#Core beliefs of Judaism

[ajpress]

Unveiling the Rich Tapestry of Judaism beliefs and practices

One of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world, Judaism, has a rich tapestry of doctrines and customs that have developed through thousands of years. Jewish Beliefs and Practices encompass a system of beliefs, practices, and rituals that have influenced Jewish people and communities throughout history. It is based on the covenant that God made with the Jewish people. In this investigation,…

[indecisiveavocado]

Hello! You are (probably) wrong about Messianic "Judaism"

You have probably been referred here because you were making some awful arguments about Messianic "Judaism".

That's ok, that's why you're here.

How in depth do you want me to go?

One sentence

Messianic "Jews", "Jews" for Jesus, and other movements like that are not Jewish, they are Christian.

Two sentences

Messianic "Jews", "Jews" for Jesus, and other movements like that are not Jewish, they are Christian. They may sincerely believe they are Jewish, and they may look superficially Jewish, but they are still Christian.

A paragraph

Messianic "Jews" and other movements that claim to be Jewish but believe Jesus was the Messiah are not Jewish. They are Christian. They may sincerely believe that they are Jewish, but that doesn't change it. If I sincerely believe that I am, say, Muslim, that does not make me Muslim. They believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and Judaism does not. They are Christians roleplaying as Jews.

Questions

But there are Jewish athiests!

Yes. But Jewish atheists and agnostics are generally honest about it. Judaism is flexible on the degree of belief in God you need. It is not flexible on Jesus not being the Messiah. (Plus, athiests haven't genocided us for coming up on 2000 years, so they have a degree of goodwill Christians don't have as much of.)

But Chabad--

[Edit: This originally said the group of Chabadniks who think their Rebbe was the Messiah were not Jewish.]

The Chabadniks who think their Rebbe was the Messiah are still Jewish, but Messianics are not. Why?

First, consider degree of departure. Beliefs about the Messiah are important in Judaism, certainly; but not as much as monotheism. Allegedly, one Rabbi in Talmud, Elisha ben Abuya, questioned the monotheistic aspect, and henceforth he was referred to as 'Acher' (Other). The Sh'ma affirms the monotheistic aspect of Judaism. Of Rambam's thirteen principles of faith, one deals with the Messiah. Four deal with monotheism in some way or another. From a Jewish view, Christianity is, at best, questionably monotheistic.

Second, the intent differs. Chabad tries to get nonobservant Jews more observant (even with a few quirks in religious practice). Messianic Christianity tries to pull Jews away from Judaism.

Finally, of course, how widespread the thing is varies. In Chabad, it is a minor group, and certainly not a core tenet. In Messianic Christianity, it is a core tenet of it and indeed a major distinguishing aspect from Jewish denominations.

But they must have some merit! If they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah--

And if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

How can it be this simple?

Christianity (regardless of how much they fight over it) is fundamentally a broad group. It's easily broad enough to include Messianic Christians without blinking.

You're anti-Messianic practices!

I am, yes. I am against the lying and misrepresentation their liturgy, beliefs, etc consist of. I am against the image of Judaism they project. If they stopped pretending to be Jewish (or converted to actual Judaism), I would have no problem with them. But, again: if Grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon. A fundamental part of Messianic Christianity is pretending to be Jewish by culturally appropriating Jewish practices, which is very sketchy given that Christians have consistently genocided Jews, including forcibly converting us.

Jews: if you see someone insistent Messianic Christianity is Judaism, feel free to direct them here!

[engagemythrusters]

right ways to get mad at catholics: your institution and your practice of beliefs has irreperably harmed millions of people, end the lives of more, and brought struggle and strife to many cultures on a global scale

wrong ways to get mad at catholics: you believe in "sky daddy" so you are stupid as fuck

[syn4k]

if there is one thing i wish more people understood it is the fact that just because i do not understand something does not mean that i am automatically opposed to it. there are many things that i do not understand for example alloromanticism, the workings and practices of many organized religions, and the existence of white chocolate but that doesn't mean i want to scrub their existence from this earth. i love knowing and comprehending things but theres also some things that i simply cannot understand right now for some reason or another and thats okay. humans are weird, varied, and complex! i'm not the judge jury and executioner of the entire universe and i am very glad i'm not! and anyways imagine how fucking boring knowing everything would be

[chaoticbuggybitchboy]

(Context: I am a white American and was raised strictly atheist)

Shoutout to like ,,, 7(?) year old me who was for some reason incredibly interested in islam and I am pretty sure now that had I had any sort of choice in religion I would have converted to islam. I’m 16 now and my views have shifted significantly and I could not explain to you why my younger self felt so set on a religion that I had rarely been able to interact with, but I still find myself wandering back towards islam (and then wandering away very quickly when I remember that it’s strictly monotheistic and that’s something I don’t really believe)

[txttletale]

you said that religion is actions and relations, not beliefs- would you be willing to elaborate and/or point to some reading? or like at least defining what "beliefs" means here?

sure. now i'm sure there's some much more recent scholarship on this but everything i think of this is fundamentally drawing on/extrapolating on the german ideology and gramsci's work--but the gist of it is that there is no (let us take an example) 'islam' that exists independent of its practicioners. this is a materialist (as opposed to idealist) stance on religion (& ideology more generally).

so what this means is that--sure, everything that comes under the umbrella of 'islam' does in fact share a few core concepts (the quran, the indivisbility of god, mohammad as a prophet)--but that attempts to make any sweeping generalized statement about the ideological content of islam are bound to fail because ultimately the islam of the iranian state apparatus & the islam of the taliban & the islam of muslim feminists in indonesia & the islam of the PLO & the islam of liberal arab-americans are all fundamentally different ideologically because they are shaped not by some eternal essence of islam but by the social circumstances and communities within which each of these groups is practing.

