Featured Author Talk
The Torah in the Tarot
Author talk with Stav Appel
Jewish Arts and Bookfest
Sunday, May 3, 2026
at UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
For hundreds of years, the original meaning of the Tarot de Marseille, the artistic ancestor of the contemporary Tarot, has been a source of mystery, speculation, and debate. After a chance encounter with an old deck of Tarot cards, Stav Appel began to explore the origins and meaning of the biblical references he recognized in its images. The Torah in the Tarot presents the thesis that the original Tarot contained a veiled depiction of Hebrew letters, Judaic ritual objects, Jewish holy days and Torah stories. This concealed Judaic content suggests it originally served as tool for clandestine Jewish education during the centuries of the Inquisition.
About Stav Appel
Stav Appel is a data scientist and a lifelong student of Torah. Earlier in his career he was the director of the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence organization Nitzanei Shalom, and the director of International Service Programs for American Jewish World Service. He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and has studied Biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University and Yale Divinity School.
After a chance encounter with an old deck of Tarot cards, Stav began to explore the origins and meaning of the biblical references he recognized in its images. He is now a frequent speaker and popular writer on the Torah in the Tarot, the lost and forgotten Judaic origins of the mysterious Tarot de Marseille. He currently resides in North Salem, NY. Find Stav on Instagram @torah.tarot.
About the Book: The Torah in the Tarot
A beautiful Tarot deck and booklet revealing the lost and forgotten Jewish origins of the Tarot—featuring a foreword by poet Ariana Reines.
For hundreds of years, the original meaning of the Tarot de Marseille, the artistic ancestor of the contemporary Tarot, has been a source of mystery, speculation, and debate. When Torah student Stav Appel encountered the Jean Noblet Tarot—one of the oldest preserved decks in the tradition of the Tarot de Marseille—he found something curious: the Magician held his arms in the shape of the Hebrew letter aleph א, the Hermit wore a Jewish prayer shawl, and three pieces of matzah hid beneath the Moon.
In The Torah in the Tarot, Appel carefully analyzes the Noblet Tarot, uncovering a rich array of Jewish symbols ingeniously concealed in its images. Given the deck’s origin circa 1650, during the Catholic Church’s centuries-long campaign to eradicate Judaism, Appel argues persuasively that its secret content suggests it originally served as a tool for clandestine Jewish education. Writing in a rich style that draws on rabbinic literary forms, Appel has presented a landmark contribution to the field of Tarot studies—revealing that when we perceive the Tarot through a Jewish lens, we can, at long last, recognize the Torah hidden in the Tarot.
The Torah in the Tarot includes a booklet written by Stav Appel with a foreword by Ariana Reines, as well as a historically accurate, 78-card color reproduction of the Jean Noblet Tarot—the only modern copy that preserves the full scope of the deck’s original Judaica—created by the French artist Florent Giraud of Tarotgraphe.