#i’m not including the jews though :(

[the-ships-to-rule-them-all]

I don’t think people realize how all consuming October 7, the war and the rising antisemitism is to most Jews right now. I was just on a five day family trip and nearly every single conversation ended up circling back to what’s going on in Israel, across the world and at home. My mom knew Vivian Silver, an incredible peace activist thought to be held hostage and I had to sit there and watch her realize that not only was Vivian murdered at her home 38 days before but that she was likely burned if it took this long for her body to be identified. I was forced to sit there and watch my mom, my favorite woman in the world, watch her face crumple. We were sharing updates, accounts to follow, venting and releasing frustrations. It is a constant unbreakable struggle right now for me and most Jews I know to not be glued to our phones, to not pay attention. Because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t. Because we can’t afford to turn our backs on what’s going on. And there’s a deep ever present grief not only for the victims of October 7th, the innocent citizens of Gaza, the hostages and also for my own personal sense of safety and security. I am also grieving what is a shattering beyond measure of my present and future trust in people as I’ve witnessed how easily well intentioned kind hearted people have decided to say nothing, publicly or privately, or who have quickly fallen into vicious antisemitic rhetoric. I’m just sharing into the void at this point but it’s been unimaginably hard on a personal level. I’m not the same person I was when I went to bed on October 6. It’s as though I’m a shadow, made of grief and anger and tiny fractured bits of hope. Every piece of joy feels as though it’s been muted because of how quickly it fades. And even the moments that last are related to my Jewish identity somehow. I am not sure where I go from here.

Have a cat gif for reading all of that

[honeyed-cherries]

bee i am begging you to let me read your paper once this is done. include the jews please i'm BEGGING

perhaps 😈

[ancestralsurvival]

Dear “Queers for Palestine,” et al:

I’m sorry you were rejected by your childhood church or friends or family.

I’m sorry you have had to organize for your rights to simply love and live as you choose.

I’m sorry you have become hypervigilant to perceptions of injustice.

And I’m deeply sorry that you’ve taken all that and used it to punch down, to inflict hurt, to join the antisemitism of your upbringing to the untrue buzzwords of today in order to injure:

the only democracy in the Middle East

a haven for LGBTQ+ rights in the Middle East

a nation that would legally protect your right to life and joy that is fighting a terror organization that kills queers and anyone else who disagrees with its hateful goals that include a genocide of all Jews, everywhere

diaspora Jews who are only trying to live peacefully as a minority, something you should know about

Zionism is the belief in Jewish right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland, our place of indigenousness: Israel. Zionism isn’t hatred for anyone. In fact, many Zionists want a two-state solution so Israelis can live in peace with Palestinians.

I’m sorry you either didn’t know that or didn’t care before reading this far.

I’m sorry your hatred for Jews might be so ingrained that you won’t unlearn it even though you may have been willing to unlearn other biases.

I’m sorry the people who most need to read this probably won’t.

[barblaz-arts]

I haven’t sent any of the other messages, and this is the first time I’m even seeing your opinions on this matter as I’ve followed you for your Wenclair art.

I’m an Israeli citizen. On October 7th thousands of Hamas terrorists went into Israeli villages (on Israel’s territory) and raped, shot, beheaded, burned alive and murdered 1400 CIVILIANS. They kidnapped 230 more citizens into the Gaza Strip, including babies and the elderly (no idea if they are alive, as Hamas didn’t let the Red Cross or anyone else see them and REFUSED any deal to release them, despite all the lies they are spreading). Hamas uploaded videos of them doing these deeds, they were proud of them. We are still not done counting our dead, 3 weeks later, because of the state they were left in. We identify people by DNA pulled from pieces of skull tissue, by CT scans of burned masses of flesh showing parents hugging their children as they were burned alive.

A little bit of history. In 2005 Israel completely pulled out of Gaza, and handed it over to the Palestinians. In 2007 Hamas was elected to lead the Gaza Strip. This is an organization that in its charter says loud and clear they want to murder Jews. It’s not hidden, there is no question about it. They are proud of it. And since 2007 they have not allowed for an election in Gaza, they have stolen international aid money to build terror infrastructure and embedded themselves deep within their civilian population (just a few days ago evidence was provided that Hamas built their HQ under a hospital, specifically because they knew Israel wouldn’t bomb it).

The truth is, the pictures from Gaza are heartbreaking. The civilians are suffering and it’s making me sick. But how is Israel supposed to respond to the massacre of October 7th? Just pretend it didn’t happen? No country would. Israel isn’t targeting the civilian population though, unlike Hamas. I’m not saying innocent civilians aren’t killed, they very sadly are because war is horrible. But it’s always an accident, they are never the targets. Hamas is the target.

Israel has its part in creating Hamas just like the USA had its part in creating ISIS and Taliban. Still doesn’t excuse terrorism. Israel didn’t deserve the October 7th massacre anymore than the USA deserved 9/11. I hope that you can appreciate that.

The truth is, there are innocent civilians on both sides here that are suffering. Things aren’t black and white, and they never were with this conflict. And if you want to have a discussion I’ll happily talk to you privately, answer questions as best as I can. But only if we come from a place of mutual respect. If you want to block me, that’s fine too.

I do want to let you know while I can that your art is beautiful and made me smile on multiple occasions. I hope you continue it. And I wish you luck with everything and hope that we all have peaceful days in the future.

First of all. Gaza was not given to Palestine. Israel put them there and had Gaza serve as an open air prison.

You can't go around saying "Israel has its part in creating Hamas but it still doesn't excuse terrorism" then go around saying that this genocide is justified because "What else are we supposed to do after what happened in Oct 7?" What a double standard. You do not get to say that what happened to them makes you feel bad but say that you were left with no other choice. You dont get to say that Hamas being born from 70+ of brutality is still not an excuse to kill but also say Israel doing the same thing is justified.

Now, of course this does not mean that I side with Hamas. Never have, never will. I side with Palestinians, something so many Zionists cannot seem to comprehend, because they see killing them as one and the same.

Listing off those atrocities, though heartbreaking, as I will always mourn the innocent, still does not change my stance or how I feel. I feel like a broken recorder, constantly having to repeat that the civilians in Gaza did not do those and in turn did not deserve any of this. The hostages don't either of course, and the families of the ones still held captive are furious with their government for choosing to bomb them along with Hamas like some sort of sacrifice, like what you are implying the civilian deaths to be. Just unfortunate casualties for the greater good.