(want to be super clear that i am just using islam as an example here, the same can be applied to any religion in any place--christianity, for example, is not uniquely genocidal & colonial due to some inherent ideological content, which is why going through the bible to point out violence & slavery and being like 'see, this is what's wrong with christianity' is a futile exercise--christianity has been the religion of a genocidal & colonial ruling class across much of the globe, and so that practice of it of course takes on that character)

hence, for example, there's absolutely no contradiction between, say, the judaism of diaspora reform jews & that of the israeli state--the stark difference makes sense when you realize that they are not both informed ideologically by some inherent essence of judaism but by the historical context of centuries of persecution vs. decades of genocidal state building. no religion has an innate inextricable character--all character that a religion has is given to it when it becomes a social fact, and comes from the people who practice it and their material and power relations.

[newnitz]

I don't really see people talking about how cultural Christianity is applied to Jews.

In Christianity, Jews are the people who rejected and betrayed Jesus and are punished with statelessness and destitution, whose only redemption is accepting the Messiah and the Son of God. This is the basis of several antisemitic tropes, most prominently deception, religious supercessionism and the Wandering Jew.

In cultural Christianity, these tropes are considered tenants of Judaism rather than Christianity, as Judaism is considered Christianity without Jesus.

Christians see themselves as tortured saints, persecuted for spreading the truth of Jesus and God across the globe. Missionaries who go to non-Christian lands to try and get the people to convert by fearmongering with damnation to Hell see themselves as victims when they're rebuffed and asked to stop.

Cultural Christian non-Christians are usually atheists and adherents of folk religion revivalist movements who have suffered religious abuse, as many sects of Christianity normalize emotional abuse by instilling inherent guilt in the Original Sin and even physical abuse in "Spare the rod; spoil the child". These cultural Christians see the millennia of antisemitism and roll their eyes, to them we're just another sect of delusional religious people with a persecution complex.

To become a Christian all you need to do is accept the Father Son and Holy Spirit, to affirm your beliefs and confess your sins. To become a Jew you are either born a Jew, or you learn the Jewish culture and religion for months on end and must live half a year under the strictest restrictions of the Jewish lifestyle to show commitment. That is the difference between a universal religion and an ethnoreligion.

In a Culturally Christian world there is no room for ethnoreligions, and they do not exist. All religions are about your faith and which God(s) you believe in. So in a Cultural Christian's eyes, a country of Jews is a country that holds one faith supreme above all others and conditions rights with conversion, as that's how Christian countries have historically been.

Christianity's common ground with Jews comes from the Roman Empire appropriating the religion from the Cult of Jesus, and making it more appealing to the masses by introducing Greco-Roman and Germanic folk religion aspects into it. Xmas is Yule but with Jesus, Easter is a fertility holiday but with Jesus and so on. In the eyes of the Cultural Christian, Christianity and Judaism are two once-antagonistic sects of the same religion, no different than Catholics and Protestants.

Cultural Christianity erases and appropriates Judaism and is as inherently hateful of Jews as religious Christianity.

Now, when it comes to the elephant in the room: Islam.

Islam, like Christianity, is a universal religion. You must believe in Allah and accept the prophets, which include both Jesus and Muhammad. It is no more inherently violent than Christianity, though it's no less. In the Christian's eyes, Islam is the competitor, the enemy. The Muslims conquered Christian lands and converted them, and they've fought holy wars against one another throughout the Middle Ages.

To become a Muslim the Cultural Christian doesn't need to unlearn any of the core tenets of their culture. They can simply apply it to Islam.

Which is why many Cultural Christians, damaged by Christianity, are sympathetic to Islam. And since Muslims and Jews are no longer on good terms, they use this sympathy to give themselves a free pass to be antisemitic. Whether Muslims check their converts for bigotry, allow it or are powerless to stop them, that's another issue.

Jews are not diet Christians. We have less in common with you than you have with Muslims. Unlearn Christian cultural appropriation.

And no, I don't care that it's "offensive" to associate you with Christianity due to the religious abuse you endured. You still see the world through a Christian lens.

[slyandthefamilybook]

Who is the antisemite?

I've made many a post about the nature of antisemitism, and I don't expect I'll ever stop. But I've made relatively few posts about antisemites, who they are, and why they are. I don't mean to make a list of every antisemite in the world; I wouldn't be able to finish it before I died at my keyboard. Instead I want to explore a bit into the nature of antisemitic belief and what draws people to it, in the hopes of helping people recognize their own behaviors. This won't be a thorough taxonomy, but will focus on something I believe is at–or close to–the heart of the issue.

