#Jewish exceptionalism

[badempanadaofpatmos]

The israel lobbies and the western media had to spend billions of dollars in order to make jewish exceptionalism accepted enough, just so that the stunted minds of zionists can constandly appeal to jewishness in order to defend israels genocides.

[kosherkept]

i hope it doesnt sound too stupid but sometimes i scroll through pinterest and look at all gorgeous judaica and feel such a surge of love for judiasm. maybe its becuase i just really love things

[silly-jewish-vents]

Begging, screaming, pleading with gentiles to use Hashem, G-d, or The Tetragrammaton to refer to the Jewish god specifically. Being academic or whatever nonsense you’re using to rationalize it is no excuse to butcher the pronunciation of a name that is not meant to be spoken by the culture you’re referring to. You’re not being academic. You’re just being a jerk.

Edit/additional notes for clarification: this is specifically talking about attempted pronunciations/spellings of the Tetragrammaton in areas like Academia or in conversations about Judaism centered around Jews. This is not about in terms of a religious context such as church or mosque.

The spelling of G-d with a dash instead of an o is my personal comfort level for this post. For anyone for whom that isnt their custom that isnt an issue and they can absolutely use an oh and spell out G-d fully. I chose not to for this post. I may choose to spell it out in the future.

There is technically an argument to be made for exceptionally early israelite history like canaanite era usage. Personally still makes me and others uncomfortable and feels weird. That argument does not apply to temple or onward Jewish history era.

[lookinthymirror]

gendered antisemitism and when jewish violence is exceptionalized (is everyone except the jews allowed to be violent?):

elza niego, a turkish jewish woman, was murdered by an older turkish man for adamantly rejecting his advances. he stabbed her to death more than 8 times in 1927. he had stalked her for years and was enraged at her engagement to her jewish coworker. he had even tried to kidnap her with other accomplices. elza and her family complained to the police and as a result he also spent time in prison (only some months). he refused to stop asking elza's family for her hand in marriage and was rejected each time, making him more upset. after his release from prison, he stabbed elza to death and severely injured her sister who was present at the time and tried to protect her. he did this in broad daylight. she was 17 when he first approached her and he was in his 50s. elza died at the age of 18. her murderer was osman ratip, the son of ahmet ratip pasa, former ottoman governor of the hijaz.

her murder sparked an intense emotional reaction from the turkish jewish community and her funeral attracted hundreds of jews to the streets. the turkish press claimed jews had flocked to the streets, blocking traffic and yelling calls for justice. jewish public outrage was unacceptable, seditious, and ungrateful. the press reaction led to the arrest of nine jewish leaders and the curtailing of the jews’ right to free travel in turkey. niego’s murder was an early indicator of the new government’s determination to quash any public jewish expression.

the funeral march of elza.

now these accusations of jews being disruptive and "violent" are mostly BS. but it is always possible that a few were, indeed, violent and unruly. because 25,000 turned up for elza’s funeral, demanding justice for her. it is only logical that some of those 25,000 acted poorly. or maybe even more than just *some*. with post oct 7th logic, does that make the antisemitic campaign demonizing and punishing jews for flooding the streets in support of elza okay and justified? these accusations of violence were mostly false but the world truly fears jewish violence, exceptionalizing it as "the worse of all". i'm not saying we should just do whatever we want and be violent to get back at them but it is important to recognize that jewish violence is treated very differently than others.

the police protected osman, not allowing him the punishment of being lynched and instead sending him to a mental asylum.

the antisemitic press demanded that turkey break off all ties with the jews. anti-jewish demonstrations spread to izmir: jewish schools were closed down and jewish newspapers prevented from publishing. meanwhile the press demanded that the jews be expelled from turkey. hmm...sounds familiar?

a handful of jews (around 9 or 10) were arrested for bad behavior and some reports state they were also arrested for insulting turkishness.

while the trial for these jewish men was being orchestrated, elza’s murderer osman had been deemed criminally insane and remanded to an asylum instead of being convicted for murder and sent to prison.

limitations on travel were then imposed on turkish jews. jak pardo, an elderly jewish teacher, wrote a letter to his former student prime minister inonu during the trial, complaining of maltreatment of the jews, which led him to be arrested for contempt of court. 

as the prosecutor complained in court about jews not speaking turkish enough in public life and being ungrateful, it was evident to all involved that this was a show trial regarding the jews’ national loyalty to turkey. the case did not hinge on the facts specific to the funeral of elza niego. looking for evidence of an organized anti-turkish contingent, the police investigated the chief rabbinate and other jewish communal institutions and interviewed prominent jewish businessmen and communal leaders like albert karaso and marko nahum. and the anti-jewish campaign that was sparked by elza’s funeral was not strictly local. in izmir, the local turkish press relentlessly published anti-jewish screeds, a young jew was arrested after brawling with a man who hassled him for speaking ladino (anti zionists mad at jews for speaking hebrew is the same energy lmfao), and local teachers organized a petition protesting against jews, including a call for taking down hebrew signage at the jewish hospital and rabbinate—which an anti-jewish mob promptly did. 

immediately after the trial, notable works of jewish apologia were published by prominent jewish writers such as muhsin tekinalp (formerly moiz kohen) and avram galante. 

the jewish memory of the elza niego affair, as the jewish turkish press called it, was focused on the proven innocence of jews against accusations of disloyalty, while turkish memory centered on the unfortunate death of a young beautiful girl, minimizing the surrounding politics and pretending like the antisemitism that ensued never existed.

[tamamita]

Did someone ever ask the Tumblr Zio Folk what they think of the descendents of the Jews... who converted to Islam in the last thousand years? And who still live in the Levant? In Palestine??