You can go ahead and say that only Hamas were meant to be targeted all you want, but they did not need to cut off their water so they're not even able to clean and defecate. They did not need to cut off power and render hospitals useless. And NO they did not need to bomb those same hospitals, even IF it were true that it was a Hamas base. And they did not need to use phosphorus bombs to do it. This has, and always will be about Israel's hatred of arabs and Muslims, as it was 70 years ago before Hamas even existed, as it still is now.

Tell me, if the past two or so weeks was really about Hamas, then why are these people mocking the civilians that are mourning their families' death as they starve?

None of this should have happened. Hell, you shouldn't even be living where you are in the first place. No one has any right to colonize. Whatever white supremacists or religious reason anyone says.

Of course this does not mean that I believe all jews or Israeli are as evil as the pieces of shit in that tiktok compilation or the powerful pile of dung that rule your country. There are Isreali and Jews protesting for Palestine as well, and I deeply admire them for their bravery and to feel compassion for the other side and act on it.

It's baffling how you're aware that Israel is responsible for Hamas creation but still, maybe not want it, but think all you can do is reluctantly accept the unavoidable. Because this was definitely avoidable. But your government actively wants this, and frankly I dont think it cares about you. It does not care about the soldiers they send out and the people that died and the hostages that were taken. They are using you as an excuse for more death and money.

"Those thinking of revenge should be ashamed," said by one of the survivors of Oct 7. And she is right. You are demanding the wrong things of your government.

And no, I will not be talking to anyone about this in my direct messages. Talking about it privately makes it feel like some debate to be won, when this shouldn't be a debate at all. The reason why I answer these kinds of asks is to make people aware of what is happening. I'm just some girl, I cannot fight for Palestine in any way that can directly save a life and I dont have the financial capability to donate, but I can do this. We can make those sick excuses of humans on top know that we know of their stink and we will not give it any excuse.

[writingwithcolor]

Depicting Real World Religions Alongside Constructed Religions

Maya asked:

Hi WWC! Thank you so much for this blog, it's an infinitely wonderful resource! Do you have any suggestions for how I can balance representation of real religions with fantasy religions, or should I avoid including these together? Does the fact that certain things bleed over from our world into the fantasy world help legitimize the appearance of real world religions? I feel like I can come up with respectful ways to integrate representation in ways that make sense for the worldbuilding. For instance, no Muslim characters would practice magic, and both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding). I also have some ideas for how these religions came about that fit between handwave and analogous history (though I realize the Qur'an is unchangeable, so I'm guessing Islam would have come about in the same way as IRL). BTW—I'm referring to humans, not other species coded as Muslim or Jewish. I may explore the concept of jinns more (particularly as how Muslims perceive fantastical beings), but I definitely need to do a lot more research before I go down that road! Finally, I saw a post somewhere (*but* it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily  veer into appropriation-territory.  *One of the posts that I'm referring to in case you need a better reference of *my* reference: defining coding and islam-coded-fantasy

[This long ask was redacted to pull out the core questions asked]

"Both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding)."

Just a note that while having religion be part of magic is a legitimate way to write fantasy, I want to remind people that religious characters can also perform secular magic. Sometimes I feel like people forget about that particular worldbuilding option. (I feel this one personally because in my own books I chose to make magic secular so that my nonmagical heroine wouldn’t seem less close to God somehow than her wizard adoptive dad, who is an objectively shadier person.) I’m not saying either way is more or less correct or appropriate, just that they’re both options and I think sometimes people forget about the one I chose. But anyway moving on—

Your decision to make the water spirits not actual deities is a respectful decision given the various IRL monotheistic religions in your story, so, thank you for that choice. I can see why it gets messy though, since some people in-universe treat those powers as divine. I guess as long as your fantasy Jews aren’t being depicted as backwards and wrong and ignoring in-universe reality in favor of in-universe incorrect beliefs, then you’re fine…

"I saw a post somewhere (but it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily veer into appropriation-territory."

That was probably us, as Meir and I both feel that way. What would make it appropriative is if these very Jewish IRL markers were used to represent something other than Judaism. It's not appropriative to show Jewish or Jewish-coded characters wearing yarmulkes or marking one day a week for a special evening with two candles or anything else we do if it's connected to Jewishness! To disconnect the markers of us from us is where appropriation starts to seep in.

–Shira

To bounce off what Shira said above, the source of the magic can be religious or secular--or put another way, it can be explicitly granted be a deity or through engagement with a specific religious practice, or it can be something that can be accessed with or without engaging with a certain set of beliefs or practices. It sounds like you’re proposing the second one: the magic is there for anyone to use, but the people in this specific religion engage with it through a framework of specific ideas and practices.

If you can transform into a “spirit” by engaging with this religion, and I can transform into a “spirit” through an analogous practice through the framework of Kabbalah, for example, and an atheist can transform through a course of secular technical study, then what makes yours a religion is the belief on your part that engaging in the process in your specific way, or choosing to engage in that process over other lifestyle choices, is in some way a spiritual good, not the mechanics of the transformation. If, on the other hand, humans can only access this transformative magic through the grace of the deities that religion worships, while practitioners of other religions lack the relationship with the only gods empowered to make that magic, that’s when I’d say you had crossed into doing more harm than good by seeking to include real-world religions.

Including a link below to a post you might have already seen that included the “religion in fantasy worldbuilding alignment chart.” It sounds like you’re in the center square, which is a fine place to be. The center top and bottom squares are where I typically have warned to leave real-world religions out of it.

More reading:

Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons

–Meir

[edenfenixblogs]

New Pinned Post: How This Blog Approaches The Conflict

I am not normally a politically-focused blog. I am normally a personal blog that enjoys fandom and occasionally processes my own past trauma. As this war goes on, I am finding that it is against my personal ethics and morals to stay silent when I have the ability to educate and remain more patient than most. (My patience is not endless. I’m still human). So, while disinformation/misinformation, and propaganda abound on all sides. I feel like the best way I can help lower the temperature is to put my skills to use.

Primary Political Goals:

1. Emphasize humanity above all and use verifiable information and good faith education and discourse to reduce tension.

2. Do my absolute best to move the conversation away from polarizing, accusatory discourse that forces Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians to play a desperate game of defense and toward a shared mutually beneficial peace that honors each grouped indigeneity culture, and connection to their ancestral homeland.

3. Demonstrate and emphasize both Jewish-Muslim solidarity and Israeli-Palestinian solidarity.

Primary Blogging Goals:

As a diaspora Jew, my primary goal is threefold

1. Educate about antisemitism and Islamophobia—including calling it out and explaining it to the best of my ability.

2. Elevate responsible, verifiable voices—regardless of religion or nationality—and information to the best of my ability.

