#and i should daven for the palestinians

[captainimprobable]

i don't understand how I am literally sitting here sick over the communication being cut off in gaza and fucking terrified for what that means for the palestinians but people who are supposed to be my friends, who have zero personal stake in this, can't find it in their hearts or minds to give two shits about the jews being murdered and taken hostage. I can't fathom how some of yall are incapable of caring about two things at once. It's like you just separated this into "good" and "bad" and anyone associated even a little bit with the "bad" side deserves to die. Why do my people deserve to die? Because they live in Israel? If you genuinely believe that everyone who lives in israel deserves to die, or worse, if you believe jewish life just isn't worth anything, fucking unfollow me.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

how are the Hanukkah preps going for u ?? do u feel safe enough to share what it’s like in the diaspora ?? (im super curious to see what it’s like outside of israel !!)

Hi there! An early chag sameach! 😊

So I can only really speak for my area, but so far so good on the "being visibly Jewish in my area" thing. My situation is weird, in that I live in a rather blue (liberal) big city that happens to be in a deep red (very conservative) state. As a queer/trans person and reproductive rights advocate, it's been rough and feels like a powder keg waiting to explode. My queer/trans spouse and I may need to flee the state if things get worse for somewhere more liberal overall (and hopefully not violently antisemitic) but we'll see what happens.

As a person who dresses visibly Jewish though, it's been reasonably fine so far? I haven't wandered onto the liberal campus area since 7/10 and I imagine that would be a lot different of an experience. We have all gathered as a community several times since 7/10 in order to express our grief and prayers and advocate for the US to help Israel recover the hostages. On 10/10, I gathered with the local frum community to daven tehillim and so far that has been my favorite gathering/the one I felt most comfortable at. It was very focused on our grief for our brothers and sisters and siblings in Israel who were killed and captured, and davening for a swift and just resolution. I also attended a much larger community-wide event some days later that was a lot more nationalistic, but at least it was still focused on the human concern. There was another community event I went to at the shloshim mark, and it was a lot more organized (for obvious reasons) but vibed a lot more like it was geared towards the kind of liberal Jew that actively wants the American flag and the Israeli flag on the bimah (idk if that makes sense to you, but it's a very specific Vibe™️ of Jew here.) I could not go to the march in D.C. but people in my community were strongly encouraged to go if they were able.

There have been several talking groups, Peace-oriented Shabbatot, and pro-Palestinian protests happening as well. The first two seem to be going well, but I have no idea about the last one, as the rhetoric from that leadership has become very antisemitic so I have not engaged them at all. I have been able to avoid them in public. Most recently, there was a pro-Israel protest that was supposed to be focused on the captives, but enough people couldn't stay on message that I considered leaving and am still a little conflicted about if I should have. That was the first time I've seen counter-protesting, and it was just one guy yelling a lot of offensive and antisemitic things. There's another rally coming up that I suspect will result in some kind of confrontation or violence because it's right near campus and it's organized by the same people who couldn't stay on message. It's also in an area where there are a lot of cops and has historically been used to kettle protesters. I am more worried about the counter-protesters to be honest, but I also think that if it turns violent it would likely be started by them. I really hope I'm wrong and everything remains peaceful in its protest.

I have yet to find a local group that is analogous to Standing Together, which is unfortunate, because that's effectively my position. I am hopeful I will find the other people that are deeply invested in the safety and freedom of the people of Gaza as well as Israelis.

So in light of that backdrop, it's shocking normal. Chanukah is going forward as usual - if anything with even more vigor than normal. Large, public, annual events are still happening and so far seem well-attended and there has not been harassment. We will see if that continues. I am planning on eating latkes with many a creative topping and proudly displaying my menorah in the window. I plan on going to some of the large public events (Chabad does several of them, but so does the broader community) dressed as I normally do and I refuse to be intimidated. So far I have thankfully not been given a reason to be.

B'ezrat Hashem that continues, and that we all see a just and peaceful resolution to the war soon.

[jewishconvertthings]

Hello, im the anon who asked about Zionism/antizionism in synagogues thank you so much for your response!

I would like to clarify first and apologize as well that I did not mean for it to sound like I was viewing Judaism as a political identity. I grew up in very small Christian churches and the pastors would always very openly share and incorporate their political beliefs during the sermons and the congregation would always respond in real life harmful ways (being homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc) outside of church and it’s part of what made me scared to go back to any religious service or explore any religion for a long time.

After reading your response I can see now this is my own christian religious trauma/experience that I was projecting because I was afraid of possibly having to experience that or something similar again, but Judaism is so different from Christianity that I shouldn’t have even compared the experiences to begin with. It was antisemitic and ignorant of me and I realize that now, thank you so much for your response again.

Hi anon,

You are welcome for the response and I appreciate that you took this in stride. However, just to be clear, my response wasn't meant to be a call-out, just a teaching moment. I don't think the comparison itself was antisemitic, and questions are always welcome here. It's hard to know what you don't know, you know?

