#almost all of my coworkers are jewish

[theluckiestrose]

Idk man it kinda feels like a lot of lefty types hide their seething antisemitism behind (warranted) criticisms of Israel and its just like. Think for a second about why you're harassing diasporic jewish people about Israel. You could be harassing your lawmakers, or Netanyahu (more likely his social media team), or just. Anyone who is actually in a position to do something, but instead you've set your sights on entertainers, or people in your own neighborhood.

Just. Think about it for a minute. And leave me alone about it. Im not interested in your reasoning, im worried for the safety of my jewish friends and coworkers.

[glitzy-dynamite]

Am I the only one here who really likes Matzah. I see all these posts about how bad it is and it was a surprise for me lol.

I really like its taste, it reminds me of my childhood when the local Jewish charity organization was helping our family by sending us boxes of food (my great-grandfather was Jewish, so my grandma has a right to receive this help, and our family was quite poor back then), and there always was some Matzah.

This year on Passover our local Orthodox Jewish community gave some Matzah to their friend, my mom’s coworker’s daughter, she gave it to her mom, who gave it to her coworkers, including my mom, who gave it to me. I was so happy. My mom knows I’m preparing to convert, so she was like “guess what I have!”. We both were so happy and I almost cried 😭

[lamafeeling]

I'm going to tell you something that you may not like, you don't have to tell everyone things about yourself that can put you in danger. Especially now, if you are a part of any minority group, in a way that is not immediately apparent, you do not have to be open about that to everyone. Not everyone has to know you are trans, gay, Jewish, poc (obviously for white passing ppl), etc. You can lie or neglect to mention it for your safety. You don't have to be ashamed, but you don't have to put a target on your back. I have lived in conservative cities/towns almost my entire life, when I pass, I don't necessarily tell people that I'm trans. This can mean the difference between a (conditionally) civil interaction and a hate crime. Unless they have given you reason to believe they are safe, you do not owe anyone any information about yourself. The same goes for your political beliefs. I promise you, your hardcore Trump supporter coworker is not going to listen to your logical reasons as to why he is a fascist, and in fact, bad for all of us, it will only cause you problems.

[hindahoney]

Something I’ve noticed as someone reconnecting to their Jewish ancestry (I always knew I had Jewish ancestry, but was not raised connected to it or any of my other culture, we were a heavily assimilated family) is that Jewish ppl are not really allowed to just be ‘normal’ once people know we are Jewish/Jewish descendant. Like the minute someone finds out I have Jewish ancestry I am suddenly not a person anymore, but just a Jew.

And I’m not saying Jewish people aren’t people, but in my experience it has felt like my personhood is taken away the minute someone finds out about my Jewish ancestry. I am no longer allowed to be anything other than this projection/caricature of what people think Jewish people are/are like or I am constantly experiencing people ‘testing’ me on whether or not I’m a Zionist (bc I guess the value of a Jew is determined by whether or not they have ‘good’ politics).

It’s happened even with my own (ex) friends, they constantly brought up Israel and Zionism after finding out I was Jewish descent even though they have never once spoken of or cared about the I/P conflict beforehand, and would only bring it up in response to me mentioning anything relating to Jewishness… It’s just a weird thing I’ve noticed that I’m sure many others already realized but I guess I’ve just been blind to it for so long due to me being disconnected. But now that I’ve been openly reconnecting for about 1 1/2 years I’ve noticed it much more and it’s just so annoying.

Thank you so much for your ask.

Mazel tov on reconnecting, it's great to see someone appreciating their Judaism.

Unfortunately your experience is very common. Centuries before there was the modern state of Israel, Jews have faced persecution, discrimination, and massacres over the accusation of dual loyalty. This dual loyalty accusation was not always exclusive to Israel, at times it was levied against us for being more loyal to other Jews or to our religion than our host nation.

I have two jobs, one as a researcher of antisemitism and another as a bartender. I have been open about my judaism at work and always wear my magen David earrings and necklace. This has opened me up to receiving many antisemitic comments on almost a daily basis from customers and coworkers. Mostly, it is people asking me about if I support Israel or not. I have never seemed to be able to answer this question the "right way" — the conversation ends awkwardly after I give my answer, or they press me "But what about [insert complete disinformation they got from Twitter]? What do you have to say about that?" They obviously don't really want an answer, what they want to hear is a firm denouncing and further demonization from me.

I wish I could say that in my research I see a decrease in antisemitism, but after a decade we have tracked a high spike in the last two years. It appears to only be getting worse.

It is a difficult time to reconnect with the tribe, but it's never a bad time. As you have experienced, and as our ancestors have experienced, even one drop of Jewish blood makes you appear as a threat. Regardless of whether or not you reconnected, you would be "othered" and persecuted with the rest of us. Reconnecting, at the very least, means you can also experience the joys of Judaism, rather than just the hardships.

That is what Pesach is all about — we remember the suffering we have endured so that we may appreciate the joy when we see it.

Next year in Jerusalem. Chag sameach.

[theculturedmarxist]

Many US papers are giving front-page, above the fold treatment to university administrators going wild and calling in the cops on peaceful campus protests, first at Columbia, followed by Yale and NYU. Harvard, in a profile in courage, closed its campus to prevent a spectacle. Demonstrations are taking hold at other campuses, including MIT, Emerson, and Tufts.

This is an overly dynamic situation, so I am not sure it makes sense to engage in detailed coverage. However, some things seem noteworthy.