When I tell people antisemitism can have a racial component the response I usually get is, "but Jewish isn't a race so you can't be racist against Jews!" Now it's true that "Jewish" is not (currently) one of the accepted racial categories (up until some time in the 1950s you could list your race on U.S. censi as "Hebrew"), but that's not exactly what I mean. What I mean is that there's a pattern of thought that's part-and-parcel of racism and racist ideas, even if it's not always deployed against what we would consider a race. That pattern is bio-essentialism–the belief that there are certain inherent and largely invariant differences between discrete groups of people. This, for example, explains the significant overlap between racism and transphobia, if not always in practice than in thought. If you believe these differences exist along racial lines, it's simple enough to map them onto sex as well. Bio-essentialism is not the only driving force behind racism, but it is a significant one, and one that can be reasonably used as a predictor of racist thought. In this sense, focusing on phenotypes common among Jews (prominent noses, dark curly hair, olive skin) can have a racial component, and can result in behaviors and attitudes that behave like racism, even if Jews aren't a "race".

So we have racial antisemitism, and from here we can sit around and postulate on other alchemical combinations; the intersection of antisemitism and sexism, for example, resulting in stereotypes about nagging Jewish wives, overbearing Jewish mothers, and the Jewish American Princess. The intersection of antisemitism and patriarchy, creating anxieties about weak or effeminate Jewish men. Antisemitism and classism; antisemitism and homophobia; antisemitism and anti-theism; and on and on. But what about anti-Jewish antisemitism? What do we find that makes people hate Jews for being Jews?

I'm going to lean fairly heavily on Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition by intellectual historian David Nirenberg. It's a fantastic albeit excruciating read, and I highly recommend everyone–Jewish and not–pick it up from their local library.

Much like the habits of bio-essentialism characterize much of racism, obsession with blame is (I believe) the core driver of anti-Jewish antisemitism. Specifically blame of the other, although that's generally merely step two in the process. Jews occupy a fairly unique position in the world in that in the vast majority of places where we live we don't really belong. We're treated as guests, reliant on the grace and magnanimity of our hosts to ensure our protection and survival. Part of this is our own doing; throughout the Diaspora our struggle to cohere to our identity has set us apart from everyone else. We don't like to assimilate any more than we have to. But it would be wrong to place the blame for our status entirely on our shoulders, so I will not do so. For the purposes of this post let us take it prima facie that Jews maintain a role of perpetual outsiders–among the nations of the world but not of them.

Throughout history this status has allowed our hosts to define themselves in opposition to us. Jews, who never really belonged, became emblematic of whatever ill the current society, religion, or philosophy decided was most pressing. We gave people opportunity to externalize their own faults, to shift blame from themselves and their comrades to nefarious interlopers. To recontextualize their responsibility to themselves into a Manichaean (I use the word deliberately) struggle between darkness and light. If the anxieties of the day centered around hypocrisy, Jewish Rabbis were the hypocrites you should strive to be unlike. If it was infidelity, it was the Jewess temptresses who were to blame. If it was greed, it was certainly the Jewish bankers who were at fault.

Perhaps my use of past-tense verbs is misleading; this is still the nature of antisemitism today. But this is certainly also how it began. The urge to excise culpability is a fairly common one. It crosses cultural boundaries and expresses itself in toddlers the world around. And so whither the Jews went, childish vindictiveness followed.

When we understand how antisemitism is used as a tool, we can begin to understand the work it does for those who use it. Antisemitism is the antidote to critical thought, to skepticism and self-reflection. It creates a "them", not in reality but in the mind. It explains failure not through any self-conscious rumination, but in the creation of vagrants, infiltrators, and saboteurs.

It now becomes clear why nearly every conspiracy theory is antisemitic, or rapidly hurtling in that direction. One of the cornerstones of conspiratorial thought (as expounded by Michael Barkun in A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America) is the belief that the conspiracies are composed out outside forces. When neo-Nazis compose their "Every Aspect of _____ is Jewish" flyers, they can hardly focus on the fact that the vast majority of the people they blame are American. Americans are the in-group and as such cannot be at fault. Jews are an easily accessible out-group, in part because Jewishness is so "sneaky" (you can be Jewish and not even know it! Even Wikipedia can't seem to decide when someone is Jewish or not!). When people believe that the CIA was responsible for assassinating John F. Kennedy, it's never in their capacity as red-blooded patriotic Americans; it's always the result of insiders from Russia, China, and ultimately, Jews. Even conspiracy theories that don't explicitly name Jews are engaged in antisemitic thought, so long as they seek to pin events on the actions of "them". There's a reason "they" has become memetic in neo-Nazi circles; those who are "them" are most assuredly not "us".

It also becomes clear how and why antisemitism traverses political boundaries, and infects discourse left, right, and center. The extremes–the far-right and far-left (for all the usefulness of the political spectrum, which is not much)–are more prone to antisemitic thought precisely because they are so far from the norm. The more you see wrong with society the more you seek those who are responsible. (Again it's important to note that "antisemitic thought" in this context refers to the habit of looking for outsiders to blame, and does not always map perfectly onto open bigotry toward "real Jews".) When England is close to being a perfect country, it is only through the actions of the Jews that it is prevented from becoming so. When Sovyet communism begins to collapse in on itself, it is certainly the Jews who are accused. It is never "us" or "we"; it is always "they" and "them". And in a fit of cruel irony, when antisemitism becomes un-fashionable, the "no-true-scotsman" fallacy is often deployed, assigning the use of conspiratorial bigotry to impersonators and pretenders.

