#the actual hebrew holiday stuff?

[jewishcissiekj]

back here again (won't finish it today because I need to help my mom with stuff for the Seventh day of Passover and then there's my preparation for the Seventh day of Passover and then there's the actual Seventh day of Passover that starts at like? 7? so I'm just starting for now because I want to rewatch it before reading the novelization)

[fromchaostocosmos]

I'm very frustrated with how the various youtubers and streamers talk about Ben Shapiro.

Because they do not understand or have the proper context when talking about him and everything he represents.

They also often go into antisemitic territory when mocking him, while it is unintentional and something they may not not even know they are doing, they are doing it none the less.

When they mock his voice or call him Shabibo that is actually antisemitic territory.

Due to a history of Jewish people having our names stripped from us and voices and names mocked. Now I too find his voice to be personally annoying, but I won't mock it because of said history.

It is not about the curtsy that Ben Shapiro deserves or doesn't deserve, but rather about deciding when it is okay to employ antisemitism against a Jewish person.

The answer is never.

The overwhelming majority of these commentators are not Jewish and the few that are Jewish don't seem to know any of the important details that make what Ben Shapiro says so dangerous for all Jews and such a false representation.

See what is not presented in discussions about him is that Ben Shapiro is not there to pull in a Jewish audience he is there as a token Jew to help further pull in an christian audience.

That is what makes it all so very insidious in nature. And sadly some Jewish people get fooled by this too because they do not look beyond the front facing facade he wears like costume, but they do not actually listen the words he says.

Ben Shapiro harps about a 'war on christmas' which no Jewish person would seriously do or care for. Especially any Ashkenazi Jews with our very long long history of being murdered in mass on xmas. Christmas eve is became seen a spiritually impure night that it would be called Nittle Nacht in Yiddish and Jewish people would purposefully not study Torah that night.

American Jews, like many others who belong to non-christian religious and cultural groups, have to deal with living a majority Christian country and country that culturally Christian and only makes concession for Christianity.

Has Ben Shapiro ever talked about that or the actual fights to get time off for our Holidays? No because that doesn't fit the narrative. But business having employees switch from 'merry christmas' to 'happy holidays' most certainly does.

Ben Shapiro has explicitly stated that he believes that conception is when life begins which is something to no in keeping with any Jewish held belief anywhere.

We hold life begins at first breath, the mother comes first (I wrote mother because that is wording used in the various writings, but really it would be the pregnant individual comes first), and that it doesn't just need to physical health on the line it can also be one's mental health at stake in order to need an abortion

Ben Shapiro talks about Judeo-Christan values, which a bullshit term that was created after the Holocaust to make it seem like Christian Antisemitism played no role in what happened and that the Church was not a guilty party. It is also a term that essentially holds Jewish people hostage.

He uses this term and talks about these shared values. So I have to ask what values?

Is respecting the elderly, caring for the sick, kindness to others, tending to the poor, and such? Because those are universal values and can be found in pretty much every culture and religion.

What about original sin? Heaven and Hell? Can someone be the literal child of G-d? Does G-d have literal hands, a actual face? What is the gender of G-d?

Just some questions to start with since you know we clearly have the same values and stuff.

Because Judaism would say: No such thing as original sin and in fact Hebrew doesn't have a word for sin we have words that mean things that wrongly translated in English as sin, but no, word for sin. We hold all people are born blank we go through and have experiences and make choices and those choices speak to who we are.

We believe in This World and The World to Come and the spiritual washing machine so to speak, but no a big nope to heaven and hell. No to Satan too. There is the HaSatan which means prosecutor who is as the name means in the Ultimate Court.

When we say "we are the children of G-d" it is poetic flourish and is metaphorical not literal no one can be the literal hild of G-d.

Same way we anthropomorphize G-d so that we have an easier time contextualizing G-d because otherwise it can be hard to wrap your mind around.

G-d is both genderfull and genderless at the same time. It depends on what you are talking about, in what context, and what aspect of G-d of you using. For example the Voice G-d and Presence of G-d are both in the feminine in Hebrew.

These have just been a tiny amount of examples from a vast vast array them.

My point is that if all these people are going to talk about Ben Shapiro especially ones with large followings please bring on someone who is actually knowledge and qualified to talk about this so the facts can properly be presented and explained.

Like I on occasion will listen to Leftovers podcast in background it hosted by Ethan from H3H and Hassan Piker and in the most recent episode that I was listening, which I had to stop because I was getting to annoyed by, they where talking about Ben Shapiro.

It was very frustrating for me. I get that Hassan might be very politically involved and knowledge about stuff, don't really know I don't watch him, but I was thinking the whole time that this is not an area you know.

You are talking about Jewish stuff and things related Jewish views points and you have no clue what you are talking about. You are talking about a religion and culture you just don't know anything about and are trying to debunk Ben Shapiro.

It will not work because you don't have necessary information and understanding to do so.

And you are missing the biggest point of it all which is again Ben is there as a draw for Christians. Because for these kinds of Christians having a Jew give a stamp of approval gives it some kind veneer of legitimacy.

It validates them and allows them to not have to feel guilty for crimes against Jewish people that they are party too.

This doesn't mean they like Jews or want us around or interested in our problems or helping us.

It is all about them in the same way they have Candace Owens tell them all the thing they want to hear so they never have to self-examine or reflect on anything and can assuage their white-guilt and keep of being horrific anti-Black.

They don't care about Black people or Black issues because they listen to a Black woman talk.

It is all for self-serving interests that they have been Ben and Candace there. While many seem to get that point (if you didn't get it before well get it now) in regards to Candace Owens and the purpose of her employment they miss that very important detail when comes to Ben Shapiro.

[ace-hell]

Coming up with judean native embroidery is so hard considering there's so many cultures with cultural clothes and embroidery patterns out there, and i want to make it original and unique to us, jews, the hebrews. it is SO difficult BECAUSE almost every embroidery patterns has already been invented somehow somewhere and have been for hundreds of years while i started only like 2 months ago and i have specifically been into cross stitch(its actually pretty fun) which also limits me when it comes to patterns

I want to give it jewish uniqueness BESIDES the usual magen david, menorah and חי.

I want to base is off of many other things like historical everts, symbols, fruits, geography, traditions, land etc

For example: an embroidery pattern that resembles the 4 fruits of sukot. A pattern that portrays the split sea or burning bush. A pattern that symbolises the cohanim, beit hamikdash, the 12 tribes and zodiacs. A pattern that resembles the fruits that important in judaism(pomegranates, olives, dates, figs etc) based on holidays and the bible. Hamsa embroidery ideas. Embroidery patterns based on mosaics found in synagogues all around the world.

I have been trying to gather so much information, mosaics, jewish art, ancient art etc to try and base off, which again is SUPER hard cosidering most of the stuff we created got destroyed, looted or stolen (my grandma had to leave all the embroidery she did when her family got kicked out and she managed to salvage only a napkin and an apron)

Anyway i try my best to create a traditional judean dress with jewish rikma. That said, I'll need help so if any of you have patterns or ideas(jewelery too) it will be incredible 🙏🏻

בשם השם נעשה ונצליח

[nathaniel-history-and-stuff]

Since wackos and bigots are getting upset about Easter and the Trans Day of Visibility coinciding this year, people have been commenting on how the date of Easter is calculated. I've seen some progressive people spread some misinformation and I feel like people should be holding themselves to a higher standard of critical thinking than the transphobes.

1. The date of Easter being based on the lunar cycle has nothing to do with "paganism" (pre-Christian religions of Europe). The Gospels claim that Jesus died during the same week as Passover. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar and so Passover is calculated based on the timing of a full moon, and so Easter was as well. That's it.

2. Easter doesn't have anything to do with pre-Christian festivals. It is true that the word "Easter" is an Anglo-Saxon word that refers to a pre-Christian season and maybe a pagan goddess, but almost everwhere else the name for the holiday comes from Greek Pascua, from Hebrew Pesach (Passover). It is an overly narrow view to attribute an English word to the whole nature of Easter. Any supposed pagan connotations of the Easter bunny or eggs is modern imagination, these are modern sentimental inventions, not ancient.

3. And relatedly, questioning the historical reality of Jesus is a fringe conspiracy theory that no respectable historian buys into. There is plenty of doubts about the accuracy of the Gospel accounts, and obviously of the Resurrection as well, but it is crackpot stuff to assume Jesus literally never existed.

Pseudohistory and misinformation thrive when you accept something that conveniently fits into what you'd like to be true and you don't even bother to look up basic information about a topic.

