#a meaningful yom kippur to you all

[multidimensional-trashcan]

[Image ID: A meme of Bugs Bunny in a tuxedo which says 'i wish all Jews a very meaningful Yom Kippur'. /End ID]

גמר חתימה טובה

gmar chatima tova (a good final sealing)

[bonefall]

NGL: Stuff like Brambleclaw being a terrible namer is like. really fun but also kinda hits with the 'he;s not some meglomaniacl villain hes just a shitty guy'. like. you could see squirrelflight finding that really endearing. IDK if this is some mastermind shit, or if i'm just reading wayyyyy to into this, but i like how you give characters that are pretty bad dudes very humanising qualities. Especially when they're silly/cute. Kinda reminds you that like. theyre like. a person. well. cat but yknow. and they chose to do bad shit, with influence from their past, rather than being inherently terrible. 👍

YEAH MAN, that's what I'm SAYING

Abusers, ideologues, and other terrible people are not masterminds. They aren't born evil. They're not inherently smart OR stupid. They can love, they can be funny and polite, they do things they believe are justified and want to be good people. They don't think of themselves as villains.

Evil isn't complex. It's really, really not. I feel like that's the #1 cause of confusion when I get a question like, "Why does this person do this malicious act, when it's bad/inconsistent/mean?" The answer is always simple;

They wanted to control someone.

They wanted something and didn't mind who they hurt.

Spite and short-sightedness.

Look for anything deeper and you will not find it. Heroics are complex, being a good person is ongoing and changes over time. We're in a constant state of growing. Malice is childishly simple; it feels good to get what you want.

With Bramblestar especially... it always goes back to what I said here, when talking about the idea of an Evil!Bramble. He's a person, and you ruin everything that's so interesting about him by stripping away that nuance. Squilf and Bramble loved each other, truly, and legitimately. He can be charming. He can be nice. He still hurts her. Reconcile with this.

He is not wiser for what he went through, as a child. His pain doesn't make him better. Man's just a jerk... that's it.

[normalbeast-downformaintenance]

I always have dreams on Yom Kippur that I break the fast and feel very disappointed in myself, and then I wake up and realize I’m still fasting and feel ridiculously happy about it. Just me?

Anyway, it’s past nightfall, I’m going to go have some dinner.

[stargazerlillian]

Once again thinking about how “Doctor Doctor” first aired in 1989 and had a main cast of characters consisting of the following:

- A very silly main character who is also very competent at his profession and knows when to step up and be serious (Dr. Mike Stratford)

- A black man with an iconic laugh as well as a doting wife and son who he loves very much (Dr. Abe Butterfield)

- A woman whose inner life is as complicated as her love life (Dr. Dierdre Bennett)

- An uppity wisecracking heart surgeon who happens to be Jewish (Dr. Grant Linowitz)

- An English professor who teaches classical theater and happens to be openly gay (Richard Stratford, Mike’s brother)

The best part? The show never makes a big deal out of it. There are no “very special episodes” dealing with any of the character’s identities. The show simply portrays them as people just living their lives. It doesn’t matter who or what they are - at the end of the day the main four characters are doctors just trying their best to heal the sick. And I just think that’s nice.

[girlgerard]

it’s nearly yom kippur where i am! to all observing jews: i hope your fast is meaningful and easy, and that you find this yom kippur enlightening, peaceful, and introspective 💙💙

[glassheartedboy]

Writing this now so I don’t forget- an easy and meaningful fast to all those fasting. May your Yom Kippur be meaningful, and may we all be written into the book of life for the coming year. גמר חתימה תובה. May you be written and sealed for good.

[keshetchai]

I think a huge problem in internet Judaism (also sometimes irl!) discussions is often that we're so focused on fighting or pushing back on misconceptions, Christian normativity, and distorted Christian ideas about our theology — that sometimes in the pursuit of this, we forget to approach a more complicated internal reality, or we overlook parts of our own religion while trying to not assimilate.

Things like the Talmud talking about Yom Kippur being a happy day. A lot of folks were surprised and didn't know there's a huge tradition that YK is supposed to be a positive holiday and many Jews observe with joy. Then some folks went on to elaborate that if someone wished them a happy Yom Kippur and they were Jewish it was fine, but if they were gentiles who simply didn't know anything and didn't bother to learn, then they were annoyed by the lack of care re: cultural nuance or whatever.

But like...of all the annoying christian-normative bullshit that exists — someone trying to wish me a happy holiday on a holiday that is noted to be solemn AND positive, but not really knowing anything about my religion — that doesn't really make a list of things I have time to be mad about! Or even irked by!

