#Torah Tidbits

[pacing-er]

The audacity that 20-30 year old non-Jews have when speaking on Judaism is fucking insane. I was sitting in the break room at work and my friend (?idk anymore) and the two vocally anti Israel girls were talking about what the "goal" of Judaism is. My friend is Catholic and knows a lot about a bunch of religions, and she said that the Jews strive to reestablish the nation of Israel. Upon seeing the girls grimace she corrected herself saying "Not like THAT..." which is already kinda fucked up. Then one of the girls went on to say "Don't Jews wait for the Messiah ☝️🤓" and my friend responded "yes, some Orthodox Jews do." These (white, American) girls then have the audacity to make the claim "Oh yeah, Orthodox Jews just want the Messiah they don't want a state. That's why they're the ones on the street protesting." Which like yes I'm sure that's true for some small sects of Orthodox Jews but I know damn well that you didn't mean it that way. You wanted to make the assertion that orthodox (real, good) Jews don't support Israel, that only fake (bad) Jews think that Israel should exist. They went on like that dictating what the true goal of Judaism "should" or "shouldn't" be, all the while sitting near me. Y'know. The only Jewish girl at our workplace who maybe... Just maybe... Has an opinion on the religion that I practice. But this was never about listening to Jews right? What's the fun in that when they can just intrude on intercommunity debates and make up their own meaning based on the few tidbits of information that they managed to pick up from social media?

I recently found out that one of the nice older male coworkers of mine was also Jewish and he's been so supportive of my interest in Judaism. He gave me a beautiful Torah as a gift to encourage my studies. He walked into the room as they were saying "MOST Jews don't see the state of Israel as legitimate" and he was like "Most Jews huh..." Of course now that the only Jew that they know (bc apparently they don't respect me enough to ask) was around they switched up and were like "Oh yeah (name) we shouldn't be the ones educating ourselves on Judaism! You should teach us about it." Which of course translates to "we are going to accept your opinion as a Jewish man only if you agree with us and if you don't we are gonna talk shit about you behind your back" so he just said "Nope! You don't want to know my opinion." Then one of them was like "Oh no I wanna know your opinion 🥺" in a sickly sweet voice and he just didn't respond and shut himself into the room he always hides in during lunch breaks lol I understand why now.

Tldr: If you're not Jewish DON'T make claims that the modern state of Israel is not legitimate to the Jewish religion. You don't get to say that. Also before anyone is like "but Palestine 🥺" this is not about whether or not the actions of Israel's government is okay. This is about non Jews constantly trying to speak over a global minority in discussions that should be kept within the Jewish community. Don't try to use your outsider understanding of the Jewish religion to justify your stance on the war. It is unbelievably ignorant and makes you look like a complete ass. You can and should criticize the Israeli government but I'm fucking begging you to stop overstepping boundaries like this.

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Hello! Dropping into your inbox to ask you about your research for

"Lent From Tomorrow (today was too small for us)." You must have done a ton of historical research for it to get so many of those details. I think that sort of thing is a lot of fun, and I'm very curious to know if you came across anything especially cool/fascinating/weird during your writing research.

Ooh, thank you for the ask! How fun!

There's SO MUCH research in this fic, from the codebreaking to the science of how to defrost a supersoldier to what was on the radio on specific days in 1943. I've got a whole folder of just Lent From Tomorrow research, and the back half of my WIP document is just copy-pastes of quotes from soldiers, scientists, codebreakers, radio hosts, etc.

But, to be fair, I've been reading nonfiction about WWII codebreakers for like 20 years. It's one of my special interests~ and something that I just love learning about. WWII *battles*, I don't care about at all, but everything else about the time period is fascinating to me -- probably because of Molly McIntire, haha.

My FAVORITE little tidbit actually comes up in this coming week's chapter, so I'm not going to spoil it, but it's my favorite recollection in Code Girls by Liza Mundy. That was definitely the book that I used the most for this fic, since the main characters are basically all "code girls," or code omegas, whatever. I also used a lot from PBS Nova's The Mind of a Codebreaker, which I watched when it first came out in 1999 and it rewired my entire brain. I immediately did a report on the women of Bletchley Park in 7th grade (and another on the WASP/WAVE/WAC pilots, so I was really excited to be able to have Carol Danvers make a cameo in Lent!).

But I also looked up specifics for just about every scene -- the snippet of Quiz Kids that's on the wireless radio when Steve and the Asset are listening to the wireless is a quote and actually aired that day. The Torah portion that Steve hears when he goes to shul with the gals and Scott is the Torah portion from that particular Shabbat service in December 1942. The movie scene is the actual movie, newsreel, and cartoon that were shown together at a theater in Washington, DC, on that Friday in March 1943.

I leaned on a former-scientist friend of mine to point me in the right direction to find out how they would have frozen and defrosted the Asset, and also how The Arm might work in a way that isn't just "::shrug:: it's Superhero Science." Her husband is a mathematician, and she suggested some avenues that Steve might have written his big 1929 math paper about, too. And then I read a bunch of math papers from the 1920s and tried to understand them and it was. a lot.

I also did a lot of research into Steve's various disabilities and ailments and the treatments available by the early 1940s, particularly asthma and his childhood polio. (I'm forgetting whether the backstory of his polio experience has actually shown up in the fic yet or if it's coming up soon in a chapter? If it hasn't been posted yet, then spoiler, I guess, Steve had polio as a kid [although I *think* that's canon?]). Steve's experience of being disabled is really important to me, and I wanted it to matter and be a part of his life in this story (and any story I write about Steve).

There's a lot more specific stuff coming up in the back half of the fic, now that we've reached the midway point... Bucky's backstory requires a lot of research into things that I don't know as much about, just because I don't tend to look into actual battle/military histories, and because [redacted for spoilers].

[atthebell-moved]

i would love to hear about judaism and pomegranates if u still feel like infodumping about it :) i don't interact with posts a lot but it's always really cool to see your posts about judaism come up on my dash and i enjoy reading them

awww ty! im glad to hear you find it interesting :D

my first little tidbit about judaism and pomegranates would be everything i said in this ask to wetchickenbreast-- jews often interpret the forbidden fruit as a pomegranate because its a common fruit in western asia and it looks pretty as well as the larger significance of it in jewish tradition; see below!

pomegranates are said to have 613 seeds in jewish tradition; 613 being the number of mitzvot/commandments in the torah. so eating them is a bit like eating the mitzvot, and jews love eating concepts/elements of language! (another fun tidbit unrelated to pomegranates: there is a jewish practice that involves placing honey on hebrew characters for a toddler so that they will physically eat the letters, thereby learning them more easily. very fun method of language acquisition!) pomegranates are also mentioned several times in the song of songs which is one of the most beloved books in the tanakh and contains a lot of significant nature & food imagery.

pomegranates also often symbolize rosh hashanah (jewish new year); they grow in the fall which is when rosh hashanah and the other high holidays are and because of their other symbolic meaning it adds a little extra oomph to the experience! we also eat apples & honey during rosh hashanah to symbolize having a sweet new year :D

and like i already said, pomegranates are just really pretty! and they taste good! i ate one today and it was lovely <3

[freelancershahin]

Hear about Canadian Jewish performers/musicians including Corey Hart, St...