CORRECTION: There is apparently some debate over whether easter eggs are a medieval invention due to them being prohibited during Lent or descended from ancient egg-decorating practices. It seems that the practice of decorating eggs might actually be quite old, but it seems to have originated in the ancient Middle East and then spread to Europe with Christianity.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Again, loving up some underloved fandoms here on Ciaossu-Imagines, so throwing out some headcanons I have about The Mighty Ducks characters! I hope anyone familiar with these movies will enjoy them!

Starting with Averman, he’s definitely Jewish. I think he and Goldberg are really good friends because both of them are Jewish. They attended Hebrew school together, their parents are good friends, and honestly they really rely on each other around the holiday season. Neither boy is ashamed of being Jewish or anything, but especially around the time period those movies are set, Hannukah was not as popular or as talked about as Christmas was. And when all your friends are talking about Christmas and their plans and the gifts they’ll get and all the celebrations you hear about are Christianity based, it’s hard not to feel a little left out so both boys’ kind of really like having another friend they can talk to about their Hannukah plans who will get it. Bonus headcanon but I think Averman has a bigger love of hockey and was the one to get Goldberg into the sport.

Hot take on Adam – I don’t think he’s this abused kid trying desperately to please Daddy. I think that while his father might have high expectations for Adam, his father isn’t really abusive. I think a lot of the pressure that Adam feels – and boy, does he feel a lot – is pressure that Adam puts on himself. I do see Adam as having some issues with perfectionism, with being way too hard on himself, and he struggles with anxiety and a need to be perfect but it’s because Adam himself knows that he’s got a lot of talent and he doesn’t want to waste that talent.

Charlie’s actually got a few hidden skills but the one that ends up surprising most people is that, at one point in his life, Charlie got really into magic and he’s pretty good with a couple of tricks, mostly sleight of hand stuff.

Tammy did enjoy playing hockey, I won’t pretend that she didn’t. But I think when it came down to it, she enjoyed figure skating a lot more. There was more pageantry in that sport, more creativity and more glamour in her mind and I think she left the Ducks before the second movie because she really did want to focus on figure skating and competing in that area. She did win several medals, but I think she largely left the sport around the time she started college.

Julie reads…for fun. While she loves being active and has various hobbies and interests, she’s been a life-long bookworm. She learned to read early, and gobbles books up. She normally gets through at least a book a week and does read a wide variety of things, though she has guilty pleasure reading that she’d be embarrassed if anyone found out about, such as romance novels and the Hardy Boys books.

Guy hates carrying change around with him. There’s just something about the weight of it and the clinking sound it makes in his pocket as he walks that drives him insane. He prefers to carry bills for cash and usually lets the salespeople keep his change wherever he goes.

Surprising thing about Goldberg…the boy is not only gifted with a green thumb, but he genuinely likes taking care of his plants. He only got them because his parents wouldn’t let him get a pet…they didn’t think he was responsible enough for a pet so they bought him a rather high-maintenance houseplant to take care of first so that he could prove that he could be responsible for another living thing. Turns out that he enjoyed caring for the plant so much, even giving it a name, that he ended up wanting more plants instead of an actual pet.

Jesse has a tendency to argue just for the sake of arguing. He legitimately enjoys arguments and I have this headcanon that he found the debate club during high school and it’s the most at home he’s felt since playing with the Ducks. Like, those are his people, that’s where he belongs. He gets really involved with debate throughout his high school career and I think he wants to go to law school after graduating.

Terry Hall…still hasn’t gotten the grasp of gum honestly. Not saying the kid is stupid, because he certainly isn’t. It’s just that he cannot, for the life of him, remember that gum is for consistent chewing, not eating, especially if the gum in question is a really fruity, sweet flavour.

I really do think that Karp is someone who is really easy to take advantage of. He gets bullied a lot as a kid and he’s someone who just naturally is the kind of person who really wants to make others happy and to have others like him. He’s a very generous friend but the fact that he’s willing to do almost anything to have his ‘friends’ like him means that he gets put into some pretty brutal situations and gets used throughout his childhood and teen years.

I think Peter’s an army brat, or something along those lines. Something tells me that this kid is someone who moves around a lot throughout his life because of his parent’s careers. He’s used to never staying anywhere really long enough to form completely solid relationships. He’s used to always being the new kid and needing to impress and be tough enough to both make friends and avoid bullies. I also think that while he really would like to settle down in one spot long enough to make serious friendships, the idea of doing so kind of scares him.

Luis taught himself how to juggle when he was a kid. He’s also really skilled at hackeysack.

Connie has the habit of pacing around when she’s deep in thought. There’s just something about moving that helps her think better and if she really has something on her mind, she tends to go running or jogging. The tougher the problem is, the faster and further she tends to go as she loses track of where she is or how far she’s gone.

Dean can burp the alphabet. Forwards and backwards. He’s really quite proud of this.

Fulton’s worst habit? He’s really bad at sitting and staying still for long periods of time and he starts fidgeting when he has to do so. He’ll stretch, move around in his seat a bit, crack his knuckles, but the worst is his leg because he’s definitely one of those guys who bounces his leg when he’s bored or restless, almost aggressively so.

Dwayne really likes to sing. He’s not horrible at it by any means, though a little tone-deaf. He’s a huge fan, because of how he was raised, of any older country, with Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Conway Twitty being favourites of his.

Russ has the tendency to get cold really easily. It can come out of nowhere too, with no real reason for him to have a chill or to be cold. He just is. He tends to always carry an extra layer with him as a just in case.

Ken has weird eating habits. He has to eat all of one thing before he can allow himself to eat the next thing on his plate. For example, if he has fries and a burger, he’ll have to eat all the burger before he’ll start eating the fries. He can’t bring himself to mix and match his food and not even he knows why.

[misslavenderlady]

The Lost Boys - Holiday Headcanons 🎁

In honor of the season, I decided to give my own take on how the boys each celebrate their preferred holidays.

While they each have different preferences, they all celebrate together as a sign of respect and love.

Enjoy! ✨

David 🖤 - Saturnalia 🍷🍗🎉

He doesn't care for modern day Christmas. He thinks it's boring and commercial. What David likes to celebrate is Saturnalia. It's an old, roman celebration to honor the end of the harvest and rebirth. He loved reading about it in his human life and decided to celebrate it when he was turned into a vampire. He thinks it's much more fitting for him and his friends.

The boys already like to go a little wild, but for Saturnalia, they go CRAZY. True to the traditions, they feast on extravagant foods and wines, not settling for takeout or boardwalk food. They shout and sing and rev their motorcycles even louder than normal to bother the residents of Santa Carla. They also go out and dance for hours and hours.

One old practice is going to the houses of the wealthy and demanding to be served. Since he's a vampire, David likes to break in to the home of any random, rich asshole living in the wealthy neighborhood and "sacrificing" them so the boys can use their house as they please. It usually involves blasting music, breaking stuff and stealing any goodies that can be found.

Another tradition is crowning someone "king" and letting them make crazy decrees. Every year the boys take turns on who is the king. When Laddie joins, he's the go-to king since he's the youngest.

Even if he parties hard, David still feels generous during the holiday season. He's very good at finding gifts that come from the heart and giving them to his friends to make them smile. He loves them dearly and likes to use the season to treat them extra good. He's a bit of a softie at heart 🖤

~~~~~~

Marko 💚 - Hanukkah 🕎🕯️🫒

(I wanted to honor Alex Winter's faith and pick Hanukkah for Marko. I did my research but please correct me if something is wrong)

Now, Marko isn't a religious person considering he's a vampire and religious items are kinda dangerous (depending on what they are. Not all things from all faiths hurt them), but he still likes to share the story of Hanukkah to his friends in order to keep the spirit of the holiday alive.

He's usually a bit quieter, but during the 8 days of Hanukkah he's much more outspoken. He goes into detail about the story of the Jewish people fought back against the Greeks and their attempt to take away their faith and practices. Marko even has a menorah he lights each night, explaining how the small amount of oil that hadn't been destroyed by the Greeks managed to burn for 8 days. The boys always listen with wonder at how dedicated Marko is to the tale.

Marko also takes the opportunity to treat his friends with special foods traditionally eaten for Hanukkah. Since they're fried with oil, the boys think they're absolutely delicious. His favorite treat for Hanukkah are latkes.

When Laddie joins their family, he decides to teach him how to play the dreidel game so he can have some fun. He teaches him a little bit of Hebrew so he can pronounce the letters on the dreidel (nun, gimel, hei and shin). Laddie is naturally really good at the game and it always makes Marko smile to see the kid absolutely destroy the others and get the most goodies.

Marko is usually a little shy about singing, but faces his fears and does a little bit to share the music he likes most for the holiday. His personal favorite song is Havenu Shalom Aleichem and if he's feeling comfortable, he'll dance with his friends 💚

~~~~~~

Dwayne ❤️ - Yule ❄️🌲🔥

Dwayne actually gets a little blue this time of year because in his human life he had Seasonal Depression, and despised the cold, and bitterness of Winter. When he turned and made a home in Santa Carla, those feelings weren't as strong. But even with lingering sadness, he makes up for it with traditions from Yuletide.