First, in typical US hothouse fashion, the press is treating protests as if they were a bigger deal than the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I am not the only one to notice this. From Parapraxis (hat tip  guurst; bear with the author’s leisurely set-up):

I am employed as a non-tenure-track professor in a university department dedicated to teaching and research about Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness. One day, I arrived at work to find security cameras installed in my department’s hallway. I read in an email that these cameras had been installed after an antisemitic poster was discovered affixed to a colleague’s office door. I was never shown this poster. Like the cameras, I learned of it only belatedly. Despite the fact that the poster apparently constituted so great a danger to the members of my department as to warrant increased security, nobody bothered to inform me about it. By the time I was aware that there was a threat in which I was ostensibly implicated, the decision had already been made—by whom, exactly, I don’t know—about which measures were necessary to protect me from it. My knowledge, consent, and perspective were irrelevant to the process… The prolepsis of the decision did more than protect me—if, indeed, it really did that. It interpellated my coworkers and myself as people in need of protection…. I was unwittingly transformed, literally overnight, into the type of person to whom something might happen. My employer has a campus—three, actually—meaning that it has a physical plant. I navigate one of these campuses as my workplace, but it almost never figures for me as “the campus.” In fact, the first time since beginning the job when I felt myself caught up in an affective relation, not to the particular institution where I work, but rather to “the campus” was when I looked up into that security camera and felt myself being “watched” by it. Only then did I think, a couple of months into my temporary contract, that I was not just at my workplace. Now I was on “the campus.” This incident with the poster and the camera occurred, of course, some weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the onset of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza. Against so horrific a backdrop, and relative to the intimidation and retaliation to which those who speak out against the war (including—indeed, especially—in the academy) have been subjected, my story sounds banal. And it is. In its very ordinariness, however, the anecdote is quite representative: first, of how decisions get made at contemporary institutions of higher education (generally speaking, without the input of those whom they impact); and second, of the logic of a peculiarly American phenomenon I call campus panic…. The months since October 7 have aggravated the most extreme campus panic I have witnessed. To judge by the American mass media, the campus is the most urgent scene of political struggle in the world. What is happening “on campus” often seems of greater concern than what is happening in Gaza, where every single university campus has been razed by the IDF. When all the Palestinian dead have been counted, it seems likely that these months will be recorded as having inflamed a campus panic no less intense than the one that accompanied the Vietnam War.

Second, many otherwise fine stories, like Columbia in crisis, again by the Columbia Journalism Review, and Columbia University protests and the lessons of “Gym Crow” by Judd at Popular Information, start off with the 1968 protests at Columbia as a point of departure. And again, consistent with the Parapraxis account and being old enough to remember the Vietnam War, I find the comparison to be overdone. Yes, there are some telling similarities, like the role of right-wing pressure in getting campus administrators to call out the cops, the device of dwelling on the earlier uprising seems to obscure more than it reveals. The Vietnam War, unlike Gaza, tore the US apart. Today’s campus students are, with only the comparatively small contingent of Palestinian students, acting to protest US support of slaughter in Gaza. In 1968, for many, the stake were more personal. The risk of young men having to serve was real.

Similarly, conservatives then supported the military and were typically proud of their or any family member’s service. Draft dodging and demonization of armed forces leaders was close to unconscionable. It took years of the major television networks and the two authoritative magazines, Time and Newsweek, showing what the war looked like, and intimating that the US was not succeeding, that shifted mass opinion.

And even the initial 1968 protests were more disruptive. The first wave at Columbia occupied some campus buildings, presumably disrputing operations. Today’s were encampments, as in outdoors. So they were more analogous to Occupy Wall Street, where the ongoing rebellion was an offense to authority even if it caused harm. But worse, the ones at Columbia and other schools now are by elites in training, and not presumed loser riff-raff.

So the aggressiveness of the crackdown looks like very insecure leadership. For instance, why escalate to calling in the NYPD immediately, as opposed to campus police, when the city’s cops reported everyone cooperated with the arrests?

This takes us to the third issues, that it isn’t just the students who oppose the stifling of protest, but also faculty. From the Popular Information article:

[President] Shafik’s actions were blasted in a statement issued on Friday by the Columbia and Barnard College chapters of the American Association of University Professors: Shafik also drew a rebuke from the Columbia student council. In a statement, the council said that “students possess the inherent right to engage in peaceful protest without fear of retribution or harm” and called for “the preservation of freedom of speech and expression among students.”

Popular Information also points out how the Biden Administration is, natch, whipping up fear about possible dangers to Jews while ignoring that Muslims have been on the receiving end. Recall that ex-IDF soldiers who attacked pro-Palestinian protestors at Columbia in January went unpunished. Again from Popular Information:

On Sunday, the White House released a statement in response to the protests at Columbia, denouncing “calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students”: What incidents prompted this statement? A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But some media outlets are interpreting it as a response to this video, in which two unidentified men promise more terrorist attacks against Israel. According to the individual who posted the video, the incident did not occur on Columbia’s campus. There is no evidence that Columbia students were involved. An NBC reporter, Antonia Hylton, who was on Columbia’s campus with protesters, reported no instances of “violence or aggression” among students.

Now we’ll turn to Rajiv Sethi, who as a professor at Barnard, has, for better or worse, a front row seat on the turmoil.

By Rajiv Sethi, professor of economics at Barnard College. Originally published at his website

My campus is in turmoil, and it’s hard to think or write about anything else. Dozens of students have been suspended, arrested, and barred from the premises. Others have been advised to leave for their own safety. Most entrances are closed altogether, and the few that remain open are guarded to prevent entry of non-affiliates. Calls for the resignation of leaders are coming from multiple quarters—some concerned about excessively punitive measures and others about inadequate enforcement and protection.

