#all my chips on Torah

[reachingrachnius]

Idk who needs to hear this but Bitachon pays off every single time and if it hasn’t it will rly soon

(doesn’t mean u don’t have to put in work too, btw)

Keep doing what you know is right, it’ll pay off. Hashem is in control :-)

[dolphingirl1234]

being jewish is so fun

being jewish is thanking the police and security guards when we walk into shul (synagogue)

being jewish is complaining about not being able to eat bread for a week

being jewish is getting excited and taking a picture whenever we see something jewish in public

being jewish is gaslighting yourself into believing matzah doesn't taste like cardboard (I've gaslighted myself into loving it)

being jewish is lighting candles on literally every single holiday

being jewish is not understanding some traditions but doing them anyway because we love our culture

being jewish is dancing and singing and lifting each other up on chairs whenever something exciting happens

being jewish is learning hebrew on duolingo even if you learn it at school

being jewish is putting literally anything on challah and even if we have nothing we will eat it plain (challah is so good)

being jewish is making yom hazikaron (soldier remembrance day) and yom haatzmaut (Israel independence day) one after the other, like that's such a jewish thing to do

being jewish is looking forward to fridays because we love shabbat and family and challah and chicken soup

being jewish is making too many matzah balls but then not having enough

being jewish is having Israeli music playing in the background of every occasion

being jewish is dancing in a circle and singing songs we all know after hearing them all our lives

being jewish is watching the videos of people in Israel being so happy and singing and celebrating even as their trembling in a bomb shelter

being jewish is having everyone mispronounce your name/hebrew name

being jewish is wanting to kill ourselves while fasting on yom kippur

being jewish is acknowledging that kosher kitkats are better than normal kitkats (change my mind I dare you)

being jewish is having a magen david (star of david) necklace that you never take off

being jewish is coming up with fun ways to make noise when we hear haman's name in the megillah on purim

being jewish is reading a different part of a long ass book every week for a year and then celebrating when it's done before starting it all over again

being jewish is using hanukkah as an excuse to eat chips and donuts every day for a week

being jewish is welcoming creepy old imaginary men into our house every pesach (eliyahu/elijah)

being jewish is not being able to remember the 5 books of the torah

being jewish is arguing who's grandma's chicken soup is better (for any jews reading this it's my grandma's and I will not be taking criticism)

being jewish is getting board in shul and going to play on the swings outside until it's time for kiddish (food) (we like food)

being jewish is planning to go to Israel for your bar/bat mitzvah but it never actually happens

being jewish is going to hanukkah in the park to watch them light the big menorah and get free donuts and watch the fireworks

being jewish is taking purim way too seriously and making the most elaborate costume

being jewish is randomly owning as Israeli flag

being jewish is having at least 3 blue tutus

being jewish is hearing from holocaust survivors on yom hashoah

being jewish is watching a tv show just because there's a jewish character

being jewish is having so many family friends you can't even remember half of them

being jewish is having a built-in family in the jewish community

I love being jewish

[sappho-shalom]

CONVERSION UPDATE ?!

Long time no see!!! So I think in my last update I said I was considering enrolling in college and guess what? I did! It's just community college and I'm doing it part time and I'm not entirely sure what subject I want to focus on, but I'm a few weeks into it and so far it's been going well. I also got a job which is great because I've needed one for awhile lol. Also, re: sims 4 jewish cc, I never was able to get sims4studio to work (I consulted many forums) so I don't think that's happening anytime soon sorry!!

But anyways, what everyone is here for: conversion updates! I've started studying with a partner, she's older than me and is marrying into a Jewish family so she's a little more knowledgeable about certain things compared to me, but it's still cool to have a partner and she’s really nice! I think the first time we met together with the rabbi we were discussing the Akedah and he asked us why we thought G-d would command Abraham to do something like that, and I had just finished my first watch of Good Omens season 2 so I pulled out some references to the Book of Job and he seemed very impressed with me LMAO.

But more importantly: I've finally been to services! My first service was Rosh Hashanah so, to quote my rabbi, I was kind of thrown into the deep end LOL. I was a little anxious (although less than I thought I would be) and it was kind of awkward when everyone but me kissed the Torah (and of course everyone was watching bc I guess you face the Torah when it’s carried around the room? I learn new things everyday!), but I really enjoyed it!! I was worried I was going to get bored or something (it was a 3 hour long service) but I ended up adulting for my mom who kept asking when we could go home lol. I also went to the Kol Nidrei service which was nice, there were way more people!! I also got to take home a tzedakah box (except it only takes coins and this is the 21st century so I never have coins LOL). OH and last week I got to light Shabbat candles for the first time!!!! But not really, it was Thursday and we were just practicing (and I butchered the Hebrew). BUT I did ask the rabbi and he said I could start lighting Shabbat candles myself!!!! I'm genuinely so happy and excited about it.

The synagogue also has services for Sukkot and their own sukkah which I wanted to go to but the first one was a potluck (I hate cooking) and I almost went to the second one because they had pizza but then I found out that we had to pay for an entire pizza ourselves ?!?! I don't have money for that LOL. (Okay that sounds a little mean lol, I was just expecting it to be like everyone chips in $5-10 and there are enough pizzas ordered for everyone to get 1-2 slices, not $14 for your very own pizza!!)

I've been working Friday nights a lot but I finally worked up the courage to talk to my manager so after this week I'll be free on Shabbat evenings and hopefully go to Shabbat services (or just just spend it at home LIGHTING MY OWN SHABBAT CANDLES BC THATS SOMETHING I CAN DO NOW?!?!?!)! Sorry if this post is a little all over the place or there's too many exclamation marks, I'm genuinely just so excited. It really feels like studying is starting to ramp up, although that probably has something to do with all the High Holidays lol. Anyways, I think that's it!

Chag sameach!

[thefernmanner]

"The Thrust." From the Book of Sirach, "The Manner of the Fern" 3: 17-24.

Humility and reflection go hand in hand in the making of a Pslam. During the recitation of a Psalm, we chip away at a formless piece of rock to find the person that is hidden inside. When we read and recite a Pslam, we build a statue from the floor up, we unmelt the butter.

Reflection however cannot take place until after the Passover Seder is performed. There must be no delusion in the mind if one is to know what God hid inside the flesh waiting to be utilized in Judah, for the purposes of all.

We know now everything happens, not for a reason, but play its designated part. Nothing is made without a sacred place for it. The equation God uses to create the universe accounts for everything as it roots, trees, and branches down, up, and out into the world. Provided man provides the soil, water, and access to illumination the tree prospers.