He's still native, so the holiday isn't apart of his culture, but he likes the idea of taking parts of it and making them his own. One thing he loves about the holiday is the use of warmth and light to combat the winter blues. He likes collecting candles from different shops and stands and lighting them for decoration. For the holiday season he picks out colorful candles to add more life to the cave.

Dwayne also gets creative and puts together garlands and wreaths made of pine branches and holly berries. As his own twist he adds small trinkets he collects (beads, feathers, glass, shells). Since he can fly, he decorates the cave from top to bottom without the need for a ladder.

Also with the tradition instead of lighting fires in the barrels, he finds logs to burn as a makeshift Yule log fire. He likes it a lot more because it feels more intimate and homely. The others enjoy snuggling with him by the fire and even break out some marshmallows to roast. Sometimes Paul or Marko will try to tell ghost stories but Dwayne will shut it down so Laddie doesn't get scared.

Speaking of Laddie, Dwayne makes sure the boy is cozy, warm and happy this time of year. He buys desserts at local bakeries for him and reads stories by the fire while Laddie is wrapped up in a soft blanket. His go-to story is The Little Match Girl, but he alters the ending so that instead of dying, the girl is reborn as a vampire and lives forever with her grandmother by her side (he doesn't like to tell Laddie stories with a sad ending)

Dwayne just has a lot of love in his heart for his family, and takes this time to keep them all safe and warm. It's the least he can do for them all ❤️

~~~~~~

Paul 💙 - Christmas 🍪🎄🎁

Paul is already a kid at heart, but when Christmas comes around? Oh boy, he is a WILD CHILD. He's the picture of Christmas as we know it today (minus the religious stuff)

First thing he does on December 1st is bust down the door of Max's shop and get a bunch of Christmas movies to watch. He's a total sucker for Rankin Bass movies, his favorite being Year Without a Santa Claus since he loves the songs. He can sit in front of a tv and watch all the stop-motion characters for hours, especially after having a good smoke session.

He hoards Christmas decorations like a damn dragon. He has an artificial Christmas tree that he fills with so many ornaments, lights and tinsel that by the time he's done, you can barely see the tree underneath.

Can and will eat as much raw cookie dough as possible. Paul has a major sweet tooth, and will absolutely stock up on any candy canes, gum drops, taffy, cakes, cookies and pastries he can get his hands on. That boy has no self control.

Sings every holiday song he can think of. The good news is that Paul has a truly beautiful singing voice, so the others don't mind. There have even been years he's sung on the boardwalk and attracted a crowd of intrigued listeners (he also got quite bit of tips before the boardwalk cops made him leave. Paul hunted them later as payback).

Paul may be a bit goofy, but he's very sweet. He loves making gifts for his friends and putting together stockings for them all. When Laddie joins, he enthusiastically tells the boy to write a list for Santa and to leave out cookies on Christmas Eve. Something about Laddie brings out his paternal side during the holiday. He's even bribed Dwayne to dress up as Santa to add on to the fun for Laddie. It's chaos, but it comes from the heart 💙

[this-is-z-art-blog]

Hello, I’d like to join Eight Ecto Nights, however I’ve never celebrated Hanukah and I suppose I wanted to ask someone who actually has. I’ll do my own reserch of course, but you seemed like a good place to start.

Is there any particular traditions or little things your family does that you might not see on a wikipedia? Is the mood usually as jolly as Christmas or is it more sedated?

beyond that, is there anything you’d particularly like to see in this event?

I hope that makes sence 😆 thank you for answering my questions

Howdy! First of all, welcome aboard eight ecto nights :D

Second, absolutely feel free to ask me questions. I love talking about this stuff, and I know doing independent research can be overwhelming when you don't know what questions you're trying to ask. If you're looking for research help, chabad.org has a lot of the traditional details and laws (here's their hanukkah page), and myjewishlearning.com has a more modern/egalitarian bend (here's their hanukkah intro)- that said, I'm totally open to asks or dms, hit me up!

Now to actually answer your questions. Disclaimer, a lot of this is just my own experience, not universal or the only 'right' way to do it.

In my family we light the menorahs from oldest to youngest. We all have a favorite menorah we tend to light year after year, but we also collect them, and often have a small party on one of the later nights where we invite friends and family to come light with us, so it's handy to have extras on hand. We use the regular boxes of hanukkah candles you can get at any grocery store for most nights, but on the very last my dad gets these beautiful taller candles with gradients of color to use.

When the kids in our family were younger, we'd often sit on the floor in front of the candles after lighting to play dreidel (a kind of spun top with Hebrew letters standing for the phrase nes gadol haya sham, 'a great miracle happened there', around the sides; which side lands facing up determines the outcome of your turn), and my mom still gives out bags of gelt (chocolate coins, typically in bright foil, that you win and lose in a game of dreidel) most nights.

Some other odds and ends we do include covering the hanukkhia-lighting table in aluminum foil (fire safety) and giving out different jobs (like setting up the candles for everyone before we start).

I wouldn't describe it as "jolly", but I'm probably not the right person to ask to compare something to Christmas. It's a fun holiday for sure, and one of my favorites; you have the lights, the festive foods, the gifts and surprises, the time together. It's not just about that though; it's about survival, and standing up to oppression and religious persecution, so there are more serious elements to telling and thinking about the story. That said, it's a pretty minor holiday.

In terms of things I'd love to see, first and foremost I just want to see what people make! The point of open-ended prompts is interpretation, after all. Whether you draw the characters singing hanukkah songs, write about them making their own menorahs, sculpt a ghost-themed dreidel, or something entirely different, I'm excited to see it!

Also, I hope people have a good grasp of what a menorah looks like. A hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, has nine total candle or oil holders (either is good, but candles are more common than oil lights). The eight main ones are placed from right to left, and lit from left to right (ie, newest first) by the ninth, the shamash or helper light. The shape of the menorah can get creative, as long as the eight holiday lights are in a straight, level line and the shamash is set apart (usually taller).

As a last thought, it would be nice to see an effort at IDs for image-based posts for the event; it's not hanukkah specific, but I've been seeing them more and more in the phandom, and it's lovely to see folks learning and trying to make the community increasingly accessible!

Let me know if you have more questions, on or off anon, via ask or dm, I am here to help!

[magnetothemagnificent]

Heya. I hope you’re not too overwhelmed with asks atm.

I recently got given a JPS tanakh (the Hebrew-English version) and I’ve been looking up how to read it properly and stuff and I thought I understood so I started trying to read it but I’m just not getting it. It’s almost just like washing over me and I’m not really getting anything out of it? I know there’s different ways to engage with it but I don’t really understand how to actually put them into practice.

I was reading Genesis and I didn’t really have any thoughts or anything. I do wonder how much of it is simply that I don’t understand Hebrew so I can’t really comment much on the word choices and connotations coz the English isn’t the original and may not always accurately pick up on the nuances? But I don’t even know what I’m meant to be getting out of it atm lol

And I saw ppl recommending to read commentaries so I started trying to read some of the commentary on it but I didn’t quite understand how the two were meant to slot together, if that makes sense? It feels like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle here and idk how to help that.

Sorry this is a bit of a long one. I hope it doesn’t come across as disrespectful or anything. I’m trying to learn more about this coz I think it’s interesting. Thank you muchly for any advice in advance :)

First, there's no "right" way to learn Torah. Everyone learns and interprets Torah in different and unique ways.

However, the nature of Torah and the nature of Judaism is that it works best with a community. Torah is meant to be learned with other people: The concept of a Chavruta, partners in Torah learning, goes back thousands of years. Every week we read a different Parsha (Torah Portion) in synagogue, and share Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about it with our community. Torah is meant to be learned communally.

Now, I understand that it's not possible for everyone, and everyone has different learning styles. However, I really think it would help you to try and find a Torah study group. Nowadays there are lots of virtual options, too.

If that doesn't work for you, here are a few tips:

Torah, and Tanakh in general, isn't meant to be read like a storybook. Bereishit (Genesis) isn't the beginning and Dvarim (Numbers) isn't the end. You'll notice that the Torah, and all of Tanakh, often makes chronological jumps and that time doesn't seem to make sense sometimes. It's a tradition even to start teaching children from VaYikra (Leviticus) first before teaching the other four sections. And Torah is meant to be cyclical. That's why we have Simchat Torah every year, a holiday celebrating the completion of reading all Parshiyot in the Torah in synagogue and the re-start of the Torah from Bereishit again.

