#about me and my judaism

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Like you start to look at like all the super positive people on social media who talk about taking deep breaths and unclenching your jaw, or that you're going to do amazing things this week.

And you wonder if there is a silent addendum of "but not you, Jew."

Because that seems to be a pretty popular sentiment right now.

So you just stop trusting people, because like

What if that's the truth? It's happened before.

A lot of people been showing their antisemite ass these last few weeks. But I think there's a disconnect.

I think when a lot of Jewish people hear "free palestine" they also hear an unspoken addition of "and kill all Jews."

And you have to remember that paranoia has a basis in lived experience. That fear has been made real before.

"Free Palestine" is not antisemitic. But we are afraid that that unspoken bit is implied. Fear makes for an aggressive bedfellow.

I really struggle, personally, knowing that I support a free and just and safe palestine, but my support is unwanted by a lot of people. Cuz they'd rather I was dead.

And I've been thinking about that Golda Meir quote: "our secret weapon is we have nowhere else to go."

And that is

Well

True. Not that I think Israel was ever the best option. Or should have been an option the way the UN made it an option back in '48, but other Jewish people can yell at me for that another time.

You have to remember that when ww2 ended, there were these Holocaust survivors.

And no one wanted them.

No one wanted to take them in. No one really knew wtf to do with these haunted ghost people.

In a lot of ways we've generationally inherited that feeling, I think, and it's informed our lives in ways I'm not even sure any of us fully get.

[veryintricaterituals]

When I was in school I went to a friend's house to work on a project on a Friday afternoon. At about 6 or 6:30 when the sun was about to set her mom called us over to the livingroom. She lit two candles with my friend and then they proceeded to put the lit candles inside of a little cupboard so no one could see them. Me, a young jewish teenager asked her, my catholic friend, why they did that and she shrugged, said it was a family tradition to bring peace and prosperity, that the women of the family did it every friday evening and then hid the candles. They were very catholic, so I bit my tongue and we went back to her room to study.

This is just one of many, many, crypto jewish traditions that still exist in my hometown of Medellín, Colombia and I want to share a little bit about them with you.

Medellín is the capital city of a region called Antioquia and it is currently the second biggest city in my country. Now the weird thing about my region and my city more specifically is that it is in the middle of fucking nowhere, like we are in a valley in the middle of the andean mountains and it would take over two weeks by river, horse and river, and dunkey and mule to even get here before the invention of cars or trains.

Now Medellín was founded over 400 years ago, and families had been coming to the region for way before then, so that means that for centuries getting to my city from the sea or from the other big cities in the country was incredibly hard. This was by design, because Medellín itself was founded by about 28 families and we know for a fact that alteast half of them were crypto jews hidding from the Spanish Inquisition, and both before and the foundation more and more jewish families arrived to the region.

This is a known fact, the DNA of the people from the region has a lot of sepharadic jewish mixed in there. Early Colombian literature dating up to the 1845 would call the people of my region the Neogranadine Jews or the Colombian Jews. But because they were crypto jews the religion and most of the traditions were lost during the 400 years that have passed, now over 90% of the population is catholic and don't really know about their origins.

But some things stuck. And I want to tell you about them.

On the 7th night of December there is this pre-christmas festival called "El día de las velitas" or the little candle night that started and was unique to Antioquia. It's supposed to commemorate the candles that people had in the streets and the windows on the night Jesus was born and that helped Mary and Joseph to find their way. Do you know how this unique festival is celebrated in my city? People take to the streets to light candles, small colorful candles that they put in wooden planks or directly on the streets, it's the night that people decorate and turn on the christmas lights and it is so important and popular that we have an actual day off on the 8th of december.

Let me show you a few pictures

I don't think I need to explain this one. Even most goyim will know about Hannukah. But it is the weirdest thing when the dates coincide and we are all lighting candles together.

My dad was in the Jewish community board and we needed to rent a place to put our jewish daycare. They found this beautiful old house that had belonged to a family in colonial times but needed a little TLC. We had them remove some wooden floors because they were too old and rotting and found a huge Magen David made out stones in the center of the floor. The house also happened to have two separate kitchens and a mikveh or immersion bath in one of the rooms. These a very traditional things that colonial houses have in my region.

My grandmother converted to Judaism so I have a side from my family that is 100% from here and didn't arrive during the 20th century. I had the pleasure to meet both of my great grandparents from that side though they died when I was young. My grandma tells me that my greatgrandmother used to have one of these immersion baths in her house when she was growing up. Women were supposed to bathe in them after their periods had ended, my catholic great grandmother respected the mikveh traddition more than I ever have.