To reflect, one must forsake all idols. A god is not an idol a god is a being God created to serve Yah. An idol does not serve God or the gods, however it serves itself. Worship of gods and idols is forbidden, only reverence, and only for the purposes named by the Torah and Tanakh. The Ruth Torah says one must worship a god after marriage, but success at this requires Shabbat and the Seder. Without humility the attempt will not be successful.

Sirach continues to explain:

Humility

17 My child, perform your tasks with humility;     then you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.[d] 18 The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself;     so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord.[e] 20 For great is the might of the Lord,     but by the humble he is glorified. 21 Neither seek what is too difficult for you     nor investigate what is beyond your power. 22 Reflect upon what you have been commanded,     for what is hidden is not your concern. 23 In matters greater than your own affairs, do not meddle,     for things beyond human understanding have been shown you. 24 For their conceit has led many astray,     and wrong opinion has impaired their judgment.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 17-18: Perform your tasks with humility. The Number is 14127, יד‎יבב‎ ‎, yad yabb, "the hand of God is a gangway."

The Torah says we have to leave the ego and temptation behind on the shore and go out onto the surface of the sea. This requires a boat. The boat is a trick called Kabbalah like the rest. Once the eyes are closed the mind is sails into the open ocean of darkness and there it discovers what it is, and what it is not.

One does not meditate for the purposes of magic or self-help, only to prove to the mind and the body it has no need to emote, desire, or contend with reality in any way other than the way the Spirit suggests. Man is not a trained lion, God is not a circus trainer with a whip and chair. We are in charge of our minds of this there is no doubt.

v. 20-21: Great is the might of the Lord...but for one thing. He cannot make man into a righteous being, that man must do on his own. I made sure to broadcast the Great Hillel through multiple channels before the US Election and still the people of this planet persist in being wicked. God can create galaxies and collapse stars with out moving a muscle, but he cannot reform us. We are lost if we do not recognize the problems we are creating for ourselves, by violating the Great Hillel, the sacred obligations.

The Number is 9880, ט‎ח��, "the thrust or impulse."

Control of impulses is a desirable characteristic in children and adults. God told Adam and Evil first thing, do not hide the salami, no matter how tempting it is and then they hid the salami.

We can be taught not to wet or soil ourselves how to use a knife and fork and a napkin before we are twelve, who cares, but after semenarche and menarche, careful control of the impulses is necessary for the rest of one's life. A society that does not emphasize gun control has not passed the test of Eden and must revisit it:

v. 22-23: Reflect upon what you have been commanded. The Number is 11378, יאג‎זח, yagzah, ‎"yes or no?" Are we allowed to be violent or inhospitable or not? The Torah says no, we are not.

But your wrong opinions have led them astray...(v. 24). The Number is 4684, דו‎ח‎ד‎, "a report."

False reporters are persons who have reflected upon the scripture and then run amok in spite of what they have read. When we read certain laws contained in the actual legal system and then do whatevers, we are also making false reports about the lifestyles we have formally decided to allow or disallow.

So humility is a tacit agreement to read the Law and the laws and follow them without predilection. They are not impulse buys, they are requirements. Police and prosecuting attorneys are not window shoppers. Priests and Rabbis are supposed to emphasize this.

[thepitofjob]

Job 6: 11-13. "The Help."

There are three media from which a real man is made, stone, flesh, and metal. The Torah says metal men are the best. Each kind of metal has a specific meaning:

Silver is common sense.

Gold is uncommonly good sense.

Brass is highly reflective of the surface of the Spirit of God. Brass men are intelligent.

Bronze, an amalgam of the rest is the best. A bronze man has faced Ha Shem the Eye of the Sun and become burnt, he is the color of the metal, and is foolproof, failsafe, reliable, brawny, hot, healthy, happy, and is the ideal of the Jewish Self. Early Jews were clearly trying to compete with the god Apollo here on earth.

From Vayishlach:

13 The sons of Reuel [the friend of God]:

Nahath [bronze serpent], Zerah [rising dawn], Shammah [appalling desolation] and Mizzah [watchtower]. These were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

“The Friend of God watches, he anticipates the dawn of appalling desolation, he is profuse with wisdom and experience.” 

Job continues explaining why a scrawny nerdy Jewish boy should bother with the Shule and what he should be like when he grows up:

11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?     What prospects, that I should be patient? 12 Do I have the strength of stone?     Is my flesh bronze? 13 Do I have any power to help myself,     now that success has been driven from me?

What help and success await the bronze dude? The Values in Gematria are:

v. 11: What prospects do I have? The Number is 5627, הובז‎ ‎ ‎"one- to be humiliated."

v. 12: Is my flesh bronze? The Number is 2996,בטטו‎ ‎, betto, "the boot. You will get kicked, you will be despised."

v. 13: Do I have the power to help myself? The Number is 5977, ז‎הטז‎ ‎ ‎"16". At age 16, one has to act like one is 60. It is societies job to illustrate what this means, but anyone who wants to be Jewish knows they are going to swim upstream against the rest of society which will take time to accept the superiority of the Jew, which we have established in every scripture by this point.

God commanded mankind to accept the Jew, not the Christ, who came to lecture in the virtues of Shabbat and the Mashiach. Even He said the world must accept the leadership of the Jew.

The army will kill anyone who resists the truth in the scriptures. All LDS are chipped, they can easily be found and eliminated. Jews who are not serving in the military in this effort to free the world from this nonsense should attend the Shule.

[gook54-blog]

Apparently Zuma made threats to spill all the beans and not go down alone!!

He's threatening to reveal who sold us at CODESA, ARMS Deal files and Who in the ANC conspired to kill Chris Hani, etc!!

It's Chaos in that NEC Meeting🔥🙈They say Zuma says, "When the ANC came home from exile, none of us had a source of income, yet nearly all leaders "bought" houses in expensive suburbs. Where did that money come from? Saint Mandela lived in a mansion bought by Openheimer, so did Sisulu and Govan. Raymond, Oliver and Mlangeni were "sponsored" by the Rothschild's. Angel Thabo, Kgalema, Sexwale, were taken care of by the Ruperts. Many leaders acquired shares in white-owned companies. While Gwala and myself were deployed to deal with tribal wars between the IFP and ourselves, leaders were getting directorships in major mining and blue chip companies.

Now, my dear top 6, I ask you again, ngenzeni engenziwanga abanye? Do you still want to talk about state capture? Kungani singa qali ekuqaleni?"

[02/14, 10:13] Chayim (Torah): This came in from the UK!