Like, do these people even exist in the minds of the "landback" "we're doing anti-colonialism" Jewish Zionists?

Palestinian Christians are arguably the oldest community of Christians in the world, having had a continuous presence in the Holy Land. Their history can be traced back as far as the Apostolic age when they were referred to as Jewish Christians. Their identity as Arabs only came as a result of the Islamic expansion which culminated in them forming their own ethnic and cultural identity, some converted to Islam, some did not, same case with the Jews and Samaritans who intermingled with the Christian and Arab community at that time, hence why Palestinians still retain much of their Levant heritage, this is attested even by Israeli archeologist and genealogists. Even if these Zionists wish to obfuscate the fact that Palestinians has had a consistent presence in the Holy land, the fact is that Palestinians are of Jewish descent and have far more right to be in that land than some White ass Yankee nobody who happens to be Jewish, or some convert student from Philadelphia who apparently has a greater right to citizenship in the settler state than a native Palestinian.

You can skim through every literature made the by earliest Zionists thinkers, such as Herzl, Ha'am, Hess, Borochov, Jabotinsky, Weizmann and Ben Gurion, one thing you'll notice is that they are exceptionally damn proud of being Europeans and were all inspired by the European nationalist wave.

[city-of-ladies]

Licoricia of Winchester (c. 1220–1277) was an exceptionally successful financier and businesswoman who acted as a leader for her community and frequently dealt with royalty.

Licoricia and her time

Little is known about Licoricia’s early life. Like many Jewish women of her time, she was likely highly educated. By 1200, England’s Jewish population numbered between 4,000 and 5,000. Marginalized and subjected to widespread antisemitism, Jewish communities faced fluctuating tolerance—often depending on their financial usefulness to the crown.

Licoricia first appears in records in 1234 as a young widow running a prosperous business. She had three children with her first husband: Benedict, Cokerel, and Lumbard.

Jewish women were not uncommon in the world of finance. Around 10% of loans recorded in the English king’s rolls at the time were made by Jewish women. Names like Henna of York, Mirabelle of Gloucester, Belia of Bedford, Chera of Winchester, and Abigail of London stand out among the many successful female Jewish financiers.

These women acted as independent moneylenders, traveling on horseback or by cart—often with armed escorts—appearing in court on their own behalf, dressing richly, owning estates, and lending money to men from various social ranks.

Licoricia’s business ventures

Well-connected and influential, Licoricia lent money to a wide range of clients—from farmers and local barons to the aristocracy and the church. Among her borrowers were King Henry III and his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort. She also rented homes to Christian women and conducted business across southern England.

In 1242, Licoricia married David of Oxford, another prominent financier with whom she had a son, Asher. Their union faced obstacles as David’s first wife, Muriel, refused to consent to a divorce. It was only through royal intervention that the marriage was permitted.

Despite her marriage, Licoricia continued to manage her business independently. When David died in 1244, Licoricia was imprisoned in the Tower of London to prevent her from interfering while royal accountants assessed his estate. To reclaim David’s debts, she was forced to pay a sum of 5,000 marks—part of which was used to fund a new shrine to Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey.

After her release, Licoricia expanded her late husband’s business. Thanks to her access to the king, Licoricia was often called upon by other Jews to intervene on their behalf.

Though highly successful, she was not without controversy. In 1253, a man sued her for charging excessive interest on a loan that allegedly forced his father to sell his estate and forge documents. She defended herself by accusing the plaintiff of murder and forgery. With royal intervention, she managed to settle the case with only a small fine.

Unsolved murder

In 1277, Licoricia was found stabbed to death in her Winchester home, alongside her devoted Christian servant, Alice. Her coffers, strongboxes, and goods were stolen, suggesting the crime was motivated by greed. The culprit was never found.

Her legacy endured through her sons, who continued to refer to themselves as the “sons of Licoricia.” Asher, in particular, became a successful financier. However, just 13 years after her death, Edward I expelled the Jewish population from England.

Today, a statue of Licoricia stands in Winchester, bearing the message “Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself” at its base.

If you enjoy this blog, consider supporting me on Ko-fi!

Further reading

Bartlet Suzanne, Tallan Cheryl, “Licoricia of Winchester”

Berman Brown Reva, McCartney Sean, “David of Oxford and Licoricia of Winchester: glimpses into a Jewish family in thirteenth-century England”

“Licoricia of Winchester project”

Waterman Hillary, “Licoricia of Winchester, Jewish Widow and Medieval Financier”

Williams-Boyarin Adrienne, “Anglo-Jewish women at court”, in: Kervy-Fulton Kathryn,   Bugyis Katie Ann-Marie, van Engen John (eds.), Women intellectuals and leaders in the Middle Ages

[psychologeek]

And that also ignoring the long history of hate and persecution before the establishment of Israel.

That is not to hijack this post. But -

I just shared and wrote a long post about it earlier today.

(ft. Ma'abarot, relative-search bureau, the Tsena era, and "you gotta ring twice")

I currently have a lot of Jewish mutuals/people I follow and over the course of the last few months, almost Every. Single. One has talked about their mental health declining, that they’re exhausted and terrified, that they’ve become more closed off and lost their trust in people from outside their communities, due to being gaslit and ignored constantly on a society wide scale. Almost all of them have experienced antisemitic abuse or violence personally or had bomb threats to their synagogues and community centres or had swastikas and slurs graffitied on their properties.

The worst thing about this outrage is that none of them are really surprised by it - frightened, sickened, yes - but not surprised. They and their ancestors have had to deal with this shit for thousands of years. And all of them expect - no they *know* - it’s going to get worse.