(I wish I had photos from that specific house but this happened over ten years ago, I'll show you some immersion baths from a different colonial houses that are also in my city)

Now how about we talk about traditional clothes. I'm sure most of you have heard of Ponchos, which are traditional in the Andean region, well the one from Antioquia is a little different and it's always supposed to be worn with a hat. Let's see if you can spot what I mean.

A few years ago Spain decided to grant citizenship to the descendants of the Jewish people that they had exiled in 1492. To get it you had to prove through family trees that your family had been Jewish. My city got the most ammount of passports out of everyone in the world, more than Israel. I could have applied from both my family that came from Egypt in the 20th century (we still have the keys to our house in Spain) or through my catholic side, as both of my grandmother's last names applied. I didn't but I could have.

I don't really know why I decided to finally write this post. I have so many more stories. I just think it's both incredibly sad that so much Jewish culture and people were lost but also it's a little heartwarming to see what survived even centuries down the line.

[fromgoy2joy]

I love being involved with Jewish life on campus because I got to miss class once for “religious reasons” and the religious reason was that I went to this sick Purim drag show.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

[hindahoney]

Wild and revolutionary concept: maybe don't treat converts like trash just because they're converts? And also don't ask someone if they're a convert in a public setting?

[pomegranateandhoney]

Just wanted to share a little resource today: Shabbat cards from Recustom, a platform with  tools and resources to help shape rituals that work for each of us. I like this very simple set of Shabbat cards, with the blessings in Hebrew, English, and transliterated.

Sometimes it can be really difficult, trying to figure out what we think makes our life Jewish -- what's important to us, what rituals are prayers feel necessary to us, which mitzvot feel most important to keep. It's a deeply personal journey.

For me, Shabbat feels immensely important and is the cornerstone of what having a Jewish home means to me. Keeping Shabbat started very small -- just remembering to light two tealights, as on time as possible, every Friday with my partner. Now we've added wine/juice, and rarely I remember to have bread. It's a work in progress. Little tools like these cards, which are easy to read and have on hand, can help make keeping this ritual possible.

I wish I were a more adept woman that was used to managing a million things, but I'm not -- I am forgetful, I can be a little lazy after a long work day, and I struggle with the balance between my spiritual and modern lives. And that's okay.

[cartoonghosts]

I keep getting reminded of how fucking antisemitic ive seen people be online and its just Jesus christ i am killing everyone. You dont see a cross necklace in someones video about how to make pasta and bombard them with that type of bullshit why do you do it when someones making a video abt how to mend a hole with a star of david pattern. You dont hear me mentioning being pagan and go 'oh but youre not one of the bad ones right'. Killing everyone actually. I spent years in elementary wchooö having units on historical racism and not once did this come up it is so deeply institutional i am going to stab everyone to death actuaööy bye. Fuck this

[spoondrifts]

in an ideal world i would be spending xmas writing fic and getting chinese takeout with my jewish friends, but here i am instead, going to be lighting my hanukkiyah for the first time with my non-jewish family that barely understands me and will probably crack some stupid jokes at my expense while insisting that xmas is secular and actually pagan in origin so it's fine for me to celebrate

[ljbrary]

So my town always puts up a Christmas tree and menorah in the center of downtown every year.

I just walked downtown after coming back for Thanksgiving, and they have the tree up, but there is no menorah to be found.

And I think we all know why.

[fumifooms]

Btw is it just me or does Dungeon Meshi have some cool religious christian imagery?

The Winged Lion, Falin and Laios. The Power, the white dove and the messiah. The dungeon as the sacred land?

Cannibalism as an act of love and gratitude. Eating (god) as worship and communion.

Becoming a dungeon lord like ascending to godhood, being the chosen one, the divine messenger, the one through which God acts.

sorry I just think about this Numbers 13:32 Bible quote like all the time thank you youtuber The Sin Squad

[otter-pup]

hi i hoped i wouldn’t have to clarify this but antisemitism isn’t welcome here!! any kind of shit equating Jewish people to greed and selfishness etc, or Judaism to Zionism, etc, none of that shit here!! thanks!!!

[slyandthefamilybook]

#postalproud

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I've been doing a lot of reflection as of late, especially after this past class.

This past class was about the Torah and Tanakh in general, and the way the rabbi talked about the commandments (specifically the ten commandments) has made me really reflect on how I interpret them, specifically the fifth commandment, or honoring your mother and father.