✅ Corey Hart, William Shatner, Paul Shaffer, Rick Moranis: Canadian Jewish Musicians - Under the Radar 🙏🙏 Watch The Video & Don’t Forget to Like, Comment, Subscribe, & Share 🧡 💠 David Eisenstadt is a PR/Communications expert. He also has music in his blood. For this reason, he decided at 76 years-old to start writing a book, which he called: Under the Radar: 30 Notable Canadian Jewish Musicians. Once that was done, he set about writing his second book called: Musicians Under the Radar: 36 Notable Canadian Jewish Performers. Some of the musicians/performers David has written about include:   Percy Faith, Ofra Harnoy, Corey Hart, Rick Moranis, Steven Page and William Shatner. The book has endless number of interesting tidbits. Give it a read. Well worth it. 🔶 WATCH MORE EPISODES......................... ✅ Rabbi Shlomo Gemara, an Agnon expert, a Torah scholar and a most colorful and fascinating teacher 👉This Video Link: https://youtu.be/5sqkQBXSQ5Y ✅  Holocaust Survivor, Severyn Ashkenazi, Rebuilding Hollywood and Polish Jewry 👉This Video Link: https://youtu.be/ZwUXqVqBOGI ✅ The Little Miracle of Hockey Israel & Israel's Recent Victory in Bulgaria 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/DlVUnehV2KU ✅The Fascinating, Magical World of the Kuzari with Rabbi Daniel Korobkin 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/vQ7MSRB95nY ✅ Anti-Semitism: The oldest disease. Why doesn't it die? 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/5VLraYjS7tA ............................................................................... 🌟 LET'S STAY CONNECTED... 🔶 https://www.avrumrosensweig.com #jewish #jewishlearning #jewisheducation #motivationalpodcast #motivationalinterview #jewishheritage #inspiringstories #JewishLeader #FascinatingPeople #IsraeliAuthor #TalmudScholar #TheAvrumRosensweigShow #RabbiShlomoGemara  #engagingconversations #georgechuvalo #mitchchuvalo #boxing #muhammadali

[rickpoet]

No one's getting out of wearing pants...and other tidbits on what it means to be an ancient priest in this new video for my first poem for this week's Torah portion. Read along with the text (with or without pants) at https://jewishpoetry.net/tzav/

[nofardayanismss]

A Collection of Yasmine Massoud Facts and Tidbits

Warning: There is talk of triggering material in this post. While I talk mainly about the good and neutral facts, later on I do have a written warning along with the triggers and they will be tagged. This is a warning beforehand.

The Good and The Neutral

Yasmine is secretly an excellent cook. It’s something that she loves genuinely and she knows an abundance of recipes. The kitchen at hers, Maggie’s, and Devi’s house is big and great for cooking in. Having been everywhere in the world, she has collected so many recipes. One of her favourites are Tibetan Momos.

One of the restaurants at Oasis is called Atlas, which consists of cuisines from around the world. Yas sometimes pops in to do some cooking, which is a much healthier option than her other means to clear her mind and forget everything. The restaurant is also open to the public, no need to be a guest at Oasis.

Yasmine isn’t a huge fan of pet and nicknames. She prefers to be called by her actual name, or at least Yas by a few select few. Sometimes they’re okay, but that depends mainly on the person.

She always smells like cinnamon, rose, vanilla, and saffron. It’s her signature scent.

Growing up, she hadn’t been very religious yet is respectful towards those who are. While she does have many different apps on her phone (the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, etc.), over the past fourteen years, she has been considering converting to Buddhism. She also holds a great interest in Hinduism.

She loves other cultures and learning more about them. They fascinate her greatly and her many travels have helped her to gain a great respect for them.

Growing up, she has spent her whole life believing that she was 100% Lebanese. It hadn’t been until her maternal grandparents emailed her when she discovered that she’s actually half Lebanese, half Mexican, on her father’s side. She’s considered doing one of those DNA tests to discover more about herself and has been trying to reconnect with both of her cultures, despite never wanting to go back to Lebanon. She is very proud of being Arab and Latina.

Along with Arabic (Lebanese dialect) and English, Yasmine is also fluent in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, and American Sign Language. However, she has also learned the basics for a majority of languages: hello, goodbye, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, please, thank you, yes, no, and etc.

Yasmine is really good at learning history and geography. If her life was different, it’s possible she might have become a history and geography teacher.

She has a lot of different tattoos, which will be dedicated in its own separate post.

Yasmine works out regularly, typically doing yoga, HIIT, cardio, running, surfing, swimming, hiking, biking, horseback riding, rock-climbing, and is just active in general. She is very sporty and prefers to being on her feet than staying still for too long. She’s a very fidgety person, use to being on the move constantly.

Along with having a California driver’s license, she has an international driving permit, a sailing license, a pilot license, and scuba and diving licenses. She owns an orange Volkswagen Thing.

The Bad and The Ugly

Trigger Warning: child abuse, child prostitution, statutory rape, molestation, murder, ptsd, nightmares, night terrors, alcoholism, addiction, substance abuse, homelessness

Yasmine’s life in Lebanon and then as a teenager on the road had been very difficult. Going from foster home to foster, there were times in which she was lucky enough to be with a loving family or at least one that tolerated her. But unfortunately, she also dealt with some extremely cruel people. Whether they were beating her, eventually covering her body in scars or burn marks from cigarettes, or molesting her all the while berating her, life had been torture with a good amount of them.

While traveling with the group of other orphan kids, they had been homeless. Sometimes, they got lucky enough to be able to pay for a room at a hostel for awhile. Most of the time, they had to make due with what they got. Money was always tight, Yasmine and the others doing everything they could to earn money while traveling. Sometimes, she did street performances, having a beautiful singing voice. Sometimes, she would steal from tourists who weren’t paying attention. Sometimes, she would sell her body to whomever would pay her a handsome penny, ignoring the fact that she was much too young to be doing so. But at the same time, Yasmine never got to be a child. So prostituting herself as a teenager hadn’t been a big deal to her, at the time.

On Halloween 2020, Yasmine killed five people. She had left town for a little bit to go to a festival. At first, all was well. Then things went south quickly and suddenly, it was life or death. She had been shot, the bullet hitting her stomach near her left hip. She has since gotten a tattoo to cover it up. She killed those people in self-defense and has been pardoned due to so.

Suffice to say, Yasmine suffers from PTSD and other mental illnesses. She has horrific nightmares/night terrors that has plagued her nights for years, all due to life prior to meeting Lucas and after meeting him. To be able to deal with this, she has turn to drinking, drugs, smoking, sex, and adrenaline rush to be able to forget and cope. She never told Lucas about her life as a kid and no one knows about the murders, the event having been covered up by the government.