Torah is also meant to be read critically. There's classical commentaries like Rashi, and more recent and contemporary commentators, too. There's countless Divrei Torah written about everything in Tanakh. The text isn't meant to be read "raw". If reading it straight from your book doesn't work, try learning about different concepts in Torah through easier-to-digest Divrei Torah and articles. If one story or law in Tanakh fascinates or confuses you, look up things written about it by Rabbis and scholars from hundreds of years ago to today.

And my biggest tip: Use Sefaria. Sefaria is a free (although they always accept donations) website with an archive of so so many Jewish texts, from Tanakh, to Talmud, to Apocrypha, to Midrash, to contemporary discussions and texts. And most of it is translated to English, too. You can also click on a piece text and it will show you if there's any commentary or discussion about it, and show it to you. It's incredible and I use Sefaria all the time.

Other websites I recommend:

MyJewishLearning

Torah.org

AlephBeta

ReformJudaism

ParshaOfTheWeek

Best of luck!!!

[2shebears]

Intro/Pinned 💞

hi jumblr, I'm ray/רחל and this is my sideblog for jewish stuff! I follow from my main blog with the initials f-a-c. on this blog i want to talk about things like tzniut and gender roles, israel/palestine, indigeneity, antisemitism, xtian hegemony, community, and observance! so you know, all the jewish things.

=about me=

🇹🇼🇺🇸

27/cis/pan/she/her/hers

i speak english & français, have studied latin, italian, and ancient greek, have tiny household amounts of mandarin, and am learning modern hebrew

married!!!

(almost) intellectual property attorney, aiming to become a cultural property attorney for indigenous peoples! i've participated in UN talks about indigenous rights ✨

wish me luck on the bar exam

based in NYC

reblogs with "read later" tags are NOT endorsements lol i have not read them yet

=faq=

what's your jewish frame of reference? nominally aligned with open/modern orthodoxy (YCT beis din) but really post-denominational. my husband has an askhi dad and a mizrachi mom so we follow a mix of minhagim leaning heavily ashki. my observance is personal and evolving, but rn I cover my hair sometimes (always at shul & on holidays), host kosher-style, and attend a non-affiliated conservative-ish shul. I light candles and unplug on shabbat & chagim, and categorically will not do legal work, but I don't abstain from most muskeh. I'm an artist so being able to create on my holiest days is really special, sorry hashem. strongly dislike taharas hamispacha but am compliant on a technicality. I have multiple tattoos and multiple piercings (not just classic lobes). I spell out God but might evolve on this one. actually might evolve on basically all of these. I am a jewish work in progress!

what's your israel frame of reference? husband's family is largely in israel, incl olim, sabras, mena refugees. my in-laws live in jerusalem. i have both israeli and palestinian friends and coworkers. I got bit really hard by a cat in tel aviv once and had to get a rabies vax course and every doctor at the israeli health ministry made fun of me for getting bit (fair)

are you a zionist? no in the sense that i'm in favor of palestinian statehood and self-determination; yes in the sense that I don't think the state of israel and its denizens should be wiped off the face of the earth as a prerequisite for the peace process; yes in the sense that I think israel is an actual state (one that is actively doing war crimes!) and I don't think it needs to be held to unique standards; no in the sense that i would generally be okay with a peace process that completely restructures or essentially ends the current state so long as it does not extinguish jewish self-determination in the region; yes in the sense that i am a jew who will argue with you ;)

you're into Indigenous rights, so how does that bear on i/p? i i literally have so much to say about this that I wrote my law schol capstone on it. Indigeneity is an extremely capacious and fuzzy designation. It doesn't solve land or statehood issues. both israeli jews and palestinian arabs tick MANY of the boxes of being Indigenous but don't map perfectly onto the anglo-settler states and their indigenous peoples, and that is okay and interesting and cool to talk about. finally the things happening now would be horrifying whether or not any party is Indigenous. i'll use the tag #i/p indigeneity on this going fwd!

you posted something wrong about (insert thing here). ok not a question but please tell me if I do. I try to be a diligent fact checker but some things on social media are developing and unstable stories. I welcome fact checks always.

[pepprs]

ok yeah hi. it is very inappropriate for me to do this publicly when it is such personal whatever information. but i need other ppl (esp other jewish ppl) to know what im thinking and like. give me permission to act on it or whatever (cringe) and since i don’t have a new therapist yet im substituting my mutuals for one lol. so here’s this. tw for like… religion and me asking questions that have implications for all religion / culture in general and things like that. and also food. also not that i think anyone who follows me would do this but this post is not an invitation to proselytize to me or convert me to a different religion etc etc. ok here we go. this post is called: i am probably the wicked son and i am going to hell for it (not that jews believe in hell i don’t think but whatever). discuss ♥️

ok so here’s the deal. passover starts on wednesday. my family is not really that observant. we don’t do a Haggadah or a Seder or anything like that we literally just have my grandpa over for 2 nights of completely non traditional dinner where the only religious aspect is us saying a generic hebrew prayer for Passover at the beginning where we don’t even know what the words mean and then we just have normal conversation and don’t eat leavened stuff or most grains for a week. we don’t even eat matzah or any of the other passover foods you’re supposed to eat.

(here’s the part where i feel like even in asking the question im inviting god to smite me with a lightning bolt LOL) so i erm.. really do not want to not eat leavened stuff for a week. literally just because i eat leavened stuff sooo much and so much of what i eat is bread and it keeps me reliably full and i get hungry so fast and im hungry all the time. but it’s like.. im not special for that. im not unique in getting hungry fast or in relying on bread. (to my knowledge) im not ill or suffering in any way that makes me unable to observe the dietary requirements of this holiday. and in fact i probably eat too much bread than is actually healthy for me. but im just depressed out of my mind and need to make sure im eating things that keep me full and not letting myself be hungry. and i just really don’t want to not eat bread.

but the thing is i know not doing that is like one of the biggest… i don’t want to say sins but sins. that you could possibly do. like i just looked it up and the punishment is called “kareth” which is basically “the extinction of the soul” 💀 which ties Rigjt into my anxiety / guilt / whatever about making my own life and choices different from my mom’s and how the way she gets angry at me for doing something different than her makes me experience ultimate cosmic primal rejection / abandonment LMAO. but like my connection to judaism is already basically nonexistent bc we basically don’t do any of the holidays except rosh hashanah / yom kippur / passover / hannukah and what we do observe is so non traditional and secular that it basically doesn’t even count. and also i don’t “look” jewish and don’t have a “jewish last name” or whatever. and i know this is like complicated / bad in some ways to admit but i don’t feel any connection to my ancestors who made their exodus out of egypt or whatever (and who also probably were fullest having eaten bread and didn’t have the privilege of choosing whether they wanted to lol). and most of the jewish ppl in my life are either completely non observant or only casually observant and it’s more of a cultural / traditional thing than a religious thing. and i don’t rly feel a sense of community w other jews though ive fluctuated w that from time to time but i especially don’t rn bc of the situation with isr*el and p/alestine and how most of the observant jewish ppl i know are z*onists. the only thing that’s keeping me observing the holidays is obligation and precedent because that’s always how my family has done it.. and also i find meaning and whatever in rosh hashanah and yom kippur and hannukah. but i actually don’t at all for Passover. it’s always been my least favorite holiday which is ironic bc it was my parsha when i was bat mitzvahed. i feel disconnected to it probably because we never did seders and stff. and i don’t feel like i owe my ancestors anything for escaping egypt (girls who are the wicked son <3) but if i did i don’t see why we reenact the suffering we experienced instead of… celebrating that we are not suffering anymore! and eating a lot of the things we couldn’t eat while we were! and living our lives to the fullest! like why is it not a holiday about joy and gratitude instead of plunging ourselves back into reenacting suffering. says the girl who projects all the time and makes herself miserable every day LMAO but like.. idk. it’s making me so mad.

