#all my chips on Torah

[leahbasavraham]

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

[greenerteacups]

I am very interested to see if you have any thoughts on religion in the Harry Potter universe, your characters (specifically Draco and McGonagall) seem to have a pretty good understanding of the Bible ("who is this Methuselah of a rat?") But it seems odd to me that none of the pure-blood families in Canon have any overt religious beliefs. Even the muggle-borns don't seem to have any which is rather absurb when you think about it.

I'm sure you've answered this question before but I am a poor internet sleuth and outside of cntrl F'ing your books I don't know how to find out your previous response(s).

Thank you for your continued work and hope all is well with you and your family

I'm in solidarity with you about the intransigence of the Tumblr search function, which is useless, and honestly one of the perks of Tumblr as a social media site is that basically no one can find anything you've ever said unless they saved the link on sight or are willing to commit hours to scouring your blog for it. Privacy ICON!

My brain is itching like I've written about this before, but I think the answer would be that most pureblood wizards in Britain are culturally Christian, because Hogwarts observes the religious holidays of Easter and Christmas, but not religiously (we don't see any wizards going to church). Since Christianity way, way predates the Statute of Secrecy — although the SOS is just barely younger than Protestantism, conceptually, which is another chip on the pile of my increasingly un-crack "wizards are culturally Catholic" headcanon — the schism between wizarding and muggle culture would postdate Christianity. So you'd have familiarity with the Torah, the Bible, the Quran (respectively). You'd have cultural familiarity, too, because a lot of the literary touchstones would make use of Biblical references, so the Bible would still be a necessary cultural text for students. (The way my English teacher put it was: "I don't care if you don't believe one word of this, but a whole lot of books you do want to read will make more sense if you've read it.") The question would then become how much stock wizards put in those beliefs, which is ultimately a question of whether Jesus Christ is unusual qua wizarding standards, to which the answer is: yeah, he might be! The miracles break several of the established rules of magic in the wizarding world.

The other problem is that if wizards aren't Christian, then they still can't be pagan, because pagan magic in-universe is just straight-up technology. I've incorported pagan festivals into my fanfic because it makes sense to me that wizards who use these pagan ceremonies and traditions would celebrate it, but as we know it, the wizarding world isn't a terribly spiritual place. The most we get is the idea of Merlin as a kind of prophet/Christ analogue, which would be my starting point if I wanted to flesh out a full system of pureblood religion — probably some offshoot of Catholicism that incorporates pagan elements and recognizes Merlin as a prophet, possibly with conflicting sects fighting over the divine status of various muggle prophets.

[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!

[xxdoubledaisyxx]

Meeting a person once

is enough to know them forever. If you ever have a problem with someone, confront them directly in person to be sure you know them clearly again while you mind your own. Deal with it immediately because the long term consequences affect countless lives inconveniently throughout the distance of reconciliation between victim and sinner. The energy of injustice from that unreconciled wrong against the civil constructs of the laws of earth or heaven, becomes like a wound that stretches between souls until it is mended. Only then can it begin to heal, all that suffering incarnate which is the manifistation of pain of sin, like fire of death, done unto vulnerable souls of countless innocents, and why? Because of the monstrous selfishness of the few whose obscene perversions delight in the torture and bullying of people. Not like me, like anyone, because they do not think of us as people. They manipulate our lives like objects with no concern for our personal interests or dignity, and they sacrifice us for the most vain and unworthy reasons of war. They are victims producing "Malevolence" which I also call gravity in the purpose of storiometry.

If I were a Tales of character, I would be able to do magic with malevolence of some sort. That's what storiometry is. Manipulating gravity in real life with applications of the imaginary life Story applied with expert use of forms and skills.

I have not had the time to begin studying these things in further detail ever since the government detained me like a menace and have prevented me from accessing any instruments or objects necessary for conducting proper research by depriving me of all financial capital.

Again and again. There is no way I could get a loan. You think I haven't tried in all this time with all the other things I have done to help myself?

Whatever the case, when sin happens:

That gravity between victim and assailant (including self) all becomes accounted for to the initial sinner in the end after each person between has paid their all in full. The suffering of all sin between reconciliation and defilement is then expounded unto the sinner as one final account paid in full to the account of the individual. God-calculator required for accurate measurements. (some day I hope to be able to pull up a "stat sheet" that accounts for various random information in my life, but most importantly my account of sin and virtue. Maybe with a chip installed into my brain or something, yeah.)

Thus... even when you are enlightened like me, you should always expect sin encounters from past discordances that happened within the true fabric of reality that is Story. What really happened. You can never really know, but that doesn't make it any less certain that you can know anything from it if you put your mind to the discerning task of learning how.

