#b'tzelem Elohim
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
sheydgarden · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
בצלם אלהים / b'tzelem elohim / made in the divine image, 8x10 linocut print, 2023
2K notes · View notes
brightlotusmoon · 7 days ago
Text
In today's world, when it is not uncommon for people to reject trans and non-binary gender identities, it is encouraging to know that the idea of multiple genders and sexes isn't new-it's an idea rooted in our rabbinic texts. Not only were these gender identities and sexes mentioned hundreds of times in the Talmud, but they were also attributed to some of the most important Biblical characters.
Genesis Rabbah proposes that when Genesis 1:27 states that "God created man in God's own image, in the image of God, God created him; male and female, God created them," it means that the first human being, Adam, was in fact an androgynos (8:1). The Babylonian Talmud goes on to claim that both Abraham and Sarah were tumtums (Yevamot 64a). These ideas-that some of the most important Biblical figures did not conform to our standard ideas of sex and gender-further strengthen the core Jewish value that all human beings are created b'tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image (Genesis 1:27), and are therefore deserving of equality as respect.
As Jewish advocates, we must raise a moral voice in support of trans rights. As Jews, we are in a unique position to counter arguments that non-binary identities don't truly exist by pointing to our rich Jewish tradition that discussed these concepts millennia ago. As allies, we must continuously educate ourselves on how to be strong trans allies. Let us all not just hope for a world where society accepts the existence of multiple genders and sexes as our rabbinic ancestors did; let us strive to create that world and ensure that all people-regardless of sex or gender identity-are treated equally both in society and under the law.
30 notes · View notes
jewgender · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
🌈✡️ : JEWGENDER
This flag is DIRECTLY referenced/inspired by @gendertreyf 's flags for the Jewish cultural genders/sexes, please also support his lovely original work!
Image IDs in alt text!
Jewgender is a Jewish culturally-exclusive xenogender, meaning you may only use this term/flag if you are Jewish (inclusive of patrilineal Jews, secular, converts, etc - a Jew is a Jew!). Credit for use of the flag in pfps, banners, etc is appreciated but not necessary. Please credit back to this post if you make edits of or take inspiration from this flag! Goyim/non-Jews may interact and share, but please do not use or clown in the reblogs/replies. Someone who identifies as Jewgender may do so for any number of reasons, Including but not limited to:
Feeling connected to one or more of the eight genders/sexes listed in the Talmud, including both adam and hamah. Someone who identifies with multiple of the listed sexes/genders may do so due to gender fluidity, intersex identity, or other personal experiences.
Feeling connected to Jewishness itself: be it culture, religion and/or secularism, social justice, history, etc. This gender indicates a deep tie to Jewishness at your core, inherently intertwining itself with your gender and the way you carry yourself through the world.
As a punk/alternative gender - to piss off transphobes, goyim, etc.
All of the above, or another reason entirely. Again, a Jew is a Jew!
Versions of the flag listed above include the standard blank flag, the stripes and their meanings (again - these were directly referenced from the aforementioned flags!), an alternative flag that include "b'tzelem elohim" and "tzedek tirdof", and a Bundist /Jewish Labor Bund Jewgender flag.
62 notes · View notes
spacelazarwolf · 5 months ago
Note
you are made b'tzelem elohim, may you recieve all the care you need and more, all the love in the world, all the finest and nicest things.
❤️
48 notes · View notes
junkjounral · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
June 14, 2023
ואהבת לרעך כמוך
V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, Love your neighbor as yourself
Under the read more are translations and transliterations for all the Hebrew, and more info abt this journal entry.
In the center: V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, Love your neighbor as yourself.
Top left: Sh'mirat halashon, Guarding one's use of language
Bottom left: Shalom bayit, Peace in the home
In the apple: B'tzelem elohim, In G-d's image
Bottom right: Al tifrosh min hatzibur, Do not separate yourself from the community
Middle right: Kavod, respect
Top right: Kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, All Israel is responsible for one another.
I normally don't give any explanations of my journal entries when I post them, even the ones that were v special and meaningful to me, bc i want ppl to bring whatever they have to it (or just have fun looking at stuff on the internet!). but this is one i thought long and hard abt posting at all, and i decided that if i was going to then i'd like ppl to know what it means for me even if they see smth else when they look at it. going into every little detail would be overkill, but i'll give the highlights.
i'm a trans jewish person who is hella involved at my shul, helping organize events, starting new initiatives, and being in various leadership roles. i have been openly trans there for a number of years now (basically since i first discovered it myself). important to the story, though, is i haven't taken part in any sort of medical transition yet. someone else trans and jewish who has also been at my shul many years is leaving bc of harassment they've faced since coming out and transitioning. a lot of ppl have come outta the woodwork to make their disapproval known and to just be disrespectful overall, and i think i no longer have a place in that community.
so, while making this journal entry i was thinking about intersections btwn judaism, community, transness, and transformation/change. and grief i'm feeling at this loss. and irony abt this all coming to a head during pride month. how are our jewish values being neglected, and where are they present? what does it mean for me to be jewish as a queer person? what does it mean for me to be jewish if i'm leaving this community? where am i going to go? what if i don't go to a diff shul and only engage w community elsewhere? what ramifications does that have for my practice?
it was a lot of wrestling. and i'm gonna continue to wrestle.