and the thing is i don’t even… like idk. the whole wicked son thing fucks me up so bad and strikes a nerve bc why are you labeled wicked / disrespectful / whatever for questioning precedent and figuring out how you want to make meaning in your life. like throwback to my mom getting fucking PISSED at me when i came home for passover last yr (i think it was passover or another jewish holiday) and said i was trying to figure out why im vegan and she took that as such a personal offense bc she couldn’t believe that i would question something she engrained in me.. idk. it was so fucked up. i feel like conflating god / my judaism and my mom / my veganism is not a good idea and is suggesting blasphemy but idk. im gonna be honest actually. i don’t know if i believe in god or if my questioning that makes me agnostic and not jewish. if i do believe in god it’s spinoza’s god who (according to this fb post i read in 2020 that has stuck with me ever since) says that basically god is the universe and… like it’s LITERALLY the end poem from minecraft it’s like you don’t have to be afraid of me or spend your days doing rituals to honor me just because that’s the precedent. make your own rituals. you will find me in no book or temple or whatever if you can’t find me in the precious moments of life like a sunset or joy or someone’s eyes. like you should just be who you are and not be afraid and indulge in the human experience and that is how you thank me and you don’t have to repent for anything because why would i make humans who make mistakes by nature and then punish them for doing that. and idk. that speaks to me so much. that’s what i hope so badly that god is. that’s why i hope so badly that me having questions and doubts about this stuff and figuring out how to connect to / honor my ancestors and culture and whatever in a meaningful way (and if i actually want to) is not going to invoke cosmic punishment of some kind because i am a human being and im allowed to have questions about things like this and to do things my own way that feels right for me given the circumstances and it’s okay to want to live (and to try to build) a life where as many rituals and sacrifices and burdens as possible are ones i choose and accept and consent to and am lucid about. especially when most of those burdens and stuff that ive experienced so far are things i have not gotten to choose at great mental and emotional cost. right? i want it to be that way so badly. i think if that was god then god wouldn’t want me to not eat brwad for 8 days just because that’s what the precedent is about how to honor the pain my ancestors suffered. god would want me to make my own tradition and if it was one of joy and gratitude for my ancestors and indulgence and exploring what being jewish means to me i think that would be okay with god. like LOL. but also am i just making excuses for not eating bread for a week and playing god or whatever and in doing so hopping and skipping and jumping to my doom in the form of kareth. do you see what i mean

but anyways yeah. this is really more of a thing for when im at work (which makes it even LESS of a big deal like im only there for 9-10 hours a day or whatever) bc if i didn’t do passover at home my mom would kill me so im leaving that aspect of it alone for now. but Omg im at a point in my life where doing things i do not get to choose is painful and im on the verge of a breakdown every day and the thought of having my diet disrupted for a week and being hungrier than usual when everything else in my life feels like it’s falling apart and i know how much being even slightly hungry impacts my mental health is making me lose my shit! like it’s just one too many things. but again im not special in that and i could do it if i had to. but do i have to if i don’t want to. what should i do.

[punkbakerchristine]

1.Long. Hot (living in a trailer in carson city with fans and a big a/c unit the last couple of years we were there, yeah, it was hot). Lots of bathing suits and showing off my body—some things never change, I was wanting to wear bikinis even when I was fat. Always fun, though!

2. Do you enjoy thrilling rides like rollercoasters? yes yes yes

3. Buttercup from the powerpuff girls

4. The Picture of Dorian Grey

5. his eyes: they’re so soulful. his hair, so striking and soft in appearance. his body, so round and voluptuous and yet very strong. his mind, the way he sees thousands of years into the future with the tinge of a mad scientist and the simultaneous sweetness of a poet. his heart and how it seems locked away under a wall of ice, but it’s so soft and tender underneath (like a tootsie pop).

6. as of late, my skinny jeans with my belt and my doc martens/snow boots, and either nothing by my bra or a long-sleeved shirt tied up—i really, really love showing off my belly and my cleavage, too. I’ve also lost enough weight to wear my Doctor Who shirt again—I just have to find it 😅

7. Depressed. Left out, too.

8. as a matter of fact, I do. my teddy bear, my bunny, my koala, my llama, my cat, and my shark.

9. Stone Temple Pilots // Purple

10. hike—never did it before whereas i’ve gone out of town to stargaze a number of times.

11. No clue, tbh. There are so many I find relatable.

12. hot drinks

13. bright colors

14. breakfast for dinner (although pizza for breakfast is 🔥)

15. green thumb (BIG TIME)

16. My hair or my hips

17. Lawyer. I actually almost went to law school!

18. the chubbier ones (i like me a nice little belly; six pack abs are overdone and “try hard”, if you will)

19. invisibility

20. Hair (i don’t wear makeup)

21. An argument about glue sticks. me: this one is disappearing. them: but this one’s washable! me: this one’s disappearing. (for something like 5 minutes)

22. guy riding on a unicycle holding a pie in one hand. He was dressed normally, too!

23. Ice cream, trip to an art gallery or museum, and then take a walk on the beach? idk, I don’t really think about these things

24. A bit of both.

25. Depends on the party. If it’s a dinner or garden or holiday party, yes. But a house party? Nah, I could never try one of those.

26. Not really, when I think about it. I did at first, and it had its high notes, but I wasn’t crazy about it as time went on.

27. me

28. Pizza on Christmas Eve, also on the night before Thanksgiving. I also wanna try my hand at kanellängd for Christmas this year.

29. Hearty and loud (always has been, too)

30. Instagram or Twitter? instagram, hands down

31. Game of Thrones. I watched like 10 minutes of it once and couldn’t get into it. Sons of Anarchy, too, and the Walking Dead. Stranger Things is an odd example: I used to like it and then season 3 happened. And then it was inescapable in 2022, so I was royally turned off. Survivor, too: literally do not understand how that’s still on. (Then again, I watch Skinwalker Ranch, Star Talk, and the Great British Baking Show with Noel and Sandy, and I watched Glee when it was on, and I like anything Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond do, so it works out)

32. Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) by the Tragically Hip

33. yes yes yes!

34. Yes, and to the point of ridicule no less 😒

35. Who are your top 5 celebrity crushes? my crush (🤫), joey belladonna, billie joe armstrong, chris cornell, and mark lanegan

36. either hebrew or sign language

37. Space is too harsh and our blue marble is the oasis in it, so no.

38. sunflower

39. Hugs. Having my hair either brushed or washed.

40. Do you enjoy cuddling? SO MUCH. a little too much, imo

41. I like the aesthetic

42. Yes. Nope, not even a little bit.

43. Art, writing, and culinary stuff

44. “There is nothing more artistic than to love people.” -Vincent Van Gogh

45. very much so

46. I’d like to get a cardinal with a sunflower in its mouth on my thigh.

47. Hypocrisy, also lack of intelligence. I see far too many of both now.

48. I’m a go-getter in the right place.

49. “chubby, smart, layered (like shrek)”

50. No, but I have given BTS and Blackpink plenty of listens, though.

51. 26 hours.

52. cold, given the choice

53. flowers

54. can’t say I do

55. Would you believe I have never witnessed a prank before (and I grew up in the era of punk’d and Viva La Bam, too).

56. oh, god, so many to choose from! i like spice cake, apple pie (especially à la mode), blueberry pie, blackberry cobbler, strawberry shortcake, chocolate babka, key lime pie, princesstårte, blondies and anything with white chocolate or the whole “cookies and cream” thing, gingerbread cookies and cake, all of your little debbies

57. lol, no

58. So many

59. all of them

60. i’m apparently a natch at it

61. The Sex in the City movie. It’s not nearly as good as the show.

62. The Princess Bride, the Holy Grail, the Blues Brothers, anything Mel Brooks does

63. “bedroom pop” and “soundcloud rap”. both have been done to death and i don’t get the appeal of either.

64. Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails, Master of Puppets by Metallica, Lateralus by Tool, Practice What You Preach by Testament, Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, White Pony by Deftones, Leprosy by Death

65. Interviews with metal guys

66. Maybe?

67. ohhhh, yes

68. a piece of pie (i’m always craving a piece of pie, perhaps now more than when i was fat)

69. you’re talking to a kinkmaster general 😅

70. bought a house. my mom and stepdad inherited the house we live in now; when he died a few years ago, we got the place and now it’s just my mom and me. thing is i don’t want to buy a house: it’s just too much.

71. nirvhannah’s world and it’s got everything I love on it

72. Never been drunk before, but i did get tipsy, though: i got really chatty.

73. Middle of the morning, like 8 to 11.

74. I enjoy being babied, believe it or not.

75. here in the states: new york city, new orleans, and honolulu. internationally: auckland, suva, and tokyo

76. Haven’t had a best friend since middle school if you can believe that.

77. Annabelle, the three-legged cockapoo wonder dog, and Schnooki, the old man Jew boy feline of the mountain who adopted me (and no, his name is Schnooki, not Snooki à la the bimbo from Jersey Shore)

78. back scratches

79. Depends on the surprise

80. What’s your favorite picture of yourself? i have five, if you can believe that

81. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Goosebumps, Lord of the Rings, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Hatchet, Narnia, Animorphs, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, and (please don’t judge me) Harry Potter

82. i’m on the fence. i don’t mind kids, but i don’t like them enough to want any of my own (plus, i’m just not into the whole idea of having kids, either). i always pictured myself as more of a teacher, or the baker down the street who has a section in her bakery dedicated solely to baked goods for kids.

83. My heart-shaped choker made of hematite/iron ore. My Soundgarden pendant. A black leather bracelet with chain links and white rhinestones that my mom made for me. My day of the dead bracelet.