There are several reports on social media of harassment, intimidation, and the glorification of violence. Such reports often conflate what is happening outside the gates—involving people who may not be affiliates and who are on ground over which the university has no jurisdiction—with the protests on the South Lawn. Based on what I have seen personally, the latter protests have been peaceful, prayerful, and even joyful at times.1

I did see one sign directed at President Shafik that I felt was offensive and ill-advised. And there is one phrase—recently deemed anti-Semitic by an act of Congress—that has been repeated loudly and frequently within the gates. This post is about the meaning of that phrase, and about meanings and messages in general.

While on stage at a political convention in July 2015, Martin O’Malley said the following:

Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.

Taken literally, these words are entirely unobjectionable, even laudable. But O’Malley apologized for them within hours, saying: “That was a mistake on my part and I meant no disrespect.”

Why was the apology deemed necessary? O’Malley was running for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time, and to many of the voters he was courting, the words “all lives matter” had come to mean something else entirely—an expression of indifference to racial inequality at best, and perhaps even a racist dog whistle.

As phrases come to be endowed with new meanings, some people respond by carefully avoiding them, while others are motivated to adopt them with relish. This further entrenches the new meaning and reinforces the process of selective abandonment and adoption. Thus “Democrat Party” can come to be intended and perceived as an epithet, and the seemingly harmless chant “Let’s Go Brandon!” a vulgarity.

This process is decentralized and largely uncoordinated, and there is little that legislation can do to enforce the attachment of meanings to messages. Of course, this hasn’t prevented our elected officials from trying. On April 16, by a vote of 377-44, the House passed Resolution 883:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic and its use must be condemned.

One day later, Columbia President Minouche Shafik was asked by Congresswoman Lisa McClain whether she agreed that such statements were indeed anti-Semitic. President Shafik answered as follows:

I hear them as such, some people don’t.

The problem with this response is that it suggests that listeners are free to assign meanings to expressions, regardless of the identities and intentions of speakers. But meanings are created jointly by speakers and listeners, and the same message can carry different meanings depending on what is known about the parties engaged in communication.

People have often appropriated and de-fanged racist, misogynistic, and homophopic insults aimed at the groups to which they belong. Even the most vile and vicious slur in the American language carries a different connotation when used by Randall Kennedy in conversation. The meanings of messages cannot be established independently of the indentities of those who use them. They cannot be established by listeners alone.

Thus the attempt by the House of Representatives to define the meaning of a phrase is likely to be futile. The meaning will evolve over time based on the process of selective avoidance and adoption. And this meaning is vigorously contested at present.

Consider, for instance, the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism. This document states clearly that “denying the right of Jews in the State of Israel to exist and flourish, collectively and individually, as Jews, in accordance with the principle of equality” is anti-Semitic. However, it also proclaims:

It is not antisemitic to support arrangements that accord full equality to all inhabitants “between the river and the sea,” whether in two states, a binational state, unitary democratic state, federal state, or in whatever form.

President Shafik could have referenced the above in pushing back against the idea that meanings can be assigned by elected representatives or college administrators. I understand the pressure she was under, and it is difficult to give thoughtful responses under such circumstances. But it is important that moving forward, the use of this phrase alone not be used as a basis for disciplinary action.

One organization that I have come to admire over the past few years is the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which has been admirably consistent in defending freedom of speech on and off campus. On this phrase in particular, FIRE’s position is the following:

If students at a peaceful protest chant anti-Israel slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” that speech, taken alone, is protected political expression. Even if some understand the phrase to call for the destruction of Israel, it is still—absent more—protected as political speech, advocating in general terms for violence elsewhere at an unspecified time against a broadly defined target… But context is determinative: Were the same statement to be directed at a specific Jewish student by a student or group moving threateningly towards him, during a protest that has turned violent and unstable, it may arguably constitute a true threat.

This is the right position to take and I hope that Barnard and Columbia will adopt it. The keynote by Killer Mike at the 2023 FIRE Gala explains in the clearest possible terms the value of this perspective, and it will join the Reith lecture by Chimamanda Adichie and the Stanford Memo by Jenny Martinez (along with the Kalven Report and the Chicago Principles) as a classic in the pantheon of free speech advocacy.

Among the people who have addressed the students on the South lawn are Madmood Mamdani and Norman Finkelstein; I caught the tail end of the latter’s speech but couldn’t hear much because amplification was limited and he tends to speak quite softly. I do hope that the students who invited him will read his latest book, which is as fierce a critique of identity politics as one is likely to find anywhere.

Norman Finkelstein addresses student protestors at Columbia on April 19th, 2024

I received a response to this post from Seth Weissman, whom I first met when he was a graduate student at Columbia many years ago. I remember Seth fondly, and have enormous respect for him. His message is posted (with permission) below:

Rajiv, as usual, a very thoughtful take. That said, you are missing something. I say this as someone who knows and respects you as fair-minded and as an Orthodox Jew who is: So what are you missing? I’m all for “from the river to the sea, Palestinians will be free.” That could mean in a binational state alongside Jews living freely, or in two states, one Palestinian (West Bank, Gaza, and the Arab sections of Jerusalem such as Abu Dis) and the other a Jewish home where Arab citizens are accorded full rights, which is the current (albeit imperfectly realized) concept of Israel. This is in accordance with the Jerusalem Declaration. But the chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” explicitly and willfully denies Jewish self expression. In a context where some of the protestors (not all, and I am making no claim as to what percentage) have expressed solidarity with Hamas, it can be taken no other way. And while the majority of the protestors would denounce Hamas (I hope), they are standing shoulder to shoulder with those who empathize with Hamas. FYI, I have the scars from confronting nationalism and Islamophobia on the Jewish side. If I could pay the price for denouncing Jewish nationalists on my “side,” I can expect the protestors at Columbia and Barnard to do the same—criticize Israel without providing political support for terror and anti-Semitism.