[quirkydoodler]

Religion has always been something I’ve wondered about. Whether it was in my history classes, documentaries, or readings about different cultures and ways of thinkings, there was just…

Something about knowing there were things I didn’t know in the spiritual or religious way that brought a peaceful curiosity to my mind since I was little.

Sometimes I wonder about God, or gods, or the world and the universe and all the interesting little tidbits of life that we still consider unknowns.

As I’ve gotten older, I still wonder: How do I define myself spiritually and/or religiously?

I grew up in a fairly open-minded household: My dad was brought up with a devoutly Christian mother and (from what I gather) a more easygoing, open-minded father, while my mother grew up Catholic and went to a Catholic girls’ school. Yet growing up, my sister and I were allowed to figure things out for ourselves in that way, though we were told about the basics, such as the meaning of Christmas, the cross, prayer, and biblical stories.

And I have gotten to know people who are Christian, Catholic, Mormon, Buddhist, agnostic, atheist…

The point is, with all these diverse takes on our spiritual and religious purposes, I’ve strived more and more to be at peace with the choices I’ve personally made and the paths I’ve taken, though they may deviate from the norm depending on who’s assessing them.

As it stands:

I believe that there is some kind of higher power watching over us, though I also believe in not knowing about the exact details of that. I’m more monotheistic in this sense. So maybe more of a Western take, if we are categorizing more broadly by region.

However, I also believe that the spirits of those loved ones who are no longer with us watch over us (more of an Eastern aspect, I think); for example, my grandfather — God rest his soul — passed away the year I started high school, but ever since then, I believe in his presence watching over us, and so I am more motivated and inspired to keep going forward.

That in mind, I also feel a bit agnostic: I can’t say for sure that there is or isn’t a god or gods, but from this perspective, neither concept offends or frightens me; if I come across someone who believes in the existence, I will listen with an open mind because this is all a bit of a learning process for me. And if I come across someone who believes that there is no such existence, I will again consider that perspective intriguing and listen as openly as I can.

Because, the concept of religion and spirituality reminds me of chapters in my old history textbooks, where we might study the beliefs of ancient peoples. In those cases, the cultural beliefs would be met with intrigue and fascination and most importantly, a long-lasting desire to want to learn more. Even if not necessarily alongside a devotion to one of those sets of beliefs.

The Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Lunyu…any of these sacred and meaningful texts can still be viewed by people with a more agnostic perspective like mine as profound pieces, as literary masterpieces because of the wisdom they can offer us all on an individual and societal level. If I find interesting passages in any of these, it doesn’t mean I need to commit to that specific religion or set of beliefs. I’m a writer, a poet, a translator…I live for passages that make me think deeper; that they are well-renowned texts is the icing on the case, because works like that tend to have lots of timeless messages that relate to us no matter how different our circumstances may be.

I’ve, granted, perused passages mainly from Western beliefs (Christianity, Catholicism, and Mormonism), but — despite my eagerness to gain some insight or deeper thought from the texts, I deviate from the norm, so to speak, since I don’t attend church.

This has intrigued some, because (reasonably) the community and environment of a church setting could help “bring me closer to Him” and so on. I understand that and respect that others that choose that path, but ultimately I have chosen a different path and am content with it 🙂

But I feel that in this day and age, to describe how my perspectives differ isn’t criminal — so many others other there are various and diverse in their own perceptions, so mine is just one among those many.

I’m more spiritual than religious; I like to consider the spiritual life within people and animals, for instance, and thus our innate connection with nature.

For some, then, going to church specifically can help them better find themselves. For me, long walks through nature and mindfulness are how I can better find myself. That is all.

If anything, this is also why I stan Stray Kids so much; not everyone in the group has the exact same religious/spiritual beliefs. Similar, yes. But how they got there individually likely isn’t all the same.

But!

That’s not what makes their individual and collective dynamics with each other so amazing to watch and admire and aspire towards.

Rather, it’s that they (from my understanding) have shared moral values and qualities that help lift each other up, things that have no doubt been enhanced by their individual perspectives on life, whether or not that came with a religion :)

Some may continue questioning my varied takes on life in that spiritual/religious sense.

Some may relate to it.

Others still may despise it.

But I can be alright with this deviation. Because none of us are exactly the same, and in the end, being true to ourselves in this area as well as to other parts of our lives?

That.

That’s what truly helps us become wiser and better people ✨💫

[debramcdermitt]

Today’s Tidbits 10/18/22

Info Overload Awareness Day

Judaism: Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

Christianity: Feast Day of St. Luke

1130: Birth of Philosopher Zhu Xi. “Sincerity requires getting rid of all sorts of falseness. Reverence requires getting rid of all sorts of laziness.”

1859: Birth of Philosopher Henri Bergson.  “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”

 #Whatistoday #todayis #Onthisday #todaystidbits #quoteoftheday #famousquotes #stluke #sheminiatzeret #simchattorah

#judaism #christianity #religiousstudies #zhuxi #bergson #henribergson

[dwellordream]

“Biblical tradition preserves a powerful image of a child at play as a witness to God’s creative presence. When Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs speaks about her origins, she reveals that “the Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago” (Prov. 8:22). Witnessing God’s creation of the world, she “was beside him like a little child and . . . was daily his delight, playing before him always, playing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race” (Prov. 8:30-31). To investigate the specifics of such heavenly playful activity may be impossible. 

…In the ancient world the transition from childhood to adult life generally occurred earlier than in modern-day Western societies. While the determination of the age of maturity was somewhat flexible, it could be as early as twelve. Luke’s depiction of Jesus discussing Torah with Israel’s elders in the Temple at the age of twelve (Luke 2:42) served as a point of confirmation and orientation for Christian audiences. Boys and girls entered adulthood between twelve and seventeen, with a certain preference for the younger age in the later part of the period under review. 

In the case of boys in Roman society, for example, the passage to adulthood occurred when the new young citizen received the toga virilis, an event that depended on the decision of the pater familias. With respect to marriage and coming of age, a boy, standing at the threshold to adulthood, did not have to commit himself to marriage. That same privilege was not extended with equal liberty to the opposite sex. Girls customarily entered adulthood when they were married off, sometimes at twelve, more often a few years later. Evidence for children’s playful entertainment of themselves in Christian antiquity is, as we have already noted, supplied by both classical and Christian authors, writing treatises, histories, letters, and poetry for both public and private consumption.

In these works, classical Latin authors like Cicero (106–43 bce), writing to family and friends, Hellenistic authors like Epictetus (ca. 50–130/140 ce), pondering philosophical questions amidst life’s daily activities, as well as Christian authors like Jerome (ca. 347–419/20 ce) comment in passing on children’s games and toys (Letters 107, 108, and 128). Concerned as ever to recruit young girls to the ascetic life by way of letters, Jerome provides instruction to their parents on the kinds of toys to be given to them to further such goals. More concrete glimpses of children at play can be gained from archaeological evidence of toys and other objects that may have functioned in the context of games and related activities, sometimes of a ritual or cultic nature. 