3. Demonstrate effective activism and provide insight and encouragement for other to find their most effective way to contribute to fostering peace.

Elaboration:

1. I have the most experience with an understanding of antisemitism. I am more of an expert in antisemitism and have more ability to identify and educate about it. That said: I will not tolerate any Islamophobia or racism and if I don’t have the ability to educate about it, you will be blocked. If I have the ability to educate about it, I will do so and give you the chance to read about it and adjust your behavior. If you do not do so, I will block you.

2. This does not mean equal representation of all nationalities and religions. It means the best informed and most reliable voices AND the voices I personally have the best ability to vet, verify, and substantiate. This will often mean Jewish voices and Israeli voices. This is me staying in my lane, not choosing to suppress any voice. I will not elevate purposefully divisive, tokenized, or uninformed voices. This does not mean that I won’t elevate Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab voices as well. I will. But my primary goal here is responsibility. To do that, I have to stay in my lane.

3. I am most effective as an educator on this matter, a guide to finding reliable peace-oriented voices, and an example of patience. There’s a great desire among many to protest or create videos detailing their opinions and stances. Not only is this primarily performative—especially among non-Muslim/non-Palestinian goyim—it has the potential to be extraordinarily damaging to Jews both in Israel and in Diaspora as well as to Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, and South East Asians worldwide. If you truly desire to help and not just feel like you’re helping, the best thing you can do is follow the lead of much more experienced activists with a demonstrated track record of effectiveness and good faith in their areas of expertise. As I stated: mine is primarily education and greater than average (though not limitless) amounts of patience. If you want to donate money or engage in more direct action and aid, I suggest finding pro-Palestinian Israeli voices and peace oriented Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian voices as well as organizations with experience in this conflict that do not rely on eliminating any population or erasing anyone’s connection to the Levant. Follow their lead on that matter. If you are only just engaging in this conflict for the first time due to current events, you likely do not know nearly as much as you think you do about any of this. Being uninformed and spouting disinformation has actual dire consequences that can get Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, and Arabs killed. It is vital that you’re responsible in your engagement on this matter. Learning dogwhistles and how to spot bad faith arguments is a must. And to be effective, you should spend more of your time learning than you’re doing protesting or arguing. This is a 2000+ year old conflict. There is a lot to know and understand. And there are a lot of people willing to prey on your newcomer status and manipulate your existing beliefs to use you as a pawn to further their bad faith aims. The only consistent, trustworthy principal is to trust those who repeatedly affirm their goal as peace and shared prosperity and who reject any form of demonization based on ethnicity or religion. This is not a game. This is not the west’s fight. This is a conflict between two horribly oppressed, traumatized, and nearly exterminated ethnoreligous groups.

I am begging you to think, listen, and learn before joining the fray.

Note: I also don’t claim to be perfect. If I mess up or reblog something that causes unintended harm (which is very easy to do when engaging in discussions and activism about this conflict), I will say so and issue a correction. There’s no need to be hostile in informing me about this. Just message with your concern and I’ll evaluate from there.

Additionally, I will not interact with Hamas apologists. Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Anyone trying to make me feel like this is an Us vs. Them situation will be blocked.

[hero-israel]

As a black person I actually find the logic of many Zionists to be audacious.

My people were sold and kidnapped. We were enslaved for hundreds of years. We had the most despicable things happen to us. I’m sure you may relate, we were put into breeding camps, they used our parts to make clothes and furniture, allegedly they ate us, they tortured us, etc.

There is more than enough proof I am indigenous to Africa hell I found and reconnected with the family one of my ancestors was taken from. I am very lucky.

At no point have I ever thought about going to West Africa and taking the land back, stealing property, imprisoning, and murdering people who’ve lived there for centuries and still live there today. Even though there’s a possibility that they’ve participated in the selling of at least one of my ancestors.

Just because I can trace my heritage there doesn’t suddenly mean I have a claim on the land. I have heard so many Zionist say they belong there more than Palestinians, that there claim on the land is stronger. Maybe it’s not all of them but it is enough to be concerning.

Also bring up Liberia if you want. We didn’t ask for that.

This is a fair critique and it brings up one of the most important aspects of Zionism, and of all Jewish life in the modern era and from now on: that Zionism was always morally RIGHT, but it did not have to be morally NECESSARY.

For decades there was a raging, controversial, legitimately two-sided intracommunity debate over Zionism, like nothing you see among Jews today, memorably portrayed in Chaim Potok's novel "The Chosen" (and subsequent film version). The Reform Jewish Movement, our largest denomination, was governed by an explicitly anti-Zionist platform for over 50 years..... until they changed their minds in 1937. The Jewish people always trace their heritage to Eretz Yisrael, always could claim a rightful place there - but things should never have been allowed to get bad enough, fast enough, that in the truest sense their only choice was to create a state of Israel or die.

As early as 1920, Hitler said his goal was total extermination of the Jews. Nobody cared. America sealed its gates to Jewish immigrants in 1924. Germany began visibly prepping for genocide around 1935, again nobody cared. At Evian 1938 - "the great betrayal" - pretty much every powerful state in the world acknowledged that the Jews were about to be wiped out, and knowing that, refused to allow refugees to enter (except for the Dominican Republic, the mensches). England bowed to Arab terrorism and sealed off immigration to Mandate Palestine - which was a violation of international law under the League of Nations but, again, nobody cared. Nobody, not one single country, fought to protect the Jews or to help them escape. The Allies couldn't be bothered to bomb the tracks into Auschwitz, but they would heroically sink refugee ships. After the war, 250,000 Jews lingered miserably in displaced persons camps for YEARS, with not one single country being willing to admit them, and in nearly all cases there being nothing to return to anyway. There were still Jews kept in Dachau, guarded by Germans, until 1951.

From a 1945 report to Truman: "Many Jewish displaced persons … are living under guard behind barbed-wire fences … including some of the most notorious concentration camps … had no clothing other than their concentration camp garb…. Most of them have been separated three, four or five years and they cannot understand why the liberators should not have undertaken immediately the organized effort to re-unite family groups…. Many of the buildings … are clearly unfit for winter…. [Author contrasted these conditions with the relative normal life led by the nearby German populations and wondered at the contrast] ...We appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them except that we do not exterminate them. They are in concentration camps in large numbers under our military guard instead of S.S. troops. One is led to wonder whether the German people, seeing this, are not supposing that we are following or at least condoning Nazi policy...."