It’s beyond fucking shameful. We are failing these people on a massive, society wide scale. Again.

So, I NEVER want to see a single one of my fellow goyim say shit like “Jews are just playing the victim,” “the rise in antisemitism is overblown and not as bad as they say because I haven’t seen it,” “it’s just a few extremists,” because NO, IT ISN’T - it’s systemic. Those who aren’t directly perpetrating it are mostly ignoring it. If you won't believe or listen to Jewish voices (if not, why not?) then the cold statistics cannot be waved away.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-antisemitic-incidents-up-about-400-since-israel-hamas-war-began-report-says-2023-10-25/

https://news.sky.com/story/more-than-4-000-antisemitic-incidents-recorded-by-jewish-charity-in-uk-in-2023-with-explosion-in-hatred-blamed-on-hamas-attacks-13071580

https://www.reuters.com/world/how-surge-antisemitism-is-affecting-countries-around-world-2023-10-31/

[ghouljams]

Jewish ghost!!! Ghoul ur MINDDD I love it. How does it feel to be the most correct all of the time?

Jewish Ghost whose mum was Jewish but only started practicing again after his dad was kicked out and she could actually find the space to worship again. Jewish Ghost who never had a Bar Mitzva because of this and finds it exceptionally funny that he's not technically a man because of this (Price does not think it's funny when Ghost tells him "shouldn't even be 'ere sir, I'm just a kid"). Who is just starting to reconnect with his heritage and figured he may as well practice the high holidays at the very least. Decides the kosher rations are way better so he starts keeping kosher. Considers circumcision, decides he's not that committed, gets a piercing instead.

Like he's not sure he believes in all of the religious stuff, but he's finding a heritage that was taken from him and it feels like a "fuck you" to his father so sure he'll feed some ducks his sins, who cares?

[littlestpersimmon]

Most movements that center on exclusion and separatism will always fail to see (and therefore fail to dismantle in any meaningful way) systems of oppression. T3rves will complain about trans women in women's prisons and will never, ever complain about the existence of prisons in the first place, Transmeds will completely isolate themselves from any iteration of transhood that does not medicalize itself, therefore leaving the thousands of trans identities of various cultures as totally invalid, and having the medical industry be the end all be all of arbiters on the matter. Do u get what I'm saying. Any conversation around oppression that frames an oppressed demographic as exceptionally oppressed often turn into echo chambers where it becomes impossible to talk about the intricacies and intersectionalities of bigotry, often resulting into demands of unconditional support; guilt tripping and weaponized marginalization only a few of its apparatus. Being an antizionist jew has been, actual, literal hell when I know by heart every single liberal zionist Jewish argument that every moderate on this website falls for. I have to make myself clear that I put anti imperialism over my own feelings, that many many others before me have pointed out how callous it is to center jewish feelings, to invoke the millenia of our peoples suffering, to speak of antisemitism in tandem with palestinian resistance, as if speaking of palestine insinuates a steady slope onto hatred of Jews. Many cliques on this website have a bunch of enablers to exploit their own status as part of a marginalized and oppressed group to silence any criticism of Israel and America, which is to me is incredibly perverse and manipulative. If you are a true ally to Jews, any place in the world should be a safe place for us, and it should not be at the desire to build ethnostates on the expense of an indigenous population made to reckon with crimes they did not commit. I don't know.

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

There is a nonzero chance that that is actually him tho and he has come to Tumblr just to find more people to get pissed at and pwn lmfao. But like if so. Oh my god how embarrassing, I mean that's just a 2016 style discourse blog except instead of like, ace discourse it's just telling Zionists to kill themselves. Like not that that's like, wrong, I just think it's just a waste of time and energy.

Why is someone impersonating BadEmpanada on here lmfao

They've got the "combative for combativeness' sake" thing down. I do generally respect the guy and think he actually does have some principles, but god sometimes he does the like chest beating debate lord thing and it's only like 10% a joke. His longer form stuff is good, but sometimes in his short and medium stuff I'm like omg bro you need to log off social media

[girlactionfigure]

But projecting ancient antisemitic stereotypes, conspiracies, and tropes onto the world’s only Jewish state, where half of the world’s Jews live, is not “criticism of Israel.”

Just as you should be able to criticize the regime in Sudan without anti-Blackness, you should be able to criticize the State of Israel’s government, policies, and politicians without peddling ancient antisemitic tropes, conspiracies, and stereotypes. Just as you should be able to criticize Barack Obama without racist caricatures, you should be able to criticize Benjamin Netanyahu without antisemitic caricatures that look like they could have come out of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer (ultimately, antisemitic caricatures perpetrate antisemitic stereotypes that probably won’t affect Netanyahu much, but they will hurt your Jewish friends and family). It’s not that hard. 

When you believe every single thing the Jewish state does must have some nefarious, manipulative intention (e.g. thinking Tel Aviv Pride is just a pinkwashing ploy to detract from Israel’s crimes against Palestinians), or when you sincerely believe that a country the size of New Jersey with 0.1% of the world’s population is behind most of the planet’s evils, you are not operating based on reality. You are operating off a conspiratorial worldview called antisemitism. And that’s not “criticism of Israel.” That’s an ancient, deadly bigotry.

But calling for violence against Israelis, especially Israeli civilians, is not “criticism of Israel.”

You would think that this would be entirely self-explanatory. Advocating for mass shootings in the United States, for example, is in no universe equivalent to criticizing the policies of the Trump administration. Likewise, calling for violence against Israeli citizens – through bombings, stabbings, car-rammings, shootings, and more – is in no way equivalent to criticizing the policies of the Israeli government. Nobody is genuinely unable to make that very clear distinction; anyone pretending otherwise is being dishonest.

