fromchaostocosmos

[fromchaostocosmos]

This post is just very telling:

Hey! Thanks for the feedback and think there’s a lot of validity in what you’re saying. I think my frustration is that even... – @iteh3xael on Tumblr

Sorry for grossing you out but uh, I have a complex claim to a lot of religions and cultures because of how colonialism (arguably Israel is a settler colony state so uh… hmmm) has impacted me.

As you’ve ascertained (correctly) I’m a non-Jewish American, only by technicality, because I haven’t found a rabbi that will even support the fact that I’m gay and the “three asks” thing feels like a troll move which feels… homophobic???

I need you to seriously consider how my life has been negatively influenced (hence the circumcision poll) by a bastardized JEWISH practice, and what the fuck that means for my identity as it feels like fate to some degree and a bit offensive that you would yuck my ability to find yum in Yhwh or w/e because I’m… too much of a faggoy? Idk man… just asking questions. I’d love to clarify your response in a dm since its… a lot. Not meaning to offend just sick of being put in a box because my circumcision and mother aren’t “right” enough to be in the in club because Hekate or Satan or whatever swooped in and said “NOPE” 🙃

Cheers

Trying to understand Israel through the lens of settler colonialism is a failing proposition. Consider the following:

Jews are indigenous to Israel. We have a historical record that says they’re from there in both the Greek and Roman written record. Like there is as much if not more evidence of Jews in Israel in Roman writing as there is of Julius Caesar being a real person. We also have archaeological evidence. Israel is covered with digs that find evidence of Jewish life dating back 2,000-3,000 years. We also have genetic evidence. DNA studies have shown that even super white looking Ashkenazi Jews have significant portions of DNA that are most closely related to other groups from the southern Levant.

So to call Jews settlers either denies all that evidence, insists that indigenous people can be settlers on their own land, or posits that indigenous people can somehow lose their status as indigenous if you wait long enough. The first is anti-intellectual and antisemitic, the second is ridiculous and the third is a dangerous line of thinking for all indigenous people. How long before Native Americans no longer have a claim to their land? How long before Maori no longer have a claim? It’s not really a place we want to go.

As for colonial, the definition of a colony is “a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.” So which country controls Israel? I think we’ve seen over the last year that it’s not the US given the way Bibi has repeatedly blown off Biden, so who is it? Which country is sending settlers to control the area? Again, it’s not the US. While some American Jews make Aliyah every year, the vast majority of Jews in Israel are either from Europe or the Middle East. To be a colony, you have to be a colony of some other power. What is the other power here?

So we can see that Jews are neither settlers nor colonizers. But you know who did colonize the area? Arabs. Arabs are indigenous to the Arabian peninsula, not Israel. And in the 7th century, Arabs came from the Arabian peninsula into Israel (and other places), conquered the locals and did their best to eradicate their cultures, forced conversions to the conquering religion, and settled in the new lands while being under the political control of the far away Caliphate. Sounds like settler colonialism to me. So if we must understand someone in the area as colonial (and I still don’t think it’s the best way to look at things, but if you do) then it’s the people that Palestinians are descended from.

Having said all that, just because colonialism has impacted you, it doesn’t mean you have a complex claim to Judaism. Here are ways you can have a complex claim to Judaism: 1) your father is Jewish and your mother is not, 2) you have Jewish ancestors who were forced to convert and you are now trying to reconnect with the religion that was taken from them. I don’t know your history, so it’s possible that one of those is true. But if you have no Jewish ancestry, then your claim is not complex, it’s non-existent, and if you do have Jewish ancestry but your ancestors willingly left the tribe, then you don’t really have much of a claim either. That doesn’t mean you can’t convert, but given that you seem to think you have claims on other aspects of Judaism as a non-Jew, my gut reaction is to be very doubtful toward your claim on Judaism in general.

If you can’t find a rabbi to support your conversion because you’re gay, you’re looking in the wrong places. The senior rabbi at my synagogue is gay, and we have several queer families as part of the congregation. There are literal signs on the door to the main office that say Trans and Queer Jews welcome here. This doesn’t mean that all congregations are welcoming, but lots are.

The three asks thing is a metaphor that some rabbis take literally. Converting to Judaism is a big decision. The three asks are to make sure that you’ve really thought about it and are really sure – that you’re taking it seriously and thought through all the consequences. If that feels like trolling to you, then maybe Judaism isn’t a good fit. Honestly, from my interactions with you this week, I would bet that the rabbis you’ve met with haven’t said no because you’re gay, they’ve said no because you don’t seem super interested in taking on Jewishness, you just want to take from it instead.

I don’t know what happened with your circumcision. If it went wrong and it was done by a mohel then you can feel angry toward the Jewish people I guess, but I would want to know why your parents had a bris for you if they weren’t planning on raising you Jewish. If you were just circumcised as a medical procedure, as many American babies are, then you may have trauma related to it, but you don’t need to be taking it out on the Jewish people, which is exactly what that poll was doing.

Don’t write down those four letters. Don’t try to pronounce them either. We have asked, repeatedly that people not do that, and once again, the fact that you are is super disrespectful to Jewish people. Write G-d, or God if you must, or even Hashem (I don't think goyim should, but it's better than what you did), but not those four letters. It’s not yucking your yum. You are allowed to enjoy what you want. But what you are doing here is the equivalent of coming into my house and saying that because my dinner looks delicious you can just reach onto my plate with your bare hand, scoop up some of what I’m eating, take a bite and throw the rest back. It’s disrespectful and offensive. I am not objecting to your joy, I’m objecting to your lack of respect to my culture.

