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I know I'm writing this right as shabbat is coming in and tbh I'm fine with that. I'm so tired of Jews saying that if they don't keep shabbat or practice Judaism in an orthodox way they're "bad jews" or "not observant." Um, no, that's not true. That's now how it works.

Reform Jews who use electricity on Shabbat are just as observant. Because Reform rabbis did the same work of Torah law interpretation, and came up with a different answer than orthodox Jews, but using the same process and approach to reading the text. They didn't go, "this is inconvenient so we're just not gonna do it." They said, "where orthodoxy sees electricity as something that may create a spark and therefore violates the melachot around making fire, we see it as a current, like water flowing, and just as it is permitted to use a faucet on Shabbat, so is flipping an electric switch."

If you choose to not be observant because it's not for you, that's fine. But orthodoxy is not the only way to be observant of Jewish practice. There's no line of what makes you observant and what doesn't, and that doesn't just go for Shabbat but it's the easiest example to illustrate my point. The Torah just says, "observe the Shabbat." That's it. If you look around on Friday night and go, "oh hey it's Shabbat, huh?" then tell me how that isn't observing the Shabbat? If you light candles and make kiddush and then go out to a movie, haven't you observed it? The Rabbis in the Babylonian era interpreted what Jewish practice looks like in a diaspora without the cultural/religious structure around a central temple, but that has been re-interpreted in every generation since and continues to be.

The real question is, are you making informed choices about your practice or are you just doing what works for you? Which is also fine, by the way. The thing that bothers me is when people think that only orthodox Jewish practices are "real" or legitimate. An orthodox friend of mine once started shit talking Reform Jews to me (why???) and how they aren't observant like she is. So I asked her if she tears her toilet paper on Shabbat and she said yes, of course. I pointed out that there are a lot of charedi Jews who would consider that a blatant violation of Shabbat and that, in their eyes, she wouldn't be considered shomer Shabbat. It's all a spectrum, there's no ONE right way.

My favorite Midrash is that the Temple had 13 entrances - one for each of the 12 tribes, and one for those who weren't sure which one they belonged to/didn't belong to any of them. Judaism is such an inherently pluralistic ethnoreligion, please stop buying into the brainrot bullshit that only charedim can do it correctly.

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I think one of the hardest things for me is that I have never before really been able to conceptualise the idea of the “like watching a car crash in slow motion” thing.

I, and I think maybe a lot of other people, read about the history of the pre-WWII era and it feels fast. It’s not just that era - I generally experience studying history this way, like things must have happened quickly because I can learn about such a wide expanse of time in a matter of hours.

But now comparing the modern experience to the past, it’s just agonisingly slow. I just saw a post about how the pogrom happening in Amsterdam today is a mirror of Amsterdam in 1938, and I thought about how far realistically 1938 was from 1940, or 1942, or 1945.

It’s so hard to fathom just waiting with my breath held for the next two or four or seven years for things to collapse on our heads. It’s so hard to hope at the same time.

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Honestly what can it hurt at this point

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If you’re a goy and you need somebody to remind you Hope is a fighter with blood on her knuckles, I want to share with you what we Jews say in times like these:

We will outlive them.

This isn’t just a statement of hope. It’s also a curse: when the tyrants who want us dead are gone, when Titus and Hitler and Czar Nicholas and Stalin are dead, when the names of the shahs and sultans are forgotten, the Jewish people will endure. We will still stand proud beneath the Arch of Titus and bellow “where are you? Because I am here!”

Today if you are a woman, a trans person, a person of color, a disabled person, any person who needed this not to happen, I want you to look Trump dead in the face and say “we will outlive you.” When he’s dust in the wind and his name blotted out, we will be here. When his regime falls and its enablers rightly damned by historians, we will be here. WE WILL OUTLIVE HIM.