There's a lot of ways in which people are shitty and careless or make it obvious they consider our non-christian holidays an annoying quirk they have to acknowledge, but "happy yom kippur!" Is not one of them. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that I want other people to assume the best of me, even when I am the one who is socially awkward or ignorant, or stumbling around just trying to be an okay person. And sometimes I am the clueless one who has only a shallow understanding of someone's interior life/culture and I said/did nothing actually offensive but treated the situation the same way I treat similar ones in my own life because everyone has cultural blinders somewhere.

So sometimes, I have to look at other people doing The Thing and ask myself if it's at all malicious or harmful, and if it ISN'T, shouldn't I assume the best of another human bumbling around like I do all the time? "Hey thanks. Yeah I had a meaningful holiday."

Likewise, YES, we do have a history of wrestling with G-d and pushing back and asking questions and so on, but no, stiff-necked isn't wholly complimentary, it's...frequently the opposite of that. And the knee-jerk reaction is often to push back against Christianity and Islam vilifying Jews and their stubbornness/failures/wrongs in the Bible. Which is totally reasonable, there's a huge history of a theology of antisemitism and blaming there that impacts us today.

HOWEVER, we can push back against the antisemitic theologies and interpretations of these stories without necessarily having to recharacterize everything beyond recognition?

Yes, Abraham yelled at G-d that one time, and it was great. It may have even been a test of Abraham. Yes, Israel wrestles with G-d. Yes, the Jews in the desert complain to Moses they are dying of thirst and ask what was the point of leaving Egypt if they should only die while wandering instead?

Great. Love that. BUT ALSO: yes stiff-necked is not always a compliment. Yes, the Israelites struggled and made mistakes, and are utterly and painfully human just like people are today. Flawed. We are not so stiff-necked as to say we have not sinned!

Is anything as scary as a group that admits no flaws? No errors of judgment? Never questions themselves or learns from past mistakes? Idk to me, it's all very "with great responsibility comes great accountability, and power isn't the point here." Yes? If we take pride in the moments of arguing and the pushing back, then by that same token, we have to own the failings just as much to learn from. The relationship between G-d and Jews is a two way street.

It's not a failing to be an imperfect human, but it would be a failing to screw something up and then never admit it or keep doing it when you can change.

Idk I just...there's got to be ways we can dig into meaty and interesting stuff without having to constantly be like "just because some ancestors screwed up and G-d was angry at them doesn't mean you can say Jews lost the love of God and the covenant and were replaced you absolute weirdos."

[disgruntled-detectives]

To all my Jewish friends.

May you all have a meaningful and reflective Yom Kippur.

If you are fasting, may your fast be easy and meaningful.

If you cannot fast, may you perform the mitzvah of eating and drinking to preserve life joyfully. Because that’s exactly what you’re doing. I’ve seen a lot of Jewish people online expressing guilt about not being able to fast for one reason or another, and l hope you all remember it’s not only a mitzvah to eat and drink to preserve life, it is a *requirement* health and safety supersede everything else.

Overall, may HaShem inscribe you in the book of life, and may you have a beautiful, meaningful Yom Kippur.

[storravoid]

Hey yall. With Yom Kippur coming up, I just wanted to get on here and make a quick reminder. You are required to eat or drink if fasting makes you sick.

If you know already that fasting makes you sick but you still want to try, it's permitted to eat 1.5 fl oz of food every 9 minutes and one cheek full of water every 7 minutes.

Also, if it is your first fast, take breaks. Don't jump straight into a 25 hour fast. This isn't supposed to be an absolutely miserable experience. Take breaks, work yourself up to it, learn what you body can or can't take.

Above all else, stay safe. You are required to break your fast if it would put you in danger.

That said, have a meaningful Yom Kippur, everyone.

[spacelazarwolf]

Maybe not the place to ask, sorry if so! Do you know what the "hey it’s weird to worship the miscarriage demon from a culture you’re not in" thing is about? I think I missed that one. Also I hope you had a meaningful Yom Kippur and are able to stay sane with All of the Horrors (life in general)

yeah, here’s an article that gives some background.

for a lot of jewish folks, the problem is that gentiles are like?? worshipping her?? as the Ultimate Feminist Figure without knowing anything at all whatsoever about the character of lilith, where she comes from, who reclaimed her and why (it was jewish women), and then shit their pants when jews are uncomfortable with the way they talk abt lilith.

