#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]

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.

[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 🎉

[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!!!!

[mikimeiko]

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

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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

[shalom-iamcominghome]

My jewish community, friends, rabbi, and educators: We are very invested in helping you be jewish. Do you want to help read the haftarah? Here's a chanukiah! You can have it!! Borrow these books! Here's some books! You need more books... Come to pesach! Come to the chanukah party! When are your classes done? We need a minyan for once!

Me and my 50000 IQ: What if I am Secretly Appropriating judaism? What if I am doing a Cultural Appropriation........

[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

[lycandrophile]

The phrase "MRA" wasn't "ruined" by cis men, it was coined by and for a misogynistic hate movement that believes cis men are being oppressed by feminists. It has only ever referred to this movement (which btw doesn't tend to view trans men as men).

If someone called you a Nazi, I assume you wouldn't respond by saying "yeah I am a Nazi." Why is this phrase any different?

i wasn’t going to respond to this for a million different reasons but actually, i am going to do so just to make a little psa:

stop fucking comparing things to nazis to make a point. (and while you’re at it, don’t compare things to the holocaust either.) antisemitism and white supremacy aren’t rhetorical tools to be thrown around when it’s convenient for you in a debate. they’re actual violence that should be taken incredibly seriously, not an abstract thing to be tossed into a conversation any time you want to emphasize how bad you think a different thing is.

saying “i don’t think that being described as someone who fights for the rights of trans men should be a mark of shame” is not the same as if i proudly called myself a nazi. if you think those are even remotely similar, kindly fuck off. i really shouldn’t have to say that.

[jewish-vents]

My entire life, I've yearned for the kind of community the Jewish community and Judaism have provided me. I found out I had Jewish ancestry when I was a kid, I looked into it more later and realized my most recent Jewish ancestor (like three-ish generations back) was almost certainly forcibly converted out, and decided to convert to like. Make amends for that I guess and also because I really vibed with the holidays and how we turn up everywhere in history bc we keep doing cool stuff despite consistently shitty circumstances.

But I digress.

I have waited my WHOLE LIFE trying to experience the joy becoming Jewish has shown me, and that gets shit on constantly.

My sister has started making a truly obscene number of Jew jokes. My mom scoffs at all the 'nonsense rules' and has said repeatedly that she thinks choosing a 'restrictive' religion is dumb and I've made a mistake. She even said it's an insult to HER parenting skills that I would seek out religion after she tried to teach me to know better.

My dad is dead but I never ever in a million years would have told him even if he were alive, and my sister thinks it's funny to threaten to 'out' me as Jewish to his relatives even though they're basically KKK-adjacent so she actually enjoys threatening mg safety at this point. (Yay family right?)

My friends have turned everything into an Israel/Palestine discussion lately and I know damn well what they're doing when they start saying truly horrible shit about Israelis and looking at me. They get mad if I try to temper their extremism so I've given up. I barely talk to them anymore and I spend more and more time with other Jews from temple and I don't want to like. Isolate myself from all non-Jews I guess bc I've always felt like that leads to weirdness and perpetuates shit about Jews being unfriendly I guess idk?

Anyway I digress again. My point is I'm really sick of constantly being expected to tolerate it when people think I shouldn't be Jewish.

Other queer people think I'm somehow compromising my queer identity by being Jewish, leftists think I hunt Palestinian children for sport now apparently, right-wingers think I traffic good Christian babies for organ harvesting or some shit idfk, my friends think that if I'm not being more vitriolic in my hatred of Israel than they already are I'm some kind of secret rabid Netanyahu fan, my family think I've been recruited into a cult apparently and the only other people who show me even an ounce of compassion or regard are other Jews and Gd knows there's like ten of us and that number is unlikely to increase.

Just. Fuck. I've put blood, sweat, tears and money into this, I invested more time and emotional commitment into this than I have into going to college or choosing a career, I love it more than anything and have only loved it more the more I learned about it, and all I get when I express this or even just let slip that I am Jewish and chose to be, I get nothing but hatred. I will never understand how a religion that has spent all 5000 years of our existence minding our business and arguing about the same book over and over can possibly have offended this many people with our existence.

Dmn anon, that is a lot you're dealing with right now. I'm so sorry you're surrounded by people who clearly don't respect you. Because yes this is a lack of basic respect, and it is antisemitic. Now I don't know how old you are and how safe you are, but if you can safely do so, set very hard boundaries. Do not tolerate this amount of disrespect towards who you are. It is hard, and many of us have had to go through similar situations, as you can read all over this blog. But I think having to spend your life surrounded by people who make you feel unsafe and disrespected is worse. I know sometimes there are situations in which people cannot safely set these boundaries, I hope it's not your case, but if it is feel free to come here to vent again.

I know you don't want to isolate yourself from goyim. Many Jewish people don't want to. Sadly, when people disrespect us like this, they're the ones isolating us. It's not your fault. Seek people who love and accept you. Sadly, a good chunk of goyim won't - I'm not saying everyone, obviously, but a portion. Having a good Jewish support network seems to be more and more important, whether it's irl or online.

I hope you can soon be in an environment that's safer and more accepting

- 🐺