1

After posting this I came across a credible report of significant harassment and intimidation within the Columbia gates. All classes at Barnard and Columbia are remote today, which I imagine is a prelude to clearing out of the encampment.

[danosrosegarden]

I’m sure you’re overwhelmed with requests but if you ever have the time (╥﹏╥) Could you write some male reader/Burt Fabelman because there is literally nothing out there <\3 ! Maybe some headcanons abt what he would be like in his first relationship w/ another man?

holding to the ground - burt fabelman x masc!reader headcanons ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

{contains: descriptions of anxiety with a happy ending!}

☽ I'm going to borrow a line from Falsettos: "I was sure growing up, I would live the life my mother assumed I'd live: very Jewish, very middle class, and very straight." It was instilled into Burt from a young age what he'd be: a hardworking, clean-cut man. A husband to a wife. A father to children.

☽ And he was just that for a long while. But his world doesn't spin the way it used to after the split. He can still feel the floors of the old house underneath his feet. The phantom of Mitzi's laugh echoes from the ghost-white walls. The girls are just a phone call away, but their blushing, smiling faces aren't in the next room. Nothing is the same.

☽ And there's you, of course, the new hire at work. Burt's supposed to be watching over you, making sure you don't screw anything up too royally. He's almost angry with you, though. With the way your smile beams and sparkles so gorgeously, the way your smooth voice pours into his ear, the way you carry yourself...you're so effortlessly cool and collected. So simply fun and upbeat. Just handsome and nice to look at. It frustrates him, because he can't have you.

☽ He's supposed to be a professional. He's not supposed to date coworkers. Not to mention how new the concept of being with a man was to him...it nearly frightened him. He was afraid to reach out and grasp the possibility, living in constant dread that it might prick him and drain his blood. What would his family think? His friends? The rest of the world?

☽ But he catches himself. He's always wanted the best for his children. Mitzi gave him these wonderful gifts that he could never repay her for...and what was it that she always encouraged them to do? Follow their hearts? Chase after their dreams? Burt could do the same, if he just plucked up enough courage.

☽ He decides to go with flowers. That's not too overbearing, right? They're a luscious deep red and pink and they smell like the light, airy, puffy clouds of heaven.

☽ Some of his coworkers crack jokes when they see the flowers on his desk. "Looks like someone's back in the game, huh, Burt? Who are those for?"

☽ It isn't until he asks you to stay after work that it all begins to feel impossibly real. The light coat of sweat slicked on his palms. The twist and lurch of his stomach as he grips the flowers tightly. He feels like a crushing teenager again, unable to keep calm when faced with his feelings.

☽ "These are for you, actually." It comes tumbling out in a jumbled, knotted string.

☽ He's unable to read your face for a moment, until a small smile cracks in the corner of your lips. It feels as though a trillion pounds has been lifted from his trembling shoulders. You like them. You like the flowers!

☽ All this to say, Burt might need some time to adjust to the new relationship. He's always going to be followed by the ghost of what could've been, what used to be. But with you, he feels as though he can finally breathe. Let go. Just be himself. He tries to see the good in people, see the good in the bustling world around him. And maybe with a man like you by his side, he can wake up to a world that's brighter. Lighter. With you, he can just be.

[spacelazarwolf]

I'm on anon because I'm not open about being a convert on my main account. I converted conservative, it took about a year. Now I'm undergoing an orthodox conversion. I'm about half a year in, I keep kosher, I'm working on keeping shabbat, I've read through the Torah and an endless amount of books, I have a chavruta I meet with every week, I participate in all the holidays, I've been to Israel and I want to make Aliyah. I move out next month to be within walking distance of my shul so I don't have to drive on shabbat anymore. I put my whole life into this. Hell, I'm going to graduate school for a masters in Jewish studies. This is my world, this is my soul, I've never felt anything as strongly as this. When people question me and reject my conversion, it's one of the most painful things I've experienced. It's a deep, soul-crushing pain. Because I feel a kinship with every Jew. They're my family. I'm going through the orthodox conversion because it means making aliyah will be easier, but also because I would never want my potential future children to experience the intense pain of being questioned like I have.

I feel like born jews should recognize how fucking disorienting it is when you experience antisemitism for the first time as an adult. My first time, I was walking out of my shul on shabbat and a lady rolled down her window to scream at me that I was a "dirty jew" before speeding away. I work with the public, usually around drunk people, and I ALWAYS wear my magen david. The comments I get, not just from customers but also from coworkers, are consistent and awful. I have lost friends, I have lost family, I have lost job opportunities. But I would NEVER take it back. If I could go back in time, I would always choose to convert. The pain and fear of antisemitism and losing things that were once important to me all pale in comparison to the love I have for my new family. I don't want to hear it about "wahhh converts wahhh antisemitism" Converts face antisemitism. I experience it almost every time I work. When they see my star they don't ask "But were you born Jewish?" They don't CARE. If they knew they'd probably just call me a race traitor.

Born jews who don't accept converts are intimidated. It's that simple.

this is what ppl do not seem to get!!!! bigots on the street are not stopping to ask if u converted!!!! they just see a jew and react accordingly!!!!!

[wenevergotusedtoegypt]

To be honest, I don't really have that many non-Jewish friends anymore. Apart from a few months living with my parents between seminary and moving here, I've both lived and studied or worked in frum communities for almost a decade. I don't live near either my hometown or my college city, so I only keep up with a select few people from those places.