Those who attempted to return to their former communities were routinely murdered (seen at the end of "Maus"). There was a massacre of Holocaust survivors in Kiev, Ukraine in September 1945, another in Kielce, Poland in July 1946.

The Jews saw Palestine as their only hope, because it was. And when they saw their enemies there were led by actual red-handed Nazi war criminals, and heard that the stakes were once again their total genocide? Well, that's when you fight.... damn hard... to build the state and the military that will, FOR ONCE, protect you.

You talk about "At no point in my life have I considered claiming a part of Africa and fighting the people who I find there". Well - what if it was extremely obviously that or death?

A popular saying among Jews: "Israel was not created because there was a Holocaust. The Holocaust was created because there was no Israel." It's true - but it should not have been necessary to have an Israel to prevent the Holocaust. The rest of the world should have done that, and they didn't so much fail in preventing it as much as they succeeded in enabling it. You are correct to say that African-Americans did not ask for Liberia. The concept was made up by white people to try to get blacks out of America (though it gained popularity with black people after "milestones" of new cruelty such as the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, and I believe Marcus Garvey is well-liked to this day). Well, Jews did not ask to have no government in the world grant us equality or defend us from genocide. We did not ask to have no choice. And we do not ask for our response to the latest attempted genocide to be condemned by the same nations that enabled the last several.

Today about 90% of Jews are Zionists. Not just out of the everlasting moral principle, but because of the life-or-death reality that when we needed ANY OTHER OPTION TO WORK, NOTHING DID. And since then, there has been even clearer demonstration of the tenuousness of Jewish survival and the depths of inhuman hatred we face from our enemies, as the 3,000-year-old Mizrahi Jewish civilization was successfully uprooted and purged from dozens of countries (which had already been oppressing and massacring them long before Zionism) as collective racial revenge against Israel. The mere fact that that was logistically possible - that it could be done, quickly and repeatedly - speaks worlds about the normalized culture of eliminationism surrounding us. What do you really think are the chances that African-Americans could be altogether physically purged from the USA or some of its states? Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea finished their Jews within the last 5 years.

As "critics of Israel" have made it extremely clear that all Jews worldwide remain legitimate targets, that all "colonizers" (unquestionably including Americans like me) "deserve it" ("it" to include infanticide, rape, kidnapping, and mass murder), and as America visibly decays into algorithmic racist authoritarianism and climatic desperation.... you should not expect that 90% to change.

[mossadspypigeon]

“They’re not an innocent people.”

You are aware you sound like Hitler right? Just a little bit? Your identity doesn’t categorically exclude you from this.

…calling a jew hitler 😂😂😂 perfect holocaust inversion. say that without anon on, you fucking coward.

saying germans were not innocent bc the MAJORITY colluded with hitler and supported the regime? what would that make me then?

saying most russians and other europeanswere not innocent when it came to pogroms?

most white protestants in america were not innocent when it came to white supremacy and segregation?

calling out systemic antisemitism in arab and muslim communities that made jews dhimmis, third class citizens, and caused massacres like the farhud?

does that make me a bad jew?LMFAO

the MAJORITY of gazans support hamas and collude with them, including holding our hostages, having mein kampf in their homes, wanting jews to be eradicated, etc. that is a fact. saying a society is not innocent because of its bigotry is not saying that society deserves to be eradicated.

also palestinians are arabs. i am not calling for annihilation of arabs. in fact, i’ve called for DERADICALIZATION, which was done with germans after wwii.

you love defending actual nazis and DARVOing jews though.

let’s take a look at what gazans learn in UNRWA run schools, shall we?

…

but my jew ass is hitler. 😂😂😂 okay bitch. holocaust inversion is some of the worst of modern antisemitism. i doubt you know a thing about hitler, nazis, or jewish history, and yet you’re in the inboxes of jews calling them hitler because we are calling out SYSTEMIC BIGOTRY AGAINST US. that AFFECTS US, not you. yes, i am calling out gazans for committing atrocities against jews and perpetuating ACTUAL NAZI BULLSHIT.

btw the original leader of your blorbos?

asked hitler for tips on wiping out jews. and that rhetoric is continued today in gazan mosques, schools, and government.

just say you have never watched gazan tv programs, listened to their leaders, or watched the footage i showed you of them celebrating october 7.

🖕🖕🖕

are there good palestinians? of course you fuckhead. but you don’t listen to them.

do they all deserve to die? no. but i don’t care about people who want to rape and murder me just because i’m a jew. and i shouldn’t have to. you wouldn’t demand it of anyone else.

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Okay i saw your answer on etrogs so it made me wonder: etrog vs rimon, which is more Jewish?? (I’m not actually invested in a definite answer, but I’m VERY invested in the debate)

Rating: HERE’S THE DEBATE YOU WANTED 

Answering this question necessarily requires a working definition of what makes something “more” or “less” Jewish, and what that definition is results in several different answers with their corresponding justifications. Does “more Jewish” mean “more important to Judaism religiously”? Or “more important to Jewish culture?” Or “belonging uniquely to Jews as opposed to any other enthno-religious group?” So, here goes: 

More religiously important: ETROG. The etrog, also known as the citron, is one of the four species critical to the celebration of the Festival of Sukkot. Leviticus 23:40 commands that “on the first day [of Sukkot] you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before your God seven days.” “Hadar” translates to “splendor” or “beauty” and is traditionally read to refer to the etrog tree. Interestingly, the Jerusalem Talmud suggests the possibility that “hadar tree” could refer to pomegranates before dismissing it, as the pomegranate has a “beautiful fruit but not beautiful wood,” (or possibly vice versa, scribal texts disagree), whereas the etrog has both beautiful fruit and beautiful wood, along a beautiful scent. (Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 3:5:2). All that aside, there is mitzvah d’orieta (a religious obligation directly from the Torah, as opposed to an obligation established by the rabbis, a mitzvah d’rabbanan) that requires the use of the etrog, whereas all religious use of the pomegranate, such as at a Tu B’shvat Seder or as a siman on Rosh HaShanah, have merely the force of minhag (religious custom, not law). 