A significant amount of this type of archaeological data is drawn, for example, from reliefs on children’s sarcophagi (fig. 4.1) and from excavations of children’s burial sites. Through a process of carefully piecing together these widely scattered tidbits of information, a labor in which classicists and museum curators have taken the lead, an informative, though unfortunately still incomplete picture of children at play emerges. Among the earliest toys a child played with were different kinds of rattles, crepundia and crepitacula, names derived from the verbs meaning “to make noise,” “to make noise by striking,” and “to clap.” 

Crepundia were made of little ornaments, charms, or mini-toys, shaped in the form of swords, axes, tools, animals, flowers, or half moons; manufactured from clay, bronze, or, more rarely, gold or silver; and pierced to allow for stringing them together on a thread or a chain. Such crepundia could be hung around a baby’s neck and shoulder, perhaps also in front of it. The jingling and rattling noise produced at every one of the child’s movements kept the little one entertained, amused, and busy. These material artifacts give mute witness to the multiple functions they once fulfilled as toys, as indicators of wealth and status of the parents, and as personal identification of the child’s family of origin. 

Should a child be abducted or otherwise get lost, inscriptions of the father’s and mother’s names on them helped ensure the child would be reunited with his or her guardians. Crepitacula, on the other hand, were rattles that could be large enough to fit into an adult’s hand. They were instruments made of clay, wood, bronze, sometimes even the dried heads of poppy flowers, producing sound through the rattling or clattering of little pebbles or seeds placed inside. Crepitacula came in quite a range of shapes, including spheres, boxes, rolls, fruits such as pumpkins or pomegranates, as well as animals. Of the latter, hedgehogs, owls, or pigs were common. 

Examples have also been found of cradle-shaped, square clay boxes with a baby’s body in relief depicted on top. Such larger-sized crepitacula were likely the tools of the nurse’s trade, used to calm a crying baby, attract its attention, or lull it to sleep. In ancient Greece, such rattles also had apotropaic (anti-evil) and cultic functions. As one of his labors, Hercules, for example, used rattles to drive off the Stymphalic Birds. Ancient Greek vases connected with funerary rites depict adults sitting opposite one another at a table or altar, holding rattles in their hands. 

At the very least, one may surmise that when nurses used rattles to lull the little ones under their care to sleep, they may also have intended to ward off demonic influences. Ancient society had developed customs and rites that accompanied and marked the passage of a newborn into childhood. In ancient Roman society, for example, boys and girls could be identified as children by the bulla, a piece of jewelry made of leather in the case of plebeian children, or, if the parents could afford it and came from patrician ranks, of two concave pieces of gold fastened together by a spring. 

Shortly after birth or on the dies lustralis, the day of purification, the father placed the bulla around the little one’s neck. It was worn on a cord, strap, or chain, and it contained an amulet, which also pointed to the object’s religious purpose as a protective charm against evil. By hanging the bulla around the newborn’s neck, the father recognized him or her as part of the family and thus established his or her rank as child. It would have been difficult, however, for a little baby boy or girl in the cradle to distinguish between the bulla and the crepundia that served for his or her entertainment. The child would have recognized both merely for their quality as toys. Being accustomed to wearing such bullae might have made it natural for Christian children to wear cross pendants as signs of recognition as well.

In antiquity as now, children played many different games with many different kinds of balls. Juggling was both entertainment and a way for children to develop their motor skills. As children were developing their motor skills, parents gave them a wider range of toys to play with, including dolls, tops, hoops, and balls. The variety among such items was vast. Latin-speaking children, for example, distinguished between five different types of balls: paganica (made of leather and feathers), harpastum (relatively hard and less elastic), trigonalis (small and very hard), follis (made of leather and inflated with air), and folliculis (a small balloon). Such toys were welcome gifts on feast days. 

For example, on Saturnalia, a seven-day celebration encompassing the winter solstice, all members of Roman society could freely engage with one another, without restrictions of status, rank, or rules otherwise in place between masters and slaves. Gift giving was one of the favorite activities during this feast, when schools closed and everyone practiced not-so-random acts of kindness. Children partook of their fair share of cakes and sweetmeats, which were attached to boughs and exchanged between visitors and guests. Yet the sigillaria, doll-like clay figures they received as gifts, were their favorites. 

Transitioning from Saturnalia to the Christian celebration of Christmas, observed at the same time of the year, would have been an easy task for children, given that they continued to receive the toys they so treasured. The ancient world knew of the use of objects that modern society recognizes primarily as toys but that in antiquity were closely connected with religious cult celebrations. The swing, in particular, is such an item. Vase paintings show a young woman, often a young girl, only infrequently a little boy, seated on a swing that a satyr or male adult keeps in motion. 

These scenes have been interpreted as representing fertility rites or purification rituals at the Aiora feast, a celebration connected in Greek mythology to the suicide of Athenian girls in revenge for the death of a male adult. Songs sung at that feast were known as katabaukale¯seis the same name given to songs sung by nurses to lull children to sleep. When boys and girls happily whipped at tops, employed sticks to drive their hoops, or played with balls, such toys were not unconnected to the realm of religious life either. The Greek gods had played with them and, like Hermes depicted on a vase teaching Ganymede how to play with the top, had taught the divine offspring the necessary skills. In variations of the Bacchic mystery cult, the top was one of the identifiers of Dionysus’s presence.

Along with whips, knucklebones, and tops, hoops are frequently found as votive offerings in ancient sanctuaries, pointing to their use as gifts given by boys and girls in connection with initiatory rituals. Christians were conscious of such cultic connections associated with specific toys and, given the everyday nature of the objects involved, may not have seen a need to despise their use as “un-Christian.” However, their teachers and catechists attempted to break such habits. Clement of Alexandria’s Exhortation to the Greeks, a second- century prospectus for potential converts to Christianity, ridicules the Dionysian mysteries and the central place that toys like tops and rattles held in it. 

The perceived danger was that insufficiently educated new converts might continue to connect the toys and games of their own childhood with the services and rites of gods they were called upon to leave behind when joining the church. Moreover, these connections could be passed down to their children through the same toys bestowed on them as gifts. Such fear was not completely unfounded even into the fifth century, as a scene from Theodoret of Cyrrhus’s Ecclesiastical History demonstrates. Theodoret’s main concern at this instance was to blackmail his opponent Lucius and the city’s Arian faction. 