On top of that, for those I do still actively keep in touch with or am Facebook friends with, I've never really bought into the idea that so many other Jews I know seem to be obsessing over lately that someone who isn't addressing Hamas's attack/antisemitism in general on social media and/or reaching out to the Jews they know to ask how they are is necessarily some big antisemite or at best someone who doesn't care about Jews. All of this feels SO close and all-consuming to us, but that's because it's our people. There are all kinds of devastating events, natural disasters, etc. happening all over the world. No one addresses every single one. Most of us don't address most of the things that happen "far away over there" at all. And to a lot of non-Jews, all of this IS "far away over there." They don't understand how deeply connected we all are to it. And the antisemitism that is local isn't on their radar the same way it is for us.

Yes, it's nice if they condemn the terror and mourn the victims. Yes, it's nice if they check in with us. No, it doesn't necessarily mean they're terrible people if they don't.

That said.

I had a non-Jewish college friend reach out and ask how I was doing given everything going on. So I told her. I told her that we're physically ok but it's been an emotionally very intense few weeks. I told her that I have 3 cousins currently called up to the army, and that my husband and I both have tons of civilian friends and relatives in Eretz Yisroel who we're worried about, and that I've been working overtime at work on projects related to the conflict such that I hardly ever stop thinking about it, and that I can't stop thinking about the children and babies taken hostage, and that my coworker was the victim of antisemitic attacks twice in one day.

Silence.

It's been 6 days. She read the message within minutes of my sending it. And then silence.

It's possible that her silence has nothing to do with me or what I shared. Technically. I know she's faced mental health issues at various times.

But the thing is, I have no way of knowing without some level of confrontation.

She knows I lived in Eretz Yisroel for a year. I'm pretty sure she knows the story of my confronting a professor about his antisemitism in the guise of "antizionism" in college. Surely she shouldn't have been surprised by my concern for my Israeli family, friends, the hostages. She hasn't publicly posted anything about the conflict, so while her politics generally lean left, I don't have any specific reason to think she's pro-Hamas.

Was I supposed to be a good little Jew and only be concerned about antisemitism here where I am? Was I supposed to hate my Israeli cousins who are in the IDF and not care about my other friends and family there because they should just leave, or they deserve what they're getting? Is that what she's thinking?

I don't know.

I don't want to think that of her. But the problem is that the void left by her silence is so easy to explain with antisemitism, and not as easy to excuse away with something more benign.

I would've rather she hadn't reached out at all than leave me wondering like this.

[jojoturnip]

A response to a mother at war, the poem of a friend:

You think of things so cosmically, don't you? I'm not surprised. I've seen your poetry of angels and your notebooks brimming over with theories of the world to compile into your games and campaigns.

There is no problem with that. Maybe that's a part of why I'm drawn to you and others who do the same. I like deep thinkers. I'd like to consider myself one.

There's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds but don't forget you stand on earth.

I've been asked to hold a science writing workshop for another university's students who want to put science on the ballot (go them!!), so I've been thinking of some of my best writing advice. One piece I think of constantly when I write I found a long time ago scrolling through Pinterest:

"Don't write about the Holocaust. Write about the pair of children's shoes left behind in the street as they were taken away."

That one resonates with me a lot. Maybe it's the Jewish fear. I think it's more than that, though.

I, too, have been torn apart and eaten by the cosmos. I was punctured by the points of stars that promised to light the way. I have known and loved the darkness of man, the darkness of voids. I saw the big picture before I knew what it was.

It isn't pretty. Stepping back and looking at the timeline of my life, it isn't pretty.

Come look closer with me, though. Do you see that smudge? That's where my sister and I used to spray men's shaving cream at each other in the backyard when it was too hot to play like normal in the desert. Oh wait, no, look at this one, it's me hanging up my first houseplant, a rabbit footed fern. Does this one of me playing Minecraft with my cousin even look like me anymore?

No, no, this one you should see. You'll remember it. I had invited my sister, my roommates, my creative writing friends, and you all to the award ceremony for my literary award. You came with me, no one else did. Did you see how close to crying I am? Not from sadness even, just joy that you were there and supported me even though you didn't understand and it wasn't your thing. You were just there.

Don't think me stupid for finding that joy, my friend. The connections of the universe may be hard to conceptualize, but the constellations look nice. Did you hear we're supposed to be able to see the Aurora tonight?

Stepping back, I see all the pain and suffering that you do. And it's true that it overpowers the rest. But isn't it lonely up there? Only seeing the big picture and none of the details that make it worth painting?

I'm no artist. Or ethics professor. I'm not the one to tell you what's right and what isn't.

I study life. Both in botany and in writing. And I'm convinced, even after all the ugly I have pulled my rubber boots up from to stay afloat, that life is beautiful.

My bus driver always waves to other bus drivers we pass. But, when we come across a bus on the same route going the opposite direction, I see the flash of toothy smiles and special waves and salutes, like secret best-friend handshakes. My coworker dug a digital camera out of someone else's trash so I could use it to take pictures of my niece. The girl I complimented in the coffee shop today on her leather jacket beamed and told me how she was pretending it was warmer than it really was.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a source almost as odd as Pinterest, Norman Borlaug's biography. He's the father of the green revolution, and credited with saving more lives than any other person. I read it as a Borlaug Scholar in high school, and it was mostly dry. But he talked about his grandfather a bit, who said,

"Don't look for God in the sky. Look for him in the ground. That's where things grow."

Some of the tulips in the horticulture garden are planted above a hot water pipe, and the soil is warm enough for them to bloom early. They always come up short and have purple anthocyanin stress marks on their leaves, but people stop by to see the early flowers anyway.

I understand where you are, up in the universe, seemingly above it all but feeling swallowed by the vacuum. There's a beauty in that, too, in having a mind that can untangle dark matter. So I'm not here to change you.