So what can we do? What can we learn, and how can we change? We can start by resolving to think critically, to not take the easy answers. We can look inward, not outward, and find things to improve in ourselves, rather than assuming that our faults are not our fault. We can be skeptical of conspiracy theories, of people who want to direct our anger in ways that serve their own goals. As always, we can protect and uplift Jews and Jewish communities worldwide. We can orient ourselves toward finding solutions, instead of finding reasons for why we can't. We can unlearn the thought patterns, cliches, and habits of antisemitic thought, or that lead to antisemitic thought. We can stop trying to look for the bad people, and start trying to be the good people.

[prickly-porcupine-memes]

Content notes for gentiles:

It is never, under any circumstances, in any Jewish community, okay to beat up a Christian for their beliefs. These memes do not suggest or promote that practice. These memes are about the way that none of the extraordinarily diverse Jewish organzations and communities in the world today recognize the practices of Jews for Jesus or Messianic "Jews' as Judaism. These are Christian communities/organizations which exist for the evangelical purpose of converting Jews (which we find offensive for reasons which are obvious if you know anything about Jewish history), and they are practicing Christianity in Jewish drag while appropriating, mangling, and misrepresenting our heritage and culture. If the topic interests you, you can learn more here. Or here. Or here. Christians should know that the fastest way to lose a Jewish friend is to try to "share the gospel" with them.

(If you want to discuss the synoptic gospels with a Jew, though, please feel free to contact me. I find Christian theology really interesting. Understanding the Jewish context of the synoptic gospels can shed a lot of light on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Try reading Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong on this topic.)

These memes also exaggerate, for comic effect, the style of disagreements between the Orthodox and the Heterodox. Plenty of Orthodox may not feel that Reform Judaism is "real Judaism," but they don't, in my experience, express that position with shouted condemnation.

My parents were raised Masorti. Where I grew up, the only shul was Reform. I understand and appreciate why many Orthodox feel Reform Judaism isn't Judaism for two reasons:

1. In their framing, they're absolutely right. Their position is logically consistent and driven by core beliefs about what defines their Judaism, not contempt.

2. While many Orthodox may say that Reform Judaism is not Judaism, I've never seen an orthodox Jew suggest that Jews participating in Reform communities are not real Jews. I have never felt condemned by any Orthodox Jew, and I have always been made to feel welcome in Orthodox communities. When I've encountered Chabadniks doing kiruv work, they have only ever approached me with an invitation, never a condemnation.

Condemnation is not Jewish. But offering to educate? Extending an invitation for inclusion? Welcoming community? Inviting someone to perform mitzvot together? That's Jewish.

Jews, please do comment if you think I've gotten any of this wrong or if you'd like to elaborate!

[edenfenixblogs]

okay this is a bit of a random question, and please feel free to ignore it for whatever reason! and please forgive any clumsy wording, i promise i'm asking just from curiosity and without any malice.

i know in jewish culture the mother is the one who sort of 'transfers jewishness' to the children, so i was wondering what would happen if a jewish trans man had a baby? would the kids be considered jewish or, because he's a father, would it be different?

lastly, i just wanted to thank you for all of your posts. i learn so much from you, and it always makes me smile when i see one of your art or tree posts!

What a great ask!!!! Thank you so much for your kind words!!!! It makes the stressful parts worth it. 😊🩵🩵

So, first off, I’m no rabbi or even a religious scholar. I’m just a Jew who likes being a Jew.

But here is my take that other Jews are free to add onto or provide sources on.

But there is no Jewish High Authority. There’s no, like, Jewish pope to sit around and let Jews know they’ve Done Jewish Wrong. Judaism is a cultural of mutual acceptance based on the totality of shared cultural wisdom and understanding.

So, a person cannot just decide “I’m Jewish now” and be Jewish. Jews as a community must accept them into our tribe after they’ve demonstrated an understanding of and commitment to our broad understanding of life. Jews also don’t have sects. We have different branches or streams of belief ranging from humanist to ultraorthadox, but we are all equally Jewish. We don’t even all believe in G-d. Our core values revolve around how we treat one another and are nuanced, which is why becoming a Jew is a process.

With that in mind, with the exception of a few very strictly outlier cases, matrilineal passage of religion is more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule.

I could be wrong as it’s been awhile since I learned this and may have some details mixed up, but I believe that the matrilineal passage of culture was partially instituted due to the frequent rape of Jewish women. As a community, we consider a child born to a Jewish woman to be as much a part of our community as any other member of our community, regardless of who fathered that child. Likewise, we take communal responsibility and cultural claim to that child. Someone cannot rape a Jewish woman and the take her child from her to be raised as non-Jewish that is an affront to us.

Other reasons I’ve heard for why Jews pass religion through mothers is due to equality. Matrilineal passage of culture is only one part of passing Judaism across generations. Jews get the religion from their mother and their tribe from their father. There used to be 12 tribes named after all of Jacob’s sons. But those were mostly scattered/lost over persecution and diaspora. Now there are only three (depending on how you break it down. It gets complicated LOL): Yisrael, Levi, and Cohen. Most Jews are tribe of Yisrael. I am tribe of Yisrael because my father is tribe of Yisrael. When you convert to Judaism you also become tribe of Yisrael. My mother is a Levite (tribe of Levi) because her father was a Levite. Historically, Levites played an important role in the Old Temple in Jerusalem as well as other culturally distinct duties ranging from everything from maintaining the temple itself, education of the Jewish community, singing in the old temple, serving as judges, and serving as guards of the temple. In diaspora and in times of strife in the biblical era, Levites also helped keep Jewish communities together and safe.

