#progressive judaism

[wildfeather5002]

Progressive & inclusive Christians I love you 💙

Progressive & inclusive Muslims I love you 💜

Progressive & inclusive Jews I love you 💚

Progressive, inclusive & accepting religious people in general I love and cherish you ❤💞❤

Have a blessed day/night!

[wrestlingwithtorah]

All are welcome! Jewish! Not Jewish! Kind of Jewish! Jewish-adjacent! All are welcome!

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In Jewish Tradition, the concept of 'sin' doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means: and it can be a transformational concept that helps us to become better versions of ourselves.

In Hebrew, the words often translated as "sin" does mean all of the negative things our culture associates with the word, but it also means so much more. Everything from a "misstep" or an "oops," to a spiritual moment to make amends and learn from this particular experience.

Come join Rabbi Gischner as we begin the spiritual process of reflecting on our year as we celebrate the first of Elul together, to reflect on who we have been and who we are becoming as we enter the new year of 5784 together.

[tuungaq]

nothing feels quite as spiritually healing this rosh hashanah as registering for high holy day services with an antizionist congregation

[on-my-way-to-jew]

Went to my first Seder! (and other Pesach updates)

Thought I wouldn't have much to talk about yet, but I ended up going to a fair bit of Pesach stuff.

There was a progressive service on the first day, which I really enjoyed! I quite like the rabbi who runs the progressive services, and it was a smaller crowd than erev Shabbat usually is. More personal, and there were lots of songs/prayers I enjoyed. There were snacks after, too, and I got to actually introduce myself to the rabbi.

And then the seder! It was specifically for young adults -- they did separate seders for families and everyone else. I got to meet a lot of neat people; one woman was heading home on the same bus I was and we ended up chatting and exchanging contact info. And I met someone who recently joined the conversion program as well, so I'll at least know someone at the classes. The seder itself was really interesting too! Definitely non-traditional -- the ten plagues themed "Let It Go" remix was a highlight lol. It wasn't all silly stuff, of course. The haggadah reading was neat, and we often broke into conversations about the themes. Food wasn't bad either xD

Going to go to the eighth day service as well -- the second and seventh day are just masorti, no progressive option. I'd initially planned to go to them, but I didn't get home til late after the seder on the second night and ended up deciding to just sleep in instead. And then the seventh day is the same morning as an exam for uni, so I'll have to miss that. Still, I should make it to Shabbat and the eighth day!

The Intro to Judaism class should start next week too, which I'm excited about :D

[heavenssexiestangel]

Okay this is not very strictly related to my blog theme, which is fandom.

But I'm currently in a Leo Baeck College free talk Zoom call, BEING PROGRESSIVE AND SPIRITUAL with RABBI DR RENÉ PFERTZEL.

We are talking about many things, but he asked us just now "What does it mean to love G-d?" I think this question very hard to answer to. I'd like to read your opinions about this, your answers.

(I would highly prefer if only Jews or student converts answered, as this is about Judaism)

[toa-greatmind-nothingislittle]

the most Jewish of phone backgrounds:

[edenfenixblogs]

Reform/ProgressiveJews of Glasgow:

How are y’all doing? I was potentially looking at a move to Scotland last year, but it looks like that won’t happen due to health reasons.

But when I was researching possible areas in Scotland to live I saw that there was only one reform synagogue in all of Glasgow and that most Jews in Glasgow are considered Progressive/Reform. How’s the community holding up there? You feeling ok? Any way for Jews across the pond help ya feel a bit better?

[pargolettasworld]

The Kotel is a place in the middle of Jerusalem where Jews are regularly physically assaulted with fists, chairs, and hot coffee, and aurally assaulted with whistles, screams, and curses for praying as their tradition gives them space to do. Their assailants are other Jews. The Kotel is administered by a heavily Orthodox rabbi, and prayer there is meant to be strictly gender-separated along Orthodox lines. I've been there; the men's section is three times the size of the women's section.

Women of the Wall (WOW) is an organization that, for thirty years, has been working for the right of Jewish women from movements other than Orthodoxy to exercise the right that their movements give them to pray out loud and to read from the Torah, about once a month. The Orthodox establishment is NOT happy about this, and chooses to express this displeasure by means of physical violence and audio terrorism.

Because Israel has no equivalent of the Free Exercise clause, official religious activity is Orthodox, and the Israeli government and Chief Rabbinate are all pretty much okay with this state of affairs. To be clear: the Israeli establishment is fine with the idea of women being shouted at, hit with chairs, splashed with hot coffee, spat on, and otherwise assaulted because they pray in public once a month. There was a plan a couple of years ago to pay lip service to the idea of progressive Judaism in Israel by establishing a gender-egalitarian prayer space at Robinson's Arch -- a bit away from the actual Kotel, and the space planned was less than half the space of the Kotel prayer space. As far as I know, no real action has been taken on this plan.

The Women of the Wall have now formed a choir. Women's voices, united, are going to resist the shouting and the screaming and the cursing from Orthodox groups, making space for themselves and welcoming women to pray as their tradition allows. Women singing together have the strength and the power to push back against a smothering establishment that wants them to believe that one way is the only way.

[comicsymathdude]

I wanted to write something about how there's some positive to this thing going on, but no there isn't.

I'm sorry. Progressive Judaism exists and Judaism does, in fact, want you to be a good person. But this paragraph is incredibly out of context. The context is the Talmud talking about how Arayot (incest, adultery, I'm pretty sure beastiality is also included, and it is debated whether anal sex between men is also in the list or in a different category) is such a horrible Avera (transgression, comparable but completely different than the concept of sin in xtianity) that you should die and not commit it.

