Dr. Justin Sledge
Scholar of the arcane, Content Producer, Popular Educator on Esoteric and Occult Topics
Dr. Justin Sledge works as a part-time professor of Religion and Philosophy in the Detroit area and is the host of the popular YouTube channel Esoterica with nearly half a million subscribers. His academic expertise is in Western Esotericism, especially the metaphysical and philosophical background of early modern occultism. His educational work focuses on a range of topics including alchemy, magic, kabbalah, gnosticism, hermetic philosophy and the occult. In addition to his academic work Dr Sledge is also a collector and dealer in arcane antiquarian books. He is also a distiller and recently teamed with Detroit City Distillery to recreate a historically accurate Absinthe following 19th century protocols. Dr. Sledge lives in Detroit with his wife, Rabbi Alana Alpert, his two children and their dog Mississippi.
Articles
Blog
Halloween Sameach
Shadows lengthen, the cool air begins to bite, trees do their best Van Gogh impression and somewhere in the distance a synthy John Carpenter score is playing – Halloween cometh. A holiday as ancient as Irish paganism took America by storm in the early 20th century where it was more playful than spooky and captured the libidinal imagination with creature features and hard-core horror films as the century grew on. This holiday, both celebrating and recoiling at the notion that the barrier between the living and the dead is at its thinnest on October 31 has no real analog in Judaism. In fact, orthodox Judaism would likely consider its celebration by Jews as “avodah zarah,” tantamount to paganism. Reboot Network member Dr. Justin Sledge expands on why Jews don’t celebrate Halloween and explores Jewish mystical rituals that are Halloween aligned in his blog. Read more here.
Appears in
Reboot Ideas
Reboot Ideas Presents: Monster Mash
Reboot, with Detroit Public Theatre and Detroit Public Television, invites you to celebrate the most famous Jewish monster, the Golem, its history and contemporary lessons. This Reboot Ideas conversation, hosted at Third Man Records in Detroit, featured New York Times bestselling author Adam Mansbach and Dr. Justin Sledge, a Detroit-based professor of Ethics, Religion, and Social-Political Philosophy whose research has an emphasis on Jewish esotericism and the occult. In a conversation moderated by Angelique Power, president & CEO of The Skillman Foundation, the two discussed the historical and contemporary connection between the legend of the golem and Jewish links between the supernatural, creativity and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Presented together with PBS Books. Learn more and watch the conversation here.
The Golem Rescored
Magic and Mystics
Reviving the 1920s film, The Golem: How He Came Into the World, Reboot reimagined the classic horror film as eight-part episodic series, each segment newly scored by renowned musicians and hosted by leading scholars, composers and film historians. Together, they explored the film’s lasting impact, its haunting music and its rich connections to Jewish history, occultism, Hollywood, tradition and astrology. In this episode, scored by Threshing Floor, we explore the themes of magic and mystics, Jewish folklore, Talmud and philosophy with Dr. Justin Sledge, a professor of philosophy and religion in the Metro-Detroit area. He looks at the mystical spiritual leader Judah Loew ben Bezalel or “Rabbi Lowe” in The Golem film, who, in an effort to protect his people and avoid their expulsion, creates a massive warrior out of clay, using magic to bring him to life. Watch here.
The Golem Rescored: Guests
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Golem, Reboot is cutting up the film into eight parts, creating an episodic series with new scores by renowned musicians and hosted by preeminent scholars, composers and film historians discussing the significance of the film and its music and taking a deep dive into the Jewish history, occultism, Hollywoodism, traditions and astrology.