84. Take your pick from my dad punching a Rottweiler and knocking it out to save our family dog at the time to my dad and my aunt Chris drove to Tahoe from Simi Valley in the middle of summer with the heater stuck on and a window stuck closed to my uncle Lonny tapping on a bathroom window and whispering “stop it!” to a grizzly bear that broke into his car to me climbing a 900-foot hill solo when I was like 3 to the time I spent an entire afternoon to get King Animal or the time I cut class to get donuts.

85. without question

86. This time of year: nothing. In the winter: my Alex Skolnick trio shirt.

87. To be a paleontologist in business with my best friend at the time.

88. I don’t think I’ve ever had an otp, fictional or otherwise

89. Enter something into the county fair. Get my driver’s license proper—maybe my passport, too. Do my kinktober project. Do chalk on the walk again (after not doing it for 6 years).

90. Rebecca

91. Where the Red Fern Grows

92. Hobbiton. Traveling, learning, and lots of food, oh my!

93. The time Chris Cornell noticed me, followed me, and befriended me.

94. Pet-sitter for this older couple called the Deutschmans. I got to hang out with cats and feed birds!

95. The time I got fixed up, which was also my last date experience. Absolutely no chemistry whatsoever and the guy was more interested in buddying up with my stepdad than getting to know me.

96. “What time is it?”

97. Spontaneous, hands down

98. I really don’t know, tbh.

99. Skinwalker Ranch, before then season 10 of Project Runway, and before that the Grand Tour. Tells you everything about my emotional state.

100. When I got to meet Chris 🤍

Get to know me asks✨

So introverts who never talk to their mutuals can get to know each other lol

1. What were your summers like as a kid?

2. Do you enjoy thrilling rides like rollercoasters?

3. Who was your childhood hero?

4. What is your favorite book?

5. What do you find most attractive about your crush?

6. What’s your favorite outfit?

7. Does seeing people in love make you happy? Sad? Annoyed?

8. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

9. What CD did you play to death as a kid?

10. Hike to a mountain top to watch the sunrise or drive out of town to stargaze?

11. What song has the most relatable song lyrics to you?

12. Iced drinks or hot drinks?

13. Bright colors or neutral tones?

14. Breakfast for dinner or pizza for breakfast?

15. Do you have a green thumb or a black thumb?

16. What’s your favorite feature of yours?

17. Would you rather be a lawyer or a doctor?

18. What type do you tend to go for physically?

19. Power of invisibility or flight?

20. Would you rather wake up with your makeup magically done or your hair?

21. What’s the stupidest fight you’ve ever gotten into?

22. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen someone do in public?

23. What’s your dream date?

24. Do you tend to gravitate more toward using logic or intuition to make decisions?

25. Do you like parties?

26. Did you enjoy high school?

27. Who is the craziest person in your family and why?

28. What’s your favorite holiday tradition?

29. Can you describe your laugh?

30. Instagram or Twitter?

31. What’s a show that everyone loves that you didn’t?

32. What song is stuck in your head?

33. Do you like exercising?

34. Do you scare easily?

35. Who are your top 5 celebrity crushes?

36. If you could learn one language fluently what would it be?

37. Would you fly to the moon if given the opportunity?

38. What’s your favorite flower?

39. What non-sexual touch affects you the most?

40. Do you enjoy cuddling?

41. Do you like valentine’s day?

42. Do you enjoy driving and are you a good driver?

43. What would you be most likely to become famous for?

44. Do you have a favorite quote?

45. Are you a romantic?

46. Do you have any tattoos or want to get one?

47. Biggest pet peeve?

48. Favorite personality trait about yourself?

49. Sum up your type in three words.

50. Do you listen to Kpop and if so who is your bias and why?

51. What’s the longest you’ve ever stayed awake?

52. Hot or cold weather?

53. Bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates?

54. Can you do any good impressions?

55. What’s the best prank you’ve been witness to?

56. Favorite dessert?

57. Is there a vine or tik tok you quote often?

58. What tumblr post always makes you laugh?

59. What country that you haven’t been to do you want to visit most?

60. Can you cook and do you enjoy it?

61. What’s your guilty pleasure movie?

62. What’s your comfort movie?

63. Is there a genre of music you don’t like?

64. What’s an album that you think has no skips on it?

65. What’s your favorite thing to watch on youtube?

66. Would you make the first move to ask someone out?

67. Do you often dream or have nightmares that you remember when you wake up?

68. What are you craving right now?

69. What turns you on?

70. What’s something you haven’t done that you think most people have?

71. What genre is your favorite playlist right now and what’s it called?

72. Are you a sad or happy drunk? Chill or energetic drunk?

73. What time of day do you like best?

74. Do you tend to enjoy being babied or do you prefer to be the one taking care of someone else?

75. What top three cities do you want to travel to?

76. What’s your favorite feature about your best friend?

77. Do you have any pets? What are their names?

78. Back scratches or having your hair played with?

79. Do you like surprises?

80. What’s your favorite picture of yourself?

81. What books influenced you most as a child?

82. Do you like kids?

83. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? (or other accessory if you don’t wear any)

84. Any wild stories passed around in your family?

85. Do you consider yourself an independent person?

86. What are you most comfortable sleeping in?

87. What was your childhood dream?

88. What’s your fictional OTP?

89. What’s one thing you want to achieve this year?

90. What has been your favorite book you’ve read in the last 5 years?

91. What was the first movie to make you cry?

92. What book world would you live in if given the opportunity?

93. What’s your craziest work related story?

94. What’s the best job you’ve had so far?

95. Worst tinder or date experience?

96. What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up most mornings?

97. Are you more of a planner or a spontaneous adventurer?

98. Do you think you see yourself the way other people see you?

99. What’s the last show you binged?

100. What’s one of your fondest memories?

[romanarose]

Hi!! I'm the person who left the message about chapter 4 of Seattle and I have so much I want to say!!

First of all, you are absolutely NOT useless. I think you'd be very dearly missed in fandom. You're great! Second, I am so so sorry to hear what you have been going through. As someone who struggles with depression I relate A LOT to what you described and I wish I could give you a hug. I have had that exact "crying in the car for 45 minutes" moment and honestly I respect you so much for going into Panda Express with tears in your eyes. That is a sign of strength, to do something even when it is difficult. I respect the hell out of you and I'm rooting for you really hard (I actually live in Seattle so just know there is someone over here cheering you on!!)

Speaking of, I finished Seattle yesterday and a big part of what I appreciated about it was exactly what you described - Rebecca is strong, but abuse can happen to anyone. Seeing her strength, her love, her hope was honestly so inspiring and motivating. Another thing I absolutely adored was her connection to her faith. You honoured that Marc has a complicated history with faith and his family in a beautiful way, and you allowed him and Rebecca not to be on the exact same page about it in such a respectful way. The traditions and the Hebrew you incorporated added so much character to the story and warmed my heart to read about. I have Jewish holiday notifications on my google calendar bc I want to honour my Jewish friend's faith and check in with her when important days are coming up, and Seattle actually taught me some new stuff and showed me there are so mamy things I should google so I can be a better friend to her, I dunno it was just a sweet added bonus for me in a fic that was already so great and meaningful.

Lastly!! I did not find $10 dollars on the street but I read your story Lucky which was even better!!! Again, as someone with depression that story REALLY hit home. This line in particular "...and then I started feeling fucking useless, and things just spiraled." I FEEL LIKE YOU READ MY MIND. Everything described is exactly how I have felt, exactly what I've gone through. And everything Will said in this fic is something I need to learn to tell myself. This story really tugged at my heartstrings, made me feel understood and seen and hopeful. Thank you so much for that. I know I will be coming back to it time and time again when I feel down and need a pick me up.

Hi!!!!!! Thank you for reaching out again! The panda express cured me

jk but after a huuuuuuuuuggggeeee cry and a lot of food i feel much better this week and im really really really hoping things are on the up now.

As for Seattle... your from seattle!!!!! I bet thats why it caught your eye lol. Sorry it wasn't actually about Seattle haha.

Rebecca's faith is something I really wanted to explore with her and Marc. IDK if you read any of the bonus endings, but in Cleaning Out My Closet, Marc is quite religious again. I wanted Rebecca to be a proud Jewish woman and explore her finding her practice again. She never left being Jewish, but it was pushed down due to Jack. So it was more finding that faith expression again, while Marc found his faith. Marc never stopped being Jewish, but he was fairly removed from it all.

Jack caught Rebecca in a vunerable moment, a moment she was no longer codependant with Marc and was probably still struggling with that idea of being on her own, even if she was still in contact with Marc. Also, she didn't date. Her entire high school, Marc was at her side and no one was going to fuck with Marc. for 6 years of college and grad school she didnt date either, just trying to get through each day. And no matter how strong you are, when you've grown up with abuse and never having that parental love, you're ripe to fall for lovebombing and someone rich taking care of you.

Doesn't mean she's weak, it makes she's human.