The story itself has the man literally on death bed, there's no evidence that the woman doesn't want to have sex with him (or just talk to him in a somewhat private place), and as has been mentioned by some people, even if she doesn't want to, the sages are still the ones who decide here, who says they won't say yes to something else she doesn't consent to?

Immediately following this story, the Talmud says that two scholars debated what exactly it was about, if the woman was married or not: if she was married then it is Arayot, but if not then there seems to be no reason for this decision of the sages. The answer is one of two: either it would bring shame to her family, or it would make the daughters of Israel are promiscuous, which might lead to them just going around having sex with anyone without even a doctor's note! (Note the complete disregard of her consent, suggesting to me that this is, in fact, supposed to be a consentual situation, which makes this whole tweet null)

(The Talmud then asks "well, if she's not married, why didn't he just marry her and then have sex with her legally" and answers that "since the Temple was destroyed, the taste of sex has been taken and given to transgressors". This is not necessary context, but I'm including it since the chapter ends immediately after that and it'd be a shame not to include a bit more Torah).

Look. I'm all for finding your morality and identity in Jewish places (if you're Jewish; if you're not, either consider conversion or don't touch it. This is a closed practice), but trying to pretend like the Talmud says that incels are bad with this specific paragraph is just disingenuous and in my opinion pereptuates the practice of taking Talmud paragraphs out of context, which has been used too much by antisemites to "prove" how terrible Jewish people are.

As for incels - the golden rule shall suffice:

דעלך סני, לחברך לא תעביד זו היא כל התורה ואידך פירושה הוא זיל גמור (שבת לא.)

מה ששנוא עליך, לא תעשה לחברך - זו כל התורה, והשאר פירוש של זה, לך ללמוד (עברית מודרנית).

What you hate, do not do to others - that is all of the Torah, and the rest is explanation, go study.

(via 7vvtutth3d7a1.jpg (JPEG Image, 718 × 1440 pixels) — Scaled (86%))

[politijohn]

Supporting Palestinian Liberation is not Inherently Antisemitic

Source

[wrestlingwithtorah]

Come join Rabbi Josh Gischner (he/him) and the Wrestling with Torah Community for an 'Ask the Rabbi' session! All are welcome regardless of their religious or cultural background to join Rabbi Gischner to ask questions (no question is too silly), or even just to listen to the wisdom shared!

Pre-ask your questions at this link, or bring them with you. This session will be held over Zoom and will not be recorded. This session will proceed Rabbi Gischner's brand new text study "The Torah of Inclusion" at 3:00 PM ET.

Rabbi Josh Gischner (he/him) is passionate about inclusion, accessible Jewish learning, justice, and artistic expressions of Jewish life and was ordained from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in May of 2021. Rabbi Gischner is one of the founders of Wrestling with Torah, and proudly serves as the rabbi educator at Temple Shalom in the DC area. Rabbi Gischner is excited to help you to discover your Torah.

Wrestling with Torah is a radically inclusive online Jewish learning community created by Rabbi Josh Gischner and Rachel Abrams in the Summer of 2020 to serve as a community for Jews and non-Jews, interested in exploring Judaism and their spirituality. WWT is dedicated to radically inclusive and financially accessible Jewish learning. Please email Rabbi Gischner at JoshuaGischner@gmail.com in advance of this session regarding your accessibility needs and to introduce yourself!

[gay-jewish-bucky]

A high-quality edit of Keshet's Jewish Progress Pride Flag

[pargolettasworld]

I think it's becoming a much more common option, certainly in the United States. At my shul, we've started referring to the process in general as "B'mitzvah." Part of my job is coordinating participation in these services, and one of the first things I ask the family in my first email to them is something like "Congratulations on [name of kid]'s upcoming simchah! How will we refer to this event going forward? Bar/bat mitzvah, b'nei mitzvah, b'mitzvah, or something else?" The parents are usually very happy to tell me, and we go from there.

Also, if anyone needs this for future reference, the Nonbinary Hebrew Project is gaining steam, and could help make your nonbinary b'mitzvah an even bigger success.

This is revolutionary y’all. I remember being 13 and refused to go do any ceremony because my parents tried to force me to go through a bar mitzvah. By virtue of the masculine name alone I just couldn’t do it. After that, I felt very alienated from the Jewish community. Having this option is so important for us to repair these binary aspects of our culture (link)

[caitlinjohns77]

you are actually trash

[is-the-fire-real]

Me when they bring up Haman

[kick-a-long]

So I’ve been celebrating Shabbat for a few months (it’s unbelievably amazing btw, I rest, light candles, I limp through Hebrew but I can feel it getting easier to say and understand, have wine, feel like a winner because no one has killed me this week.) but I don’t always want/make bread. I love bread, I love making it, having bread all week, and braiding it but my husband can’t eat it so one loaf is a lot of bread. But I sometimes wonder if challah is the only option. Putting eggs, honey, and butter in a bread reads as a kind of cake to me. It also makes sense to me that cake is fitting for celebration and contemplation about the good in life.

My question is: does jumblr know if I can make babka or rugula instead for Shabbat? Can I make gluten free cookies as long as it has over 1/8th oat flour? Maybe even Cinnamon buns fit a lot of the same ingredients as challah? Not to get all rabbinical, but does the Hebrew for what bread you have on Shabbat specify bread as opposed to cakes (which I don’t think was a separate category of food from bread 3000 years ago? The internet says challah started in 15th century Eastern Europe.

The truth is I’m not following a lot of rules for Shabbat anyway, although I try to get close each Friday. I want it to be Jewish, not just a jew making a type of Shabbat type thing on Fridays. so is this: “in for a penny in for a pound” challah is traditional, it must be bread not cake, or is it: as long as you usually do challah you can make cake and treats every once in a while?