More important to Jewish culture: RIMON. Pomegranates feature in a huge amount of Jewish art, especially as decoration on pretty much any Jewish ritual item. You can find them on everything from ketubot (marriage contracts) to hanukkiot (hanukkah menorahs). I’ve seen pomegranate tallitot, pomegranate mezuzot, pomegranate tzedakah boxes, etc. Personally, in my house, we have four different pomegranate mezuzot, a pomegranate hand-washing cup for ritual handwashing, pomegranate candlesticks, a pomegranate kiddush cup, and, ironically enough, an etrog box decorated with— you guessed it— pomegranates. (I also have pomegranate earrings and pomegranate socks, thank you fiance) (At the time of this writing, this blog is also a Jewish thing decorated with pomegranates). A search for “pomegranate” on Judaica.com offers 197 results, whereas a search for “etrog” turns up 4 actual lulav and etrog sets, plus 13 decorative boxes designed to safely hold one’s etrog during sukkot and not as decoration at all. 

Pomegranates are one of the seven species biblically associated with the land of Israel, along with wheat, barley, grapes, fig, olives, and dates (Deuteronomy 8:8)-- a list that does not include etrogim. They are also an important motif throughout Shir haShirim (Song of Songs), in which the lovers frequently compare each other’s beauty to that of a pomegranate. Pomegranates symbolize beauty, fertility, fecundity, mitzvot, and merit, as in the annual Rosh HaShanah wish that “our merits be as plentiful as the seeds of the pomegranate.” A common (though inaccurate) bit of folk wisdom gives the number of seeds in a pomegranate as 613, one for each of the commandments given in the Torah. 

In a particularly entertaining digression in the Talmud (Bava Metzia 8a) in which the rabbis are comparing their physical attributes (yes, this means exactly what you think it does), the narrative voice pauses to explain that if you want to understand just how unbelievably gorgeous Rabbi Yochanan was, you should take a “silver goblet from the smithy and fill it with red pomegranate seeds and place a diadem of red roses upon the lip of the goblet, and position it between the sunlight and shade. That luster is a semblance of Rabbi Yoḥanan’s beauty.” Does this really support my thesis? As minor evidence at most, but I will seize any opportunity to share that description. 

Meanwhile, the etrog does not appear as a symbol or decoration in and of itself, only in the context of Sukkot and the other three Sukkot species. You may indeed see an etrog on the Torah curtain in Tishrei or in a panel of stained glass in the synagogue… but you’ll only know it’s an etrog because it has the lulav right next to it, generally as part of an array of holiday-related symbols. (I do, in fact, also own an etrog earring, but just the one— the other one is a lulav, thank you sibling.) There are a plethora of midrashim on what exactly the etrog symbolizes, but always as part of a set. For example, it’s often associated with the heart, to go along with the palm frond’s spine, the myrtle’s mouth, and the willow’s eye. As my fiance put it, “If you see a pomegranate on something, there’s a decent chance it’s Jewish. But without the lulav, an etrog just looks like a lemon, and there’s nothing particularly Jewish about lemons.” 

Belonging Uniquely to Jews: ETROG. The citron is widely agreed to be one of three “true” members of the citrus family, along with the mandarin and pomelo, with all others the results of hybridization. Archeological and primary-document research confirms that the citron originated in eastern India and southern China, and was found in Sumerian ruins dating from more than six thousand years ago. It is referenced in the Vajasaneiy Samhita, a compilation of Vedic religion texts, called Yajur-Veda (ca. 1200-1000 B.C.E), and early Greek and Latin writers describe the citron clearly, mentioning its use as an antidote to poisons and a way to ward off moths from one’s clothes.* However, a 2015 study found evidence that the diffusion of the citron throughout southern Italy and the surrounding region dated to the destruction of the Second Temple and subsequent Jewish diaspora. The study concludes that their results “evidence the special role played by Jews in the spread of the citron as the authentic sacred fruit used in their Tabernacles ritual.”* It is worth noting that there is a variety of citron known as “Buddha’s Hand” that may be used as offerings in Buddhist temples, but it looks so dramatically different from what we know as an etrog as to be a different item entirely (and, indeed, multiple rabbis have ruled that it should not be used for fulfilling the mitzvah). Thus, the etrog is inextricably and uniquely linked to Jews. 

On the other side of the debate, pomegranates appear frequently in art, stories, and cultural artifacts throughout the world, particularly in the Middle and Near East. These stories range from the Ancient Greek myth of Hades and Persophone, whose consumption of pomegranate seeds kept her in the underworld for the winter each year, to a Buddhist legend of a child-eating/stealing demoness whom the Buddha convinced to only eat pomegranates and become a patron goddess of children.  Greece, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, among others, consider the pomegranate to be one of their important symbols. Traditions regarding pomegranates abound, including a Greek custom of smashing a pomegranate on the new year for good luck. They are widely considered a symbol of fertility, abundance, and good luck, similarly to their symbolism in Judaism. In short, while Jews are very into pomegranates, so are a lot of other cultures. 

*Gina Maruca, et al. “Religious and cultural significance of the citron (citrus medica L. ‘diamante’) from Calabria (South Italy): A biblical fruit of the mediterranean land.” Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering A, vol. 4, no. 4, 28 Apr. 2015, https://doi.org/10.17265/2162-5298/2015.04.006.

[secular-jew]

Even if I convert I’ll never really be accepted as Jewish in America because I’m black. Even though my country has ruins of synagogues :(.

I’m really sad, but I will still convert anyway!🩷

Your observation is absurd and glad you're going through with it, IF IT'S WHAT YOU WANT.

Judaism doesn't seek or force conversions on anyone. It is not a proselytizing conversion ideology like Christianity or Islam. So it's entirely up to you.

As for the issue of acceptance. First, I'm glad you don't care what other people think. Are you converting for you, or for someone else? Never worry bout what someone else might think, it's a waste of brain power and causes useless anxiety.

No one really cares about skin color, except politicians who use this and any excuse to divide along racial, ethnic, and gender lines. The leftists, 'sexiste and Democrats are professionals at doing this.

There are entire entities of black Jews from the MENA, and if you're looking for black Jewish role models in the U.S., Sammy Davis Jr was a well know converted Jew who was accepted as such anywhere and everywhere. Other black American Jews include Drake, Rashida Jones (daughter of Quincy Jones), musician Lenny Kravitz, SNL star and actress Maya Rudolph, actress Kat Graham, musician Ben Harper, Tracee Ellis Ross (daughter of legend Diana Ross), actress Lisa Bonet, Nell Carter, Daveed Diggs, Rain Pryor (daughter of Richard Pryor). I could go on and on.

[fordtato]

So, I’ve been watching some of your Gravity Falls videos—-and by the way, they’re absolutely fantastic, and I love that you included complex and under-discussed topics through the lenses of aspecs and of masculinity—though one of the things that’s been most surprising that you’ve mentioned in passing a few times is the idea that Stan and Ford were specifically Jewish immigrants.