S.A Government makes huge profits from crime.

Question: "What is the influence of crime on the S.A. Govt?"

Answer: Crime generates Billions of Rand's for the SA Government

Here are the facts....

Example 1:

Take just one million home owners in Gauteng alone who pay for "armed reaction" (not crime prevention) where private security companies react AFTER any crime has taken place - no wonder they never make any arrests!

This service costs on average R450 p.m. Therefore 1,000,000 x R450.00 x 12 months x 15% VAT, generates R810 million annually in tax revenue for the SA Govt! This excludes all the VAT generated for Uniforms, equipment, including ongoing training, weapons, Armed Response Vehicles, fuel, maintenance, fitment & purchase of alarm systems, electric fencing, radio transmitters, access controls, steelwork etc. Etc.

Example 2:

A car thief steals a R500,000 car and receives between R10,000 and R30,000 for this deed. The car owner is paid out by insurance and then purchases another similar vehicle, on which 15% VAT of approx R75,000 is paid as a direct result of crime.

What about all the stolen appliances, belongings, clothing, equipment, infrastructure, tools, valuables that are replaced? Who profits the most? The thief or the SA Govt thieves?

(A bumper sticker states: "Don't steal! The government hates competition"

Seldom a truer statement quoted)

We must begin with a mechanism whereby the SA Govt is forced to reconsider this unconstitutional and immoral practice of profiting from crime!

All South Africans should demand that any & ALL payments related to protection of life and property should be VAT free and Tax deductible!

This principle should also apply to replacement of stolen property as well as Medical expenses and estate duty. If a person dies as a result of crime we should also demand that estate duty not be paid. How much do you think the SA Govt. has made/ & makes out of estate duty from the murders of thousands of South African farmers since 1994?

The S.A. Govt likes to compare us to overseas. Well overseas safety and security is covered by your income tax and is tax deductible!

It is time that South Africans stood together and made the Govt. and public aware of the Govt's "income" from crime. In the meantime crime is the goose that lays the golden egg.

Is it also not unreasonable to expect victims of violence and hijackings to pay their own medical costs? The Govt. should pay for these expenses as well as family counselling for victims!

Come on South Africa, ask the right questions and demand the right answers!

You could just delete this message or, help make a difference.

Send this to everyone you know - now!

[jewinme]

Slowly, I chipped away at all the distractions. It was my anxiety that distracted me from me. I could not see me because I was distracted by what was outside of me. I forgot why I am here. I forgot what living was about. I forgot about my relationship.I am in a relationship with Him. My relationship is why I am here. I am in love. I love my relationship with all that I created with Him. 💓

Everything else is just a distraction ✨️

See my website for today's new post. Be inspired and connect to your deeper soul's purpose. Follow my blog if you want to understand more... 👇👇👇

See my bio for blog link.

Follow me @jewinme

#blessed #jewandgentile #relationship #faith #kabbalah #torah #love #god #jewishcommunity #hashem #hasidic #yeshua #loveoneanother❤️ #keter #awakening #jesus #christianity #religions #messiah #oneness #jewish #islam #soul #israel #sabbath #unity #adamandeve #treeoflife #divinepurpose💜🗝 #treeofknowledge

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: b’siyata d’shira by Shoshana Surek

ADVANCE ORDER: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/bsiyata-dshira-by-shoshana-surek/

b’siyata d’shira is a prayer song set to the rhythm of memory. Family ghosts haunted by the #Holocaust exist at the intersection of tragedy and modern society. Surek’s debut is not told from a singular lens but one she has unraveled, questioned, and rediscovered. By rooting imagery in #prayer, Surek braids together a history of old and new worlds shrouded by ancient traditions and personal history, mining memories around culture, elegy, family, and faith. Through lyrical language and meditation, b’siyata d’shira seeks to raise the dead while fiercely honoring a lineage with a horrific past so stunning we will all be left questioning the beauty behind human brutality.

Shoshana Surek earned her MA and MFA in Creative Writing from Regis University in Denver. Her essays, fiction, and poetry have been published in literary magazines in the United States, Canada, Australia, England, and South Korea. Shoshana received a Fiction Pushcart Prize nomination in 2017 and a Poetry Pushcart Prize nomination in 2020. She is a 2019 Curt Johnson Prose Award finalist from december Magazine and placed third in the 2020 Voyage First Chapter’s Contest, judged by NYT Bestselling Author, Melissa de la Cruz. She was a first reader for Vestal Review and Inverted Syntax literary magazines. She and her family reside in the beautiful foothills of Colorado.

PRAISE FOR b’siyata d’shira by Shoshana Surek

In the small, the ordinary, the quotidian, Shoshana Surek sees all worlds, all times. A lizard lifting its leg in the American desert now bears witness to Hungarian Jews passing in a train car continents and decades away. In b’siyata d’shira, Surek directs us to what doesn’t change—inhumanity, genocide, lands stolen—but also to what endures—ritual, the search for home, the terrifying beauty of poetry, this heart-stopping collection bearing proof of it all.

–Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade and The Bigness of the World“

B’siyata d’shira is a parallel prayer and meditation on the past and present, bridging Israel and the River Jordan with Denver, Colorado and the River Platte, brilliantly journeying the reader across time in tight lyric and lasting miniatures, through the lens of a mirror reflecting east and west. Shoshana Surek’s wise and rebellious speakers leave fingerprints on the prayer book’s cover; one folds the Torah’s pages into origami; another pens and burns the names of God with a Marlboro cigarette – yet, far from profane, b’siyata d’shira is a profound and beautiful debut.

–Chip Livingston, author of Crow-Blue, Crow-Black and Love, Loosha

Shira, in Hebrew, means “poetry.” Surek’s debut poetry collection, b’siyata d’shira, teaches us about her first language and an ancient language steeped with sorrow and beauty, despair and joy. Her poems are birthed from generations of mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, an ancient call rooted deep in her family’s history. While Surek examines her family’s past, we discover ancestry behind language, beauty in small, secret spaces, and genocidal lineage wrapped in imagery so powerful each poem must be digested slowly to taste the full vividness. Surek is a voice so captivating and reassuring; she never once hesitates to take us along on her journey of an ancestral museum while describing each memory and truth with no apologies, as if to say, look, this is my language, these are my ancestors, and this is my tribute to all the dead and the living. Once you finish this collection, you will not be the same person at the beginning, which is exactly what Surek wants. Don’t we all?

–Hillary Leftwich, author of Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock, Aura, and Saint Dymphna’s Playbook.