And one of my favorite parts of Seattle is Marc's reaction to Rebecca's pregnancy. Not only is he just genuinely thrilled, elated to be having kids with her, but the fact he's so excited to tell his dad, Matty, and all his street level marvel friends.

AH Lucky, that's a comfort fic of mine, honestly. The idea of Will taking care of me....

Not that you have to, but Sunshine Starlight Sweetheart Brightside and then Leather and Lace deal with similar themes of recovery from child abuse, sexual assault, and addiction, but that's just an aside

I appreciate you reaching out, and telling me all these kind things. These sorts of messages I've gotten for my series at different times always make me so happy and warm, but at this particular dark point in my life, it's meant a lot more.

So, thank you again.

[when-wax-wings-melt]

Hey Summer! Do you have any tips on writing Jewish characters?

I do! Keep in mind that I'm a conservative-jewish American teenage girl so my experiences are certainly not universal or all-encompassing for every Jew (since every experience is different) but this is basic stuff that should help.

Naming your character:

Traditionally, babies are named after dead relatives. If you want to look for names, you can add that in as a detail. Keep in mind that being named after a relative doesn't necessarily mean you take the exact name; I was named after my great grandmother, and our names just have the same first letters.

Many Jewish names are Hebrew or Yiddish. They might come from the Torah (Adam or Moshe or Sara or Leah). You can Google Israeli or Hebrew names and their meanings, but common ones are Miriam, Aviva, Aliza, Noah (Noa for a girl), Nathan (or Natan), Ezra.

Please do not give your Jewish character the last name "Goldstein". While the name certainly exists and is common enough, it's become enough of a stereotype.

Last names can be difficult to navigate. Many Jews changed their last names to sound less Jewish when they came to the US or during world war ll but typically you can look up common Jewish last names and find what you want from the list.

Different types of Jews:

There are a lot of different kinds of Jews. Typically, we're divided into three basic categories: orthodox, conservative, and reform.

Orthodox are the strictest. There’s different kinds of Orthodox Jews, with ultra-Orthodox, the Jews typically portrayed in media, with the long beards, top hats, etc, and there’s modern Orthodox, who are more modern and have newer style clothes, modern culture, etc. If you're planning on writing an Orthodox character, there are a lot of different sections within that. Ultra-Orthodox will marry other Orthodox people and likely have as many kids as possible. They're very strict and the women dont participate in much modern culture; I don't know much about modern orthodox or their day to day lives, so I'm not an accurate source of how one would portray them. I’d ask an actual Orthodox person for this!

Conservative people prefer old traditions, but are flexible. They are a range from going to synagogue every week to only going on important holidays. Conservative people tend to keep kosher but not all do, and they do shabbat but not all will keep it. There are conservative women rabbis, but this was more recent. They're pretty okay with women but some more old style Jews will not approve of bat mitzvahs and such.

Reform Jews are the most relaxed about the Torah and most laws. There are less who keep kosher, services are shorter, they're more accepting of women and other people, more likely to marry out of the religion.

Conservative and reform are more integrated with regular life, and so are modern orthodox do a degree. If you want more detail about any of these, you can ask!

There are different types of Jews outside of the level of observance as well! Jews can be Ashkenazi or Sephardic (which are the main ones I’ve seen) or other lineages (which are smaller but still important) including the Eastern, Ethiopian, and Yemenite communities as well as others! These depend on what place your ancsestors came from. Different lineages might have different ways of chanting Torah, preparing food, interpreting Torah and laws, or vague rules, but many people are a mixture of the two depending on what traditions they prefer and who their teacher/family is. Unless your character is religious, they probably won’t make a huge distinction.

Traditions and holidays:

All Jewish holidays begin and end at night.

This includes Shabbat, which begins Friday night and ends Saturday night. Shabbat is a relaxation day. More observant Jews will abstain from any work or spending money, and avoid technology, which includes phones, ovens, cars, and electricity. Orthodox typically will leave their lights on and cook their food before Shabbat begins. Conservative will vary in observance and might drive but not spend money or just light candles and ignore the rest. Reform usually don't worry about it beyond lighting candles and maybe going to synagogue, but again, it will vary.

Your Jewish character will most likely celebrate Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, which take place during early autumn.

Yom Kippur: you go to synagogue for hours the morning after it begins. You fast (no food, water, gum, etc) from erev (the night of) Yom kippur and break the fast the following night. This is typically a fun party with friends. No work or school during this time, but some people let their kids go to school.

Rosh Hashanah: the Jewish new year! You skip work to go to synagogue the morning of, and you eat apples and honey and other sweet things to hope for a sweet coming year

Pesach (Passover) occurs around April or may and is an important holiday. It lasts eight days and no risen foods may be eaten during that time. The first night (and sometimes the second) there's a Seder with family and/or friends.

Hanukkah is not important but it's fun! Children like it because there's food and games

Yom Ha’atzmaut: Israeli Independence Day! Israelis obviously celebrate this more than American Jews, and celebrations differ; some don’t observe this at all, but a lot of synagogues hold a party or families will have Israeli foods for dinner. You don’t have to support Israel’s actions to eat the food.

Yom HaShoah: Holocaust remebrance day

There are a lot of other holidays during the year of varying importance! You can ask if you have questions!

Things to avoid:

I mentioned this before: don’t name your Jew [firstname] Goldstein. There are other good names for you to try!

Do not make your Jewish character: any sort of demon or demonic formed creature, unnaturally greedy or money-hoarding (there are levels to this one), oily/greasy, having a large nose, having horns or another trait associated with demons, a vampire (for drinking blood reasons), some sort of goblin, explicitly stated to be untrustworthy (especially in regards to business or banking), etc. If you’re worried that something might be iffy, you can ask!

Characters can be greedy without being stereotypical, and they can be ambitious just like anyone else. Jewish characters can definitely be villains, but there are degrees of what kind of villains they should be. Do they steal children? Are they slimy or manipulative? Do they have horns, red skin, or tails? Do they automatically hate Arabs or Palestinians? 

These are the most prevalent stereotypes out there. You can ask if you have any more questions

Extra:

When a member of the community dies, the family might hold Shiva, which is a seven day period where the family is provided food, help, company from friends and the community. The family shouldn’t have to cook or work too hard while they’re in mourning; this is a somber occasion, but it’s a chance for the family to be reminded they’re not alone. People will have normal conversations and give the family their condolences. Typical foods brought are brisket, fruit, veggie platters, kugel, bagels, and other long-lasting, easy to prepare dishes.

Common Jewish foods include kugel (sweet or savory noodles in a dish), blintzes (similar to crepes), knishes (filled dough, like baked dumplings), latkes (fried potato pancakes), shakshuka (eggs cooked in tomato sauce), and others. A huge part of Jewish culture is the food, and there are different ones for most holidays!

Brisses or baby namings are affairs for the whole community! The parents invite their friends and hold a party and announce the baby’s name (and gender, sometimes, although these aren’t typically gender reveals).

Bar/bat/bnei mitzvot are important ceremonies. A 13 y/old boy (or 12.5-13 y/old girl) will read Torah first time and lead at least part of the service. They get their tallis, become a full member of the community (a Jewish adult), receive gifts from the community, and typically hold a luncheon after. The service is on Saturday morning, but many will have Friday night services as well, and an afterparty that Saturday night

Feel free to add on/correct something if you’re Jewish or ask questions if you’re not! My inbox is always open!

[unidentifiedgreenskittle]

Ok so this turned into a bit of a rant so strap in,

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about jewish representation in media and how little of it there is. and i’m not talking about deep holocaust movies and stuff like that i mean like regular slice of life movies and tv shows, or just a side character who’s only jewish when the plot needs them to be for a joke

Like have them mention or show them celebrate jewish holidays if you want a challenge have it be something besides Chanukah (seriously like shabbat, passover, rosh hashanah, purim we have plenty of other holidays)

If it’s a younger character they could go to sunday/hebrew school or hell even jewish summer camp if that’s the story you want

Or they could be preparing for their bar/bat mitzvah, but please if i have to see one more bar/bat mitzvah party that looks like it funded by Jeff Bezoz i’ll scream

This is not to say Judaism has to be the focus of the story, i don’t want a show to feel like it’s preaching or anything. I just want a character who’s judaism feels like an actual part of their identity and not just an afterthought thrown in for brownie points

[keshetchai]

I agree that people do this to "the ancients" a lot, but a lot of the problems are frequently like...people relying on 18th-19th century pseudo-history and victorian romanticism of historical events. As opposed to any actual historiography. There isn't actually any debate about the whole eggs and rabbits thing.