I’m curious if you could tell me more about that, especially because that possibility doesn’t sit well with me as a Jew, as if it’s true it would make Stan’s entire character an antisemitic stereotype (the greedy, deceptive Jew is one of the oldest antisemitic stereotypes out there) and would make the entire show harder to enjoy or even watch.

Sure, no problem (and thank you for watching my videos)! So, the Pines family is canonically Jewish (the series creator, Alex Hirsch, is himself Jewish and based them off his own family and has confirmed this, and we see a mezuzah at Stan and Ford’s childhood home). As far as them being immigrants, I don’t say that Stan and Ford themselves are immigrants, but that they are the children of immigrants, as it is implied in the supplemental material that their father (or at least their father’s family) migrated to the US, with a mention of a name-change on Ellis Island. 

As far as the antisemitic stereotypes, that is an area that I feel less comfortable weighing in on (as I myself am not Jewish). It is notable that the characters were written/created by a Jewish man, and I feel it would be inappropriate for me to weigh in too deeply on how a Jewish person writes Jewish characters (and Stan, notably, is also based off of one of Hirsch’s relatives.) In all discussions of good or bad representation (regardless of which marginalized group I’m considering), I think a solid rule of thumb when considering a stereotypical depiction, is that it is important to see if that is the only depiction of that group present, or if there is diversity within the diversity, so to speak. The entire Pines family, including Dipper, Mabel and Ford, are all Jewish, and they have a wide breadth of traits and loveable qualities and flaws. If all of these characters had harmful stereotypes associated with their traits, or if the only depiction of a character from a given group is a stereotype, that is what usually sets off red flags for me. This does NOT mean that stereotypical depictions are immune to criticism, because they absolutely are not, but I do think criticism can be murky on a case-to-case basis, especially when those traits are written by a writer of that background. 

That being said, I have seen it said by other Jewish fandom members that Stan Pines can be seen as a deconstruction of the stereotypical tropes you mention and I’ve always found that very interesting. What at first appears to be greed/money-obsession can actually be seen as a manifestation of his means of survival (leftover from when he was homeless as a teen), the trauma of being told as a young person that he would not be accepted without money, and also that he was working to pay off his brother’s mortgage while working to save him from the portal.

I hope this was helpful and that my answer here made sense. 

[spacelazarwolf]

I’m an Italian ger who’s being converted in an Ashkenazi community. I want to connect to my culture so badly!!! Is there any books you’d recommend, Italki food you love, or special rituals you do on Shabbat / during the week that are influenced by being Italian? I’d love to introduce more into my own practice!!

yeah! also this ended up being probably more in depth than you were asking for so apologies lmao.

so for some context (in case you or anyone reading this is not already aware), italki jews are a specific group of jews within italy. italki isn't like a nationality, so it's not a synonym for "italian jew", it's more like a regional identity. people from rome, naples, and venice are all italian, but they're also roman, neapolitan, and venetian. even if they move somewhere else, they'll likely still retain that regional identity. italy didn't become a unified republic until 1871, so culture and language and food varied a lot by region (which it still does), and that's true of jewish communities too, especially those that came from other places.

italki jews are jews who were brought to italy by the romans or traveled to rome to be merchants, and have been there since roman times. ashkenazi jews came during the middle ages, primarily settling in the north in places like venice. it's very worth noting that ashkenazim in italy, with the exception of one or two communities, have significantly different musical tradition, pronunciation, language, and food than other ashkenazi communities. sephardi jews came mostly after the expulsion from spain and portugal, though there were some living in sicily and southern italy.

with all that in mind, i'd definitely recommend doing some research into the demographics of the jewish community in the place you or your family is from. if you already live there, it should be much easier!

resources:

the jews in italy- their contribution to the development and diffusion of jewish heritage

cookbooks by edda servi machlin (she has several, but some are hard to find)

cucina ebraica

i highly recommend checking out torah.it. it's a fantastic archive of recordings and pdfs all about italian jewry. you will spend hours there and still have only scratched the surface.

rabbi barbara aiello also has a lot of different resources.

i highly recommend checking out the work of leo levi for research on italian jewish music. he spent years interviewing and recording chazzanut, scholars, and other community leaders and saved so many italian jewish melodies from complete extinction. (i believe all these recordings are uploaded to torah.it as well)

primo levi is another italian jew to research. he wrote many books that are available for purchase, including a memoir about his survival in auschwitz. there is also an institute in his name dedicated to the preservation, study, and celebration of italian judaism.

ensemble bet hagat put out an album of reimagined italian jewish music a few years ago and i believe they are also working on a second one. it is beautiful.

anyway that's probably enough nerding out, i can get to the more personal stuff and answering the actual questions you asked me now lmao.

right now, it's just me in my apartment so there's a lot of traditions i can't do, but if you have family or friends you can invite over, there are a lot of lovely traditions you can incorporate. i use a three branched candelabra for my shabbat candles. the middle candle is lit first and used to light the other two, as you would with hanukkah candles. if you have multiple people at your table, you can give them their own individual candles, in which case you will light the shamash (middle candle), pass it around the table for each person to light their individual candle, then the host will light the two other candles.

for food, i love making riso del sabato. it's a risotto dish with saffron and it is delicious. there's also a pumpkin ravioli in brown butter and sage sauce in cucina ebraica that is to die for.

[athenawasamerf]

What's life in Egypt like?

This is a very vague question so I’m not sure how to answer, really. It’s kind of tense these days, anyway.

Ig the day to day is pretty typical. I’m not exactly the average citizen, most of my time is taken up with med school so I don’t explore or go out as much as I should. I live in Alexandria, and I love it here. Coastal, the old section of the city is beautiful, lots of greenery. It’s pouring down rain all through winter, driving is near impossible because everyone is fucking insane (which is typical for Egyptian cities lol), it’s pretty densely populated, the food is phenomenal. We have a ton of museums and historical sites, and the library of Alexandria is pretty rad. The economy is shit and getting shittier, we’re under a military dictatorship (again but worse than last time), inflation is insane and the country is in a ton of debt to the point that the central bank of Egypt has stopped all foreign currency transactions on debit cards, and credit cards have a foreign currency limit of the equivalent of $250/month.