The remaining tribe is Kohanim. This group is believed to be directly descended from Aaron, Moses’s brother and therefore descended from all the priests of the temple in the biblical era.

It is possible that the Levites and Kohanim were able to maintain their tribal lineage patrilineally due to their status as leaders in early diaspora and therefore being able to maintain their roles in diasporic Jewish communities longer. I simply don’t know. But I do know that the culture is what mothers traditionally pass down and the duties and history of the tribe is passed down via the fathers. When both parents are Jewish, what matters is that each parent passes an important aspect of cultural identity on to their children.

But none of this is compulsory or set in stone.

And I will again say that my understanding of it all may be fundamentally flawed in some way, because of how unimportant it is to me personally. I mean, I think it’s cool that my mom can trace our lineage back so far. And even some DNA tests done several years ago have confirmed that my mom is descended from an actual Talmudic scholar which is fun to know. I think it’s cool that my ancestors were biblical nerds and judges and that my grandfather was a lawyer and that my skill that benefits the Jewish community during times of strife in diaspora seems to be education and outreach. I like that I personally seem to excel at issues related to judgment and education and community cohesion, because it is so in line with the history of my ancestors as determined by cultural norms as well as DNA. It also makes me sad that diaspora has taken away some of that cultural heritage from other Jewish tribes.

But it doesn’t actually have anything to do with how Jewish we are OR how important or valid we are to or within the Jewish community. These are rules/guidelines that were developed with the goal of maintaining identity and culture despite immense hardship. These are rules/guidelines meant to strengthen our community. But they were never (as far as I understand it all) meant to EXCLUDE anyone.

And here’s the thing: a slang way Jews have of referring to one another is as “members of the tribe.” Because beyond Yisrael or Levi or Kohen, we are all JEWS. We are all a member of the same tribe, and that tribe is Judaism.

Is the trans man Jewish? Have he and his partner (if he chooses to have a partner) agreed to raise their child Jewish? Then congratulations to them and their Jewish baby!!!

If one parent is a Levite or a Kohen and the other is another tribe, I’ll let them and rabbi decide how to sort that out. But even then it wouldn’t likely be viewed as a matter of contention but more as a fun Talmudic riddle to explore.

TL;DR: Patrilineal Jews are just as Jewish as any other Jew. And trans men are men. Beyond that, everything else is Talmudic nuanced debate.

[writingwithcolor]

Depicting Real World Religions Alongside Constructed Religions

Maya asked:

Hi WWC! Thank you so much for this blog, it's an infinitely wonderful resource! Do you have any suggestions for how I can balance representation of real religions with fantasy religions, or should I avoid including these together? Does the fact that certain things bleed over from our world into the fantasy world help legitimize the appearance of real world religions? I feel like I can come up with respectful ways to integrate representation in ways that make sense for the worldbuilding. For instance, no Muslim characters would practice magic, and both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding). I also have some ideas for how these religions came about that fit between handwave and analogous history (though I realize the Qur'an is unchangeable, so I'm guessing Islam would have come about in the same way as IRL). BTW—I'm referring to humans, not other species coded as Muslim or Jewish. I may explore the concept of jinns more (particularly as how Muslims perceive fantastical beings), but I definitely need to do a lot more research before I go down that road! Finally, I saw a post somewhere (*but* it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily  veer into appropriation-territory.  *One of the posts that I'm referring to in case you need a better reference of *my* reference: defining coding and islam-coded-fantasy

[This long ask was redacted to pull out the core questions asked]

"Both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding)."

Just a note that while having religion be part of magic is a legitimate way to write fantasy, I want to remind people that religious characters can also perform secular magic. Sometimes I feel like people forget about that particular worldbuilding option. (I feel this one personally because in my own books I chose to make magic secular so that my nonmagical heroine wouldn’t seem less close to God somehow than her wizard adoptive dad, who is an objectively shadier person.) I’m not saying either way is more or less correct or appropriate, just that they’re both options and I think sometimes people forget about the one I chose. But anyway moving on—

Your decision to make the water spirits not actual deities is a respectful decision given the various IRL monotheistic religions in your story, so, thank you for that choice. I can see why it gets messy though, since some people in-universe treat those powers as divine. I guess as long as your fantasy Jews aren’t being depicted as backwards and wrong and ignoring in-universe reality in favor of in-universe incorrect beliefs, then you’re fine…

"I saw a post somewhere (but it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily veer into appropriation-territory."

That was probably us, as Meir and I both feel that way. What would make it appropriative is if these very Jewish IRL markers were used to represent something other than Judaism. It's not appropriative to show Jewish or Jewish-coded characters wearing yarmulkes or marking one day a week for a special evening with two candles or anything else we do if it's connected to Jewishness! To disconnect the markers of us from us is where appropriation starts to seep in.

–Shira

To bounce off what Shira said above, the source of the magic can be religious or secular--or put another way, it can be explicitly granted be a deity or through engagement with a specific religious practice, or it can be something that can be accessed with or without engaging with a certain set of beliefs or practices. It sounds like you’re proposing the second one: the magic is there for anyone to use, but the people in this specific religion engage with it through a framework of specific ideas and practices.