Please share/please repost

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #read #poetrybook #poems #Holocaust #Jewish

[holdonendure]

Brothers and Sisters

After the blog last week about how followers of YAHUSHA must observe the dietary laws found in The Torah and that there are certain foods that are not permissible for us to eat; I felt it would be appropriate to talk about pork and other abominations hidden in our foods even when we think we are following His commands. They are even hidden in cosmetics like make-up and lipstick. We as believers have to be careful what we eat because we could be eating unclean foods without even knowing it.

Some examples are as follows:

Update: With all of the information listed below; if you are in doubt about what ingredients are in a product call the company and get them to clarify it for you. It may take some time to research it, but it will be worth to know that you are on the right path. The whole goal is to not to indirectly be eating something that YAHUAH said not to.

1. I want to touch on the issue that we discussed last week about staying away from meat that is sacrificed to an idol, especially when you know it has been. So when you see halal meat stamped all over the product or in a restaurant do not eat it. Everyone is familiar with the name Lucifer; however, the original Aramaic/Hebrew says this in Isaiah 14:12 “How you have fallen from the heavens, O Helel, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the ground, you who laid low the gentiles!” So it’s Helel and not Lucifer and when you look at Strong’s Concordance number 1966 the word origin halal. So one of the names of Satan is linked to the word halal, which is more proof that followers of YAHUSHA should stay away from such meats.

2. Cheese! When you read the label on cheese you will notice there will be listed enzymes or rennet. Many cheeses are made with animal enzymes which are used to thicken milk during the first stages of the cheese making process. Though some cheese brands use cow enzymes, you have to do some deep research to find out which kind of enzymes your cheese brand uses. To be honest most companies that list “enzymes” instead of listing which animal it came from usually means it came from a pig source. Most pizza places for example buy cheese in bulk to make many pizzas to mass produce them and they want the most cost-effective cheese for business to make money. It will cost them a lot more to buy cheese with vegetarian or microbial enzymes UPDATE: Microbial enzymes are produced by bacteria, fungi, and yeast. Therefore, most will opt for cheese with pig enzymes. And rennet is the inner lining of the fourth stomach of calves and other ruminants, be sure to check that it is not coming from an unclean source.

3. Products like Doritos, Cheetos, Welches grape jelly, Dunkin donuts, crest tooth paste, McDonald’s apple pies, and gummy bears contain pig enzymes. Look out for powdered cheese flavoring on chips and store-bought macaroni with cheese which can contain casein, whey, or animal-derived enzymes. SOME Doritos products contain pork.Frito Lay, the makers of Doritos, uses a pork enzyme called porcine in SOME of their products.

The Frito Lay website lists a lot of products they say does not contain pork, although they cannot guarantee that for the products they sell in other countries. My question would be, if they cannot guarantee that pork is not in their products in other countries, then how can they guarantee it in America? I would be cautious with such products, if no other reason than the many artificial colorings and flavorings. Research has shown that many Yellow Lake dyes in food are linked to ADHD in children.

If in doubt always call the company and ask them and get more information. Even better take it to our Father YAHUAH in prayer.

4. Bread! Pre-made loaves of bread from the grocery store, bagels, breadsticks etc. Most bread that is purchased from the store and even bakeries, are made using a dough conditioner called L-cysteine which are certain proteins gathered from the hair and follicles of animals including pigs. Some sources say that L-cysteine contains human hair as well. Make sure you read the labels and if you are unsure call the company because they will use scientific terms to hide the names of the item used. The regulations for our food is so loose that manufacturers are allowed to manipulate terms and lead people astray. If the package said “Contains pig hair follicles” would you buy it then? The same way the word “cellulose” is another word for wood pulp.

5. Fast food grease! Be careful that they do not fry their foods in lard, because lard comes from pork fat. Jiffy corn bread mix is unclean because it contains lard as well. Also, look out for words like collagen (skin and connective tissue) in altoids, gummy candies and Starburst. Keratin also known as (PHK) is pig hairs, feathers, hoofs, claws, horns etc.

6. Marshmallows and Jell-O contain gelatin which comes from a pig source made from bones, cartilage, tendons, and skin of the pig.

7. Mono and diglycerides are food additives used as an emulsifier for commercial foods. They derive it from a fatty acid called E471 produced from vegetable oils, although animal’s fats are sometimes used and cannot be completely excluded as being present in the product. This additive is found in breads, ice cream, margarine (I can’t believe it’s not butter) , some peanut butter, mission tortillas, Nestle cocoa, Country Crock, Blue bonnet, gum, shortening, whipped toppings, marshmallows, and some beverages. Be careful what you pick up and eat and if you are unsure they call the manufacturer to determine if they are using a vegetable or animal fatty acid.

8. Some other items would be seaweed aka carrageenan. Seaweed grows on the rocks in water making it an algae and not a plant. Genesis 1:29 YHWH says we can eat any seed-bearing plant. Most companies that label foods kosher call seaweed a sea vegetable, when algae does not produce seed according to YHWH’s command. Seaweeds are also known as Kelp and is not grouped with plants, however, because it lacks the cellular complexity present in plant cells. (learner.org). Seaweed contains toxins because they help filter the water and keep it clean just like the crabs, lobsters, oysters, and other unclean sea creatures. They also contain microscopic seahorses and sea urchins within them and we know that seahorses are unclean within themselves. Also, seaweed is considered a living organism in the water and YHWH said in Leviticus 11:10 “But all that have not fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, all that move in the waters or any living creature which is in the waters, they are an abomination to you.”

9. A lot of red candies (Natural red 4 or E120 for example) contain a dye made from extracts of dried bodies of the Cococus cacti bugs listed as “carmine” cochineal or carminic acid. This is a scale insect with a shield like scale. These are six-legged bugs known as crawlers. And YHWH says in Leviticus 11:20 “All flying insects that creep on all fours is an abomination to you. Only these you do eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These of them you do eat: the locust after its kind, and the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet is an abomination to you.” These bugs become immobile when they are mature and their legs are no longer visible, so they don’t leap, they have more than four legs, and they don’t have jointed legs above their feet. They are similar to aphids they sit on the leaves of plants and the carminic acid from their bodies is boiled in ammonia which is unsafe in itself, then use the dye for your candy.

10. Even vitamins that are passed off as whole foods or natural are still synthetic. For example vitamin C is listed as absorbic acid which is actually derived from GMO corn and it’s an isolated version of Vitamin C at that. This form of Vitamin C does not contain the full spectrum of Vitamin C like rutin found in Elderberries and Apples. Other whole food supplements like “Mega foods” are fed to yeast called “cerevisiae” and put into vitamins and passed off as the real food. Real whole food vitamins will be actual freeze-dried fruits and vegetables.