[todaysjewishholiday]

1 Elul 5784 (3-4 September 2024)

“Ani l’dodi v’dodi li/ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” Shir HaShirim 6:3

Chodesh tov! Today is the first day of Elul, and the second day of Rosh Chodesh. The grief and consolation of Av is behind us for another year and we turn inwards and upwards. The sages make much of the fact that the Hebrew spelling of the word Elul— aleph lamed vav lamed— is an acronym for the poetic declaration of love which they took to be a statement of HaShem’s love for the Jewish people. In Jewish tradition, Elul is a month when the sovereign of heaven and earth leaves the throne and joins us in the field of our day to day struggles— a time when G-d draws near to us, making it that much easier for us to draw near to G-d.

This month-long period of divine closeness is of course a prelude to what is to come— the ten day period beginning with Rosh haShana and ending with Yom Kippur during which Jewish tradition calls us to to do the work of repairing our relationships with our fellow humans and the divine in preparation for our eventual mortality. These ten days— the Yamim Noraim, or Days of Awe— require a level of spiritual awareness that cannot be reached in a sudden leap. It requires at minimum a thirty day head start. Which is exactly what our tradition tells us Elul can be for us.

Forty day periods are important in the Hebrew Bible. In the beginning, it takes forty days and nights of continuous rain to cleanse the earth of human violence in the flood narrative. Later, Moshe spends forty days and nights receiving the words of the covenant directly from HaShem on Mount Sinai. And then, if midrash is to be trusted, does so two more times after his first visit ends with the catastrophe of the golden calf. The twelve spies spend forty days scouting out the promised land— and the outcome of their bad report is forty more years of exile. Eliyahu also spends forty days fasting en route to and atop Mount Sinai, and Yonah gives the city of Nineveh a forty day advance warning of its potential destruction. The thirty days of Elul and ten days of the Yamim Noraim give us an annual forty day period of introspection and repair work. Teshuvah and self awareness are of course intended to be continual, but we can still benefit from this season of heightened introspection and added deliberateness in our examination of where we are and what we need to work on to become who we want to become. May this season be fruitful and meaningful for you all.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Please only vote if you're Jewish (or a convert-in-progress) and observe these traditional fasts.

[Edit: I left Yom Kippur off of here because it's the only fast that's a "happy" fast in some sense - yes, it's penitential but it's also because we are emulating the malachim. It's the whole "on Tisha b'Av we fast because we're so grieved that who can eat? But on Yom Kippur we fast because we are so happy to be forgiven that who can eat?" thing.]

Here's an explanatory link for those who are curious and don't know.

[a-witch-in-endor]

Why are you Jewish/religious?

I'm going to assume you were asking this in good faith and aren't one of the antisemitic anons who like to pop up from time to time.

Jews are Jews by default. I would be just as Jewish if I was eating a bacon cheeseburger on Yom Kippur. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew, as they say.

And we tend to define religiosity by religious practice rather than belief (Christianity is more interested in what you think/feel, which makes Judaism a little confusing for Westerners). Of course these are related, as practice is both shaped by and actively shapes belief/feeling/etc. But if you're intending to ask me about my theological perspectives, that will be a pretty different answer to questions about my religiosity.

I certainly cannot encapsulate everything about my religiosity into one post for you unless you have a more specific question. The broadest strokes I can paint in are: I find the passing on of tradition meaningful; I live my life with a sense of sacred obligation; I believe all people are made in the divine image and therefore are sacred and equal; I understand myself to be one point in an unfolding history of Jewish culture; I understand human life to be balanced between meaning and absurdity, and I find joy in both chaos and order; I think the Jewish people have taken on specific sacred obligations and I see those obligations as binding; I want to be fundamentally shaken to my core when I am too comfortable and I think my religious practice provides that; I want to live in a world where "good" means more than "I like this"; I want to be in conscious relationship with the past and future.

The truth is, if I didn't believe in God, most (all?) of the above would still be true and my religious life probably wouldn't look very different.

Edit: Just noting that OP has informed me it was indeed a question in good faith. :-)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Even someone who does believe that the Ten Commandments (and other mitzvot) should be taken literally might be told by a Rabbi— even an Orthodox Rabbi — that they are able to not keep certain mitzvot, or keep them in an altered way, due to specific circumstances. E.g. someone with an eating disorder might be told they're not allowed to fast on Yom Kippur.

Specifically with regard to the commandment to honor your parents: I attended Orthodox (charedi) schools all my life, and we were taught that one does not have to honor abusive parents.

The follow-up from anon:

I think this is an important conversation in general, though I am not in the headspace to contribute in a meaningful way. I wanted to make that intention clear, and I will probably not be engaging this conversation further. I think many of our points have been made, though if others want to discuss this elsewhere, feel free to do so in the comments or wherever else (as long as it doesn't need a response from me, such as an ask).

