#and very Jewish of me personally

[veryintricaterituals]

Something about Good Omens from a Jewish perspective, something about Crowley, about questions, something about how we are not in heaven, about how we get to decide the rules here on Earth, something about discussion, about wrestling with G-d, and something about how G-d is outnumbered and doesn't get a say, something about how "heaven" and "hell" don't really matter, about trying to make things better from the context of our lives, something about leaving the world a better place than you found it, something about drinking and enjoying life right here and now, something about "they tried to kill us and failed, let's eat".

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Perhaps a controversial take, but I don't think the phrase "make nazis afraid again" actually reflects what often happened in real life both in history and in the current day. I've seen way too many comfortable, celebrated nazis who were and are nothing but unafraid and emboldened.

I feel a more accurate slogan would be "make nazis afraid."

[edenfenixblogs]

It would be so easy to ghost most of my old friends that I’m still loosely in contact with since 10/7. They never reach out to me. I’m always the one making contact. I know it makes them uncomfortable when I bring up literally anything that’s affecting me. And yet I can’t bring myself to do it. I just…can’t. I don’t have the energy to confront any of them about how deeply they’ve failed me as friends or how deeply they’ve failed themselves as people who supposedly care about marginalized people.

But I also can’t bring myself to sever ties.

And I think I’ve figured out why. I refuse to be the one to take an emotional risk. There is a plate glass wall up between them and me now. We can see each other, but we can’t get close. Not anymore. But there is a door in the glass. On my side, I have a hammer. On their side, there is a hammer and a key. My only options are smashing that wall with my hammer or doing nothing. They have the same options, but they also have the option to open the door.

I feel like I’m surrounded by lots of other rooms where other friends got to make the same choice. Some opened the door. Most smashed the glass. But either way, I know where they stood.

The only group that hasn’t made a choice is still behind glass with the door locked. But the door is also made of glass.

So I’ve chosen to stand at the door. Glaring at them. I breathe on the window and write messages on the steam like “hi!” And “I saw a great movie today, have you seen it?” And “woohoo! Three hostages are released!”

Most of the time they pretend not to see the messages. Sometimes, if it’s not too visibly about being Jewish, they’ll write a message in their own breath. A small smiley face or a one word reply. But they’re very careful not to meet my gaze. If they did, they’d notice when I pointedly shifted it to the hammer and key lying side by side.

I know they want me to walk through the shards of glass or the doors that other, better friends have opened. They want me to give up and forget about them so that I don’t make them uncomfortable enough to make a choice.

But I’m not going anywhere. At the end of the day, the wall shouldn’t be there. If they want to be my friend, they’d need to open the door. If being friends with me is too much of a hassle for them, they need to nut up and break the glass.

Either way, I’m not absolving them of the responsibility of making that choice.

Their silence, like mine, is the third choice. But I do not consent to letting them make it a comfortable silence. I will pointedly be as direct in my silence as possible.

Some of them have been somewhat supportive. But not to anyone but me. Not where anybody outside our circle can see. It’s exhausting. But I have my nose pressed to the glass.

[macbethz]

Thinking a lot recently about what how a minor war god from the Canaanite pantheon evolved into the one God of all creation.

There is a common misinterpretation of Judaism from Christians and ex-Christians, influenced by their cultural reading of the Old Testament, where our perception of God is seen as uniquely violent when compared to the New Testament merciful one. This interpretation lacks an acknowledgement of historical context, something Judaism encourages investigation into: the roots of the Torah lie in the laws of a persecuted people, written while we were in exile, from the mythology of a god of war.

Chose to depict the proto-Semetic war god as humanoid since the Canaanite religion didn't have the same aniconist tradition as judaism today. there are actually a few depictions in art believed to be early forms of the Hebrew God or the gods that would eventually merge into his mythology (Ba'al and El)

now available as a print!

EDIT: really hate that i have to say this on an unrelated piece about judaism but this is directly counter to the ideals of zionists and if you are using this comic while justifying Israel's colonial rule you have misunderstood my work. "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:20, 23:19). free palestine

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Hey major shout-out to my fellow trans Jews. This year has been hell and it's hard not to feel like we've been completely abandoned, betrayed, shut out, and made unsafe across the full political spectrum.

I'm so sorry; we deserved better. I hope you're okay and standing strong - we will get through this together 🕎 🏳️‍⚧️ ✡️

[snekdood]

so uh

for 1. most people are gonna take advantage of black friday and wont see your specific niche tumblr post, I hate to say it

2. the us isnt running out of money for war any time soon, so...

3. this is just antisemitism???????? all we need is some (((echoes))) around the us and israel and then I'd have no reason to suspect otherwise from op...............

[solargeist]

the religious hermit list is growing slowly 👍

Grian - Catholic

Mumbo - Mormon

Skizz - Protestant 🎉

[mikimeiko]

Nobody Wants This | Season 1 (2024), Erin Foster

[canisvesperus]

I think y’all don’t realize how insulting it is as a descendant of pogrom refugees and Shoah victims to constantly hear Hitler analogies to such and such fictional blorbo. I don’t think you get to constantly compare shit to Hitler when you don’t even call out the antisemitism happening all around you! You don’t care when your friends repeat nazi talking points. You don’t care about Jewish suffering. You don’t care when I ask you to care. You don’t see it and you tell me I’m crazy for noticing! I have to live with this trauma of the literal holocaust every day. You know nothing of nazis and the things they did to us. And antisemitism doesn’t end there but you care more about fandom drama instead.