But I also know your feet are as gravity-striken as mine. Welcome to Earth, my friend, come dig in the dirt with me. We can find earthworms and seeds and a thousand lives too small for us to see. It does not take away from the big picture, or the acknowledgement of your pain to pay them notice.

I brought you an extra trowel, but I cannot help you find god or hope or love or whatever it is people dig for. You have to want it. Then you have to dig for it.

I'm just digging next to you.

[longeyelashedtragedy]

lampard life update

just got the sweetest message from a Very Experienced Social worker i worked with. censoring things that identify the specific place i worked, and my name bc i fucking HATE my name and would rather pretend it didn't exist:

basically this is the kind of feedback i've been getting for the past almost 24 hours--my phone's been blowing up between coworkers and people who work for the City Government (TM). i talked shit on the phone with said Dana this morning (who is...amazing and this very passionate jewish lady who totally plays into my Mommy Issues and she wants to meet me for coffee) and she said she'd act as a reference and gave me some interesting job tips. mind you, i've only known these people since october.

-as i said to protect daniel james i've applied to more jobs in the past 12 hours than frank lampard has applied to in the past 7 months! people are like "you should rest and relax" and like yeah, but i'm not young enough to be on my parents' health insurance anymore and as marieke said, being unemployed in america is scary. being close to broke in nyc is terrifying! i'm stressed as fuck but also never have to enter that trauma pit with the Evil Boss again?

-i was crying last night not even because of me but because of thinking of all the people i work with and support who i didn't get to say goodbye to and i don't know what they will do without my support cause i have no idea who tf will replace me. and whoever does, isn't going to know the context of how to help these people. i literally called some people of my own volition today--i still have access to the city databases that i use--and will have some more calls monday. i cared. i fucking loved my job in terms of the actual duties and responsibilities, and i was GOOD at it when i wasn't being traumatized by, as my New Job Work Bestie said on the phone last night, "a stupid evil cunt." if the shoe fits lol. like literally there are people whose timesheets i sign on fridays and i have no idea who the fuck else can sign them and how will they get paid!!!!! i was frantically texting them at like 11 last night because fuck! that's not fucking right if people don't get paid bc of this evil woman!

-people are advising me to lawyer up and lawyer parents are looking into it. they messed with the wrong bitch! the reason why i am possibly pursuing this is because at the time of my termination~ i had already opened the process of an ADA (americans with disabilities act) accommodation request, feat. a letter from my psychiatrist discussing my PTSD, which is not like. A fun thing to discuss multiple times with multiple people at work, and yet i did. Because i wanted to try to make it work, and all i fucking asked for was to be moved to another job location. My job has around 50 locations. In no universe is that a difficult request, plus, i was asking for a like secondary thing instead which was--fucking staff the vacant position at my job so i was no longer one person doing a two person job.and WEIRDLY, on wednesday i was just told that i WAS getting another person--on monday! she's someone i vaguely know, and we had an amazing zoom talk yesterday afternoon--so like. wtf? the famous dana (see above) said that at the least we could bully them into a better severance package if they were afraid i would sue. The place i worked at is Very Behated in new york and the media thrives on the place getting negative attention.

-another option that occured to me is that i was fired by Evil Boss because she thought i was going to rat her out about things she is doing that are unethical and probably illegal. (i know this sounds dramatic but i won't go into job details in public for various reasons--i already revealed too much in the screenshot!) i was not going to do that, but also i wasn't DEFENDING her and saying what she was doing was okay, and that came to her attention yesterday and she went the fuck off on me. she told me i had to tell the famous dana NOT to inform people that their rights were being violated, and i'm like---I cannot tell someone what to say and not to say, and that would be a REALLY SHADY THING TO SAY? so this bitch probably got spooked. Who even knows what happened but this is clearly one of the most unjust sackings in history 😂 maybe they will hire mourinho to take over my position

-how did i make such a positive impact on 7914433 people while having the most horrific trauma episode since before i started taking meds? damn. i guess i put my whole longeyelashedtragedussy into making connections and truly enjoying them

[starlightomatic]

Hi again, I'm the anon from before asking about the coworker with the odd religious beliefs. I mentioned similarity to Jewish beliefs in that she literally follows all Torah/old testament views, has shabbat every Friday at sundown, does not eat pork, basically follows all Jewish beliefs. Except there's also a sprinkle of Christian beliefs in there as in she believes in Yesuah and that he is the savior. But then she has those beliefs as well about how animals are not meant to be kept as pets because they are being taken from the Father's purpose for them. I guess another example of one that really throws me off is her belief in aliens being real, except they're fallen angels (she says it's in the Bible). I just cannot wrap my head around half of the things she says. I'm guessing the animal thing is NOT a common Jewish belief then (I assumed not, but like I said I know very little)

She sounds possibly Messianic, or maybe like one of those Christians who’s not connected to an actual Messianic church but came off of the extreme end of nondenominational. Reminds me a little of Karissa whatshername who “celebrates” Pesach (with pretzels). Also seems mixed with a little (possibly qanon-adjacent) woo. So definitely not Jewish, some sort of weird Christian, and almost certainly not vaccinated.

[maguneedsalife]

the judaism weeaboo

back with another fun work story bc this has been going on for five years and we all finally got sick of his shit 

Okay, so. This guy. Let’s call him Bob.

Bob is a non-Jewish individual in our local community who has a deep fascination with Judaism, but has said he has no desire to convert. Instead he seems to like talking with Jews in order to show off his knowledge and explain our traditions back to us. I’ve taken to calling him a Judaism weeaboo, as his general know-it-all attitude and lack of respect for actual Jews is similar to the way weeaboos behave around Japanese people.