Being Jewish is about more than just being circumcised and having the “right” mother. There is a culture here that you need to understand. If you are raised in it, then you get to join the club that way. If you’re not, then you can put in the work to learn it and learn to be respectful of it and join the club that way. So far, you haven’t been able to find a rabbi that thinks you’re willing to do that work, and from what I’ve seen, I’m willing to agree.

[fromchaostocosmos]

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/police-again-face-off-with-protesters-on-ucla-campus/

[fromchaostocosmos]

the colors of jewish life

inspired by @unhonestlymirror

[fromchaostocosmos]

To be honest I do not trust most people them because most of the people wearing them are not Palestinian themselves.

I find it to be hypocritical when I see all these leftists wear keffiyehs knowing that by doing so they are participating in cultural appropriation.

I also find myself scared because I do not know if I am safe because I know that to majority of those wearing it is not an article of clothing that is a way of expressing their culture, but rather it is a way that they can signify that they are not safe for Jews sorry not all Jews just the Bad Jews.

There is a very poignant quote in the article that really sums up my views and feelings pretty well:

“I don’t think a keffiyeh announces that its wearer wants Jews dead. At least the rational part of my brain doesn’t think this,” Phoebe Maltz Bovy, an editor at the Canadian Jewish News, wrote earlier this year. “That said, am I about to make social plans with someone who isn’t even Palestinian, whose reaction to this war is to buy a scarf in support of their preferred team? I think we all know the answer.”

To those who are not Palestinian and who wear it, they wear like they would merch for the sports team their in favor of. They treat it like a game and we, Jews and Palestinians, are just the players in it. They treat us like we are real people with real feelings, real communities, and real bodies that get hurt. And often do so as consequence of the actions and choices of these non-Palestinian keffiyeh wearers.

[fromchaostocosmos]

(Not so) Hot Take

if the only jews you listen to are ones who give you a get-out-of-antisemitism-free card for either…

1. Hating 90% of Jews

2. Calling for the death/displacement of 50% of jews

3. Calling for the destruction of the only jewish state on earth, which is located in the jewish homeland?

…you don't actually "listen to jews.”

Stop acting like you do.

[fromchaostocosmos]

i want people to understand that trump choosing jews for his cabinet isn’t a compliment.

he chose a jew to head an economic department because he thinks jews are good with money.

he also chose a jew to lead an immigration dept for the same insidious judeophobic reason the italians forced us into banking and the south african whites shoved us between them and the indigenous people: so if people rebelled or rose up, they’d blame the jews instead of the people who are actually at fault and kill us first.

there’s nothing good or complimentary about these choices.

[fromchaostocosmos]

went to the jewish museum and they had this english phrasebook for recent immigrants who spoke yiddish or ladino….jews be joining labor unions

[fromchaostocosmos]

I'm sorry but if Sami people can be understood as other-than-white and lighter featured First Nations people can be understood as other-than-white and individuals of our sisters the Romani when similarly afflicted by melanin deficiency can be understood as other-than-white....

Your classification of Jews, who span the whole gamut of color but share the racialization and experience of being othered among any majority, including whiteness in the north/west, is only further evidence of your racism. Because in doing so you continue to perpetuate double standards for Jewish people, which is dangerous when merged with perspectives that view whiteness as a merit signifier. Not that our identity isn't a fair bit older than this pretty reductive view, but

Regardless, I'll remind that the minority indigenous groups I mentioned are in the context of a white majority, but white people do not have a monopoly on colonialism. Plenty of people don't want to be called Arab in MENA and plenty of people aren't sure that they'd classify themselves as Chinese or Russian in the sense that the West views national identity. But that kind of nuance probably isn't something I should bother with if we haven't made it past point 1.

[fromchaostocosmos]

leftists really believe nazism is impossible within the left and it’s only a far right ideology and i just have to laugh as a jew that’s dealt with non stop antisemitic harassment from leftists, hearing leftists say Hitler was right and that he didn’t kill enough, and spew race science bullshit. I’ve now witnessed an endless stream of actual hatecrimes just within a single year. all perpetuated by leftists.

THIS is what leftist activism looks now:

[fromchaostocosmos]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-strikes-down-biden-overtime-pay-rule-2024-11-15/

[fromchaostocosmos]

this is a brand new one to me. it’s lousy that we have to even keep up with/be aware of such things, but if you run across it, here’s what it means.

[fromchaostocosmos]

x

Released hostage @moran_stela_yanai courageously shares her story with a UCLA pro-Palestine encampment student leader, who would hardly look at her.

This student, who has never been to Israel, repeatedly accuses Israel of being an apartheid state.

The student also has declared with brazen arrogance that resistance is justified in response to the October 7 massacre.

I wish this conversation would change him, but wait until the end of the video to see what he tweets after he meets her.

Moran, you are so brave for continuing to share your story. We hope you will continue to do so, and we will be here to support you.

The debate took place on June 16 and was organized by Gr8te Debate and  @tcc.usa

You can stream the full video on YouTube. Check the link in @wearetov’s bio

it’s the way he can’t even look directly at her - you’d be inclined to think it was shame, but it wasn’t. it was hatred.

more of her story:

[fromchaostocosmos]

I’ll be honest, I don’t know who this guy is or why he keeps getting airtime, I don’t recall seeing his name until he made a show of mourning Sinwar, but…

[fromchaostocosmos]

[fromchaostocosmos]