Eat My Tricky Kugel, RenReb!

So those of you who are fans of the ever-exciting Renegade Rebbetzin may remember how in November she was informed by a commenter named Holly that her

...blog, by the way, is being read by a graduate class at Trinity College in CT as part of this week's assignment on religious blogs...

Now, however, I would like to inform the honorable Rebbetzin that she is not the only one whose blog is being used for academic purposes. Cris, a university student taking an Anthropology of Religion class, contacted me about a week ago to see if it'd be okay to use my Tricksterism post as a resource for a paper she was writing on the Trickster archetype, and the way various cultures around the world make use of it! So I said sure, go ahead, and gave a little explanation about the quote she wanted to use in her paper, and what I meant by describing Hashem as a Trickster.

She also asked about the loose Goblin King theme I've got going here, and when I explained that it comes from a Live Action Role Playing Game I helped run in college, she responded:

...after reading your webpage, now knowing that you are a RPGer the personality that comes out in your words makes a lot of sense.

Now, I'm not sure what it means to have a gamer/RPGer personality, but hey, if the Kuribo's Shoe fits... ;-)

Anyway, I just wanted to inform the Renegade Rebbetzin that, with all due respect, bppthpbptþptþphtbt!!!

Oh, and Cris got an A on her paper, and her instructor wants to talk to her about revising it and getting it published! Yay for Cris! Yay for blogs! Yay for Anthropology of Religion! Yay for the Supreme Trickster-Artist, yitbarakh shemo!

In case anyone is thinking of objecting to my description of The One And Only God — who begets not, nor is begotten, and who is completely non-corporeal — as a "Trickster" or an "Artist", I invite you to first open up the liturgical poem anthropomorphism-fest An‘im Zemirot (which I led for the first time ever this Shabbos) and count the number of differing 'modes' in which God interacts with the world. Just as God's will is expressed in the world in such a way that leads us to describe God as Warrior, Judge, and Parent, so too do I see expressions of God acting as Trickster and as Artist.