Bob has been in contact with us for a few years now, with most of our contact in 2018 and waning considerably in the pandemic. He is usually cordial and friendly on the phone, but in reality he does not have a lot of self awareness, nor does he demonstrate any real respect for synagogue staff or the Jewish community. When he calls he keeps staff on the line for a really long time, either showing off his own knowledge of judaism or trying to get us on his side. He’s never threatening or angry, just persistent.

Things Bob has asked about:

whether he can email us entirely in hebrew

whether i speak hebrew (and when I responded that I didn’t, he said “the conservative movement has great resources for learning hebrew” implying that i should know hebrew)

whether it would be alright for him to attend a bat mitzvah so he can say mazel tov to a 13 year old girl he does not know and who does not know him

whether it would be okay for him to record a class (and when we said no because our members aren’t comfortable being recorded by a stranger he tried to debate us on it)

whether he can add a message to our refuah shlemah/get well list wishing the (then-pregnant) rabbi an easy birth in hebrew (not what the list is for)

Bob attended services occasionally pre-pandemic. At the after-service lunches he consistently tried to corner the rabbis for a discussion, and on at least one occasion ran over a synagogue member’s toes with his chair. He has also attended classes held at the synagogue, and made the other people in the class uncomfortable with his know-it-all attitude. He even had an appointment with one of the rabbis once, during which he made her extremely uncomfortable with the endless mansplaining/debating/etc. Bob has been trying to get another appointment with that rabbi for years. He has not specified why he wants to talk (only that he likes talking with her and “appreciates her wisdom”) so I can only assume he is looking for another chance to debate an expert and show off.

I don’t have a mean bone in my body so I unfortunately haven’t been able to be clear with him that he’s not going to get that appointment, just continually telling him the rabbis aren’t available to meet with non-members and hoping he’ll either get the hint or give up. My previous boss tried to tell him off more clearly in the past, and it only resulted in him calling the front desk to complain that she was rude to him and that he would like a written apology from her. He has called multiple times asking for the written apology.

Anyway. He hadn’t called in a while so I assumed he finally decided to move on, but today he calls and I unfortunately answer the phone before I notice the name on caller ID. He wants to know if the rabbis are available between shavuot and “the 17th of Tammuz” (when prompted for the english date he just repeated the hebrew one). I passed him to my coworker for backup because they have an easier time telling folks off. Bob proceeded to keep them on the line for almost an hour, holding them past closing time so he could air his various grievances and try to get them on his side. He barely let them get a word in and did not answer their questions. He also apparently referred to one of our rabbis as a “Jewess” (which is a SLUR). 

They finally managed to end the conversation and then were like “ok so I’m going to send him an email explaining why we aren’t going to speak to him and I’m copying our boss.” Tomorrow I’m learning how to block numbers in our phone system so im just like. prayer emoji that we never hear from him again

anyway. now you all know about bob

(please don’t send me advice for what to do about bob, i’m not looking for help with my bob-related problems nor looking for possible explanations for his behavior. we are going to very clearly tell him we’re done talking to him and then block his number.)

[2shebears]

Intro/Pinned 💞

hi jumblr, I'm ray/רחל and this is my sideblog for jewish stuff! I follow from my main blog with the initials f-a-c. on this blog i want to talk about things like tzniut and gender roles, israel/palestine, indigeneity, antisemitism, xtian hegemony, community, and observance! so you know, all the jewish things.

=about me=

🇹🇼🇺🇸

27/cis/pan/she/her/hers

i speak english & français, have studied latin, italian, and ancient greek, have tiny household amounts of mandarin, and am learning modern hebrew

married!!!

(almost) intellectual property attorney, aiming to become a cultural property attorney for indigenous peoples! i've participated in UN talks about indigenous rights ✨

wish me luck on the bar exam

based in NYC

reblogs with "read later" tags are NOT endorsements lol i have not read them yet

=faq=

what's your jewish frame of reference? nominally aligned with open/modern orthodoxy (YCT beis din) but really post-denominational. my husband has an askhi dad and a mizrachi mom so we follow a mix of minhagim leaning heavily ashki. my observance is personal and evolving, but rn I cover my hair sometimes (always at shul & on holidays), host kosher-style, and attend a non-affiliated conservative-ish shul. I light candles and unplug on shabbat & chagim, and categorically will not do legal work, but I don't abstain from most muskeh. I'm an artist so being able to create on my holiest days is really special, sorry hashem. strongly dislike taharas hamispacha but am compliant on a technicality. I have multiple tattoos and multiple piercings (not just classic lobes). I spell out God but might evolve on this one. actually might evolve on basically all of these. I am a jewish work in progress!

what's your israel frame of reference? husband's family is largely in israel, incl olim, sabras, mena refugees. my in-laws live in jerusalem. i have both israeli and palestinian friends and coworkers. I got bit really hard by a cat in tel aviv once and had to get a rabies vax course and every doctor at the israeli health ministry made fun of me for getting bit (fair)

are you a zionist? no in the sense that i'm in favor of palestinian statehood and self-determination; yes in the sense that I don't think the state of israel and its denizens should be wiped off the face of the earth as a prerequisite for the peace process; yes in the sense that I think israel is an actual state (one that is actively doing war crimes!) and I don't think it needs to be held to unique standards; no in the sense that i would generally be okay with a peace process that completely restructures or essentially ends the current state so long as it does not extinguish jewish self-determination in the region; yes in the sense that i am a jew who will argue with you ;)

you're into Indigenous rights, so how does that bear on i/p? i i literally have so much to say about this that I wrote my law schol capstone on it. Indigeneity is an extremely capacious and fuzzy designation. It doesn't solve land or statehood issues. both israeli jews and palestinian arabs tick MANY of the boxes of being Indigenous but don't map perfectly onto the anglo-settler states and their indigenous peoples, and that is okay and interesting and cool to talk about. finally the things happening now would be horrifying whether or not any party is Indigenous. i'll use the tag #i/p indigeneity on this going fwd!

you posted something wrong about (insert thing here). ok not a question but please tell me if I do. I try to be a diligent fact checker but some things on social media are developing and unstable stories. I welcome fact checks always.