11. Look out for supplements like fish oil that contains a gelatin capsule that contains the fish inside of it. If it doesn’t specify what kind of gelatin they are using like bovine (beef) or vegetable gelatin, it is going to be pig gelatin.

12. Sodium stearoyl lactylate is a cheap ingredient used to increase the shelf life of food products because it keeps mold away. Dough conditioning also requires this ingredient which makes gluten in bread stronger. Vegetable oils are said to be used for sodium stearoyl lactate, but the use of animal fat such as pork cannot be guaranteed. Also known as sodium stellate, sodium 2-stearoyllactylate.

13. Majority of beer and wines use Isinglass which is a gelatin like substance collected from the bladders of freshwater fish like a Sturgeon which is used to clarify the alcohol. Other agents commonly used are egg white albumen, gelatin (pig) and casein. Make sure you look for vegan wine that uses clay or a clean fish to filter the alcohol. It is debated whether a Sturgeon is a clean or unclean fish because marine biologists say they have scales when they are younger but they fall off as they mature; therefore, they would have fins but no scales which is forbidden. This topic is for another blog though, but definitely make sure it does not have the pig gelatin in your drink.

14. Many canned refried beans are made with hydrogenated lard and as discussed earlier, lard comes from pigs. So definitely be careful when you go to Mexican restaurants and order refried beans because they will tell you that it contains lard and egg rolls in Chinese restaurants contain shrimp, so opt for the vegetable spring rolls. Always check the labels and if you are unsure call the company.

15. Some foods with vanilla flavoring (vanilla substitutes) in some alcoholic beverages, puddings, ice cream, candy, and chewing gums might contain Castoreum which is a beaver anal secretion. The beaver is already not fit for a believer in YAHUSHA to eat, but the anal secretion should raise some eyebrows in itself.

Artificial or natural flavoring?

The FDA says that a natural flavor is one that’s derived from a spice, fruit, or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products. Basically a natural flavor is one that derived from a plant or animal. So when you look on the back of a package and see natural flavoring, check to make sure if it is coming from a plant or animal source. Because if it is coming from an animal source, then what animal did they use? Was it a pig? A horse? A camel? Anything that is an abomination for us to eat? And if they used seafood, then what seafood did they use? Most times when people refer to seafood they are usually referring to the crustaceans of the ocean like shrimp, crab, lobster, oysters, scallops etc. So I would definitely check with any company before consuming these products.

As for artificial flavoring we know that is exactly what they advertise it as, artificial! It is a science project that they cooked up in a laboratory and isn’t natural to begin with. According to Daniel Gritzer a culinary directory says “Artificial? Well, for starters it has the word “artifice” and all its implied deception and trickery practically built right into it.” The root of the word is deception? Hmmmm because it is not real! As always I pray that this has been a blessing to you as you walk with YAHUSHA and can now stop indirectly eating abominations. Please share this with anyone who is unaware of what they are eating because this is an important topic.

May YHWH barak (bless) you in YAHUSHA’s Name.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

This post has garnered a few common reactions, here and in my inbox, so:

Yes, there's a technique to it that involves using balance and momentum to get it up into the air and keeping it there. While that is true, if you have the whole-body constitution of a noodle, all the balance and momentum in the world won't keep it up. You do have to have the baseline strength to do this.

"This was very motivational!" Yes, Good, Join Me

"This is so stressful, I can hardly watch!" (goyish edition) Correct, please see: "This is the most stressful part of any service, and I'm not even the one responsible for it" (Jewish edition)

Other fun hagbah/Sefer Torah facts:

The average weight of a Torah scroll (sefer Torah) is ~25 - 30 pounds (~11.33 - 13.6 kilograms) and that's assuming you're using an average wooden Ashkenazi one that doesn't have metal on it.

It takes approximately a year for a highly trained and pious sefer (scribe) to calligraphy a whole scroll. The overwhelming majority of these sofrim (scribes) are male and orthodox, but a handful of women worldwide have now managed to become sofrot as well.

[Fun fact: sofrim also write out the tiny scrolls inside mezuzot, the smaller scrolls of other books of the Tanakh, and the tiny scrolls inside the tefillin boxes. I intentionally sought out a soferet for my tefillin; she was recommended by my rabbi and I really wanted to support her work.]

Each kosher sefer Torah costs anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 last I knew.

If a sefer Torah is dropped, the community is supposed to fast for 40 days. I heard of this happening to a community once and 40 community volunteers each stepped up to take a fast day on behalf of the community.

Unsurprisingly, sifrei Torah are treated with the highest respect while in use and are buried like a body in a genizah when they are no longer kosher for ritual use and aren't being preserved for some other purpose (such as historical scrolls or ones that survived the Holocaust)

The only higher priority is a human life; while people have certainly risked their lives saving or protecting sifrei Torah, when the chips are down, if you have the choice of saving a person or a sefer Torah out of a burning building, you save the person and let the scroll burn.

Nevertheless, we persist in lifting it up every time it is ritually read at shul. I feel like this says a lot about the Jewish people and our persistence? Stubbornness? Commitment to tradition? Idk I'm not a psychologist or anthropologist but it definitely says something.

BRB, investing in weights not just to rebuild upper body strength for normal tasks, but specifically also so that I ever feel comfortable attempting hagbah again

[keshetchai]

now that i’ve thoroughly defended the prohibition of shaatnez, i’m here to tell you every rabbi who ever ruled you can’t kasher porcelain by immersion because is like earthenware is wrong because porcelain is better than that.

Just as earthenware cannot be immersed for purification purposes but must be broken, the flavors absorbed in earthenware cannot be extracted by kashering. Therefore, if an earthenware utensil absorbs a non-kosher flavor, it must be discarded.This is found in the Torah portion of Tzav (Levit. 6:21) where it says, “An earthenware vessel in which it [the sacrifice] is cooked shall be broken, but if it is cooked in a copper vessel, it shall be purged and rinsed with water.” This verse is referring to vessels used to cook sin offerings (korban chatat), thus absorbing the flavor of the offering. Those flavors become forbidden the next day as a sin offering may only be eaten on the day it is sacrificed. While a metal vessel may be kashered and expunged of this flavor, the same does not hold for an earthenware vessel. As the Talmud (Pesachim 30b) says, “The Torah testified about earthenware vessels [that when they absorb the flavor of a prohibited substance], they will never leave their defective status.”