This is a commandment I have wrestled with for a long time - in fact, it brought me away from g-d at multiple times. I was severely abused when I was incredibly young by my mother, and I used to feel insulted at the implication that I were to honor her while she got to live a better life. It was hypocritical, in my eyes.

But this rabbi surmised that this particular commandment was because parenthood is an act of creation, something that is like the g-d from which we come from. My realization is this: I don't think we're necessarily meant to take even these commandments literally.

I this particular commandment is more of a call to honor creation - creation is a gift, and like any gift, many people simply will not like it and will discard it. The person who abused me created me, but she did not honor creation. She didn't honor me, but I can still honor it.

I have started to honor creation much more. I'm too young, too unstable, not mature enough to be a father (though I fantasize about it), but I create all the time. I create relationships, I create with my hands through crochet. I create memories, I create my world. And I can honor who I am and where I came from that made me who I am. I've been learning one of the mother tongues of my family (Italian, since part of my family originates there) and it was judaism that inspired me to do this.

I don't think g-d wants me to honor my abuser. I think He wants me to remember the Holy action of creation. When I am a father, that act of creation will be Holy, and indeed, I am already joyful about the thought.

I have seen many people struggle with this particular commandment, but I think this perspective helps me personally. I don't think I ever have to forgive my abusers (plural), and I don't think I am commanded to simply because they happened to be family. I am commanded to recognize the holy, to elevate the mundane. In doing so, I will remember g-d. Through creation, I honor g-d and everything he has done for us, for me, and for our collective people.

[freeandclear3567]

Life feels tough right now stomach trouble problems sleeping and the cropping up of driving (motor vehicle) anxiety. I just kind of wanted to voice it out there in the world. I fear accidents more than death you know. I’d rather die in my sleep than get in an accident it’d be my eternal shame.

Lately it feels like my life has taken a turn for the worse. The onset of stomach trouble and pains like 2 months ago has upended my life and made life more difficult for me. Luckily on Feb 8 I’ll meet with a therapist to see if we are a good match.

I feel like I’m a burden to my beloved parents who I still live with. I am 30 this is not how I thought my life would go. Idk why I’m saying all this I just wanted to write it down. Wanted people to know I exist I live I struggle. I work. I like my job but the commute is the toughest part of my life it is comparatively small at 35 mins but I still struggle with it.

Idk what I want from this post perhaps just some witnesses of my life now as it is. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. May goodness and peace come to you all. All of humanity deserves to chill out

[lolcatsdeamon13]

Hey friends!

Yiddishland California is a cultural center and museum that puts on excellent classes and events, including Yiddish Theater classes, Intermediate Yiddish reading circles, and even beginner's Yiddish yoga! They are committed to keeping the wonderful and vibrant language alive, including the culture and community that surrounds the language.

They are in trouble! There was some sort of issue with being able to stay in their location, so they need to raise $100k by the end of the month to stay open!

Please join me in donating (Here). I gave my tzedakah this month to them, and I hope you do too!

If you're in the Southern California area, they're having a relocation party on January 21st, 2024 from 5-8pm. Come visit to see great art and support such a great organization!!

For the rest of us that can't get down to California and want to support not just by donating, please consider buying something from their Etsy shop! They have a bunch of rare books and vinyl and your purchase will help the organization!

[herotune]

The Path We Share — Jonah, Abraham, Isaac, and The Goat

Shanah tovah everyone! (Yes I realize Rosh Hashanah is over, but it's still the high holidays ok!)

This is an illustration I made for our high holiday liturgy books this year. If you're curious, I put the artist's statement I wrote for the book under the cut:

This illustration represents aspects of three different stories we revisit on the high holidays—that of Abraham and Isaac, Jonah and the giant fish, and the scapegoat sent into the wilderness, carrying away the sins of the community. Abraham falls back as Isaac walks up the mountain, following the goat, and Jonah follows a similar path, by sea.

Each of them, whether by land or by sea, up the mountain, to the wilderness, or to Ninevah, whether knowing of their fates or not—walk the same path we do as we head into the high holidays. Along the path set to them by G-d. Did Isaac know what would happen as he walked up the mountain? Did the goat led out to the wilderness know what it represented? Would they have chosen to follow that path had they known? Would they have been given a choice?

Each year, we revisit these stories, and each year, we walk the same path together, into an unseen future—knowing we are not alone in the journey.