If you are mortal, you don't have that yet, the stat sheet thing. That exists in the future the way writing on a computer with such convenient editing tools exists now to people who wrote the Bible from Torah to New Testament, all with the same-- literally life-threatening-- problem that is totally absent now.

Editing is super easy. If I mess something up. The file can be changed quite easily. Paper is not so easy to come by, and the Lord's word is not so easy to write. Thus, to be able to maintain the Lord's word you have to be at least as good as I am, and also rich enough to obtain the necessary tools and resources.

Can you imagine what you could lure one of those innocent young hearts to do with their spirits in exchange for computer access you offer them now?

Be careful. A great many of you have already been taken hold of by the spirits of the dead, who want to use phones, games, and all the other fancy things while they have a chance in the vacancy of your soul's ignorance.

My way is easy and if you are young, nothing can stop you from being at least as good as I am if you set your heart to be good enough yourself. Nothing can stop you because there is only one step to go the way that I go.

For the record, I expect the pope to remind the flocks what it means when the Lord commanded restraint to his disciples when they wanted to call down fire from heaven upon the faithless. During the Dark Feastday and Sneezter, that is. This is mockery, and that mockery will only become worse if the rebuke is too weak.

Oh how pitiful it is to be enslaved to Christ in a world that loves both him and evil alike. It is not wrong, but you are at the mercy of men like me, who can devise ways to infuriate you with your own games.

For the record I used "Signature Select" steak sauce, not A1. I suppose I may have probably used A1 if I wanted to be formal and fancy, but that's not why I bought it. I will not be putting out the good sauce for any guests in the near future, on account of how tight expenses have been lately. As a result, all sauce will be good.

For the record of the record that is the eternal record I wish to make a note on record to state a recorded fact about a recent transaction on record. That is to say that while the "Nifty Nabber" would seem to make a fine companion for any ol' lady walkin' 'bout the streets pickin' up the things and whatnot, I did not purchase the tool for myself. Nay, I chose a much more suitable tool for my purposes and desires, the Rugged Reacher, a superior implement for getting the job done.

[onmymasa22]

Marriage is not a reward

Marriage is not a reward

Its not a goal

Its there with other goals

Im not waiting to get married

Im living my life until hashem decides that the time is right

Im working on myself

But hashem

I want to marry someone and he should be rich so that i have time to have a job where i help people

Something i remember about last year is that in the Preformance class i hated, me and my friends dressed like royalty while eating felafel. And that i really made it believable. That something about me knows how to be a princess.

GoThis year i want to laugh with my friends we cry. Where people ask us what could possibly be so funny, and we cant explain it.

This year i want to be drunk me when im sober. Where my brain consists of three things- do u need a hug, would u like soup, and come dance with me.

This year i want saturday nights that consist of watching a movie and eating pizza and chocolate chip cookies with friends, not going to a bar and dancing with people i dont even like that much.

I want to invest in myself, in torah, in my body, adequate hydration, getting fresh air, cooking

Tehina miso soup

An allen wrench is the L thingy

And then a phillips scew driver thingy

I might say that i work at a looney bin as a joke. But in actuality, its my dream job, to get to spend my time with 20 old people with all different kinds

I have an intersting issue

You might forget about me. And that's ok. Because I'm people's safe space. I'm fun but not obnoxiously fun. I'm friemdly but I might be in the corner talking to someone about their dreams and beliefs. I might not remember your name but I'll remember the sound of your voice, how long you like to be hugged and what you told me about your family. I don't need to be invited to all the parties. I'm the one u text "hey want to go get breakfast and then go thrifting?" And i like it like that. Go have a blast at the party. And then tell me all about it on a balcony in pajamas the next day. You might not remember me when you think of who to invite. I trade that reality for one where I'm your breathe of fresh air.

Im so grateful to get to work in this field. I love giving them food where one guy always "תהיי בריאה" u know how special his soul is? Wjen another guy who has trouble talking so he taps next to my hand to say thank u when im writing down that i gave him his meds. When another guy says hi to me when i come in. I love these people

I have social anxiety w things like talking on the phone or saying goodbye to ppl or

Shabbat day will b so fun

I think when people r drunk, they have stuff that theyd do that they wouldnt do sober. And ppl like to blane the idea of being roofied or taking antibiotics. But the real answer is- know who u r when ur drunk. I wouldnt have held hands with oren for like five minutes if i was sober. I have mad intimacy issues. Thirty seconds and I'd pull away. But thats me when im drunk. I still have my soul. My nature isnt to kiss people or sleep w ppl. Its to hold hands and hug. I lose my inhibition but i still have boundaries.

.

[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, ט‎חף, "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

[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.