[romainlettusdinnerparty]

oh my god. thinking about the byers being jewish again. thinking about a little will acting out and drawing the passover story with joyce narrating and jonathan giggling along. thinking about the potential future of byers-wheeler passovers. thinking about mike writing their haggadah and inserting little jokes and meaningful reflections about their experience with the apocalypse. thinking about when everyone has kids, mike and nancy and el searching for the afikoman along side them because they never got to when they were younger. omg thinking about will and mike turning the passover story into a dnd campaign!! introducing their kids to both dnd and the history of will’s people!! sorry im absolutely insane about this!!!!

[iwieldthesword]

"Oh wow OP sounds like you weren't Their Good Jew™ enough to avoid experiencing antisemitism in antizionist spaces, I guess you'll change your mind about antizionism now!"

Actually this is so crazy, but my political activism isn't actually based on what will personally benefit me or if I'm rewarded for it, but is in fact a reflection of my moral compass and what I think is right. Way to tell on yourself that your political views and activism are 100% based on other people's approval and what you think will personally benefit you best, though! Couldn't be me.

[this-is-z-art-blog]

any good recommend for Jewish fashion for Sam?

Howdy, I've been letting this one percolate for a bit, hence the delay. It's an interesting question! Short answer is unfortunately no, I don't have a specific 'Jewish fashion' trend or subculture to recommend.

Longer answer, Jewish folks live in dozens of countries and we've been around for thousands of years. While Torah and halacha (Jewish law) covers many aspects of day-to-day living as well as holidays and more special occasions, it doesn't say a lot about how to dress for the common person (vs how it's pretty specific about holy day garb for cohanim). In Orthodox circles it's a matter of religious and cultural significance to dress modestly (though as with most Jewish laws and customs, the definitions of these things vary community to community) and while there's exceptions (Hasidics notably), most Jewish communities dress largely in line with the custom of where they're living (eg Orthodox women in the US typically wear long sleeves and full skirts, but in a Western style).

That said, Sam and her family don't seem to be Orthodox, and could be interpreted easily as Conservative or Reform (to be clear, the Jewish Conservative denomination has nothing to do with political conservatism, and tends towards progressive and egalitarian ideals; I grew up in a conservative synagogue and girls read torah, led services, etc), so even a lot of distinctive Jewish dress I could talk about isn't super relevant to her because those movements don't have a lot of the same customs around clothing.

Jewelry is more common as an expression of Jewish identity and culture than specific clothing, especially featuring a Star of David/Magen David, hamsa, ayin hara, or an emblem of a torah or mezzuzah, on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, in a variety of styles from intricately ornamented to quite simple. And even that is a matter of personal preference by and large; one person might wear a magen david necklace every day, another only on special occasions or when they feel like it, another never, and none of those is 'more' or 'less' Jewish. That said, I do think Sam would be interested in that kind of Jewish visibility, which is part of why I often depict her with a Star of David charm on her necklace.

Here's a little intro on myjewishlearning that expands on some of what I've talked about here, and is also a decent site for poking around in general. That said I know doing research can be daunting, it's hard to know what's fact vs custom vs opinion, what the context of information is, what questions to even be asking, and also that it's often just more fun and engaging to ask questions directly. I'm not always fast but my askbox and messages are open!

[shalom-iamcominghome]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[stanestreet]

A sentence I never imagined I’d write: I now think Jeremy Corbyn did Jews in Britain a favour. His time as Labour leader, between 2015 and 2020, was an extremely weird one for British Jews, but eye-opening all the same: I now think it prepared many of us for the Left’s reaction to October 7, whereas American Jews seemed far more surprised. The gaslighting (the attack didn’t happen), the defences (if it did, Jews deserved it), the hectoring moral superiority (how can you care about that when this is so much more important?): all that we saw after October 7, we had seen under Corbyn.

Now is not the place to rehash the many examples of Corbyn’s jaw-dropping attitudes towards Jews, never mind Israel, ideas some of us naively thought had died out with Stalin. Those are specific to Corbyn, whose political relevance is now, thankfully, in the past. But two general truths emerged from that era that would prove extremely relevant after October 7.

The first was how little people across the Left cared when Jews pointed out the obvious antisemitism they saw in the Labour Party. In 2018, 86% of British Jews said they believed Corbyn was antisemitic; and still the Left supported him, and still The Guardian backed him in the 2019 general election. Would they — good Lefties one and all — have done this if the vast majority of another minority said they believed Corbyn was bigoted against them? Would the Left have supported an Islamophobic leader in 2018? A homophobic one? A racist one? It’s hard to imagine. “What are Jews so scared of? It’s not like Corbyn’s going to bring back pogroms,” a prominent figure on the Left asked me. I briefly amused myself by imagining a response: “Why are black people so against the Tories? It’s not like they’ll bring back lynching.” But I stayed schtum. The Left doesn’t care about antisemitism if they deem it inconvenient to their cause. They just call it “anti-Zionism” and carry on, and that was — it turned out — a good lesson to learn.

Hadley Freeman, an excerpt from her essay Blindness: October 7 and the Left, published by Jewish Quarterly

[jewishregulus]

do you think regulus would like passover popovers

i think he would willingly consume them for the duration of passover but ….. no he would not like them …….. i think the jewish marauders era freak who enjoys them is prolly remus . and i think sirius would rather die than consume one . lily just doesn’t make em

[undaughtered]

i think this is controversial but i do legitimately think (and this trend is starting to emerge, very slowly but very surely, in religious and theological studies, especially among scholars of comparative religion) that judaism can wrestle christianity back from christians on some level. not practically, obviously, but it is really is about time christianity was reappropriated by the people it has been used to oppress including and perhaps most especially jewish people. not in a messianic way, obviously, but in the sense that jesus as a historical figure was a jew, a jew who loved his religion and culture passionately, and the jesus movement was, long before it was christian, a jewish movement.