Much of the rhetoric we hear from the pro-Palestine crowd is in no way legitimate criticism of anything or anyone. For example, we’ve heard pro-Palestine protestors chant “bomb, bomb Tel Aviv,” “by any means necessary” (the means: children burnt to ashes), and “globalize the Intifada,” the last and bloodiest of which predominantly targeted civilians. What about Israel are they criticizing, exactly?

But denying over three millennia of Jewish history is not “criticism of Israel.”

Denying any people their history is bigoted. Denying a historically marginalized group its history – one that our ancestors fought so hard to preserve in the face of the unimaginable – is especially bigoted. 

Jewish history is exceptionally well-recorded, both by Jews and non-Jews alike. We know where our ancestors came from and what was important to them because they made sure to pass that information down to us, generation to generation. 

Thinking that you get to swoop in, 3000 years later, to deny us this history because it inconveniences your political narrative about a 100-year-old conflict is not only bigoted, but deeply entitled. Who do you think you are?

But delegitimizing, distorting, or denying over three millennia of Jewish identity is not “criticism of Israel.”

I don’t care if it inconveniences your narrative: for millennia, it’s been extensively well-established that today’s Jews are the direct genetic and cultural descendants of the ancient Israelites. It’s been extensively well-established that the Jewish people became a people in the Land of Israel, and that the Land of Israel has continued to play a central and important role in Jewish identity. It’s been extensively well-established that the Jews who were never displaced from the Land of Israel maintained strong cultural and communal relations with the Jews in the Diaspora, considering members of the same nation. In fact, it’s been extensively well-established that Jews have historically seen ourselves as an “am” – a nation – rather than a religious group. 

You do not get to rewrite our very identity because it discomforts the overly simplistic narratives that you’ve been sold about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our ancestors endured the unendurable for 3000 years to preserve this identity. You don’t get to take it away from us, and any attempt to do so is plain bigotry and entitlement, not criticism.

But discriminating against Israelis or against Jews because of their (real or perceived) connections to Israel is not “criticism of Israel.”

Discriminating against people based on their country of nationality is called xenophobia. Xenophobia, like antisemitism, is a bigotry, not a criticism. About 78% of Israelis were born in Israel, and like you, they didn’t choose where they were born (for comparison, around 85% of Americans were born in the United States. Not such a drastic difference). 

For example, boycotting Israeli restaurants is not “criticism of Israel.” It’s blatant xenophobia. You are well within your right to boycott any business or establishment whose political views or values don’t align with your own, but someone’s nationality alone is not a political view or a value.

Likewise, marginalizing Jews out of every facet of public life (e.g. creating boycott lists of “Zionist” therapists or authors) based on tenuous connections to Israel – say, having family there, or having visited there – is not “criticism of Israel.” It’s blatant antisemitism. Newsflash: the vast majority of the world’s Jews have links to Israel, given that half of us live there (the reason half of us live there? Well, mostly because we were expelled from other countries and had nowhere else to go).

But Holocaust denial is not “criticism of Israel.”

Calling Israelis or the State of Israel “Nazis” is a form of Holocaust denial. How come? Holocaust denial is not necessarily only a denial that the Holocaust happened at all, but much more commonly, it’s a distortion or denial of the basic historical facts about the Holocaust. 

Some of the basic facts about the Holocaust are the following: (1) the Nazis persecuted and targeted all Jews for extermination, whether they were Zionists or not. Thus, Zionists cannot be Nazis; (2) internal and public Nazi documents extensively demonstrate that the Nazis were vehemently opposed to the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state (for a more thorough breakdown, please see my post “Nazi Views on the Zionist Movement”). Thus, the Jewish state cannot be the inheritor of Nazism; (3) during and after the Holocaust, the Nazi regime and Nazi figures collaborated with the Arabs against the establishment of a Jewish state, not in favor of it (see my posts “Palestine and the Holocaust” and “Final Solution, Rebranded” for more on this). 

Needless to say, Holocaust denial is not “criticism” of Israel (or of anything else).

But holding Israel – or Israelis or Jews – to double standards is not “criticism of Israel.”

Self-determination is considered a basic tenet of international law. If you believe all national groups have a right to self-determination except for Jews, that is a clear double standard rooted in antisemitic bias (and if you don’t believe Jews are a “national group,” you are choosing to distort over three millennia of Jewish identity, during which we have predominantly identified not as a religious group, but as an “am” – a nation). 

Say, then, that you don’t believe in nation-states. That’s your right. But in that case, you shouldn’t support the free Palestine movement, either, as that is exactly what the movement advocates for – a Palestinian nation state.

And look: even if you don’t support the existence of any nation-state, how come you think the Jewish one, where half of the world’s Jewish population lives, where the vast majority of Jews arrived as refugees with nowhere else to call home, should be the first one to go?

But calling for the destruction of Israel is not “criticism of Israel.”

The State of Israel exists. It has existed for the past 77 years. It exists along with the 9.5 million people of all backgrounds who call the nation home. We are no longer in 1947, when the (re)establishment of a sovereign Jewish state was a matter of debate. It’s been established. 

There is no reasonable scenario in which the State of Israel ceases to exist without significant bloodshed of both Israelis andPalestinians. All historical precedent – in Israel and outside of it – makes this clear. Countries don’t just peacefully and bloodlessly dismantle themselves. As always, it’s innocent civilians that will pay the highest price. Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas are well-aware of this, which is why they not only advocate for “jihad” and “armed resistance,” but insist that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are a “small price” to pay for their “liberation.”