If you can transform into a “spirit” by engaging with this religion, and I can transform into a “spirit” through an analogous practice through the framework of Kabbalah, for example, and an atheist can transform through a course of secular technical study, then what makes yours a religion is the belief on your part that engaging in the process in your specific way, or choosing to engage in that process over other lifestyle choices, is in some way a spiritual good, not the mechanics of the transformation. If, on the other hand, humans can only access this transformative magic through the grace of the deities that religion worships, while practitioners of other religions lack the relationship with the only gods empowered to make that magic, that’s when I’d say you had crossed into doing more harm than good by seeking to include real-world religions.

Including a link below to a post you might have already seen that included the “religion in fantasy worldbuilding alignment chart.” It sounds like you’re in the center square, which is a fine place to be. The center top and bottom squares are where I typically have warned to leave real-world religions out of it.

More reading:

Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons

–Meir

[thechthonicherbalist]

Hello what are the devotionals acts you do for the divinities you devoted yourself to ?

Cheers

Hii! Thank you for your question! Okay, so currently I can't do a lot for health related reasons. So mostly it's things related to surviving and healing, as I'm dealing with cancer, chemotherapy and the aftereffects of a bad mental health crisis. 🌼 I used to do a lot of other things while I was doing better, but in this context I also I need to point out that I grew up with the cultural and religious heritage of Judaism, Romani and a number of Indo-European practices, because I live here and my family has diverse roots (although that's not uncommon in Euroasia). It's things like festivities and customs, that are practiced locally or have been passed down within the family, which involve such acts. All that is very traditional and often very different for people who start working with deities or become member of these cultural practices and religions from the outside or a different background, as belief is always a very individual matter. Since some of my family's cultural and religious roots have been lost or buried, especially due to WW2 and it's aftermath, assimilation, relocation and simply generational loss of interest, I have also made big efforts since my childhood to learn about it and reconstruct. In other words, the way I practice is a mixed bag of different approaches. 🌈 And I do recommend to always try a bit to pave your own path in regards to how you want to practice. Of course it's also fine to draw inspiration from different sources. Actually that's a pretty good way to go about it in my opinion, as diversity keeps our communities and believes alive, evolving and growing and therefore seasonable and healthy! 🥰 If you want to participate or set up more traditional festive acts like the ones I mentioned above for yourself, I recommend researching the calendars of the cultures and religions you're interested in. Similar to the "default" Christianity, all other religions and cultures have annually repetitive practices that are worth looking into. You can also leave a comment with the religions you're curious about and I can see if I can find something to at least get you started on your research journey with some pages or terms to look into, if you want to go down that particular path. 🌼 (No pressure though, I understand that's not for everyone!) But ofc there's also rather personal devotional acts. 🙈 I'm a bit shy to share about this, but I'll take Hellenism as an example: In dedication the Hecate, I practice shadow work, rituals and ancestral work as my family does. In dedication to Apollo, I practice art, have spent my life doing dedicated work to learn about herbal and alternative medicine, picked up training and work as a nurse ages ago (I had to stop since) and I make many playlists, used to sing etc in devotion to him. My dream is to get and learn to play the lyre as a devotional act. In dedication to Ares, I have spent a long time working with him to be able to tap into my anger and deal with it in healthy ways, instead of dissociating it, learning and creating healthy boundaries etc. I made a post about my make-shift altar, where I address some of these things and just how personal and individual they can be, further below here:

Again, this is deeply personal, involves topics of my own personal history etc and also requires a bit of a trigger warning here and there.

I think devotional acts can either be traditional things, that happen in accordance with festivities etc. Or acts that are commonly associated with a deity's attributes (e.g. Aphrodite = love, self love etc; Apollo = healing, art, muses etc). Or things that match with these deities in accordance to your very core personality and current life situation. Or (and most importantly): Simple daily life things. 🌌 In my opinion it's an important part of the spiritual work and a devotional act in itself, to find out what works for you personally, to go on a journey to connect with your deities and believes and figure out what they mean to you, for what reasons you worship and what your hopes and your dedication to a belief or deity is made of. It's also a lot of fun and helps a ton with personal growth though, so don't feel scared or like this is a huge thing. It starts with small stuff, such as writing a poem, making a playlist and a lot of it stays small like this, always. It's also important to only do what's within your power and never go beyond that point, simply to please. Don't try to do things that you can't or that are too much or damaging. It will rob you of your joy in worship and burn you out, rather than give you the desired spiritual peace and connection. The big challenges and changes in life come around all by themselves & when you need a God the most and have to do the difficult things that help you progress? These are the big things you can dedicate to them & do with their help and guidance as well. 💕🌼 Sorry for the long text, I tried to cover a bunch of areas of information and I hope there's something in here that helps you!

[literatureloverx]

Hello! I have a question about Fyodor. What if his potential s/o, who meets all his ideal types, has a different religion than his? I assume Fyodor is a religious orthodox Christian, and I'm curious about how he might relate to someone who is just as religious but not Christian. I'm really interested in how different beliefs can shape relationships, and I think it would be fascinating to see how Fyodor might navigate that. I hope this question isn't disrespectful or makes you uncomfortable :( —I'm just a fan eager to understand the character better. Have a lovely day, by the way! <3

Hello, my dear, of course you’re not being disrespectful; I cherish your sensibility. Please keep in mind that these are my interpretations, and I could indeed be wrong. Also, I’m very sorry to keep you waiting! ♥️

That’s an interesting concept, and I’d likely classify him as an Orthodox Russian as well. However, this is a topic that requires more time for reflection. I’ve deeply analysed the Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—and have observed recurring patterns that suggest a fascinating possibility: these three religions, at their core, might actually be the same but have diverged in vastly different directions.

