#Do you add it in maariv?

[snissel613]

Oh shoot I forgot ya'aleh veyavo in mincha just now

[jewishconvertthings]

hi! this might be a bit of a weird ask, but how does individual prayer work in judaism? I’m converting but was raised catholic so I’m used to doing the sign of the cross + kneeling but obvi the cross is xtian and I’ve heard kneeling is discouraged? all I can find talks about shacharit/maariv but I’m talking more about just talking to gd directly without structured liturgy/a group? I just don’t know if I sit/stand/kneel, or if there’s smth special to start/end prayers like the crossing? thanks!

Hi anon, 

If you’re not formally davening, but rather just talking directly to G-d through prayer, I would recommend doing what you find most comfortable/least distracting, so that you can turn all of your attention where it should be. For me, I tend to use my meditation pose, and/or to sit cross-legged and rock, because that is what is most helpful for focusing my attention. That’s going to look different for each person, however. And to be perfectly honest? Sometimes my most meaningful conversations involved crying in my bathtub, or staring off into space, so I really don’t think there’s a “right” way to go about it. 

As for starting and ending prayers, that’s interesting - I’ve never figured out a perfect analogy for ending personal prayer myself. I usually just end it like I would end a conversation with a person, but you could certainly borrow bits from the formal liturgy. I’d suggest looking at the end of the Amidah - there’s a phrase that gets used which is “Yih’yu l’ratzon imrei fi v’hegyon libil’fanecha, Hashem tzuri v’go-ali,” which means “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, Hashem, my Rock and my Redeemer.“ [x]

I hope that helps, and if anyone else has any suggestions, please add them!

[diy-stigmata]

For sure! I posted the Haaretz article in a new post not to clog up this one lol. Other sources that are public are in Hebrew, but I'll post links to them as that can be run through Google Translate. The actual english articles from eng magazines aren't great so I wouldn't bother. I didn't look into Arabic language sources, that aren't super concise aside from Raseem22. Her name to spell in Hebrew is שרית אחמד, and in Arabic seems to be ساريت احمد if you'd like to do further research. Later this week I think there'll be a public update so I'll @ you if anything new is added.

Unto the resources!

- Walla: a nice synopsis, details generally match Haaretz reporting aside from social services time of involvement due to being more concise than Haaretz

- Ynet: a more coloured synopsis, more details on police and her time in and out of the shelters.

- Israel Hayom: they don't talk a lot about the case, but they do talk about it in connection with general increases in violence that have been seen recently

- Raseem22 (Arabic): they echo Hebrew sources on case history, but add more like an op ed on general sentiments about rising violence and larger suppressive elements at play that effected her and others in similar situations.

The other male relative that was mentioned a lot was her father because he denied any threats (via Maariv, also popular news) her brother posed. And he was allegedly involved in her "home arrest" conducted. There are varying degrees to how culpable he is made in diff articles though.

The English language screenshot provides details in an interesting format that's not super sequential but here's the timeline from what I gathered she was encouraged to stay in the shelters when she was in them, aside from that one judge who said to attempt reconciliation. The Haaretz article goes into the potential psychologies of leaving the shelter(s) though ultimately the issue was not why did she leave, but more so why was the treatment of violence so light in court. The timeline via Haaretz is detailed but so messy tbh because she hops in and out of social care/shelters, and it will likely be clarified when they open the files up. As she was a minor when she was in contact with social services her situation also may present issues if she was released back into her family's care without sufficient protection, though Haaretz claims (iirc) she was in a care home from 15-18, but other articles claim events occurred at home when she was 16 so it's still a little iffy.

hey mena, have you heard about Sarit Ahmad? she was an 18yo Palestinian lesbian and she was killed by her brothers last friday for her sexuality... and from what I got from the articles I've found, Israeli officials are using this story to push for a reinforcement of the Israeli police force

idk about the stuff you’re saying about israel’s police force but this is horrible. they literally knew her family was a threat and pushed her to reconcile with them and put her back with them while knowing they were still threatening her. that’s infuriating, bc her death could’ve been prevented based on this information. also most news sources are calling her queer ofc…