Calling for the destruction of Israel is not criticism. It’s calling for violence, which will affect innocents the most.

Some important takeaways...

(1) In most cases (at least that I’ve personally seen), the phrase “but criticism of Israel is not antisemitic!” is a red herring, because what most Jews object to is not actually criticism of Israel, but rather, antisemitic rhetoric or behavior loosely disguised under the facade of “anti-Zionism” or “criticism of Israel.”

(2) That’s not to say some Jews can’t weaponize accusations of antisemitism to silence legitimate criticism of Israel, because of course it happens sometimes. But any member of any minority or marginalized group can weaponize accusations of bigotry (for example, though rare, it is possible for a woman to lie about being raped by a man); Jews aren’t unique in that regard. That doesn’t mean the bigotry in question doesn’t exist or that all accusations of said bigotry shouldn’t be investigated seriously.

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram and  Patreon. 

rootsmetals

yes, you are correct. Criticism of Israel is NOT antisemitism. But are you *actually* criticizing Israel? 🤔

[jewish-vents]

I know who I am. I'm not afraid or ashamed.

I just wish there weren't billions of people screaming at us to die and spreading lies.

It's demotivating. It's draining. It feels hopeless. They're speaking over us. It's like bullying a little kid. There's so little of us.

I am proud of being Jewish. I accept our flaws, I accept that some of us are bad and kill others in our name, I accept that Israel is flawed and I love it despite it all. If times get tough as they are destined to and you run away from being Jewish, there is no point. Why does the world expect us to bow and tremble and cry and beg because our country is like other countries and has killed and oppressed? Can everyone stop exceptionalizing us? We are not worse than others nor are we better. Bad things are done in our name but bad things are done in everyone's name: we are not special. All religions can attest to this. I hate it too and you have every right to despair but this is the result of being human. We cannot social justice our way out of being human. So why must we denounce our entire religion and remake it and destroy our only safe haven because there is a far right conservative government?

.

[etz-ashashiyot]

About Me/FAQs

You can call me Avital. I am a non-binary traditional egalitarian Jew living in the US. Any pronouns except they/them are fine. (!היא/את בעברית, בבקשה. תודה)

I really appreciate human interaction. That being the case, if you follow me and I don't already follow you, please send me a DM with the following:

What you want me to call you (internet name, username, nickname, whatever)

What brought you here and made you want to follow me

Something random about you that you feel comfortable sharing (pet pics are always welcome too <3)

I had a whole lot of other rules on my previous blog to weed out the faint of heart, but I genuinely don't know how well that worked, so instead I will simply put roughly the same information below as resources and recommended reading. Fair warning: I will operate from a baseline assumption that you've done the reading and therefore will not be explaining anything in them.

I also had a listing of my firm opinions and other miscellaneous information. That got long and unwieldy, but a lot of people seemed to appreciate it, so I will post roughly the same list under the cut.

The current username refers to my current symbol of a tree of lanterns in the starlight. This is related to my desire to create self-symbolism, old school style (like I really want to create a family crest, a flag, a seal, and other heraldic nonsense. Why? Because it delights me, of course.)

This page is under construction and subject to change at any time.

B'vracha,

Avital

Recommend Reading

For followers who are Christian, were Christian, are non-Jews who grew up in a Christian culture and/or have only learned about Judaism through Christianity, these links are very helpful in unpacking some of the antisemitism you were taught:

Better Parables (specifically the article about Pharisees, but read the rest of the site too, it's great)

Antisemitic readings of the Temple table-flipping incident in the New Testament

The current Israel-Hamas war and just המצב discourse in general require a lot of background knowledge to discuss intelligently, and not just propaganda. There is a LOT of antisemitism in the public around this topic and it is having serious real-world consequences for Jews all over the world. The mis- and disinformation is causing problems for everyone involved. Islamophobia in the West has increased as well. If you're going to engage in this discussion, I am respectfully but forcefully asking you to read the following sources. They are useful regardless of where you fall on that political scale.

There Is No Magic Peace Fairy

Ways to help: [1], [2], [3]

Muslim organizations advocating for peace, education, positive interfaith relations, and fighting antisemitism

This is perhaps my best summary of my own feelings on the whole thing

Is your pro-Palestine activism hurting innocent people? Here's how to avoid that

Please learn what Kahanism is, because it actually is what people think Zionism is. Zionism is simply a desire for Jewish self-determination in our ancestral homeland of eretz Yisrael. Kahanism is a type of racism that cloaks itself in Zionism but is fundamentally bigoted.

A non-exhaustive list of antisemitic incidents, attacks, and pogroms during [OP's] lifetime

An exceptionally long and thorough explanation of antisemitism and antisemitic violence throughout history

Why The Most Educated People in America Fall for Antisemitic Lies by Dara Horn (tumblr link in case the article link gets broken)

This explanation of the atrocities endured by Soviet Jews and how the legacy of Soviet antisemitism undergirds western "antizionism-not-antisemitism." If you call yourself an anti-Zionist, this is required reading.

An excellent overview of the basics

This is nowhere near complete information, but it's an important start. I will very likely continue to add resources as they become available and would love to create a primer on this topic more generally.

If you don't believe that October 7th happened or wasn't that bad, or really any atrocity denial please read this article from a reporter who was shown the actual footage, as well as this article documenting its effects on him.

If you are still in denial about the pattern of gender based violence, sexualized torture, and widespread rape as a war tactic committed by Hamas on 10/7, you are legally required to read this article.

