#dayenu

[maimonidesnutz]

After second night seder

[svartikotturinn]

שומע יא אידיוט תפסיק לתקוף יהודים אמריקאים ולקרוא להם לא יהודים? מאיפה אתה חושב שאנחנו הגענו? לפני מאה שנה גם אנחנו היינו בגלות. תחשוב מה שאתה רוצה על יהדות רפורמית אבל מאיפה הטימטום לחשוב שלראות את האויבים שלנו כאשכרה אנשים זה לא יהודי, ומאיפה הטמטום שיהודים בגלות ברחבי העולם הם לא יהודים.

סתום ת'פה ותפסיק לפגוע בקהילה של עצמך כפרה.

I’m gonna take the opportunity and respond both to your stupid bullshit and the stuff I got from @spacelazarwolf and @the-catboy-minyan with this image:

This kind of bullshit is a perfect example of why so-called ‘American Jews’ get on my last nerve. They are not actually a part of the culture, they engage with it on an extremely shallow level, and then have the nerve to barge in and pretend they fucking own it. (Here is another example. Here is another one.) So no, I am not ‘threatened’ by them, I am deeply irritated. (Much the same way Irish and Scottish people in those countries are irritated by Plastic Paddies boastfully claiming to be descendants of Robert the Bruce, by the way.)

I don’t know who you are, anon, but I do NOT appreciate your bullshit strawmanning. I did not say this applies to all Americans, and certainly not to all Jews living abroad. I am talking about this type which does not do the absolute bare minimum, which is, first and foremost, speaking Hebrew. This is the one major thing that Jews have in common outside of religious practice: the lingua franca Jews have used for millennia (yes, even beyond religious practice—read some Shlomo Haramati), without which you might be in touch with your own community but your link to Jewishness as a whole will be hobbled.

Now, as for Pharaoh, here is what Jewish scripture and exegesis has to say about him. Notably, here is how the Talmud describes him physically. This is not a flattering description, it’s barely humanizing, it repeatedly refers to him as evil with the only thing resembling a redeeming characteristic being that he charged at the front of his advancing army as a form of showing respect to God by confronting him personally at that one particular time. The thing about ‘forgivenss’ is particularly galling, as it is specifically pointed out that he explicitly refused to repent, and he is outright stated to be an evil fool. Compare and contrast with Christian scripture. (EDIT: Also, you claim to be Jewish yet are entirely unfamiliar the lyrics to Dayenu. Curious.)

This is another thing you need to be meaningfully Jewish: you need to actually engage with Jewish tradition and texts (and to do that, you need to—once again, say it with me—speak Hebrew). Once again, that brand of ‘American Jews’ are not doing that, but rather watering down the real deal to something palatable to their own sensibilities, regardless of whatever actual traditions they might have to trample along the way.

And the worst part of it? Now Israeli teens who socialize primarily online and speak English instead, a language they are not native speakers of, are getting in on this bullshit and become indistinguishable from their ilk at a glance. Hell, a few years I even saw one claiming the Jewish Bible was originally in Yiddish on Reddit.

So quit your LARPing, quit your harping, and kindly fuck off.

[sandwichesaremyfav]

Chag Pesach Sameach

Dayenu

✡︎ It would have been enough

✡︎ It would have been enough for Hashem to let our people go but not have lead us to Mount Sinai

✡︎ It would have been enough for Hashem to have lead us to Mount Sinai but not have given us the Torah

✡︎ It would have been enough for Hashem to have given us the Torah but not have given us the promised land

✡︎ Yet He did all of it for our people

Dayenu

[faircatch]

Dayenu

So, for my job, I used to write things with a Rabbi... like emails and social media posts, etc...

A few years ago, at the first COVID Passover, there was no travel or social gathering, and very few people were able to visit family to celebrate the holiday. People were alone for their Seders and it was a new and isolating experience. Knowing how difficult this would be, I looked up some speeches and opinion pieces about Passover that might be inspiring and maybe lift some spirits...

I wish I could remember the Rabbi, but one write up was about how we say Dayenu (translated as, "It would have been sufficient"). Dayenu recounts all the wonderful things Hashem has done for the Jewish people and basically breaks it down that if Hashem had ONLY done this one thing for us, it would have been sufficient. It's a long list and one of them is, "If Hashem had brought us to Mount Sinai and not given us the Torah, it would have been sufficient." But that raises the question of what would be the point of gathering the Jewish people to Sinai and NOT giving us the Torah?