My concern stemmed from a place of seeing some people get way too excited about converting specifically because of their highly polarized and propagandized viewpoints on Israel (both sides, to be clear.) In reality, the more I've learnt about the situation and talked to both Israelis and Palestinians, the more I've realized just how complicated the situation is. There are parts of this conflict that I will never understand as an American and someone without family there. I think there are plenty of people living there who will never understand all the details.

However you raise an interesting point about politics being preached from the pulpit. Do rabbis preach politics from the bimah? The answer is definitely yes, in that plenty of rabbis will connect their drash (sermon) to current events and the relevant interests of their congregation (definitely some more than others.) If you find the right community for you, however, this isn't a problem. My personal communities' rabbis preach love and acceptance and justice for queer folks, trans folks, and people of color. Both have a love of Israel as a tenet of their vision statement, but there is still plenty of room for discussion, criticism, argument, and debate about what should (or should not) be happening there.

Here's a post I recommend checking out, as I feel like it does an excellent job of showing the myriad of ways that Jews (who may all share the same davening space!) feel about things + how they would describe themselves.

L'shalom and be well!

[brotherbo]

Second day Encounter and unpacking

We woke up friday to a home prepared meal that Souda made for Micah and I. It seemed like a classic Palestinian breakfast -- homemade apricot jam, homemade zatar and, labane cheese and pita, a hardboiled egg, and of course a glass or tea. After that we went back to the hotel that was designated as our meeting spot and davened shachrit. It was an egalitarian minyan and when the repetition of the Amidah cane around Adin and I didn't know whether to perform the ritual birkat hacohanim (the priestly blessing). We turned to a Maale Gilboa alum and friend Yaacov who was facilitating the trip and he gave us the go ahead. After giving the blessing I saw one of the women who works for Encounter overcome with emotion. After davening she thanked me and explained that she hasn't received the blessing in a long time and it reminded her of what our first speaker Daoud said about how everyone in the world can be a blessing. Following davening we had a man named Hamed speak to us. He presented the conflict through a more statistical lense. He was highly educated in Middle East politics and policy. The powerpoint slide he presented showed the reality of how Area A is not connected throughout the West Bank and how there is very little economic potential in the current state for Palestinians in the West Bank. He was analyzing the situation from a very real standpoint and even said that he was pessemistic about the future for most "solutions" to the conflict. The one thing he said might have some influence is the new "two nations, one homeland" grassroots movement of Palestinians and Settlers who come together to get to know the other side and have open dialogue. Though he even said he was pessemistic about that making change and said that he thinks the direction Israel is going towards is annexing Area C of the West Bank which only has 150k Palestinians and won't present a serious demographic issue for Israel. We hopped back on the bus after listening to Hamed and headed into the gush bloc to a small village called Halat Zakhariah located only a kilometer or two past the Alon Shvut settlement. We met with one of the city elders Abu Ibrahim. And he explained the situation of the city. Located in Area C they aren't allowed to build any additions to their houses or community structures without receiving a demoltion order. He said most families sleep 5-7 in a one room house. The local school, a building with one 10x20 ft. room and two classrooms around 10x10 ft. even has a demolition order because a couple years back they added on a room. Abu Ibrahim told of going through the steps of receiving a building permit by submitting a master plan for the whole city around five years ago and the IDF still hasn't given him any sort of response or contacted him. He pointed our the 12 settlements surrounding their village and how hard it is to move outside of their village purely because of all the checkpoints. Additionaly anyone coming to Halat Zakharia needs a special permit which is hardly given, making it almost impossible for family to come and visit. It was a weird feeling to stand on top of the village mosque and look at the surrounding settlements and have a perfect view of the Yeshivat Har Etzion beit midrash, one of the most beautiful beit midrashim I've seen. And more to think about when I stood on the balcony of the Beit Midrash with my friends earlier this year and how invisible the community of Halat Zakharia was. After we were done there we went back to Bethelehem's walking checkpoint: Checkpoint 300. We walked through seemlessly and unchecked while only interupted by Palestinians trying to cross over and being stopped and questioned. We headed back to our meeting spot in Jerusalem and had a quick debriefing before being sent off for Shabbat. I was really excited and ready for Shabbat after experiencing and seeing so much in those two days. My brain was shut down over shabbat and only filled with joy. I had a great shabbat dinner with my friends hosted by my sister Eli at her apartment and a very chill Shabbat day. We met back last night for two hours to review what we did on our program and split up to talk about our experiences. I still don't really know what to feel or if anything inside me has changed at all. The things that I heard and saw were powerful and important to understand what's really going on over here. I think caught up in everything going on here there's a lot of feeling and emotion. I can't neglect that I feel connected to this land even in the smallest ways through helping some outpost farmers watch their goats for the night, however, I also have to remember the injustice and quality of life that it creates for those who seem so distant from me. I guess what I want to say is that people should never feel so comfortable with what's going on in their life and the world at large. Learn about things, experience the other side, challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone, and get confused. Think, rethink, and do it again. Always know that you'll never fully understand. Bloaz