One could argue that this is not a groundbreaking theory, considering that Islam and Christianity share about (if I remember correctly) 18% of common ground. However, I’ve noticed other patterns that I won’t be able to delve into here for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, religious topics are very sensitive, and I don’t want to inadvertently offend anyone. Secondly, these ideas start to border on conspiracy theories, and this blog is a literature/BSD blog where I engage with my children in a more light-hearted manner. ♥️

Given these patterns, it suggests the existence of one true religion of God. I can also imagine Fyodor unravelling mysteries and truths that ordinary people are unaware of. Since he has presumably lived for countless years, I believe he might have uncovered the “code” or ultimate truth about God, which would explain his unwavering faith. That said, it’s also possible that he may have taken a misstep somewhere in his analysis—who knows?

What I’m ultimately trying to convey is that Fyodor likely doesn’t fit neatly into the box of any single religious denomination, such as Orthodox Christianity. After all, he only speaks of “God” and never the Trinity, and he also references the Promised Land. He isn’t canonically an Orthodox Christian, but I could see Asagiri simplifying his characterisation and assigning him that label for convenience.

Now, in response to your question, I see two possible outcomes:

1. If we follow the idea I outlined, Fyodor would likely lead his beloved to what he perceives as the “right path” or the true moral and religious calling, meaning you would abandon your current faith to follow his.

2. If we take him as an Orthodox Christian, he would manipulate you into adopting his beliefs, driven by his confidence in the absolute truth of his faith.

Either way, his approach would be unwavering, as he seeks to align you with what he believes to be the ultimate truth.

[deconstructingchabad]

Introduction and Blog Description

Hello!

This blog is a personal blog run by an ex-Chabad queer Jew.

What this blog is:

-A place for myself to talk about my own experiences growing up within and breaking away from Chabad.

-A place to educate and answer questions about Chabad

What this blog isn't:

-Bashing Chassidic and/or Orthodox Judaism. I am Egalitarian Orthodox myself.

Boundaries:

-The topics discussed on this blog are intracommunity issues within the Jewish community. I ask that non-Jews refrain from inserting themselves into these conversations or from sharing them around.

-Antisemitism obviously won't be tolerated, and neither will any other prejudices.

My core beliefs:

-Chabad is a highly organized Messianic cult within Judaism. Those within Chabad are still Jews, but the behaviour Chabad as an organization exhibits is no different from other high-control religious groups, and there are extremists within Chabad that display beliefs that are antithetical to Judaism. I will be coming at the issues with Chabad from two main angles: religious and psychological. The religious angle will focus on the ways in which Chabad displays religious norms, values, and beliefs that contradict foundational Jewish values and beliefs. The psychological angle will focus on the ways in which Chabad is a cult that exerts control over its members and recruits members from vulnerable demographics, and the ways in which it has maintained its power over the years.

Resources related to deconstruction:

BITE model- a model outlining the framework most/all cults share and how to recognize them

Yaffed.org- an organization advocating for better education within Charedi schools in New York.

Freidom- a support network for former Orthodox and Charedi Jews.

Footsteps- a support network for former Charedi Jews and those seeking to leave

SayNoToChabad- an Instagram account focusing on issues within Chabad specifically

Alternative sources for Jewish education:

MyJewishLearning

Jewish Virtual Library

Sefaria

ReformJudaism.org

ReconstructingJudaism.org

USCJ.org

Aish.com

Alternative Jewish youth and young adult

organizations:

Keshet

JQY

Moishe House

Hillel

[feygaleh]

The abridged life and times of Abraham Geiger, founding father of Reform Judaism, summed up in one tumblr ask

Abraham Geiger was born in 1810 in Frankfurt am Main, he grew up with siblings and from a very young age began to be educated in Rabbinic Texts by his older brother. From early on Geiger proved to be quite the good thinker, and at the age of 18 he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg and then at the University of Bonn where he came to meet a small number of other middle-class, well-educated Jewish boys like himself. At Heidelberg he began to study languages, and then at Bonn— in a most pivotal point in his lifetime— Arabic and the Quran.

Geiger was given the assignment by one of his professors to try and find similarities between Judaism and Islam by reading the Quran, and Geiger became completely invested as he ended up finding so many connections between Jewish and Muslim practices that he ended up writing his prize essay “Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?” (“What did Mohammed take from Judaism?”) which became incredibly popular and was translated into multiple languages. Geiger would continue to write about Islam, and became particularly enamoured with the Prophet Mohammed, whom he viewed less as a prophet and more as a great philosopher. Abraham Geiger is now partially known as one of the founding academics of modern Quranic Studies.

After his time in University, Geiger later became a Rabbi partially due to the fact that Jews in this period of German history, though permitted to study at Universities, were still not allowed to become professors. However, Geiger made the most of his academic knowledge within his career as a rabbi, quite notably founding a journal of Jewish studies, as well as doing research and publishing. Later, Geiger was called to Breslau and became a rabbi there much to the ire of the more traditional rabbis there, he had become known to the more orthodox world as a radical reformer, which in many ways he was, though to the modern Reform Jews his observance would seem more akin to Modern Orthodox.