On that occasion, Theodoret also recorded that a group of boys subjected the ball with which they were playing to an ancient pre-Christian fire-based purification ritual for fear that it might have been polluted. Some lads were playing ball in the market place and enjoying the game, when Lucius was passing by. It chanced that the ball was dropped and passed between the feet of the ass. The boys raised an outcry because they thought that their ball was polluted. On perceiving this Lucius told one of his suite to stop and learn what was going on. The boys lit a fire and tossed the ball through the flames with the idea that by so doing they purified it. I know indeed that this was but a boyish act, and a survival of the ancient ways; but it is none the less sufficient to prove in what hatred the town held the Arian faction. (4.13)

In a town torn apart by internal Christian bickering and strife, hatred against the Christian “other” appears to have taken up more space than working toward reconciliation. That the catechesis of children with an eye toward Christianizing aspects of their everyday activities may have fallen to the wayside, or at least been neglected, is not surprising. 

…Very popular with children who had grown out of infancy were dolls made from rags, clay, hard wood (such as ebony), bone, ivory, or wax (fig. 4.4). Some dolls had movable, jointed arms and legs. Although the literary references to dolls are relatively infrequent, the archaeological evidence is especially rewarding and may provide part of the answer to the question of who played with dolls. Children seem to have shared toys, and children of both sexes at times played with the same kinds of toys. Both girls and boys certainly played with nuts, pebbles, and knucklebones. Not even the ample evidence concerning dolls, one of the most popular types of toys, suffices to establish that they were used exclusively by girls.

Since dolls were found in temples of Apollo, one of the two gods to whom boys in the ancient world had dedicated their toys when entering adult life, it is not unlikely that at least a few boys possessed and played with dolls. More often, however, dolls are found in tombs of girls and in temples and sanctuaries of female goddesses like Aphrodite, Venus, and Hera. That archaeological evidence for dolls is more plentifully available than literary evidence should not be much of a surprise, given that the authors of ancient texts, mainly men, knew relatively little about dolls, about the girls who owned and played with them, and about the domestic space in which the girls spent more time than the boys did.

Depictions of children with dolls on tombstones, reliefs on other types of monuments, and paintings only show the child holding the doll or looking at it; no scenes of children actually playing with dolls seem to be preserved. Christian references to girls and dolls furthermore suggest that little girls may have prized the doll more for its looks than for its potential as playing companion. In his advice on how to raise the little Pacatula, Jerome thought the doll an appropriate reward for her. He was sure she “will make haste to perform her tasks if she hopes afterwards to get some bright bunch of flowers, some glittering bauble, [or] some enchanting doll” (Letter 128.1). 

Scholarly discussions have been intense as to whether dolls were primarily toys or votive offerings to gods or goddesses that only secondarily functioned also as toys for children. The Greek word kore¯, which is employed in a fourfold meaning to describe a doll, the figurine that a priestess holds in hand as offering to the gods or nymphs, the young girl itself, or the Theo to kos (Mary the Godbearer) is instructive. Most, but not all, of the depictions of dolls, as well as physically preserved dolls, do not represent a baby’s body but contain indicators of sexual differentiation and thus represent a young marriageable girl or an already married adult woman. 

Girls seemed to have looked at dolls as role models. Dolls made from precious materials or beautifully dressed presented to and modeled for the little girl her destiny and instilled desire in her to grow up and be a chaste bride. When that goal was reached, on the eve of the wedding day, the doll, together with other toys, was brought and offered as a votive gift at the shrine of a female goddess. Often referred to is the example of Timarete, who as “girl to the girl” dedicated her tympana, a ball, a hairband, her dolls, and her dolls’ clothes to Artemis right before her wedding (Anthologia Palatina VI.280). 

The evidence concerning the dedication of dolls from the classical and Hellenistic periods helps to augment and explain the limited Christian evidence. Not so different from other parents in the ancient world, Christian parents made decisions for their children’s future. Such plans included at times the dedication of an infant to a religious life. Jerome noted that “some mothers when they have vowed a daughter to virginity clothe her in somber garments, wrap her up in a dark cloak, and let her have neither linen nor gold ornaments. They wisely refuse to accustom her to what she will afterwards have to lay aside.” 

Such mothers manifested toward their daughters the same behavior they as girls would have shown toward dolls, dressing them in whatever outfit suited their fancy. In the Christian context, the chosen garments for the girls were appropriate to their destination for the ascetic life. Other Christian mothers adopted the exact opposite policy, realizing that “women are fond of finery and many whose chastity is beyond question dress not for men but for themselves.” Thus the second group of mothers thought it better if they gave their daughters what they asked for so that they might “enjoy things to the full and so learn to despise them” (Jerome, Letter 128.2). 

The question of what kinds of dolls either group of mothers would have given their daughters to play with is intriguing. One might assume that the first group considered giving them dolls dressed in simple and dark-colored clothes in order to reinforce the desired vision of the future ascetic life. Yet neither archaeological nor textual data support such assumptions. Many of the dolls for which accessories or indications of clothing survive project the image of a well-groomed young lady. This observation holds true for dolls from non-Christian and Christian settings spanning a time frame of several hundred years. Among the better-known examples are bone and ivory dolls of vestal virgins and child empresses. 

From the second century comes the example of an attractive jointed doll in bone, depicting a tall, elegant young woman, wearing a gold necklace as well as bracelets on wrist and ankle. The doll was found in the tomb of the Vestal Virgin Cossinia. Alongside the doll was also found a small jewel casket made of red glass. The second example consists of the likewise second-century jointed ivory doll of Crepereia Tryphaena, which was found wearing two golden bracelets and a ring with an attached key. That doll displays an impressive, towering hairdo. The third example is a clearly Christian one, consisting of two precious ivory dolls found in the coffin of the fifth-century Empress Maria, baby bride of Honorius.

Yet dolls belonging to children of less elite status likewise display no obvious signs of having once been dressed in simple outfits. It is plausible that the traditional usage of dolls elaborately adorned as brides continued because these dolls were understood as models of virginal chastity. Dolls presented girls with an image of the attractive wife, to which they could become accustomed through play and for which they could prepare. Thus even a girl destined for a life of virginity, and perhaps especially such a girl, could, in the eyes of her parents and guardians, be encouraged to grow further toward internalizing and accepting the ideal of becoming the “bride of Christ” by playing with beautifully dressed and adorned dolls. 

From the age of seven, playing and studying competed with one another for children’s attention. Some Christian children appear to have been soberly aware of the seriousness of the new situation, as a late poem, possibly a child’s prayer, indicates: “Today, dear God, I am seven years old, and must play no more. Here is my top, my hoop, and my ball: keep them all, my Lord.” To make the transition easier, toys and games were developed in the service of the educational goals of learning how to read and write at school. In order to render the children’s earliest attempts at acquiring the basics of the alphabet more effective and enjoyable, parents and instructors invented visual and tactile teaching tools, such as large, carved letter blocks.

Evidence of such letters carved from ivory also witnesses to the monetary resources parents were ready to invest in order to turn those reading lessons into pleasurable activities. Both Quintilian and Jerome spoke of such ivory letters made for schooling purposes (see Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.1.26). Jerome recommended the use of such toy letters also for the education of girls when he instructed Laeta to have made for [little Paula] letters out of boxwood or ivory, and call each by its proper name. 

