a new love, and healing. It can also indicate repressed emotions, the mistrust of one’s own intuition, or the need for spiritual nourishment.

The contemplated Raziel Tarot version of this card will show the silver goblet of Yosef the Diviner. (B’reisheet, Genesis, 44:1-5)

A biblical verse for this card might be: My cup runneth over. - Tehillim (Psalms) 23:5

Ace of Swords
Element: Air
Direction: East

Arieli’s Ace of Swords shows a human hand holding a fragrant myrtle branch, and a tablecloth embroidered with the words, “Who creates varieties of spices,” from the second blessing of the havdalah ritual. In the background a night sky is speckled with stars.

The elemental assignment of Air to this suit is indicated by besamim, the spices that we smell during havdalah, to revive the spirit which is saddened by the departure of the extra soul (neshama yetaira) each of us received on Shabbat, and to renew our love for this world.

The sense of smell is connected to memory and to our souls. After God created the first human from the earth, he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Tradition says that Moshiach will rely on the sense of smell to judge the fitness of the world and that he will arrive in the month of Cheshvan, which the Sefer Yetzirah associates with the sense of smell.

Arieli assigns these meanings to his Ace of Swords:

Upright: sharp mind, discernment, courage, determination, decisiveness, and powers of persuasion
Reversed: recklessness, sarcasm, cruelty

The RWS Ace of Swords shows a Divine Hand holindg a sword. A crown and garlands encircle the tip of the upraised sword and six yuds (י) hover above the griYud is the first letter of the Divine Name and represents grace.

Generally, the Ace of Swords indicates the gift of intellect, mental clarity and energy, articulate speech, idealism, spiritual strength, and victory. It can also indicate aggression, cruelty, deception, confusion, sorrow, a failure to think things through, or an awareness of the suffering of life.

The contemplated Raziel Tarot version of this card will show the Sword of David.

A biblical verse for this card might be: And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, ‘See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. - Breisheet (Genesis) 27:27

Ace of Candles
Element: Fire
Direction: North

Against a sky still glowing brightly from sunset, a human hand holds a multi-wicked havdalah candle above a tablecloth that is embroidered with the Hebrew words, “Who creates the lights of the fire.” That is the third blessing of havdalah. The multi-wicked candle represents the letter shin (ש), which the Sefer Yetzirah associates with the element of fire.

The creation and use of fire, prohibited on Shabbat, marks the end of Shabbat. When darkness first descended in Gan Eden, Adam and Eve were afraid, but God taught them to make fire by striking two stones together. Each Motza'ei Shabbat, we are reminded of our ability to combat darkness. While we say the blessing for making fire, we gaze at our fingernails to see the reflected light of the havdalah flame, this is a reference a myth in which Adam carried light down from heaven in his fingernails. The elemental attribution of fire to this suit also suggests a connection to the introductory prayer of the havdalah ritual. “The Jews had light, happiness, joy and honor, may we have the same.”

Arieli assigns these meanings to the Ace of Candles:

Upright: desire, energy, impulsiveness, aspiration, ambition heat, joy
Reversed: irritability, pride, arrogance

In the RWS Ace of Wands, a hand emerging from a cloud, holds a staff, reminiscent of the flowering rod of Aaron, the high priest. In the distance, a river and a castle on a hill are dimly visible.

Generally, the Ace of Wands represents the gift of spirit, life force, inner strength, sexual desire, desire for growth, optimism, and inspiration. It can also indicate hesitation, setbacks, lack of motivation, not trusting your instincts or your ability to heal.

The Ace of Wands contemplated for The Raziel Tarot will show the staff of Aaron.

A biblical verse for this card might be: For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? - Dvarim, Deuteronomy 5:22

Ace of Coins
Element: Earth
Direction: West

The Arieli Ace of Coins shows a human hand holding a large coin inscribed with a Magen David. Below is a tablecloth embroidered with the Hebrew words, “Who distinguishes between the sacred and the secular.” Light from the setting sun is discernable on the horizon.

The suit of Coins represents the element of Earth. Arieli notes that, although no coin is used in havdalah, the ritual is a transition from sacred time when work is prohibited to ordinary time. In other words, havdalah welcomes the possibility of joyfully resuming work, creativity, and earning.

Arieli assigns these meanings to the Ace of Coins:

Upright: pragmatism, realism, practical experience, material resources, patience, resilience, tradition or anything else you can rely on
Reversed: apathy, laziness, inflexibility, fixation, inflexibility

In the RWS Ace of Pentacles, a hand emerges from a cloud, holding a large disc inscribed with the Seal of Solomon. Below, a path leads from a garden through a leafy arbor to blue mountains in the distance.