[...]

Glazed This law also applies to glazed earthenware such as ceramic or porcelain (otherwise known as china). Even the opinions that glass does not absorb at all agree that glazed earthenware does absorb and cannot be kashered. The reason for this is that since the glaze is produced in the kiln together with the item, it has the same capacity to absorb as the earthenware itself (Shulchan Aruch HaRav 251:69).

yeshiva college

not to be all science-y on the rabbis but here’s a rundown of why i’m right and porcelain is not the same thing:

porcelain is not simply earthenware. the composition of a ceramic is called “fabric.” The fabric of true porcelain - hard paste, high-fired (2,200 and 2,600 °F) porcelain is fundamentally different from an earthenware ceramic. Basically I need you to understand that “earthenware” is just any ol’ clay pot. Earthenware usually looks reddish, brown, or yellow-buff. Earthenware, when unglazed, is porous. It DOES absorb flavor, liquid, etc. by CONTRAST, porcelain is not porous. 

porcelain, even unglazed, is vitrified. Vitrification means it has turned into a glass. (glass is...a category, not like, window glass. Basically it’s a glass-structure now.) so like, porcelain is a glass-structure. ergo, it should be treated AS GLASS. i’m very serious about this. real porcelain breaks the same way glass does. they both fail by brittle fractures. a glass and a porcelain breaks are often conchoidal fractures.

vitrification also means it is non-porous, or as non-porous as can possibly be. (less than 0.5% porosity). anyways to be clear, nowadays we know a copper pot needs to be lined with tin or stainless steel because copper leaches into food. 

Torah did not have porcelain in it, it only discusses earthenwares. The rabbis of the Talmud also did not have porcelains. (They start making their way to Iran approx mid-8th century, no earlier than 7th century CE). so they weren’t addressing porcelains based on the known material attributes of porcelains.

anyways again PORCELAIN. IS VITRIFIED. NON-POROUS, EVEN WHEN UNGLAZED.

except  almost all porcelain dishes are glazed. and they are NON-POROUS WHEN GLAZED. the glaze actually completely and totally becomes melds with the fabric of the porcelain itself. you can’t like...chip off just the glaze like with earthenware. 

kaolin clay (which makes porcelain) does not absorb water, the water sits on the surface. it dries quickly. 

anyways no flavor or liquid/moisture is penetrating porcelain. thanks for coming to my torah talk. 

[benevolentbirdgal]

1, 11, and 19 for the Jumblr Ask Game!

Thank you for asking!

1. What are your favorite and least favorite Jewish foods?

I love challah, particularly the extra doughy homemade kind with chocolate chips.

I’m a vegetarian, so there’s a range of traditional shtel food I wouldn’t try for that reason (my mom has recipes for Ptcha, which is calves foot jelly, or lung strudel, for example). Out of the Jewish foods theoretically, on my menu, I really don’t care for fake breads/pizzas/whatever on Passover (the ones that are not chametz because of the bake time but just taste a bit rubbery). 

11. What kind of, if any, Passover traditions do you and/or your family have?

I am THRILLED someone asked this of me. Please note I’m talking about normal, non-pandemic years here: 

We do a big huge family gathering in Florida (again, pre-COVID). 

We yeet marshmallows at the seder leader during the plague of hail. 

Dayenu is basically a race. There’s a giant unspoken intake of breath and then we go really really fast and I love it. 

There’s the Real Afikomen TM, but there’s also usually a bunch of fakes hidden too so you have to know what the cover actually looks like. 

In my family all the kids and “kids” get a cut of the afikomen money, but whoever finds it does the bargaining and gets a little bonus. 

We have a lot of the Ashkenazi-American Passover foods that are just a thing for whatever reason - the jelly rings, the coconut marshmallows, the macaroons, etc.

We don’t let anyone do the four questions alone - the two youngest (who are able to do it) do it in Hebrew together. 

19. Do you have a favorite parsha (Torah portion)?

Probably Tzot HaBerachah and Breishet together on Simchat Torah, the beginner/end. I love that we have a defined cycle and some celebration when said cycle ends and I love being at a shul when they call up someone super old to do the first or last reading. 

#jumblr ask game

[strawberrymeriadoc]

Saturday morning

Merry enjoyed having a bed to himself. Peony would sometimes snuggle with him when he first lay down to sleep or in the morning. On some level, though, Merry missed the feeling of safety and belonging he got from sleeping next to someone. It had been almost a year since his girlfriend, Jamie, had broken up with him. It was funny because he had spent a decent amount of the relationship fantasizing about leaving her. But once it finally happened, he wasn’t prepared. He missed resting his head on her chest and putting his arms around her as they slept.

[To tell the truth, Merry didn’t know if he ever wanted another relationship or not. There was something about being in them that set him into fight or flight mode. For the duration of the relationship. No wonder he didn’t feel like himself during them. But doubt filled his mind: is it just because of my trauma with abusive relationships? Merry knew that he always wanted the closeness of an intense friendship marked by fierce loyalty and love. And that in the past, once he felt such a pull to a person, he’d end up feeling like the next logical step would be to enter a romantic and sexual relationship with that person. He had no choice if he wanted to be that close to someone. Or, at least, that’s what he always thought. Lately, Merry had heard rumors here and there of something called being aromantic. It had come up in passing a few times at the university’s lgbtq organization. But he didn’t want to be that. It’s bad enough I don’t want to have sex with people. Do I have to be wrong about this too?

After pondering all this, Merry felt it was high time to actually get up and start the day. It was Shabbat, so there wasn’t really anything he should do today, but eating breakfast was still a (begrudged) requirement. Merry walked quietly by Pippin’s room and came into the kitchen. For once Pippin wasn’t asleep on the couch and Merry wondered when he would get up as it was already noon. Merry silently hoped that Pippin might want to hang out with him today. He was used to feeling unwanted by Jamie and she would get upset if he suggested an outing, so his hopes weren’t very high. Regardless, it was a perfect day to sit out on the balcony and enjoy some coffee.