Let her play with these so that her play may also be instruction. And let her keep the letters in order in her mind, so that in her memory she may go over the names in a rhyme. However, often change the internal order and mix up the letters so that the last ones are in the middle and the middle ones at the beginning: thus she may know them not only by sound, but also by sight. 

Jerome is clear about the purpose of using such playful methods. The learning process needed to “guard against her hating her studies, lest a bitterness toward them learned early in childhood penetrate beyond her young years.” That such playful teaching could be placed at the immediate service of developing knowledge about the Christian faith was a welcome side effect for Jerome. The words and names little Paula was to spell with her toy letters were to be “those of the prophets and the apostles, or the list of the patriarchs descended from Adam, as in Matthew and Luke” (Letter 107.4). 

During breaks, after school, and certainly during the holidays, as Jerome remembered, children played wherever space allowed, even if it was “among the offices where the slaves worked” (Apology against Rufinus 1.30). Primarily in the case of boys, such games included the pulling or pushing of small toy carts and carriages. Sometimes the boys caught mice and then reined them in to draw the carriage for them.”

- Cornelia B. Horn, “Children’s Play as Social Ritual.”” in Late Ancient Christianity

[strangeharpy]

Judaism talk under the cut.

Led Torah study yesterday. It felt weird but it's always fun engaging with the text. Even though it was a really dry part of Leviticus, we managed to find a lot to talk about with regards to our words and actions (and comparing the inclusivity of rituals between then and now). I was super nervous about it but now that I've done it, I signed up to lead another parshah in two weeks. That one is about circumcision which is the obvious juicy tidbit, but it also has to do about how leprosy gets treated in the community, which I feel like could raise a good discussion about how covid is treated now.

I'm also doing a Judaism 101 class at the recommendation of the rabbi at the synagogue I want to join, and I'm looking forward to it. It's a 21 week crash course and I'm just so ready to learn in a more structured fashion. There's a lot of stuff I have questions about because I lack the framework to understand it, but I'm hoping this course will help build that framework.

All of that to say that I'm really happy that Judaism is becoming a part of my life and even though I don't know if I'll ever believe in God, I'm happy to be learning about this culture and these teachings. I feel fulfilled spiritually in a way that I never really thought possible and had never experienced with any prior religious practices I've encountered.

[awanderingdeal]

Here's a tidbit I thought I'd add related to Judaism and queerness (as I am both). This is controversial-as analyzing the Torah/Bible always is. Judaism doesn't exactly have sins the same way Christianity does (okay, we do, but there's much more of an emphasis on doing the right things as opposed to not doing the wrong things, if that makes sense). We have mitzvot, which some people translate as "Good deed" but literally translates as "commandment" (b/c we're commanded to do the good deeds). 9!

.

[eclecticlanie]

Metatron

So my second child and I get in the car on a Sunday morning, I believe the first week of February, to go grocery shopping. I am on the road where there is no other cars on the road, no people on the sidewalks or in yards, no animals to be seen or heard from. A white light and what somewhat rupee-like shape from Legend of Zelda appeared in my windshield above the hood of my car and then slammed down into it and disappeared. I stopped the car immediately. Getting out, I checked all around, above, and under the car. I looked in the sky. There was nothing. No dent in the hood. No roadkill in the street. No birds flying or singing even. Just still air and the sun wasn’t even “out” per say. Just a crisp winter blue sky. I get back in the car and ask my son, “Did you see that?”

“No,” He tells me, “But I heard it.”

That confirmed it happened. I wasn’t hallucinating. I didn’t imagine it. It wasn’t a bipolar symptom. I was not having any mental issue to cause what happened. We arrive at the grocery store and I text my Hubs what happened. He said he would research it. And he did. By the time my son and I arrived home Hubs was waiting for me with answers. 

“The only thing I found remotely resembling what you seen is something called Metatron’s Cube.” Hubs stated matter of factly. I myself look to google for this ‘cube’. I find a light fixture that someone created to resemble the cube in a 3-D sense and it fit perfectly. If it were to be slammed down it would look like the rupee in motion. 

I start researching Metatron. I found out his angel number is 11 and he is commonly associated with the time 11:11. For two days prior to this event and on the day of I actually was seeing this number everywhere! I had even seen a Seal of Solomon/Star of David necklace in a metaphysical shop located near me as well that I was very attracted to. What is special about this necklace is that it looked very much like Metatron’s cube. I was extremely drawn to it and the only reason I didn’t buy it was because I already had over $50 dollars in my arms. After the cube event though I did go back and buy it. I gave my Hubs his hamsa back and have been wearing this necklace for protection. It’s only a bonus it has the Star of David because as previously mentioned in other posts, I am Jewish. I feel like I have a 3 in 1 deal with this necklace. It looks like all three: Metatrons cube, Seal of Solomon, and the Star of David. I have triple the protection. I anoint it with protection oils as well for an extra boost. 

Some fun facts in my research:

The number 11 is a Master Number related to Karma! It represents spiritual awakening! (Fun tidbit: Hubs believes my kundalini is open right now) 

It is said if the angel number 11 appears to you often that you need to turn to your spiritual side. (And as it pertains to me- I dived back in-headfirst-into witchcraft and spirituality even more over than just practicing my basic Jewish religious rituals and texts.)

Metatron is Gods number one guy!

He was once human, he was Enoch from the Torah. 

He keeps the Akashic Records! 

Metatron teaches people to use their spiritual power for good and keeps records of it in the Akashic Records. 

In Numerology the number 11 represents internal conflicts.

Metatron has a very colorful aura and will appear in crystalline form in bright flashes of light. 

He has a strong fragrance about him-Spices like. 

His cube is also called the Merkabah.

[weaponwield]

TLDR; kankuro & sunagakure & judaism.

sunagakure is a desert nation, and just like the desert nations of the middle-east, it has a significant jewish population. this is not to say that everyone from sunagakure is automatically jewish, or it is a jewish ethnostate (ew), but it is the place in the naruto-verse where judaism would most likely have it’s roots and a strong continuing practice to the modern day. other villages surely have some jewish populations as well from inter-marriage, immigration, or the conquering and absorbing of settlements originally from the land of wind by other nations, however I believe these communities are mostly small and diasporic in nature. so, especially up to and during the era of war that takes place until the end of shippuden where alliances between villages are tumultuous, the vast majority of the jewish population remains in sunagakure.

kankuro places great importance on his sunagakure and jewish culture. Judaism is both a set of religious beliefs and a lived culture to many people. kankuro is spiritual, he values his cultures and his religion very much and fights fiercely to keep them alive. he wears the face paint traditional to sunagakure, he practices and teaches puppetry, which is a dying art regional to suna. he observes the sabbath when he can ( though he can’t always manage to do it, as an active shinobi with a duty to his village and to the kazekage ). he takes Yom Kippur off every year to mourn and ask forgiveness for his misgivings over the past year. he enjoys loud and raucous passover seders with his family and their every-extending group of friends and allies ( yes, their passover is huge and well-attended by the shinobi of the leaf, who make the trek to sunagakure every year ). he mourns by bringing stones instead of flowers to the graves of his fallen comrades and his parents. he covers his head when he seeks the wisdom of adonai or prays before the torah.