Generally, the Ace of Pentacles represents the awe-inspiring gift of the physical world. The Golden Dawn changed the suit from Coins to Pentacles as a reminder of the divine within the physical realm. This card indicates prosperity and sanctuary, a new path you can choose, or a chance to plant a seed. In some way, you are responsible for creating this new opportunity. The Ace of Pentacles implies both bounty and hardship. Reversed, it may suggest ingratitude, lack of planning, or a false sense of security. Whenever a Pentacle represents money, it is important to be wary of greed and to remember: “Justice, justice, shalt thou pursue.” (Dvarim, Deuteronomy, 16:20)

In the version contemplated for The Raziel Tarot, the Ace of Wands will be Seal of Solomon.

A biblical verse for this card might be: We will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. - Micah 4:5

א Breath

A breath of cool air flows from the east just before the sun rises over the red hills of Edom. The Fool, filled with hope and renewed strength, sets off on a journey. No longer bound by fear or grief, she embraces her true identity, unaffected by the opinions of others. Experience has made her wise, not despondent; she carries no wounds or resentment. Her inner ear is attuned to divine guidance, and her voice is powerful. With spontaneity and playfulness, she embraces life's delights. She finally recognizes that her encounters with darkness truly were valuable gifts and lessons on her path. Angels guard each step she takes and her heart is free. This image of rebirth is assigned the Hebrew letter Alef, which represents the divine breath of creation according to the Sefer Yetzirah.

The Fool, as represented in the Tarot, has evolved from symbolizing a crazy person, driven out by society and plagued by delusions, to embodying a wise wanderer. This transformation connects two powerful traditions: the holy fool, touched by God, and the court jester, having no fixed place in society but free to speak truths others did not dare.

This evolution of The Fool in the Tarot raises a connection between homelessness and foolishness. The saying of Chazal, "A man who has no home is not a man," underscores the vital importance of having a home and family, providing a sense of belonging, purpose, and a foundation for serving and taking action in the world. Without these essential elements, one's words and actions lack grounding and significance, rendering them fleeting and inconsequential. Therefore, the concept of homelessness serves as a metaphorical reminder of the importance of rootedness and connection in our lives.

Images from Tarot Yehudi and the Raziel Tarot:

In the Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli, The Fool card is associated with Keter, the first sefirah, symbolizing freedom, lightness, and untapped potential. When the card appears reversed, it may suggest instability and a lack of grounding.

The Raziel Tarot, created by Rachel Pollack and Robert Place, depicts The Fool as a young and androgynous Yosef the Diviner before maturity, whose eventual journey saved his family and played a vital role in the Israelites receiving the Torah at Sinai after generations of suffering. The Fool's story highlights divine plans and the eventual fulfillment of a purpose.

Rachel Pollack offers insightful meanings for The Fool. Upright, it represents innocence, openness, and limitless possibilities. It embodies freedom, gentleness, and a lack of anger or grudges. It signifies divination and psychic abilities used selflessly. It reflects beauty and androgyny, a harmonious blend of masculine and feminine. However, it also warns of unrecognized danger, especially in conjunction with aggressive cards. Reversed, it calls for caution, self-consciousness, and hesitation. It highlights an over-awareness of social attitudes or the opinions of others, particularly when paired with the reversed Hanged Man. It acknowledges the importance of recognizing potentially dangerous situations.

Betzalel Arieli writes that the upright card suggests freedom, lightness, inspiration, creativity, and a new beginning. The reversed face indicates instability or a lack of grounding.

By engaging in focused reflection, we can gain insights into the kind of Fool we currently are and cultivate an awareness of our strengths and weaknesses. Embracing the essence of The Fool means acknowledging both our virtuous qualities and our flaws. Through this recognition, we can consciously work on transforming our negative traits into positive ones, and harness our strengths to become better individuals. It is through this process of self-discovery and growth that we embark on a profound journey towards personal evolution.

Deck Review: Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli

During my trip to Tel Aviv yesterday, while walking back to the train station, I stopped at my favorite store in Dizengoff Center.

The store is called Fairies Forest. It takes up two store fronts and is bursting with goodies that would, in other countries, fill four or five New Age stores. They mostly carry Lo Scarabeo decks from Italy and a few Russian decks, but I enjoy seeing what decks they have as well as browsing through fairy tchotchkes, Hebrew oracle decks, fantasy movie paraphernalia, Tolkien books (in English!), and other New Agey gifts. 