124 notes · View notes
jacensolodjo · 7 months ago
Text
Someone: [thing] goes against my religion!
A Jew: Okay, we will play that game. My turn!
Someone: Okay?
A Jew: Things like mask bans and abortion bans are against my religion.
Someone: wait no not like that.
A jew: also if you prevent someone from having a proper quality of life, say by being on hormones, that is also against my religion
Someone: stop.
A Jew: And in fact we are all made in God's image, b'tzelem elohim. So by being bigoted against people different from you, you are actually hating God, blessed be He.
Someone: please stop.
18 notes · View notes
daniel-nerd · 1 month ago
Note
מה זה חנוכה בשבילך אם אתה נגד ישראל?
translation: "what is hanukkah for you if you're against israel?"
this is a question I've been asking myself for a while. what judaism means to me while opposing zionism? is it possible to truely believe in judaism without supporting zionism? questions that only grew in size the more I learned and grew. only a few years ago, I used to think I was on a crossroad, having the choice of going with my faith or my morals, I believed they were incompatible with eachother. and I chose my morals, distancing myself from the faith as much as I could, growing apathetic to judaism.
today its different, hanukkah, like any other jewish tradition or value, is part of my religion, something I was taught is sacred and important, something I learned to be proud of.
while zionism and the state of judaism in israel pushed me away from religion, in the past year and a half I've learned judaism can exist in the modern day in ways that allign with the moral values I was taught in childhood. I've seen people who stay true to their faith, and fight for their faith and the most important values in judaism.
while the average jew in israel barely believe in judaism in its most basic form, allowing values and beliefs from external sources to bastardize the religion, and the stronger their belief is the further away they are from judaism. they preach violence, hatred, starvation, extermination, revenge, apathy towards their fellow human. all of these are values of those who persecuted us throughout history.
while a small minority of jews of various strengths of beliefs stay true to judaism and the most important values of tikkun olam, pikuach nefesh, shalom bayit, chesed, and tzedakah. (2 more values that are part of the most basic and important values are b'tzelem elohim, and emunah and emet. the meanings of each value in order are, repairing the world, preservation of life, peace in the home, loving and kindness, rightious giving, in the image of god, and lastly trust/faith [in god, and our fellow human] and truth.)
hanukkah tells us the story of the maccabean revolt against the seleucid empire and hellenistic influence, and the rededication of the second temple to god. it tells us about the jewish courage and resilience, but more importantly about the importance of light and freedom, something many jews, especially in zionism, forgot after such a long period of darkness, instead of showing the resilience the maccabeans showed, they gave to the darkness and evil around them, envying the light and freedom of others, and trying to take it away from them to fabricate new light and freedom of their own, which is exactly the opposite of what hanukkah is.
the palestinian revolt against zionism, and continuous resilience, and the jews who stood by them for the greater good, restored the faith zionism and Israel took away from me. and for that, they, more than anyone, deserve my solidarity and support. and if you can't understand why one would oppose zionism as an ideology, and reject the idea that zionism and Israel is judaism, you need to seriously do some soul searching, because the way zionists act is the greatest threat to judaism we've seen since the days of the torah.
5 notes · View notes
ladyimaginarium · 11 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
fun fact: my header is literally my name translated to anishinaabemowin in syllabics (aanzhenii) & then b'tzelem elohim which literally translates to "made in g-d's image" or "made in the divine" in hebrew, referencing our indigeneity jewishness queerness transness alterhumanity & plurality as being made holy & divine in the eyes of g-d.
3 notes · View notes
freewingthefree · 1 month ago
Text
We are all b'tzelem Elohim - in the image of G-d
In a truck stop bathroom washing my hands today and 2 boys, looked about 5 and 9, came in with their little sister who looked maybe 2. The following whispered conversation made my entire day
"We have to wait, there's a lady in here!"
"That's not a lady, he has a mustache! We can be in here!"
"Some ladies have mustaches! And she has boobs!"
"Well some guys have boobs! Like Uncle Jake!"
"Uncle Jake is fat!"
At this point I could not contain a chuckle and both whirled around with identical looks of panic on their faces. I smiled and said "it's alright for you guys to be in here so your sister has help, don't worry. And I'm both! That's why I have boobs and a mustache. Some folks are just built that way"
(In unison) "Ooooooh!"
(older boy) "So do you use Sir or Ma'am or both?"
"Both, but I prefer Sir"
"Cool! Well thanks Sir! We have to help our sister now!"