I'm by no means angry at you, anon, and I do want you to know I value what you've discussed. I just want my intentions to be clear - that I am not trying to stonewall you because I have a vendetta or anything like that.

[thoughtfulfoxllama]

Ok, so it's Fast Sunday in my Ward, and I'm eating Graham Crackers in my In-Laws Ward Lobby, so let's talk about Fasting

Fasting in Mormonism is pretty basic: no food or drink for 24 hours or 2 meals. I never said basic was simple though, so let's deconstruct that

For one, why is it 24 hours or 2 meals? Are we supposed to only eat 2 meals a day? Honestly, I have no idea. Pres Joseph F Smith moved the Church's Fast Day to Sunday (it was Thursday before then) in the early 1900s, and defined a fast as evening to evening. So, maybe the idea of 2 meals or 24 hours is whether you eat Dinner before you start your fast or not (in 1976, Pres Nelson wrote an Ensign Article, where he said that Fasts should be 2 Meals, with no indication of 24 hours, meaning that, to him at least, Evening Meals should not be skipped)

Next, what's considered "food and drink?" Does water count, for example? Everything I've found says "it's personal." In Utah, the custom is to not drink water, but in order to understand what's allowed, we must look at the purpose of fasting. The Purposes of a Fast are increased spiritual connection & to help the poor and needy through increased empathy (encouraging is to help them) and generous fast offerings. If you ask me, not drinking water is counterintuitive to the first purpose. So, I understand the traditional LDS Fast to deal with Calories & Pleasure. If you can, abstain from food, and liquids aside from water. If you can't (for example, I need to eat with my medicine), then eat plain foods as needed

But, we're not the only Faith that requires Fasting. How do they do it (there's definitely more, but these are the ones I'm familiar with):

Judaism: Judaism has several fast days. In addition to optional fasting on Mondays, Thursdays, and the day before the start of the month, they have 6 main fasts. 4 of them are from Dawn to Dusk, but the 9th of Av Fast & Yom Kippur fasts are from Sunset to Sunset, with an abstinence from all Food and Drinks (with additional abstinence from Leather Shoes, Bathing, and Sexual Relations on Yom Kippur). And since Yom Kippur is tomorrow, I wish a Meaningful Yom Kippur to any Jewish People who come across this post before the fast

Islam: In Islam, they have the Month of Ramadan. During this month, Muslims will abstain from all Food, Drink, Tobacco, Sexual Relations, and Sinful Behavior (such as swearing) during daylight hours, instead replacing them with Prayer & Study of the Quran. They also have 2 meals, one before the fast, and one after

Christian: Christianity has so many branches, so obviously has the most distinctions. Many Christians practice a Eucharistic Fast (where they fast before taking the Eucharist, or in Mormon Terms, the Sacrament). Early Christians would also fast on Wednesday & Friday, to commemorate the Betrayal & Death of the Savior. There are also 2 seasons of fasting: Lent & Advent. Lent begins with a fast from all Food and Liquid (known as a Black Fast) on Ash Wednesday, and ends with a Black Fast on Good Friday. During Lent, Christians abstain from a certain bad habit they have (such as smoking), and are expected to increase their Prayer, Study, and Alms (or Fast Offerings as we'd call them). On Fridays during Lent (as well as all Wednesdays & Fridays in Orthodox Christianity), they participate in a Lesser Fast, where one lessens food intake (2 small meals during sunlight hours) and only need abstain from Olive Oil, Dairy Meat, and Fish until sundown. There's also the Daniel Fast, which was a diet where only Kosher food could be eaten, but now refers to only eating Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, Pulses, Nuts, Seeds, and Oils (for the Lesser Fast & the Daniel Fast, that's just being Vegan. So I guess Vegans really are holier than I /j)

Faith of the Seven (A Song of Ice & Fire): I know it's not a real religion, but it came to mind when typing. Whenever Priests in this religion saw the need, they would fast from everything except Bread & Water. (Warning, if done for 40 days straight, this can lead to death and being known as a fanatical king)

Long story short: don't judge how people fast. Not everyone fasts the same way, or even can. I fast from everything except water. I also fast at the New Moon. But if you can only handle a Daniel Fast, then as long as you use it as an opportunity to serve your fellow man (direct service or fast offerings), and come closer to God, that's what matters

[attackfish]

To all of my Jewish followers who can/are fasting: may you have an easy fast.

To my Jewish followers who are not/cannot fast: hey, same hat! I can't fast either!

May your Yom Kippur be meaningful either way!