About the blog:

I’m going to try my best to keep this blog to primarily Judaism, comparative religion and theology, with the occasional side sprinkling of queer & trans stuff, BUT it is absolutely a personal blog at the end of the day.

I talked about Israel and המצב stuff a lot on my previous blog and will likely continue a bit over here too. I welcome a broad swath of opinions, so long as they objectively treat all parties involved as human and deserving of safety, stability, freedom, dignity, and peace. That is apparently a large ask these days, and a not-small part of why I keep talking about this issue. Please be part of the voices that give me hope for the future, okay?

Minors can follow and interact but please keep in mind that I’m probably closer to your parents' age than yours if you do want to interact with me directly.

Interactions:

Rude asks will be deleted. Harassing blogs will be blocked and probably reported.

I consider anything even remotely in the vicinity of trying to proselytize to me to be “harassing,” or at a minimum, rude. Just FYI.

Otherwise, nice interactions are welcomed.

Banter is encouraged; trolling will be ignored

If you are a goy and want to argue with me about Jewish theology, you have to match my perfect score on this popquiz, no cheating by looking things up during the quiz. I learned Judaism as an adult mostly through self-study so you have no excuse. If you're invested enough to argue with me you're invested enough to do the reading homework. (To clarify: I'm happy to explain Jewish stuff to anyone who is sincerely asking or just have a friendly comparative theology discussion or whatever. But I have zero patience for those who want to argue with me about basic shit claiming they know more than me, especially if what they're claiming they "know" is not only wrong but antisemitic and wrong.)

If I don't respond to your interaction, there's a strong chance that I (a) have no idea what to say and am thinking about it, (2) totally meant to respond and just forgot after the notif disappeared, and/or (3) got incredibly busy. It's not personal! Please don't be shy about following up with me if you like. I promise that if we have a problem that is fixable, you'll know. If we have a problem that is not fixable, you'll be blocked.

I am currently learning Ivrit and am delighted to have interactions in Hebrew. Please feel free to message me, reply to posts or reblog, submit asks, etc. in Hebrew and I will do my best to read and respond to it. (Responses will be slower, but not for lack of appreciation of your thoughts!)

Anything else, just ask.

Hard stances:

You're not going to change my mind on these things; I've looked at the evidence, my personal experiences, and thought about them long and hard, and I am not going to be swayed by an internet rando. I can (often, but not always) co-exist just fine with people who I disagree with, but if seeing my posts about this is going to upset you, just do us both a favor and block me now please.

I am deeply distressed at how many people are choosing to live in a "post-factual society" where the truth is based on truthiness vibes and the politics are based on the quippiest of slogans. I don't care who's doing it, misinfo, disinfo, propaganda, atrocity denial, and gaslighting are BAD. There is no nuance here; these are bad things. They are bad if they go against your cause and they are bad if they "support" your cause. No cause is better than the truth.

If we cannot have a discussion where we are operating from the same baseline reality of verifiable facts, we cannot have a productive conversation and I will not engage with you. We can agree or disagree on a lot and that is fine, but facts matter.

If you cannot be reasoned with in accepting verifiable facts as reality, you need help. I'm serious. That is cult behavior. Get off tumblr and get help.

I don't know how to tell you that you should care about other people. If you don't see the inherent worth in other human beings' lives, I can't fix that. Go take that struggle to G-d and heal your soul.

I support the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our ancestral homeland of Israel, the same way that I support other indigenous groups' right to self-determination in their ancestral homelands. If you don't, I'm going to need you to examine why Jews should be singled out of every other group to be denied this right or denied support in seeking it. That said, I definitely do not agree with many of the decisions made by the Israeli government, especially (but far from exclusively) regarding their treatment of Palestinians. I think both Jews and Palestinians deserve to live in peace, safety, freedom, dignity, and self-determination for both. No one is going anywhere; any real solution must recognize that. I tend to favor this proposal by A Land for All as an ideal (and given the grassroots nature of this idea, I think it could work pragmatically too, if the political will exists on both sides.)

I reject the Zionist/anti-Zionist dichotomy altogether for a number of reasons: 1) It impedes conversation because too many people agree but will never know it because they refuse to talk about what they actually mean by those labels and instead make assumptions about the other group. 2) It inherently puts the validity of an existing state up for debate rather than looking at real solutions for the future. You cannot unmake the state of Israel without widespread atrocities, but you can figure out options for everyone to live together in peace and heal from the collective trauma. 3) It also makes it way too easy to play Good Jew/Bad Jew and "Zionist" has basically become the slur de jour for "Jew." It sucks that people took a Jewish word for an important Jewish concept and made it synonymous with "bloodthirsty racist," but personally I don't think arguing over that at this exact juncture in time is helpful.

Bottom line: I'm a humanitarian and a pragmatist, and I care about all the people who call that part of the world home.

Update: for real, if you have trouble seeing Israelis and Palestinians both as human and deserving of safety, dignity, freedom, and inherent worth as living human beings, I don't want to know you. I don't want to talk to you. Go fix yourself.

🌻 I stand with Ukraine 🇺🇦

Free Iran from the Islamic Republic // Women Life Freedom

Abortion is a human right and should be safe, legal, available on demand, and shameless. It's a necessary medical procedure and it's completely barbaric that we're still talking about it as anything else.

Birth control, abortion, and no-fault divorce are actively positive parts of society and building healthy families.

Transition care is healthcare and also a human right. Allowing people to transition prevents self-harm and suicide, and has an extremely high efficacy rate with an exceptionally low level of risk or regret. We now have well over a century of data on this.

That said, detransitioners who are still supportive of trans people/aren't transphobic are more than welcome here, as any exploratory process deserves the right to say, "Interesting! But nope!"