Once outside, Merry could hear the chirping of sparrows as well as the sounds of the city. Being Shabbat, it was much quieter than it usually would be at noon, but Merry could still hear the sounds of a plane overhead and a few cars and motorbikes which were somehow the loudest of all. Merry was thankful it was Shabbat. It had been a long week. He spent half his days in the library and the other half cleaning the apartment and just doing the necessary dirty work of making sure life ran smoothly. Merry loathed this kind of busy work most of all. He didn’t want to email his advisor, he didn’t want to get the fridge fixed, he didn’t want to go grocery shopping, he didn’t want to call the pharmacy for the fourth time to make sure his Testosterone prescription had gone through. He just wanted to read his books, write, ride horses, and hang out with his friends. Merry suddenly felt silly for mentally complaining about all these things, even though no one was around to hear it. He half worried that G-d Themself would be angry with him. For not being grateful enough for what he had. Merry didn’t love this relationship he had with G-d. He thought it seemed suspiciously like his relationship with his mother. And as far as he knew, there was nothing in the Torah or the teachings of the rabbis that would support the existence of such a relationship (or, really, for the existence of G-d all together, though that thought also filled Merry with fresh guilt and a feeling of being watched and judged).

Pippin was just waking up from a cozy dream. He half opened his eyes and saw Peony sitting before him, tail wrapped around her paws. She was staring intensely at him. “Up to our judginess early, aren’t we?” he half-scolded her. Peony flicked her tail and continued to look at him, clearly nonplussed. Pippin closed his eyes and thought about what he wanted to do today. Coming up blank, the boy reached for his phone and checked his messages. There was a sweet good morning text from Frodo. And the pictures he posted of the dinner he made last night were fairly popular. He was glad to hear from his friends even if it was just a like on one of his creations. He scrolled through and saw some pictures of lovely handwriting that Frodo often posted. Rosie and her siblings had gone for a day trip to the Sea. Even Bilbo was sharing some photos of his most recent trip to the Lonely Mountain. Pippin felt sad. He really wanted to travel. He was sick of being cooped up in boring old Minas Tirith.

Finally, the boy realized he was quite hungry and made his way to the kitchen. Merry was sitting outside on the balcony. He was looking out and seemed deep in thought and hadn’t noticed that Pippin had woken up. Pippin set to making an omelet. He didn’t hold with coffee like his roommate, but enjoyed a hot cup of green tea instead. As he ate, he thought about Gandalf, his Organic Chemistry professor. Pippin was about to enter his second year of graduate school and as such this would be his first semester assistant teaching. This was all fine with Pippin. Except he had been assigned to assist Gandalf in his Introduction to Environmental Science class. I can hardly stand one class with him, Pippin thought, how am I supposed to endure being his assistant?” Gandalf was an enigmatic figure in the Science Department. He would sometimes disappear for weeks, forcing his teaching assistants to cover for him with no notice. He also had a habit of not explaining his full thoughts to the other members of the department, but Saruman the Chair seemed to manage the department perfectly well despite the wizard’s secrecy. To make matters worse, Gandalf seemed to have a particular chip on his shoulder about Pippin. The boy was one of the finest students in the department despite being a year young for his grade. Perhaps the professor was pushing his pupil because he knew he could handle it. I wish people wouldn't do that, lamented Pippin, why when I’m already doing so well do they keep having to raise the bar? This was really all too much to Pippin. The more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that he wouldn’t be able to make it through the semester, much less the year.

Suddenly the room felt very small and like it was circling rapidly around him. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. To make matters worse, his heart started pounding out of his chest. He wanted to call out to Merry for help but he couldn’t make words come out of his mouth. Pippin could move his arms though and without really knowing what he was doing he threw a pencil that was on the counter at the sliding door. It made a quiet dink sound and clattered to the floor. Merry heard the sound and turned around. He got up and went to the door. He could see Pippin holding his head in his hands. Concerned, Merry came back into the house. “You alright?” he asked. Pippin nodded his head “no”. Merry sat down next to his friend. He didn’t really know what to do but he knew Pippin needed him now. “Hey, it’s alright, it’s ok. Do you want to talk about it?” Pippin nodded his head again. Finally, Merry perceived what was going on. “Here, let’s try this breathing technique together: breathe out for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, in 1 2 3 4, hold it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8” Merry repeated the set several times.

Pippin started to look a little better. His face wasn’t as pale as it had been earlier and it seemed to do him good to focus on Merry’s breathing exercise. “There you go,” Merry said, smiling gently. Pippin was still not feeling well but he was feeling better. “Was having a panic attack,” he faltered. “It’s alright” Merry encouraged “They just go away with time, we just have to wait it out”. The “we” in that sentence hit Pippin. He didn’t realize before that Merry had committed to helping him with this. “Anything I can do that would help?” Merry offered (as he often did). Pippin hesitated, thinking about what he really needed in this moment. “Could you...would you mind if I held your hand?” he asked quietly. “Sure” said Merry and he stretched out his hand. Pippin took it and gave it a weak squeeze. He used his other hand to hold up his head as the room was still spinning. They sat there for a while in silence.

Merry was happy to be able to help his friend. So often it was Pippin who was helping him. Merry had had his fair share of panic attacks and had spent all of them alone. He didn’t want anyone to have to go through that, least of all Pippin.

After about twenty minutes the room stopped spinning. Pippin sat up and pulled his hand back. Merry waited for his friend to say something or indicate what he wanted to do. “Well, now I’m hungry again!” and with that Pippin stood up and began foraging around the kitchen. Merry laughed. After Pippin had eaten some yogurt with granola he was feeling much more himself again. “Thanks for helping me through that Merry!” Pippin said cheerfully “It meant a lot.” “Oh you’re-you’re welcome” Merry stammered putting his hand behind his head.

[docgold13]

I feel like G-d has abandoned us. Like my faith has never been so low and I don't know how I can live without him in my life. Is this depression? I don't feel like this is the end of times, but rather G-d just had enough of our foolery and has decided to turn away.

Well, depression can take many forms and a diminishment in one’s faith can certainly be one of them.  

I’m not especially spiritual myself, but have read The Torah, Bible and Koran.  In each of these tomes there are countless tales where faith is tested through dire times.  

This may be one of those dire times and perhaps the best way to deal with it is to redouble on your understanding of the way and virtue.  Being pious is easy when things are going well.  It’s another story when things are tough.  

I don’t like the part of religion where the focus is about condemning the actions of others.  But I really like the part where you help others and act in a more selfless manner as a show of devotion.  

Try to think of all this as a sort of test.  God hasn’t turned their back on you, God’s asking you to step up when the chips are down... to believe, to believe in both good times and bad, in the light and in the darkness.  

Many churches have programs where parishioners can volunteer or support one another.  I would recommend getting involved in something along these lines.   Reinvigorating your faith through the good work.

or as stated in Hebrews 10:35-39 

 “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”  

[jewishconvertthings]

What do *you* think Torah is?