From a feminist perspective, it’s not the best place to be. Alexandria is better than most of the country, but I still get harassed regularly. Egyptian men are paternalistic and have a weirdly entitled attitude towards all women, we have in-jokes in feminist circles about the fruit vendor from down the street being mad at you for coming home late. Tbf I’m fairly open about my feminist opinions and that hasn’t caused me any trouble, and basically all my friends and acquaintances know that I wear a hijab in front of my family and take it off at school/when I’m out with friends, and 4 of my cousins know about the hijab thing as well. Dating culture is fairly normalised in Alexandria, so everyone in my circles including two of my cousins know about my love life (but not my sexuality). In some places of Egypt, I’d be honour killed for any one of these things, so I’m grateful to be where I am. There’s still a line of chauvinism running in the country, though that’s the least of our worries as feminists. I have a post about marriage and divorce in Egypt under my Egyptian feminism tag if you’re interested in learning more about that aspect.

From an LGB perspective, unfortunately the little progress we’d made in the late 00’s and early 10’s has been receding quickly. We’d gotten to a point of live and let live in some areas, but the introduction of trans ideology in the west caused a massive recoil in perception of LGB people here, and there’s been a crackdown on LGB-sympathetic ideas. Every time it’s brought up, you get a look of disgust and ‘they’re teaching kids to change their sex’. It’s going to take massive amounts of time and effort to repair this damage.

And finally, from a religious perspective, well. Not much has improved re acceptance of atheism or non-abrahamic religious beliefs. Egyptian law technically protects your right to freedom of belief, but, crucially, not your right to freedom of expression of religious belief. National ID cards must have your religion listed on them, and the only options are Muslim/Christian/Jew. Contempt of religion and ‘violating Egyptian family values’ laws are pretty strict and are used to prosecute everything from girls dancing on TikTok to blasphemy. I don’t see this improving any time soon, though foreigners (non-Arabs) are given some leeway.

I hope I’ve covered the most important points, but please feel free to reach out if you have more specific questions!

[elder-millennial-of-zion]

I meant what I said in my bio/pinned post thingy, that I stand with all Jews against antisemitism, including those who disagree with me. But I’m getting really tired of anti Zionist Jews spitting in my face for it. And look, it’s tumblr. We can block and curate however we please. Nobody is obligated to keep me on their dash if they don’t want. But when I so much as like a post by another Jew venting about antisemitism, when all I do is click that heart to support them even though their posts say all Zionists are awful, and they immediately block me…….I’m sorry you think I’m worse than the antisemites. I’m sorry you’re so pained by antisemitism yet you refuse the support of other Jews because you’ve decided that the vast majority of the Jewish population is “awful.” I tried.

[spot-the-antisemitism]

“pro-Pal” anon - I want to apologize for several things because I clearly communicated poorly

First, I didn’t mean to imply you aren’t Jewish or your perspective isnt! When I said “a Jewish perspective” on the slur usage, all I meant is that I’ve seen Jewish users talk about this as an issue too, not just others watching from the sidelines, and obviously you don’t know who I am so I didn’t want to go “Hi, just butting in with information which is irrelevant to jumblr!” bc I’ve first found these conversations amongst Jewish bloggers, but they haven’t had a gigantic amount of reach to where it’s still commonly used (which is why I’ve seen a couple jumblr blogs make PSAs about it).

Secondly, I also didn’t mean to imply ‘zio’ is 100% directly equivalent etc, and you’re completely right about all of the conspiratorial uses. It’s a horrible word, and nobody should be using it for any purpose, but I guess my phrasing made it come off as assuming you didn’t know that. Clearly you do, because you run this blog and experience this shit firsthand. I truly did not mean to denigrate your lived experience or expertise or imply you don’t know how slurs work or something. The purpose of the comparison was that you know exactly what you’re talking about when it comes to antisemitism (more than me clearly!) so I was trying to think how they’re used in similar ways sometimes (as you acknowledged).

Third, I’m swear not a hamasnik, and I’m not sending this randomly due to tag searching, or mass-asking (I mean; nobody else got that ask), I sent the ask because I’ve been following this enough with multiple people to see that your blog is fairly influential (I see you reblogged on my dash with some frequency), and I genuinely have encountered a fair number of people (of all backgrounds, not singling out Jewish ppl here) who didn’t realize there was a slur within the phrase and went “Oh ok I’ll use a different word.” I was trying to cover my bases in case you were unfamiliar—not with the issues at hand but with a very specific usage of a word used against Palestinians, which is not something tossed at you personally afaik—not to imply you were generally ignorant of racial hatred in some way. The whole point of this blog is that you’re not. If I thought you were it’d be pointless to try.

Thank you for your consideration about using ‘hamasnik’ as an alternative. I completely agree that the Western movement is not pro-Palestine, simply anti-Israel (often extending to anti-Jewish) and those two things are not equivalent. There’s no excuse for the way the ‘movement’ as such has treated and continues to treat Jews, nor for valorizing Hamas’s crimes against humanity.

I will push back on some things you claimed about me though because they are wrong: sending this had NOTHING to do with Sinwar’s death and accusing someone of terror apologia over an ask which did not mention him or Hamas is a big reach. He was a butcher of Israelis and Palestinians alike, a murderer, a rapist, a truly hateful man, and I am glad he can do no more harm in the world. And what it’s worth, I have been called several slurs with some frequency, including as threats of violence and rape said to my face. That I have no experience of oppression not a particularly kind assumption to make about me, and I’m kind of alarmed at how hostile and unnecessary it was to “call me out” as a non-oppressed person. I did not mean to cross such a line as to inspire that reaction, but I won’t lie, it did kind of make me feel like shit.

You obviously don’t have to post this if you don’t want to, all I want to say is I meant no harm, I do NOT support Hamas, but I do support the work you do calling out antisemitism, which is why I was even on your blog and seeing it on others—I genuinely wasn’t sure if you knew because I’ve met people who were surprised to learn it wasn’t just shorthand for “Palestinian” and without that context it sounds harmless. I’m sorry if I came off as condescending (I’ve been told my sentence structure sometimes does when I’m trying to word things very carefully but I’m still figuring out how to avoid it) or confrontational, and again thank you for acknowledging the slurs/their history in your post and for using ‘hamasnik’. The people (mainly white goyim) being antisemitic & racist themselves need to be called out and I’m glad you’re doing it. That said if I upset you enough that you’d like me to not interact with you or view/follow your blog, I will honor that, though I plan to keep following the other Jewish bloggers I do and continue keeping track of rising antisemitism as well as anti-Palestinian hatred. If I’m uneducated and ignorant, I’ll just have to learn more, but if this isn’t the place for me specifically to do it in your opinion, I’ll respect that.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and again, I’m sorry.