sunagakure also has a very distinctly jewish cultural atmosphere that kankuro revels in. every village elder thinks of themselves as aunt or uncle to the children of the kazekage, making their lives, their progress in training, their private romances the business of the whole town. it’s a sin to gossip, but oh how folks in suna love a good tidbit of something juicy to pass along at Friday night dinner. the dinners themselves are loud and joyous, distinct with the sound of mixed languages: the common tongue spoken between nations and Hebrew ( mostly by the older folks of suna, but kankuro is trying to learn it ). he refers to lady chiyo as bubbie, views her as a rabbi, a teacher. kankuro feels it’s his duty as a member of the kazekage clan to keep both his jewish and his sunagakure cultures alive in and  to pass them on to future generations. if he is successful, he hopes one day to be worthy of that title of rabbi, too.

[hoodoo12]

Chapter 9/15 SFW

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

@turtlepated @anyamercury​ @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice​ 

Next morning, bright and early with the sunrise, she was back with a new book under her arm. She was eating a piece of toast, and shoved the last of the crust into her mouth as she entered. She wiped her lips with her thumb, and he was oddly ashamed that he watched that gesture with much interest.

"Oh! Do you want something to eat?" she asked by way of greeting, like she was a thoughtless hostess and this was a perfectly normal situation. "Do you need to eat?"

Beetlejuice, who had spent the rest of the night alone trying to understand why his thoughts had gone to different sexual scenarios he could engage in with her instead of a rage that should have been more appropriate, shook his head. 

He'd sort through the thorny mess of his libido some other time, he had decided. Lisette was trying to figure him out; he would do the same to her. Time would tell who would win this stalemate.

"I can, but I don't," he replied. "It's been years since I had a cigarette, though. You got any?"

She looked surprised he answered her as if it were a real conversation, like they were buddies. Beetlejuice waited for a moment, then made a circling motion with one hand to indicate he was waiting for an expecting a response. 

"Uh . . no. I don’t."

"Of fucking course you don’t. Nobody smokes anymore," he muttered, disappointed.

She tapped her forefinger on her chin for a moment, then left the room, leaving the door open. 

He’d been left in isolation again so quickly? Beetlejuice once again heard her rummaging through the kitchen, then there was silence. After minutes passed, she came back up the stairs. The treads and the floorboards in the hallway creaked with each footstep, and then she was back in the bedroom with him. She was holding something, and in the crook of her arm was one of the stainless steel canisters from under the cabinets in the kitchen.

“I don’t have any cigarettes,” she told him again, sounding apologetic. “Can you roll your own?”

Beetlejuice cocked his head in confusion. She held out her hands; in one was a box of stick matches, in the other, a cardboard box of rolling papers. She opened the small canister to show him dried, shredded leaves inside. The faint scent of tobacco wafted to him.

“You don’t have cigarettes but you have the stuff to make cigarettes?” he asked drily. Lisette shrugged. “The tobacco can be used in different rituals. The matches are just matches. The rolling paper . . . well, I didn’t buy it for tobacco, specifically.”

Despite himself, Beetlejuice laughed. “You’ve got a stolen forbidden book, you’ve captured me, and you’re embarrassed to say out loud you smoke weed?”

A blush crept over her cheeks and she laughed too. “Yeah. I guess. Marijuana is legal in Connecticut for medical purposes, but not just for fun. Would you prefer that instead of tobacco?”

The thought of a joint instead of a cigarette was tempting; it’d been even longer since he’d taken a hit than simply had a smoke. It would be simple and innocent enough to light one up, and offer her a toke, like people do, and maybe she’d accidently break the barrier . . .

“You wanna join me?” Beetlejuice asked.

Lisette shook her head. “No thanks. Too early in the day for me.”

He hid his disappointment and filed that information away for later. “Cigarette it is, then.”

With no further hesitation, Lisette tossed him the supplies one at a time, the canister, then the small box of rolling papers. As for the matches, she removed all but one from the box before passing it along. Each of them passed over the chalk inscriptions with no problem, which was interesting tidbit of information: things could enter the circle, he just couldn’t leave. Beetlejuice caught them all, and occupied himself with the task of making his own cigarette.

It had been a while since he had, so it took a little time for the proper technique to come back to him. As he struggled a bit getting the paper tight enough around the tobacco, he groused, “If you’re used to rolling joints, why didn’t you just make a cigarette for me and throw that into this prison?”

Lisette looked a little surprised, as if that hadn't occurred to her, but answered, “You didn’t ask!”

He gave her a look that conveyed his exact thoughts on that amount of pettiness, then licked the free edge of the paper standing upright between his fingers and pressed it down. It was slightly looser than he would have liked and it had a shitty crutch he made out of the thin cardboard he found in the box of rolling papers instead of a real filter, but a smoke after who knows how many years was a treat anyway. Beetlejuice lit the match by flicking it against his thumbnail, and once the end of the cigarette was going, stuck it in his mouth. His first inhale of a corporeal cigarette in ages was bitter and hot. 

It was great.

Beetlejuice let himself be lost in the physical act of smoking for a moment. It suddenly hit him that not only had this breather said his name twice, drawing him three-quarters into the living world, but whatever arcane techinque she used to keep him in this circle made that three-quarters last longer than it ever had before. This situation wasn’t perfect, but that was a nice little bonus. 

Lisette sat quietly with her skirt hiked up passed her knees. Idly he wondered if she was wearing any panties. Beetlejuice kept a lungful of smoke in longer than would be comfortable, then let it out in a stream that twisted a little like a Sandworm. That trick usually made a breather nervous, since it looked a little alive, but the woman near the wall didn’t react to it. 

Instead, she went back to her books, flipping through pages, leaving them open on the floor, writing notes in her journal, and cross-referencing things. Beetlejuice watched her research and wondered to himself what exactly she was thinking. 

After his cigarette was gone and she was still absorbed in her books, he asked, 

“Figured anything out yet?”

She glanced up at him with an annoyed expression pinching her face. “No.”

He scooted along the floor to be closer to her. The chalk circle she’d drawn was four inches wide, so with her leaning against the wall by the door, her knees were less than a foot away from him. He could reach out and grab her, if this barrier was down.

Beetlejuice craned his head to try and read the books upside down. 

“Is that a Bible?” “Yes,” she replied, distracted, as she continued to scribble.

“Would I be able to touch it?”

She finally looked up, genuinely confused. “What the hell does that mean?”

He nodded towards the other books. “I couldn’t quite touch those two. Earlier. When I, uh, wrecked your room.”