Today I saw the kind of deck I've wanted for years and, in fact, started to create: a Jewish tarot deck. It's the Tarot Yehudi by Betzalel Arieli. I was fascinated and even had the clerk take one box out of the locked cabinet. I struggled to make up my mind because tarot decks here cost more than twice what they do in the U.S. I began to walk out of the store without buying it, but then asked myself how often I get to Tel Aviv...

This morning, I explored my new deck while lounging next to the Gulf at 9Beach. Here are some of images of my unboxing:

טארוט יהודי - בצלאל אריאלי

Deck quality: The deck is thicker than I'm used to and the cards are glossy enough to slide in every direction when I remove them from the box. It looks as if the cellophane covering each card may wear off quickly, damaging the cards, if the deck is shuffled much. The figures in the cards are predominantly male; I count 21 women and two babies of indeterminate gender in the deck. (The quintessential Jewish image of a woman lighting Shabbos candles is missing from the deck; in fact, only one card, the Four of Candles, shows Shabbat candles.) However, the card images and the organization of the deck are fascinating!

The Aces show human hands holding ritual objects related to the Havdalah ritual, rather than the hand of God offering gifts to us. The Aces in Arieli's tarot show humans becoming the primary partner in creation. "As below, so above."

The Princesses (represented by the prophets Miriam, Huldah, Avigail, and Devorah) correspond with the four elements. These are the Pages of the RWS, figures that are typically shown accepting the Divine gift represented by the Ace of their suit.

The remaining Court cards are aligned with regions of the zodiac. Fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) are the King, Queen, and Prince of Candles. Earth signs are represented by Coins, air signs by Swords, and water signs by Cups.

The numbered cards of the Minor Arcana are not clones of the Rider Waite Smith deck, in fact, they stray pretty far from it. Following are the Three of Wands, Six of Cups, Six of Swords, and Nine of Pentacles:

Printed on each numbered Minor Arcana is a month of the Hebrew year, a region of the zodiac, and a sfirah on the Tree of Life-- all the twos are Ḥokmah (חָכְמָה), all the threes are Binah (בִּינָה), and so forth down to ten and Malkhut.

The Two, Three, and Four of Candles are aligned with the zodiac sign Aries and the month of Nisan (נִיסָן), in which Jews observe the Shabbat HaChodesh, Shabbat HaGadol, Ta'anit Bechorot, Passover, and the beginning of the Counting of the Omer.

Nisan falls in the half of the year called "The Days of Sun." Nisan and the other two months of spring are represented by three Wands, three Coins, and three Swords.

The Majors are aligned, unusually, with Sfirot on the Tree of Life. The Fool card, called Divine Breath, and is number 1, so it and cards 10 (The Prophet) and 19 (The Moon) are aligned with Keter, Crown. 

Since The High Priestess card, called HaShekhinah, is aligned with Binah, the third sfirah on the Tree of Life, she is given the third letter of the alphabet, gimmel, rather than the letter beit, which I usually associate her with.

The Magician card, called The Sage, seems to reflect Christian ceremonial magic-- I don't know how much the symbols reflect actual Jewish mysticism.

None of the Majors, only the number 10 cards of the Minor suits, are aligned with Malkhut, Kingdom.

Fairies Forest had decks for sale in both Hebrew and Russian. Images on the website seem to indicate that an English language version has also been published (with quirky transliterations of the sfirot).  

YouTube video of the Major Arcana

The video says that there are references to the planets in the cards, presumably the Majors, but I haven't found them yet.

Multilingual website (just click on the Union Jack for English)

You can view the cards with Hebrew, Russian, or English titles and descriptions. The English description of the cards on the website doesn't seem to contain exactly the same information as the LWB.

The LWB is in Hebrew (without vowels), so I'm relying on Google Translate. This has yielded several good laughs-- for example, this supposed quote from Megillat Esther: "And take Asparagus to the king on the eve of his kingdom on the tenth month, the new moon, at seven."

Of course, I'll turn to the website and the LWB, but I think the fun part of learning this deck will be creating my own meanings for the cards from my Jewish knowledge and memories and from the Sefer Yetzirah and other Jewish sources.

(I've used the image of the Two of Swords here because that card leaped out of the deck when I first unboxed it.)

Following are images of a few of the Major Arcana cards. The Empress is represented by Queen Esther, The Hierophant by Aharon (Aaron), Strength by Shimshon (Samson), and The Star by Batsheva (Bathsheba).