Dear "pro-pal is a slur anon",

I have gravely misunderstood your intentions because you came off as very condescending

first, I am aware of what spacelazarwolf said, I follow spacelazarwolf, I had argued at the time it's not a slur when talking about non arab non palestineans. I now see I was wrong and apologize.

Second, thanks for realizing I know more about slurs than you but again I probably shouldn't have dissmissed the palestinean perspective and said I know better, anymore than you shouldn't consider you know. Zio is a slur even when used agaisnt gentiles, Pal/Pali is a slur even when used against non palestineans. We agree

I was already using hamasnik but yeah I should have switched to it sooner, honestly.

"I completely agree that the Western movement is not pro-Palestine, simply anti-Israel (often extending to anti-Jewish) and those two things are not equivalent. There’s no excuse for the way the ‘movement’ as such has treated and continues to treat Jews, nor for valorizing Hamas’s crimes against humanity."

^ this right here

Third, I assumed you weren't trying to reach me but actually condescend and scold me for wrongdoing to discredit me and not in good faith at all. you do not know how many times people claimed i have sexually harrased, abused their cat despite never meeting them that I was racist for "spade", that I could be dissmissed because I cannot spell so "pro-pal is a slur actually" sounded like another reason to discredit me and paint me as evil, racist and uninformed

"And what it’s worth, I have been called several slurs with some frequency, including as threats of violence and rape said to my face. That I have no experience of oppression not a particularly kind assumption to make about me, and I’m kind of alarmed at how hostile and unnecessary it was to “call me out” as a non-oppressed person. I did not mean to cross such a line as to inspire that reaction, but I won’t lie, it did kind of make me feel like shit."

No excuse for saying that.I really need to stop with "ooh you sound like you're not oppressed enough" it's deeply harmful to assume

Sorry for calling you supporter of hamas that was uncalled for. please forgive me. I like when people ask me to condemn Israel it is hypocritical of me to ask you to prove you don't support hamas

"That said if I upset you enough that you’d like me to not interact with you or view/follow your blog, I will honor that, though I plan to keep following the other Jewish bloggers I do and continue keeping track of rising antisemitism as well as anti-Palestinian hatred. If I’m uneducated and ignorant, I’ll just have to learn more,"

While you have deeply offended me and I you in turn, I honestly think if you want to learn, I think talking to me is beneficial to both of us and if you want to keep talking that's up to you

and why on EARTH would I not publish the post exonerating you?

thank you for pushing back,

Cecil

[hmsharmony]

Hi all! This shouldn’t come as a surprise given how infrequently I’ve been on this year, but I’m officially going on hiatus from tumblr (and probably fandom as well). I honestly thought I had processed October 7th and the antisemitic fallout with my therapist, until she left the practice just last month. I was anxious about who I might end up with, so I asked if she could recommend any Jewish therapists in her practice, which she did. Of course there’s only so much you can tell from a therapist’s bio, but I chose one hoping I wouldn’t end up with someone who had not internalized antisemitism.

I did not.

I ended up with someone who has had a similar experience. And when she revealed this, a weight I didn’t even realize I was carrying suddenly disappeared.

We had our first meeting last week and discussed what I had worked on with my last therapist. Of course that included work we did re October 7, and when I started going into specific, I started crying. My new therapist then gently asked me if I had processed the trauma. I responded that I thought I had, but maybe not (very obviously not). She then added “living as a Jewish person” to the list of things we would be working on (a first for her, she said).

“Okay, but how does this relate to tumblr?” Good question! The answer to which I’m putting behind a read more because no one should be forced to see my more detailed account of trauma I’m still processing.

Twitter and tumblr were the two social media platforms where I encountered the most antisemitism starting on October 7. It’s where I saw friends and acquaintances justify the massacre of Jews because they happened to be Israeli (or just in Israel!). It’s where former friends admonished me for how I reacted, insisting that it didn’t matter WHAT I was reacting to, as if it was unthinkable to have heated reactions to antisemitism following the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. I had my trauma dismissed or ignored. A mutual revealed for the first time that they were Jewish and, in the same breath, used that newly revealed identity to dismiss my experience. I was told by person a, b, or c that x, y, or z mutual couldn’t possibly be antisemitic because THEY had never experienced that when interacting with them—an argument person a/b/c rightfully called out in other contexts. And, of course, seeing non-Jewish mutuals refusing to allow Jews to define Zionism, aka the Jewish movement of self-determination, and defining it in a way that vilifies 80-90% of all Jews worldwide. The blood libel. The conspiracy theories. The spreading of Soviet era antisemitic propaganda. And on and on and on.

I closed my Twitter account only a month or so after October 7, and I haven’t returned. I didn’t think that was necessary with tumblr because it’s easier to cultivate one’s experience. Yet even though I KNOW I’ve taken the steps to limit my exposure to antisemitism, every time I think about opening the app, I am filled with dread. And I think it’s because I still haven’t processed not only the antisemitism I experienced in those first few months on here affect October 7, but also the sense of betrayal (see: how the previous paragraph is filled to the brim with bitterness). Also, unlike with the other social media sites I’m still using regularly, I don’t have close friends here, particularly ones who are calling out antisemitism. There are plenty of people I follow on tumblr who have been calling out antisemitism (although most of them were people I found after October 7). I am so grateful to those people, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, but they’re not close friends. My close tumblr friends, most of whom remain close friends, left tumblr a long time ago. Having joined a new fandom, I was building new tumblr relationships in 2022/2023, but then October 7 happened, and with it everything I said above. Perhaps not surprisingly, I’ve since closed myself off from new relationships, even with people I had already started to get to know. That makes for a very lonely experience, which is never a great feeling but is a particularly awful feeling when antisemitism remains so high.

All of this to say: until I process everything, I think tumblr, and fandom by extension, will continue to feel hostile and isolating, regardless of whether it actually is. I really, truly hope to return to tumblr and fandom in the future. I’m hopeful having a therapist who has personal knowledge of antisemitism in the wake of October 7 will mean much more effective therapy.

Fandom has been part of my life since I was nine years old, when I waited impatiently for my AOL dial up to connect to the internet so I could find out why Sailor Moon was no longer playing on Cartoon Network—and discovered fan fiction in the process. Since I was nine!! That’s more than 2/3 of my life. I want to feel comfortable again in a world that has informed so much of who I am. Which is why I’m very hopeful I will return, even if I don’t know how long it will take.

So until then, 👋🏻.

(If we are mutuals and/or have interacted a fair bit before and you would like to stay in touch, I will be checking my messages for a bit and, depending on our history, can point you in the direction of the other social media I’m still using.)