The answer is: Because this was the first time we, the Jewish people, had been gathered together specifically as the Jewish people. It was the first time we were gathered as a joint community.

I wrote how this related to us being isolated during COVID during the holiday... How did I connect this?

Even if we are sitting alone in our homes, we are all doing that together. All of us, all the Jewish people around the world - in the diaspora, in Israel, all the same nights and doing the same basic things (though traditions vary). We are still the Jewish people. We are still gathered as a joint community. We are still all connected to each other through this holiday - telling the same story of our freedom from slavery. We are joined by an invisible bond to all our fellow Jews with our identity intact, surviving thousands of years, telling our story year after year.

It was a call to remember we are not alone, even when we are alone.

I think about it again now because I see so many Jews on this site and on other media talking about how they feel isolated and alone.

I hope we all remember that we are joined together by that invisible bond still. That as we sit at our Seders and telling our story, there are millions of others who are doing the same and that we are still here as a community. We drink our wine (or grape juice or what have you) and dip our bitter herbs into a mixture of apple/nuts/wine/dates (or d'vash or whatever you use) for morar... We sing Dayenu and welcome Eliyahu... we do so separately and together... with family, or with friends, while hiding on college campuses, or in hotels with catered meals, at big tables and small, for the first time or for the 180th time, with chairs full and with empty chairs for the missing...

And I hope that for those that are feeling alone can somehow read this and know that they aren't alone. We are here with you. We are Jews with you. We are a community and we survive by telling our story every year together.

Sending you all love and hope for happiness and peace.

May it be sufficient.

[weemietime]

I'd like to share this comic.

My blog tends to focus itself on antisemitism and disinformation and legal correctness however Palestinian pain is very real and visceral and there are real hurting people out there. We should never ever celebrate brutality. War can be legal, and necessary. But it is never joyous. It must always be heart-wrenching. Every life lost is a world, a tragedy. That is the Jewish perspective. We don't believe in martyrdom.

Not really. There are a few things in the Torah that you're supposed to die instead of do, but in practical life, we Jews push back against that. Idolatry is one of them meaning we should die before converting. But we have conversos, who did so, to save their own lives, and the bnei anusim that came from them, and the crypto Jews, and all that.

I think there's nuance even then, to this idea of kareth. I think we grabbed onto those Jews and told G-d listen, these guys are with us. You told us, Kol Yisrael arevim ze bazeh and pikuach nefesh. They did what they had to do, we won't leave them behind. I think G-d might listen to our appeal. You know?

Anyway, I digress. Kareth is a personal one for me as I myself have committed one of those actions due to someone forcing me or else another would be severely harmed, even killed. And when I converted my rabbi said well, you were a child. You were forced. You saved a life. I vouch for you, I accept you. And I went in the mikvah, so that was very powerful for me.

So martyrdom really isn't a Jewish concept, I don't think. We celebrate life. We say l'chaim! We say we survived! Yes! We lived, bitch! Purim is our Inglorious Basterds. Not only we lived but we did it in style. OK now I'm just rambling. But the comic is very poignant. I liked it. There was an argument about the title but I suspect it's just a regional difference.

[creatingnikki]

recently someone introduced me to the Hebrew word daiyenu. they said it translates to ‘it would have been enough’. sounds basic, right? but the sentiment this word carries is precious. it is a beautiful way to express gratitude. a way to say that even though things didn’t end up the way that would have been the most ideal for us, we are still so grateful for what has been done. we never met and played that game of chess but you stayed up with me all those nights my dad was in the hospital and made me laugh. daiyenu. my skills as an artist never improved so I can’t even call myself one but illustrating like a 4th grader is one of the few ways that help me destress and not overthink. daiyenu. we don’t love each other anymore but when we did it was sincere and kind. daiyenu. anything I cook other than spaghetti always turns out less tasty than it looks but I am learning to cook and nourish myself. daiyenu. despite all that time we spent together so closely we never actually understood the other person but we tried many times before giving up. daiyenu. you never remember my birthday but always show up with a present whenever we meet because everywhere you go something reminds you of me. daiyenu. my body does not do the things I would like it to but it keeps me alive and puts up with my three-hour sleep cycle, midnight snacking, and no moisturising. daiyenu. our taste in music is poles apart but we still send each other songs as a way to say I want to know the parts of you that I cannot inherently resonate with. daiyenu. any fairy lights I buy stop working within a few days but for as long as they do they provide a sense of calm that I can no longer go without. daiyenu. you did not read any of the books I gifted or recommended to you but have never missed anything written by me. daiyenu. you did not agree with what I said but did not laugh, mock, or deny me my feelings. daiyenu. you are not mine to keep but we get to share this magical and maddening part of our youth together. daiyenu. life is not going according to plan but I get to course correct and cry and buy oranges and tell my mother I love her. daiyenu. 