Lisette stared at him blankly for a moment before she understood. “Oh. Right! They have wards on them to prevent non-human or non-living beings from interacting with them. Safety precautions, you know. Of course, that doesn’t really help me narrow down ghost versus demon in your case . . .”

She let her voice trail off, then went back to the Bible she’d been perusing. Beetlejuice let her have a few more moments, then just as she was settling back into her work, he interrupted. 

“Which version of the Bible do you have? Is it both Old and New Testament? Do you have a Qur’an? The Torah? The Codex Seraphinianus? The Voynich Manuscript?” 

Lisette returned the look he’d given her earlier: irked. “Why are you asking?”

He shrugged. “Just wondering exactly what you’re using to try and decipher the riddle wrapped in an enigma that is me.”

“With a head that big I’m surprised you made it through the doorframe into this room,” she replied drily. “Of course, you were going full steam. All because I said your name. Interesting.”

Beetlejuice scowled a little, hating to be reminded how desperate he’d been. He let silence fill the room for a few beats. She broke the quiet before he did this time.

“You mentioned Al Azif. Not many other texts have information about shoggoths in them. Have you read it? Did you just randomly pick a name from the book? What’s the connection between it, them, and you?”

“Maybe Alhazred named shoggoths after me,” Beetlejuice suggested. 

That made her furrow her brow for a moment, but eventually she shook her head. “No, I only know one account of a shoggoth taking human form.” Even though his lie was dismissed, he saw by the expression on her face some new thought had come to her. Her eyes found his, and excited, she asked, “Were you there when Alhazred wrote it?”

“Maybe,” Beetlejuice hedged. He couldn’t decide if letting her know his age would be a problem.

“Interesting . . .” Lisette repeated, and dropped her eyes back to her journal to write a note. Her mouth moved a little as she did, and it was vaguely similar to the times he saw her praying.

“So you’re pretty devoted, huh?”

Confusion and harder thinking looked the same on her face. “What?”

“You pray a lot. Devoted Catholic, right?” he guessed. Two could play at taking stabs at the other’s truths.

“My grandmother was Catholic, but I wasn’t raised anything,” Lisette admitted.

“Then what are you praying?”

“What? I’m not praying, I’m just talking to myself!”

For some reason, that admission made Beetlejuice laugh out loud. “Jesus. I’ve been alone for forever it seems, and even I don’t do that!” 

Lisette looked slightly offended, which made him laugh harder. 

“Whatever,” she told him, but it was good to see something needled her.

tbc

[freelancershahin]

Corey Hart, William Shatner, Paul Shaffer, Rick Moranis: Canadian Jewish...

✅ Corey Hart, William Shatner, Paul Shaffer, Rick Moranis: Canadian Jewish Musicians - Under the Radar 🙏🙏 Watch The Video & Don’t Forget to Like, Comment, Subscribe, & Share 🧡 💠 David Eisenstadt is a PR/Communications expert. He also has music in his blood. For this reason, he decided at 76 years-old to start writing a book, which he called: Under the Radar: 30 Notable Canadian Jewish Musicians. Once that was done, he set about writing his second book called: Musicians Under the Radar: 36 Notable Canadian Jewish Performers. Some of the musicians/performers David has written about include:   Percy Faith, Ofra Harnoy, Corey Hart, Rick Moranis, Steven Page and William Shatner. The book has endless number of interesting tidbits. Give it a read. Well worth it. 🔶 WATCH MORE EPISODES......................... ✅ Rabbi Shlomo Gemara, an Agnon expert, a Torah scholar and a most colorful and fascinating teacher 👉This Video Link: https://youtu.be/5sqkQBXSQ5Y ✅  Holocaust Survivor, Severyn Ashkenazi, Rebuilding Hollywood and Polish Jewry 👉This Video Link: https://youtu.be/ZwUXqVqBOGI ✅ The Little Miracle of Hockey Israel & Israel's Recent Victory in Bulgaria 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/DlVUnehV2KU ✅The Fascinating, Magical World of the Kuzari with Rabbi Daniel Korobkin 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/vQ7MSRB95nY ✅ Anti-Semitism: The oldest disease. Why doesn't it die? 👉 This Video Link: https://youtu.be/5VLraYjS7tA ............................................................................... 🌟 LET'S STAY CONNECTED... 🔶 https://www.avrumrosensweig.com #jewish #jewishlearning #jewisheducation #motivationalpodcast #motivationalinterview #jewishheritage #inspiringstories #JewishLeader #FascinatingPeople #IsraeliAuthor #TalmudScholar #TheAvrumRosensweigShow #RabbiShlomoGemara  #engagingconversations #georgechuvalo #mitchchuvalo #boxing #muhammadali

[eretzyisrael]

Parashat Mishpatim

by Meir Anolick

This week’s Parasha contains a plethora of Mitzvot that pertain to human relations, Bein Adam L’Chaveiro, as well as a few pertaining to our connection to Hashem, Bein Adam L’Makom, though primarily of the former category. Among them are the following two Mitzvot, “Do not accept a false report” (23:1) and “Do not be a follower of the majority for evil” (23:2).

As Rashi states, the first of these two prohibitions has two connotations, the first of which is to not accept Lashon Hara. Many people, I would suspect, know the term Lashon Hara and may even have an idea of what it means. Literally translated, it means an evil tongue, but in practice in implies any true information about a person which is derogatory. Halachic definitions are complex and I encourage everyone to read the Chofetz Chaim’s work in order to understand this very, very grave sin and to keep away from it, but that is not my focus now.

What I want to focus on is how we react to Lashon Hara.

Very often, when someone we know tells us a piece of information, or if we read it in a news article, our first inclination is to believe it (in almost every case, obviously there are exceptions) and accept it as fact. If we believe this information, we have violated the biblical prohibition stated above, “Do not accept a false report”. But why? My friend/family member/newspaper wouldn’t lie to me, would they? Whether or not they do is one thing, but oftentimes facts can be misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented.

The game of telephone happens any time that information is passed from one person to another. The point being, however, that many people view the prohibition of Lashon Hara as something only the speaker does, but in fact, as the Chofetz Chaim explains, it is the one who accepts it which often causes the most harm.

Furthermore, when one is sitting at a table and everyone else starts speaking of the negative traits of some person, the natural reaction is to add our own tidbit to the conversation. What harm does it do if I mention that he’s not the friendliest person? It’s just idle conversation! This is completely wrong , as the prohibition says, “Do not be a follower of the majority for evil”. If you lived in a neighborhood where the majority did not keep Shabbat, that would not give you leave to stop keeping Shabbat yourself, so, too, is it with Lashon Hara.

The Chofetz Chaim explains that Lashon Hara is not a minor sin with mild repercussions, it is a major sin on the level of keeping Kosher or keeping Shabbat.

We must stay away from both speaking and listening to it as much as we can, and to help eradicate this vile sin from our midst, and dedicate instead our faculty of speech to learning and disseminating the words of Torah. Shabbat Shalom.