Transunity, ace/aro positivity, and just inclusionism in general, 100%. Fuck off with anything else.

Queer might be a slur in the mouths of some people, but my identity isn't. Don't reblog my posts if you're going to tag it with "q slur" or "q word" or censored in some way. I'm not Gay as in "I prioritize cis men over the entire rest of the community" but Queer as in "my personal labels are none of your business but my political stance on queer liberation sure as fuck will be."

If you don't vaccinate yourself and your kids for any reason other than medical necessity, and especially if you promote anti-vaxxer views and the associated pseudoscience, you are actively harming the most vulnerable members of society for entirely selfish reasons and that makes you a bad person. I hope your kids bypass you to get vaccinated.

Wear a mask 😷

[lazyscience]

so I just knocked out The Pitt in a weekend (help me i am not ok) and what a glorious trainwreck. which way to the whittaker trash party? I want the weird queerplatonic santos-whittaker playing smash or pass: pitt colleagues edition (amusing since while she is 95 percent about the ladies she has a couple straight 'hall passes' and whittaker somewhat defiantly calls himself an 'equal opportunity slut,' to her amusement. (silly snippet behind the break, please don't report me to emily gould)

"Don't call yourself that," Trinity kicked him in the ankle, "until you mean it."

"How do you know I don't? Maybe I paid my way through med school sucking dick." Whittaker stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth to cover the inner flinch at saying it, and then made a face. "Okay, seriously, please add unpopped popcorn to the grocery list, I can make better popcorn than this cheaper."

Trinity sneered and took a gulp of her drink. "What, Martha Stewart, SkinnyPop isn't good enough for you? And while I would admire the work ethic, when would you have had time to study? Pitt tuition for outstate is 65K a year, BEFORE housing."

"Divided by 300, is roughly 215," Whittaker said, reached for his Coke. "Not enough hours to put much of a dent in clinicals."

"Shut the fuck up," Trinity blinked.

Whittaker sighed, low and long. "Santos, do you honestly think I would have been crashing in the decomm wing if I was pulling down $300 a pop blow jobs? Also, have you seen me?"

Trinity wrinkled her nose. "While you make a point about the crash pad, yes, I have - I mean, I'm not a gay man but the clean-cut blond farmboy twink with big sad eyes, ex-seminarian turned medical student? Pretty, smart and devoted to his fellow man? I definitely know gay guys who would probably pay that and consider it an act of philanthropy."

"Charity," Whittaker curled his lip, finished off his drink. "Thanks."

"Believe me, nobody ever sticks their dick in charity. They might think they're doing the recipient a favor, but they don't do it unless they think they stand to gain." Trinity tipped a bit more rum into both of their glasses. "Pour me some more Coke."

Dennis topped them both off, took another sip. "Harsh, but probably fair as I think about it. Robby. Dr. Robby would probably pity fuck if he thought the recipient really needed it."

"He is awfully Catholic coded for being Jewish. Speaking of, how about our fearless Captain? Smash or pass? As if I had to ask - don't worry, you're not obvious. Unless you're ex-Catholic, in which case we can smell the saint worship."

"That is exactly NOT what I like about him, and ...yeah, smash. I admit it."

"Oh? Do tell. Chisme, Huckleberry. I neeeeeed it."

He thought about the unexpectedly small ball Robby had curled himself into on the floor of the morgue, the broken sound of his voice, the way he'd scrabbled as desperately as if he'd been holding fragments of himself together. The way he'd gathered himself up with that little shove to keep Dennis at arm's-length as if being touched might have done more harm than good, have driven the broken pieces of his armor into the bleeding flesh beneath--

--gasped almost as he remembered to breathe, shook his head. "It's not how good he is. It's how hard he has to try to be."

Trinity lifted her head from the back of the couch, her gaze sharpening on him like the hope of an exceptionally interesting procedure, but mercifully she didn't pry. "Interesting," was all she said. "Langdon?"

Dennis wrinkled his nose. "Pass. He gives me clean-cut-straight-passing-student-council vibes. The kind who's thirsty when you're alone but very "You People - Not That There's Anything Wrong With That" in public."

Trinity nodded. "Same." She was quiet for a moment as if struggling with how she wanted to phrase something, then shook her head. "Same. What about Mel?"

"Hmm. Attractive but in a Serious Commitment sort of way. I have the feeling Mel doesn't do casual, and at this moment in my life, I have no breathing space for anything but, so pass."

"Dennis, the game is technically just would you or wouldn't you - but no, I get it," Trinity said with a sigh. "I bet it'd be hot having her tell you exactly what she likes. She'd totally do it too."

"So that'd be smash for you, then. Now who doesn't have time to do anything else? Mel, Garcia, Reade, Collins, Kim - ah, we haven't gotten to McKay. Smash or pass."

"Pass. I...I know I'm not good, with people." She was quiet for a minute. "I mean, I'm - it's a work in progress. But McKay no. Big no. It's like a funhouse mirror, the shit I don't like about myself is all I can see. I know that's hypocritical as fuck."

"No it's not. It's smart," Dennis said, nudging the popcorn closer to her. "People who remind us of ourselves, we think we know what they should have figured out. And whether that's true or not it usually ends badly."

"Who ended badly for you?" Trinity said quietly, setting the bowl on the coffee table, eyes veiled and far away.

"Aforementioned clean cut student council type. Resulted in me trying to pray the gay away for a few semesters. I do actually enjoy women, you know? Like, I have had relationships with, including sleeping with them, that made us both happy and I just, I really thought I could make that work. I possibly still could, with the right woman. Maybe I just haven't met her yet."