This was in a small town country truck stop and both boys had "Murica" type stuff on and neither of them had any issue at all with these concepts. Their mom approached me while I was in line about 10 minutes later and apologized for them bothering me in the bathroom (they had told her about the interaction) and she and I had a lovely little chat too. I got to introduce her to the term "intersex" and her reply was "I think I've heard of that before! I didn't know that was the word for it. Amazing how many different ways God can make people!"
Sometimes the world is good. More often than you might think, if you give it a chance. It's not all bad loves <3
49K notes · View notes
sheydgarden · 10 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
mark your calendars! 4/16/24, 12:30PM EST: new stuff coming to my Etsy shop for the first time in over a year - thank you very much for being so patient! other zines & stickers will also be restocked in various quantities, some fairly limited, & there are only 7 golems & these 5 incantation bowl pendants this time around. if you don't manage to snag one, rest assured i'm still planning to continue to make them as i'm able!
the B'TZELEM ELOHIM lino prints are 8x10" (hand-done & signed!) while FEYGELE is a cute little 5x7" & THORN PANSY is only 3x5" (this is a bizarre size for a print, i know, but you can fit in anywhere & it comes with a pin). excited to stock my poetry chapbook for the first time ever as a zine! ♥
456 notes · View notes
thepomegranatewitch · 9 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Come to the opening reception! I have five pieces being exhibited - postcard and sticker copies available for sale.
Image description. A leafy green background with white pomegranate lineart background has a rainbow poster for the Zoom Opening Reception and Artist Talk of B'tzelem Elohim: Celebrating Jewish LGBT+ Voices. A digital sticker in upper left reads 'I'm speaking about my pieces.' Red text reads Sunday 19 May and register for the free event. A QR code and plain white text give the link. Bottom right has my chop in red. Bottom line has black text with my handle for instagram, tumblr, kofi, and redbubble.
0 notes
anonforlackofabettername · 6 years ago
Note
b'tzelem Elohim isn’t a popular concept in Judaism? I would’ve thought it was just kinda assumed to be true
I’m gonna assume this is in response to this post I made during pride month. I made that post because so much of being queer, being neurodivergent, or simply being diverse, is being told that something is wrong with you because you’re you and why can’t you be more like Them. My original post was trying to spread the idea that we are wonderful, we are holy, and that G-d loves us, not because of anything we’ve done to make G-d love us, but because we are who G-d made us to be and that is loved.
But speaking on the concept of b’tzelem Elohim I don’t know if its a popular concept or not. I used to think getting bar/bat mitzvah was like a mandatory thing and then it turned out that half the Jews in my college hillel weren’t b’nei mitzvah. It honestly wasn’t a big deal, but it was still weird for me to wrap my head around it. One thing I learned from being away at college was that there’s so many different ways to be a Jew and to practice Judaism. How’s the saying go? Two Jews, Three opinions. Its like that with everything in life. 
And as for what you know about the culture/religion, even things that seem like central concepts, it can depend on bunch of stuff; your religious schooling, the denomination you practice, how your family practices, and even how much you care. The truth is I didn’t care much about Judaism and religious school when I was younger. I went to services and religious school and got bat mitzvah because that’s what you did and I wasn’t old enough to argue against it. I dropped out of religious school the minute my mom would let me and stopped being Jewish for a while because as a kid I didn’t have the appreciation that I do now. In the later parts of high school and in college I made a choice to learn more about Judaism and start practicing again, but that doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly learned everything I didn’t already know. I’ve probably heard of the idea before in different contexts and different words, this is just the one that resonated and stuck with me. I’ve always known that G-d loves me and that G-d doesn’t care about whether I keep kosher or other petty things. But reading about b’tzelem Elohim for the first time, hearing the concept put into words and then summed up in one word, struck a cord in me. Knowledge comes to us when we need it and when we go looking for it, and in this moment I’m glad I found that knowledge. That being said, I’m glad that this is a concept that is familiar and ingrained in you. I’m glad its something you know intimately. That’s great. But you have to remember that sometimes loving yourself can be the hardest thing to do, so the idea that G-d loves you even when you hate yourself can be very comforting and I want to make sure as many people know that as possible. 
2 notes · View notes
jojojo-jo-jo-jojo · 2 years ago
Photo
B'tzelem Elohim
‏בצלם אלהים
Tumblr media
36K notes · View notes
progressivejudaism · 8 years ago
Link
93 notes · View notes
the-njnb · 3 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
I made myself a sticker :)
1 note · View note
will-o-the-witch · 4 years ago
Text
A popular Jumblr blog just dug in their heels as a transphobe, so I wanted to pull my transfem Jewish followers aside for a second (and everybody else, too, but especially y’all.)  People suck, but no amount of suckage on their part will ever say anything about you and your truth. You are loved. You are welcome in this house and in this community. You are B'tzelem Elohim through every single stage of your life, anybody who uses their platform to challenge that is a schmuck unworthy of your time. Also let me know if you ever need somebody hexed.
650 notes · View notes