Hi anon, 

Y’all are killing me with these deep, theological questions here, lol. Before I answer this, I am going to, for the nth time, remind folks that I am not a rabbi, that I can only give you the kind of answer you’d get if you asked Shul Mom™ or That One Educated Layperson, and that you really, really should talk to your rabbis about these questions because if they are worth their salt as a rabbi, they will be delighted that you are asking them. 

It’s interesting that you should ask me this right now, because I’ve been reviewing and re-reading Sacred Fragments recently in response to some theological conversations I’ve been having with a Catholic friend of mine. In any event, in it, Rabbi Gillman describes four different theological streams of thought when it comes to what revelation (and consequently, Torah) actually is. These are far from being the only four, but they are representative a wide swath of Jewish thought and are intended to demonstrate the spectrum from traditional to modern-progressive. 

You all should really consider reading this book, because this summary doesn’t do it justice, but here are the four representative views: 

The traditionalist view says that the revelation at Sinai was a literal revealing of G-d’s will through the words of the Torah. The words of the Torah are therefore G-d’s words and G-d’s desires for how to live our lives as humans and as Jews. It must therefore be fulfilled and kept in all its details, as it communicates G-d’s exact will for us. (Gillman also notes that there is a “softer” traditionalist perspective that says that the ideas - if not the literal words - were communicated verbatim to the people, which avoids the theological problem of anthropomorphizing G-d by claiming that G-d literally speaks at all.) 

The naturalist view envisioned by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan z”l is that G-d is “the process (or power) that makes for salvation.” (More about what that actually means here: [1], [2], [3], [4]. Basically, he defines ‘salvation’ as that which makes living worthwhile.) Consequently, revelation (and therefore Torah) is the process by which we discover how this geulah can be brought about.

One iteration of a moderate position between these is that of Franz Rosenzweig’s view that what was revealed at Sinai was the fact of G-d and G-d’s desire for a relationship with the people Israel, and therefore the Torah is the written interpretation of that encounter. It is not a law book, but rather our ancestors’ response to a profound sense of commandedness that comes from being in relationship with anyone - in this case, G-d. (It is worth noting that he was a friend and colleague of Martin Buber, and that while there are differences, this view draws heavily upon Buber’s I-Thou relationship model.) 

A different iteration of a moderate position between these is that of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose view was that “as a report about revelation, the Bible itself is Midrash.” Meaning here, that the Torah is our ancestors’ interpretation of a more primal, immediate revelation that was far more transcendent than could ever be pinned down in human words. 

For me, personally, when I was reading through these various viewpoints and trying to find myself on the spectrum, I realized that I’m somehow all of them but also none of them. 

I love the traditionalist viewpoint that views G-d as a Being that you could have any sort of personal relationship with (which reflects my personal experiences), and do believe that the Torah is G-d given. On the other hand, do I think that archaeology and the historicity of the Torah bear it out as a -literally true- document, and that we must adhere to it in a literal way for all time without taking into account changed circumstances or the inevitable march of time? No, no I do not. 

Furthermore, this is true even as I love that universalism of what Rabbi Kaplan has to say about the nature of religion and of G-d, which therefore allows us greater freedom to view other religions as legitimate for their adherents, even if we do not follow them. When the chips are down, I may or may not be able to defend my specific concept of G-d as a personal G-d except via my own experiences, but I feel like objective reality bears out at least Kaplan’s minimalist assertion. Therefore, on rationalist grounds, I believe Kaplan’s view of G-d, even if my spiritual practice and personal beliefs are otherwise. That said, with regards to how this impacts our view of Torah? I can’t get on board with it at all, because it flips from Torah being something we received from G-d to something humans discovered in the process of attempting to find religious meaning in the world. I can appreciate how this view works for others, but it does not work for me personally. 

Which leads me to drift toward the more moderate, middle-of-the-road positions. I love Rosenzweig’s view of the G-d and human interaction as very relational - that because of our relationship to G-d, we have this profound sense of commandedness. Inherent to this perspective (in my view, anyway) is that it comes from a place of deep love flowing in both directions. We are beholden to G-d because of our love for G-d, and G-d’s love for us. That said, the imprecision in this view - namely, that there is no specific behavioral code attached to this sense of commandness renders it incomplete for me. 

Heschel’s probably comes closest to what I believe. His view is that what was revealed at Sinai was “the Torah as representing God’s will for Israel, though what we have is not that Torah in its purity but rather, our ancestors’ and our own understanding of its contents.” This tracks pretty closely with my view; however, I would add a further nuance. 

Ultimately, my view is that the Torah is a divinely given process. It’s not a book. It’s not a statute. It’s a path, a way of life, and a process for figuring out the way forward. Therefore, yes I believe in the Sinai moment of revelation; I also believe that the literal words we ended up with are a series of much smaller, more personal “Sinai moments” that all coalesced into the text we have now. And - critically - that this process of creating and canonizing the text is still from G-d. It’s still divinely given, even if that giving didn’t happen in a clear-cut, one-time-only sort of way. Because what was given wasn’t the literal words necessarily, but the process of using the words we already had to build a holy way of living, then and throughout our long history, and even now. 

Anyway, that’s how you get to the position that I hold by, namely: that Torah is divinely given and we must take it as seriously, yet at the same time, what we were given wasn’t a textbook or a statute, but a process by which we can continue that revelation until Moshiach comes. This means that while I do view Torah as binding, I nevertheless believe that we retain the right and even the duty to continue to interpret and reinterpret Torah going forward, and to revise our stances on various topics as time progresses and circumstances change. We just have to use the proper channels and this holy process we were given. 

[manicpixiedreamjew]

“I want to convert, but I want to learn as much as possible before I speak to a Rabbi. Can I start studying Torah/celebrating holidays/interpreting texts on my own?”

No. It is literally a rabbi’s job to guide you in Jewish study and Jewish life. You don’t have to know anything before you speak to a rabbi—it’s helpful to know some fundamental things, like the difference between each branch and observance, but it’s their job to teach you. You can’t just delve into Jewish life and study without the instruction of a rabbi. You can’t accurately learn Torah without a community. There’s no need whatsoever to feel like you “have” to know these things before contacting a rabbi. It’s so much more responsible and productive to contact your local rabbi rather than trying to dive into all of these (often complicated, multifaceted) subjects yourself. Judaism is life long and your Jewish education never truly ends. Judaism is like a pearl: it’s comprised of multigenerational dialogue and tradition that act as layers. You can spend your entire life chipping away at those layers and still only make a small dent. So, don’t feel like you need to know everything! That’s the point of conversion classes and joining a community. You have your whole life to learn.