"Maybe. Me, I was pretty much entirely pretending with all two of the guys I tried to date before giving up. I did eventually come out to my family. It was...not as big a deal as I was expecting, honestly. Which is good. I was braced for it to be a great big thing."

"Good. That's good." Dennis closed his eyes. "Thank you, Trin. For taking me home with you."

"You have promised me popcorn. And you already fixed the icky thing the second bathroom shower does. Just keep pulling your weight." He heard her getting up, felt her gently nudge him. "Go on. Go to bed. More things to work on in the morning."

[rodeodeparis]

re holocaust exceptionalism: as someone who's genuinely annoyed by how ashkenazim do not realize that they're "white" in the us, i really don't think ethnic ashkenazim being white by today's standards has anything to do with conclusions that the holocaust was "unique" or that it's worth recognizing, let alone why its memory is used to justify -sraeli atrocities. the us (for example) is perfectly capable of recognizing the danger uyghurs (largely not white) are being put through - the fault of china, the "enemy superpower" - while not recognizing the danger palestinians (largely not white) are being put through - the fault of their vassal state in the middle east and their own blind support for it.

at the end of the day, countries like the us view the holocaust the way they do because it's both "safe" and politically advantageous for them to view it that way. compare that to, like, iran, who doesn't have good relations with the us and its friends, hence that holocaust denial conference ahmadinejad hosted in 2006 where he invited david duke to speak. (yes, really, look it up.) also compare it to how the us has yet to recognize the many genocides it's committed against native americans, let alone making any significant effort at reparations past whatever haphazard thing they drafted up in the 19th century. the "unique" thing could be a way to deny other genocides the us and its allies were involved in as much as it could be a genuine belief that the genocides the us was complicit in were justified, but it doesn't matter.

as for why individuals think that way, i'd say it's more on a case-by-case basis. some understand how political atrocity recognition and having an ethnostate of your own are and are afraid that losing "power" will somehow make the world revert to rampant antisemitism. some think the us is acting out of the kindness of its heart and are just mindlessly swallowing hasbara narratives that people wanting a free palestine also want to kill every jew. either way, you get the sense that jewish people who are z-onists who think this way are placing themselves in some sort of "competition" against palestinians and other oppressed people, like there's only so much love to go around. looking at the world in this way is selfish, even if it comes out of fear, but you don't need me to tell you that.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Emma Riva

Andy Warhol painted Mao, machine guns and Marilyn Monroe, but the public was scandalized in 1980 when he painted Jews.

The New York Times claimed that Warhol’s “Ten Portraits of Jews in the Twentieth Century” “reek[ed] of commercialism, and their contribution to art is nil,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer called the portraits “Jewploitation.”

But this month, Andy Warhol Museum Chief Curator Aaron Levi Garvey, a Jewish curator and historian originally from New York, installed them at the museum.

“I never understood calling these portraits commercial or vapid,” Garvey said. “What of Warhol’s work isn’t commercial? He worked with the idea of what an icon is.”

The 10 Jewish subjects that Warhol, art dealer Ronald Feldman and JCC of Greater Washington Gallery Director Susan Morgenstein selected in 1980 were actress Sarah Bernhardt; United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis; philosopher Martin Buber; physicist Albert Einstein; psychologist Sigmund Freud; comedians the Marx Brothers; Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir; songwriter George Gershwin; and writers Franz Kafka and Gertrude Stein.

The installation at the Warhol, Garvey said, was initially conceived as a gesture of solidarity coinciding with the five-year commemoration of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Then the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 happened.

Fear of controversy over highlighting Jews during a period of escalating violence and brutality in Israel — as well as personal antisemitic threats that Garvey said were made against him via email and voicemail — could have caused the Jewish curator to postpone or cancel the exhibit. But he’s no stranger to anti-Jewish hate and decided to go through with the installation.

“People used to carve swastikas into my desk when I was in high school, and I experienced major antisemitism in college,” he said. “I want viewers of ‘Ten Portraits’ to learn and be open to dialogue.”

The portraits share a room on the fourth floor of the Warhol with Keith Haring’s “Untitled (Elephant)” — a literal elephant in the room alongside a figurative one, Garvey noted.

In the lineup of Warhol’s “Jewish geniuses,” as the artist nicknamed them, the views and figures represented are complex. Kafka abandoned Judaism. Bernhardt hid her Jewish identity. Stein supported the Vichy government of France, an actively anti-Jewish regime. Einstein is quoted as saying: “I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state” in a 1938 speech entitled “Our Debt to Zionism,” even though he was offered the position of president of Israel.

One of the many things that makes “Ten Portraits” so timely and provocative is that it asks viewers to consider what being a Jewish icon means. All the portraits are of Ashkenazi Jews and speak to a certain image of Jewish identity. However, rather than Jacob Riis-esque tenement photography or depictions of Jewish suffering and tragedy, Warhol highlighted Jewish exceptionalism in the arts, government and sciences.

“I want viewers to think about all of these people in multitudes, in a non-linear fashion,” Garvey said. “It’s about Jewish exceptionalism but in a multitude of ways. All of the subjects contain multitudes. In the wall text, I put that Martin Buber was a Zionist philosopher. Someone told me I couldn’t say that, and I was like, ‘Well, that’s what he was,’” Garvey recalled.

Garvey said that the museum’s internal response to the installation has been mixed, including various complaints that misidentified Garvey’s ethnicity and some inflammatory antisemitic remarks. But nonetheless, Garvey and Warhol Director Patrick Moore co-signed an exhibition statement calling for peace and solidarity.