@shedreamerwings thank you for introducing me to this beautiful word/concept. 

[jdsquared]

[notquiteinsanity]

This is a hard time for all Jews rn. And I’m so thankful to my synagogue and to jumblr for making me feel less alone. As someone in the process of converting this feels like a really big time to be on such a journey.

Conversion, I would argue, is always a bit lonesome. You might lose all your family, you might not. Even if you don’t, you still say goodbye to all the traditions you grew up with, and even if they didn’t mean much to you, it’s still something that you say goodbye to. There are so many goodbyes in conversion.

And there are so many hellos. New people, new community, new traditions. It’s so exciting and honestly feels like such a balm to my soul. The piece of me that was always missing coming home.

Watching the news, seeing the antisemitism and the divide, it terrifies me. And yet I see all my synagogue keep their heads up and keep going and it brings me so much hope. I see Israelis making matzah after bombings occur and singing Dayenu and I know it would have been enough.

Even for me, even just this, remaining a ger for life, would have been enough.

[madtomedgar]

Just... What if women in fiction had tragic endings that had nothing to do with gender. What a world.

[eretzyisrael]

Dayenu, Coming Home - The Fountainheads Passover Song

einpratfountainheads

[shapesofglory]

RRR exists, and that is enough

[stealth-liberal]

Dayenu

So, tonight was the last little bit of tidying up before tomorrow starts the cook-off that will end in the Passover* seder meal at 7pm. I did a lot of cleaning that past few days, but not as much as I have done in other years. Both my kids have had the flu, and my husband had a bad cold. So, what I did had to be good enough... dayenu.

Today, I bought a lamb shank and some kosher for Passover wine. I took my kids, who FINALLY felt better out to the park, and we took in a museum. We talked about what I would cook and what they would be helping with. Would a fanatic be satisfied with my Passover prep cleaning this year? Nope. And I don't care... dayenu.

Sometimes, I think we get so wrapped up in the ritual of this massive cleaning project before the holiday that we forget what the holiday is supposed to be about. We compete over who did it best, and it's just... crap. The holiday isn't about cleaning, and if you think it is, you need to take a step back. I made a post earlier about how much I hate Passover and how it's my least favorite holiday. How the rules have gotten so severe about this cleaning that it seems they are meant to keep women cleaning and quiet till Rosh Hashanah.

This year, I'm actually looking forward to it. I didn't work myself to exhausted tears and yelling at everyone. I did what I could, did a small bit more, and then stopped... dayenu. And for the first time in, I cannot tell you how long, I am actually looking forward to the seder. Repeating dayenu while caring for the sick people around me and doing what I could to prep got me through what I was sure was going to kill me.

Today we took it easy and breathed in the fresh air. I just got back from dropping off my chametz (wheat products) at their yearly vacation at my friend's house. I'm going to take a shower and watch a movie before going to bed. And I'm not on the verge of tears thinking about tomorrow. How nice.

Dayenu.

*I don't say Pesach often because when I was a little girl, I was a bit of a brat who overemphasized the cchh sound in Pesach and sounded, intentionally, like someone who had tuberculosis. So I got banned from saying it by my exhausted family, and so I always say Passover now.

[applesauce42069]

NATAN LANU WHAT?

(“et ha Torah!”)

NATAN LANU WHAT!!!???!?!!

(“ET HA TORAH!”)

[scottstiles]

WHY DO I KEEP GETTING LOGGED OUT OF TUMBLR

[shamballalin]

Whatever Religion We Do or Don’t Follow, Let’s Forget Judgment and Resurrect Love Instead

Cheryl Melody Baskin singing her version of Dayenu. Today I am sharing a post written by Cheryl Melody Baskin (Melody) on April 14, 2022. Her website is: https://cherylmelody.com/?fbclid=IwAR332IgEjNhF3tlWQEG4dK6f9Z4-CySxHFZFiYYz6gUkdO_9ngKkvrSSEBw_aem_AQ5xB2ldZRYVQRdHKHWT__qAcc6i_sbsY-ElDqhL6jwtYnuygbrlSzD1_2KJjH-c8CbhlWfK2PVNZqzzwiKq7UUQ This post was originally published April 14, 2022 by…