[miraofhearts2point0]

have i shared my Charlie design yet? idk. if not, here she isss <33

INFO:

Her full name is Charlotte Marianna Eisenstein.

She's 16, and was born on October 31st, 1967.

He died on April 16th, 1983.

She's Brazillian, and Afro-Latina! She doesn't know who her parents are exactly, though, as she was adopted at a young age.

He (and the rest of the Eisenstein's) are Jewish :)

She's a she/he lesbian.

She works at Fredbear's Family Diner, and was hired by William.

He and William had a good relationship. Not even Will knows why he killed her.

She had planned on graduating early, and was already accepted into a college for robotics.

He has adhd, and struggles a lot with certain subjects in school; mainly, English and history.

Charlie's death goes a bit differently than what happened in the games; she was still locked out, but it was as a joke from one of her coworkers. William had pulled up and gave her a ride back to her house, only, he staged hitting an animal using a pothole, and Charlie -- wanting to help -- came out to investigate too, which is when he killed her.

William had put her body in the backseat, where Security Puppet was sat for repairs, which is how her soul merged with it.

He was extremely angry at first, almost as mad as Cassidy became, but after seeing the deaths of other children, that general anger soon faded into sympathy, and he quickly became the "mother" of the missing children, and attempted to protect them as much as he could.

That anger toward William never went away though, and got back on him by giving him a whole "restart" on his life post-Springlock. It was only an illusion. She also was the one who killed him; physically pulling him into the flames and ending everything once and for all.

It started with her, so it makes sense to end it there, too.

[romanarose]

Don’t let people fool you, you’re allowed to ask questions of how other cultures work.

There’s this narrative that of you ask someone a question that they will say you are rude ignorant or racist/phobic but that’s almost never been my experience at all. In fact, most people are excited to teach explain and share! I know I am!

There’s a few areas I’ve noticed people landing in trouble or a less than excited response, however, and rightfully so.

1. Can you google it? A friend online one posted something about laying edges, I commented asking what that meant, she said to google it. Completely fair reaction. Sometimes google isn’t helpful and sometimes you don’t know what you’re googling, but try first.

2. Good faith. A lot of times people will be like “I was just asking a question!” But the question was not in good faith. Ask earnestly. Don’t come accusing.

3. Time and place. Don’t use your friend or coworker or family member as your personal question machine. Don’t ask about Jewish funeral practices during the burial. Don’t ask dozens and dozens of questions

Be respectful and people will more than likely love to help you and answer.

[aluvian]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

Tagged by @novasforce! Thank you so much for tagging me. Mwah mwah mwah! 💙💙💙

1. Are you named after anyone?

No! My middle name, Elizabeth, is in honor of my beloved aunt. I am very attached to my middle name. I think my first name (Brittany) was the most popular girls name the year I was born. I was, however, almost named Leia. God, what a missed opportunity lmao.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Earlier this morning, thanks to this Trigun meme. I was laughing so hard I legitimately started crying, and a couple of my coworkers popped into my workspace to ask what was wrong hahahahaha. I literally haven't stopped thinking about it. Living in my head rent free!!!!!!!

3. Do you have kids?

Not unless you count all the baby goats I've delivered and raised for the last 9 years, lmao! But in all seriousness, I love children. I get along with them so well. I have no desire to have any of my own, though. I am far more suited to the role of Cool Aunt. 😎

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes. It depends on who I'm talking to.

5. What sports do you play/have played?

None. I am not an athletic person in the slightest. I was on the basketball cheerleading squad in middle school, but I don't know if that actually counts.

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

How they treat other people around them, especially people in any sort of service industry.

7. What's your eye color?

Blue. I have blue eyes that rival those of Trinity, Brienne, and Scully.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. Life is such an enormous bummer these days. I need happiness wherever I can get it. But I do enjoy a good scare every once in a while. My favorite horror movie is Alien.

9. Any special talents?

Umm, not really? I'm extremely good at trivia. It's a guaranteed victory if I'm on your team. I'm extremely competitive and out for blood when I play.

10. Where were you born?

The horse country capital of Florida, Ocala.

11. What are your hobbies?

Cosplay, cooking, playing videogames, collecting comic books, Disney pin trading, reading, raising goats and emus

12. Do you have any pets?

Yes! I have the most wonderful little wizard, my dog Merlin. He's the cutest and bestest boy ever! If you follow me on Twitter, you've seen many pictures of him.

13. How tall are you?

5'10"

14. Favorite subject in school?

Any of the sciences. Science is the subject of all time for me. Marine biology, zoology, astronomy, and astrophysics are probably my most favorites. I also love history of all kinds and english/literature.

15. Dream job?

I have a few. Anything related to animal husbandry. I'd sell my soul to be able to work with elephants. Shark biologist. I would want to study either tiger sharks or greenland sharks. English teacher in Japan. I'm teaching myself the language and love it so much. It would be an honor to teach over there.

Tagging (there's no pressure!): @jewish-mulder @baronessblixen @moghraidhtrinity @genderqueer-klinger @ussfaramir @frogsmulder @swinging-stars-from-satellites @freckleslikestars @blackmelange @vienna-salvatori @viksworth @kriscynical