Still, though, Geiger was even by our modern standards quite radical and he earned the distaste of many other Jews, including quite notably one of his friends from University, Samson Raphael Hirsch, who would go onto become a very bitter opponent to Geiger’s Liberalization of Jewish life and tradition. Another group that Geiger found himself at the ire of were the early Zionists, who took particular issue with one of Geiger’s (And many early Reformer’s) most radical and notable changes to Jewish practice, that being anti-Messianism.

One of the early Reform movement’s most prominent aspects was of a kind of assimilationist approach to Jewish life, early participants of this perspective emerged in the 1700s when middle class lay-Jews decided to create their own version of synagogue that fit into more contemporary (Christian) aesthetics, installing organs in their homes and having private services complete with a service leader wearing black priestly robes and white collar, in many ways Reform began as a sort of Protestantization of Judaism. During the time of Geiger there were rabbis getting involved with this reformation and having more authoritative discussions around what this new Liberal Judaism should look like.

One of the core aspects of the new Liberal Judaism was a desire to integrate into larger Western European society, Geiger and his contemporaries were just as much Germans as they were Jews, and they wanted to show that. Unfortunately, due to what was viewed as “Progressivism” at the time, this resulted in a push more toward assimilation into Christian aesthetics than multiculturalism, this meant the removal of things like Tallit, Teffilin, davening, and even the wearing of kippahs. However, one of the most interesting changes made the Liberalization of Judaism was anti-Messianism e.g. the opposition to the belief that there is a Messiah coming and to the rebuilding of a third temple in Jerusalem, the logic went that if the Jewish people wanted to become emancipated into Western European society then it would be a bit of a bad look to have prayers calling for a rebuilding of Zion and a great migration of Jews there, they thought that their Christian neighbours would assume dual loyalty.

This resulted in some, Rabbis like Geiger himself, completely removing the prayers for a rebuilding of Zion from their liturgy. A fun fact about this is that some Reform Jews after Geiger adopted anti-Zionism as a direct evolution of anti-Messianism when Zionism became a more established aspect of Jewish life. This position would largely disappear after the Shoah.

During his time in Breslau, Geiger married and had four children— One of whom, Ludwig, would go on to continue his father’s work and publish many of his diaries and private letters of which would become invaluable for understanding who Geiger was as a person— unfortunately, though, his wife would fall ill and they would move to Berlin where she unfortunately passed away. During his time in Berlin, Geiger would write what would become his magnum opus “Urschift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel” a work which put fourth the position that the Pharisees and early rabbis of the Mishnah sought the Liberalization of Judaism themselves, in opposition to the more conservative Sadducees. The work has never been translated into English, though there is a Hebrew translation.

After the publication of his magnum opus, Geiger went on to do more writing and publishing, for example writing on the origins of Christianity, creating a new journal of Jewish studies and and writing on many, many more topics. Geiger was quite an accomplished man, he seemed to always be working something no matter what point of his life you look into. Geiger would also become a member of the Organization of Oriental Studies, where he published works in German and Hebrew. Some time later Geiger managed to found a Jewish Theological Seminary in Berlin, to which he faced much backlash from antisemites who did not want Jewish studies to become a part of the University curriculum.

Abraham Geiger would die in 1874, his grave remains in Berlin. He lived a most productive life and he will forever be remembered as a great academic of his time, may his memory be for a blessing.

A large amount of this rundown was lifted from an interview with Dr. Susannah Heschel on The Podcast of Jewish Ideas, which can be found here: https://youtu.be/6VOGw54FDXc?si=2E1VuQxBR9Rk4z36 I found it quite useful though I am not all too familiar with the podcast itself, I just happened to find this episode while looking for audio resources for learning about Geiger.

And finally, my sincerest apologies if I’ve gotten anything wrong here, I would highly recommend doing your own research and looking into these things yourself, as I am also still in the process of learning more about Geiger and the Reform Movement myself.

this was such an amazing read, thank you so much for the notes! i really do want to go read more into him now because of this

the history of reform-assimilation and anti-zionism is also very interesting! you’d think i’d know about that but we never went over that part in my shul!

you have such a kind spirit and i really deeply appreciate you for taking the time to share this information

[jewishbarbies]

the erasure of jewish identities of superheroes bother me so much… that is core symbolism and representation and the creations of JEWISH PEOPLE as a result of what jewish people have gone through. how are you gonna pretend they dont exist.

the christian-ification of superman is my 13th reason. there’s no way you, as an appropriator of jewish beliefs as is, is going to take the most obvious Moses allegory ever and pretend like acktually that’s jesus. and give him BLUE EYES. the excuse from nerdbros is always some shitty word salad about “every character has multiple iterations so there’s no TRUE canon” and then get mad when there’s a black spiderman. it’s the same bullshit when you say scarlet witch is roma and more recently also jewish. like the mcu literally decided that judaism is the same as christianity so the son of a rabbi is like the son of a priest and therefore has religious trauma when the character in question canonically only had religious adjacent trauma because of antisemitic crimes against him, as if daredevil isn’t RIGHT THERE. he has enough catholic guilt to cover it. but no, we’re going to fuck up an infamously jewish character for the hell of it. the absolute disrespect shown to not only jewish characters, but the jews who created them, is insane. there’s no way you can claim to love and respect stan lee and then pull that fucking shit.