Instead of folding laundry, I spent all last evening reading the latest issue of Zeek, “a jewish journal of thought & culture” that I obviously don’t look at nearly enough.

It’s progressive without being pretentious, and I love the part of the masthead where it says We will not pretend that the privileged, parochial, Ashkenazic milieu in which we grew up is meaningful Jewish culture, and we will never confuse cliche with meaning. We will never say “oy vey.”

The whole issue grabbed me, starting with the cover art pictured here, “The Medium is the Matzah” by Melissa Schiff, whose own site, japshopper.com, completely rocks.

Then there’s Dr. Jonathan Garb’s critique of New Age Kabbalah, which has much to say about the difference between a “personal” spirituality and the true meaning of mysticism.

Leah Koenig’s interview with “The Tribe” (aka the Jewish Barbie movie) creator Tiffany Shlain and Esther Solomon’s treatise on the superiority of Israeli coffee are not to be missed; same goes for Joseph Dobkin’s poetic lament for someone named David.

That’s not even everything, but be sure to read editor Jay Michaelson’s essay “The Freedom of Being”, a thoughtful, lovely ode to the gift of doing nothing that isn’t afraid to talk about God.

These Zeeks are my kind of Jews — yours too? Order a print subscription; I’ll do the same once I have a permanent address.