And if you’re currently thinking “not me, though,” let me introduce you to what we call the 614th mitzvah, the only one that’s not in the Torah: NEVER GIVE HITLER A POSTHUMOUS VICTORY. If he would have wanted you dead, you fight like hell to stay alive. Do not go gentle into that good night. Spit and claw and tear and punch your way into the light.

Because: we will outlive them.

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Fucking thank you. The “not all men” movement became as popular as it is for a reason. Radicalization does not happen in a vacuum. If you have the emotional labor to spare to try and shift your language, it seems worth it.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

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walkable cities also means sittable cities send tweet

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don't give up

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Hey. Listen. Because someone just caught me with this:

If you find yourself shaking and feeling cold, you may be feeling the effects of mild shock. Please get yourself something warm to drink, wrap yourself in a blanket, and watch comforting TV or play some Tetris, okay?

I'm serious. A friend reached out and asked if I was shaking, and i realized that I was and had been for like ten minutes. I have a warm drink and I'm going to watch Star Wars.

Take care of yourself.

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Hey for those of you that aren’t polisci nerds like me, I thought I’d share a term for something that happens every election.

“Red Mirage”

Rural areas contain less people. Less people means fewer votes. Fewer votes means faster counting. Faster counting means earlier results. The map turns red as rural republican areas get counted first and without any other data from larger counties.

“Blue shift”

The cities and highly populated counties start reporting their data. It took them longer to count all those votes. Once they report in, their areas of the map either flip from red or get colored in blue. Over time the map turns blue.

If you are looking at early reporting you are looking at the red mirage. It happens every four years. It is not unusual. It is expected.

The question isn’t “what color will the map turn first?”

The question is “what color will the map end as?”

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Reblog so someone can give something to you, as well...

You deserve a break today.

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in 2020 the blue shift took four days, in 2020 the blue shift took four days, in 2020 the bl

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take my hand for a moment

your objective from this point on is to survive

the election results are going to take a few days. The world is going to be very tense. I want you to take all the things you like to do to distract yourself and splurge on them. I want you to go eat your favroite foods and spend time with friends. I want you to do what you gotta do to make sure you can make it through the week.

There are people out there who want you to survive. There are people out there who are just as scared as you are.

We'll get through this. We will find a way

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Drinking white grape juice and also watching game grumps

I’m stress eating skittles and baking a lemon tart

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Can’t chance it

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This woman quite literally did more for people in Gaza than the Western tankies who want her dead ever will.

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Welcome to the Month of Cheshvan.

Spelled חֶשְׁוָן with Nikud, חשוון with no Nikud, and pronounced /khesh-'van/, this month is also referred to as Marcheshvan מַרְחֶשְׁוָן /'mar-khesh-van/.

/mar/ מַר in Hebrew is bitter, which is one of the assumptions as to why this month is also called מַרְחֶשְׁוָן /'mar-khesh-van/.

Unlike the month of Tishrei which comes right before it, the month of /khesh-'van/ is unique in its lack of holidays, and no special observances.

This may be the reason it is referred to as bitter, because if its lack of sweet celebrations.

And yet, the emptiness of /khesh-'van/ holds a special opportunity for all of us.

After the intensity of Tishrei, with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah, this month offers us space — a chance to catch our breath, reflect, and plant seeds for what we want to grow in the months ahead.

If Tishrei is about beginnings, reflection, and celebration, then /khesh-'van/ is about grounding.

It’s a month where we can pause and ask ourselves what those insights and intentions mean in our day-to-day lives.

Without the festivities, /khesh-'van/ reminds us that life itself — our daily choices, interactions, and thoughts — is a vessel for all the inspiration we’ve gathered.

This is the time to bring light to the simple moments, to create our own significance in the “quiet” spaces.

Think of /khesh-'van/ as an invitation to make room for new, gentle growth in a way that is unassuming but deep.

May this month be a time of peace and grounding for each of you, filled with moments of quiet strength, personal insight, and the sweetness we find in the everyday.