(I mean....from your examples, Roanoke was definitely not ancient. And the Maya people still exist today. So that also contributes to how much we know today as opposed to actual ancient peoples/events.)

There's also whole sub-specialties of studying this kind of popular cultural conceptions of historical periods too! Like "medievalism studies" is sort of...about describing the popular understanding of What The Middle Ages Were Like, but filtered through a post-enlightenment lens/and fads, and often in direct contradiction with the actual history of the middle ages. But also ahistorical reimaginings of the time period, borrowing the popular ideas of what the middle ages were like for fantasy (yes, Game of Thrones!), and so on. Stuff like "girls got married at 12 all the time back then!" Is a good example. But also things like neo-gothicism/gothic revival, romanticism, the pre-raphaelites...all that can be viewed through the lens of medievalism.

At any rate, all Christians originally called it Pascha (in Aramaic and Greek) and Pasch which is derived from *drumrolls*  פֶּסַח pesach!

Which is Hebrew for Passover!

Meanwhile the ONLY attested reference to an old English (Saxon) goddess named Ēostre being the origin for the later English word "Easter" is from an 8th century (725) Anglo-Saxon Christian monk named Bede.

Bede was explicitly writing the text "The Reckoning of Time," in order to explain and justify the Synod of Whitby's 664 decision to favor the Roman reckoning of time over the Irish custom.

translatation of the Latin (pulled from wiki):

Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.

Eostur-monath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretetur, quondam a dea illorum quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant, nomen habuit, a cuius nomine nunc paschale tempus cognominant; consueto antiquae observationis vocabulo gaudia novae solemnitatis vocantes.

He's stating this goddess exists, a month was named after her, and now the English use still use this name to refer to the season of passover which is basically at the same time of the year (spring).

At most we could argue:

It's a natural syncretism of using the old month's name for a spring period while adopting April as the name of the actual month OR,

It's an intentional tactic on the part of the church to associate the old pagan terms with Christian holidays and Christian religious worship AND to further create distance from Judaism and the Jews.

But there's no other details other than this. The Saxon-German argument is basically the same.

Jacob Grimm (yes, like Grimm brothers Grimm) wrote about this in his 1835 book German Mythology (title translated) and he was arguing that the origin of the German month of Ostermonat is the same (more or less) as what Bede argued. Eosturmonath = Eostre, Ostermonat = Ostara.

But then literally everything else Grimm claimed about this proposed goddess is fully speculative and not based on any recorded proof Another writer Adolf Holtzmann also wrote a book "German Mythology" in 1874, and he was also just speculating when he guessed about the origins of the Easter Bunny.

Anyways all of these earliest examples claiming the eggs, rabbit/hare, etc relate to this Anglo-Saxon goddess that is "the inspiration for Easter" — are all from the 19th century, and are broadly speculating about late antiquity/and early medieval culture...which is an example of medievalism itself!

Within just twenty years, the association of rabbits laying or bringing eggs for became an "ancient pagan story" which influenced Easter.

All of this is just 19th century storytelling! None of it is historically grounded.

More fun egg points:

Christians originally weren't supposed to eat eggs during lenten, so Easter is obviously when they can eat eggs again. Meanwhile chickens still lay eggs during lent. The English developed the tradition of Egg Saturday where children go around asking for eggs and throw crockery at the windows of people who refuse.

Actually that whole article details allll the eggy traditions pretty well: Newall, Venetia. “Easter Eggs.” The Journal of American Folklore 80, no. 315 (1967): 3–32. https://doi.org/10.2307/538415 and the range of eggy related traditions that aren't even Anglo-Saxon.

The use of an egg during Pesach maybe started because the volume of an egg would have been a reference measurement (for determining a kaza'it, the amount of an olive, which is the amount of bitter herbs and matza people must eat. How much is a kaza'it? Different sages argued for different fractions of an egg. Rambam said it was 1/3 of an egg.) 🥚 but it also had symbolic meanings ascribed to it, and there's no singular origin known for it.

Saw a friend post a meme about Eoster being the source of Easter and CORRECTING it to say that the source was ACTUALLY Ishtar, and I want you to know that the noise I made was inhuman, darlings.

[benevolentbirdgal]

Purim: a Jewish holiday and wild ride from start to finish

So let me tell you about the absolute soap opera that is the Jewish holiday of Purim. The scene is set in ancient (appx. 4th century B.C.E.) Persia during the first Jewish Diaspora, in the city of Shushan (typically identified in secular sources as Susa, a now-abandoned ancient city in what is now Iran). I’m telling you, as a work of literature (even beyond theological implications for Jewish people), this book has everything: love, drama, royalty, intrigue, ego, plots, irony, mystery, and a strong female lead. 

[some non-slur swearing below]

Ahasuerus, party-loving king of Persia executed or exiled (translations argue) his wife Vashti, and had to find a new queen. Why did he do this, you ask? Well, it really starts with an 180-day party across his kingdom for all his subjects to celebrate the third year of his reign. After that absolute rager, party-bro KA has another one immediately after for a week, this time just for the capital city of Shushan. Vashti was having a woman’s party in her quarters, presumably living her best life, when party-bro sends his top seven yes-men to deliver a message to Vashti. This sleaze-ball wants her to appear at his party in front of everyone, wearing her crown, with the clear implication being only her crown. Vashti more or less tells him to pound sand (I mean, not the literal translation, but that’s the sentiment). 

KA’s advisors convince him that this is not only an offense against the king but also against all the men in the country (ah, the joys of ancient patriarchy and toxic af masculinity). KA writes a degree that women must respect their husbands so he has an official reason to get rid of Vashti. Vashti is soon thereafter out of the picture and the king is short a queen. Whether she was a Wise Lady With A Point Who Got Screwed Over or a Vicious Jew-Hating Adulteress Who Had It Coming has been a matter of furious debate for over two millennia (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud vociferously disagree on her). In any case, KA regrets it pretty quick and wants a new queen. 

At the behest of his advisors (you know, since their last advice worked out soooooo well), KA had a big contest/forcible gathering of young women from around his kingdom and a Jewish woman, Hadassah, was the winner.  Hadassah was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordechai in the city of Shushan. Hadassah is more commonly known as Esther, because she changed her name to hide her identity as a Jew (at the behest of Mordechai). In any case, KA decided he liked Esther best and she became queen (it’s specifically mentioned both that he loved her most and that the palace staff liked her because she was nice to them-it’s unclear how much of an influence the latter was). 

Concurrently, a wicked man named Haman was the top advisor to the king and the king would basically rubber-stamp whatever Haman wanted. Haman was a raging Jew-hater-this will be relevant later. 

Some time into Esther’s reign as queen, Mordechai, who has taken to hanging around the gates of the palace to keep in touch with Esther, overhears a plot by two guards, Bigthan and Teresh, to kill the king. Mordechai alerts his cousin, and she tells the king. It’s recorded in the book of deeds and life keeps moving. 

Some time later, Haman decides (after a promotion to head lackey) that he wants all to bow to him as he passes. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman every single day (citing that as a Jew he bowed to no man), and that did not sit well with Haman. So despite being prime minister and presumably having more important things to do, “genocide the Jews” made it to the top of to-do list. He didn’t like them before, and Mordechai refusing to treat him like a special snowflake was something he took really, really personally (totally can’t think of any modern politicians like that, nope). He told KA, who frankly doesn’t seem to ask enough questions, that there was a people disrespecting the king and his laws throughout the land, and could he pretty-please exterminate them. As a bonus, Haman would “donate” 10,000 silver kikar to the royal treasury (modern conversion vary, but all agree this an absurd amount on money). 

KA handed him the royal seal to do so. Haman was feeling lucky I guess so he decided the best course of action was to draw lots to pick the day for the massacre. [Purim is lots in Hebrew, so that’s where the name of the holiday came from]. The message went out to all the provinces that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that they citizens and leaders should murder all of the Jews, young and old, man, woman, and child, rich and poor and take their possessions as spoils. 

As this wasn’t exactly a state secret, the Jews knew and were quite distressed. The planned slaughter was like a year out, but what the actual fuck were they supposed to do? If you lived in Persia at that point that, the empire was functionally your entire world, unless you were fabulously/ridiculously wealthy and well-connected. Having several months notice the other locals and your rules were going to slaughter you and take your stuff isn’t particularly useful when there’s really nowhere to go. 

In Shushan, Mordechai (who, although not explicitly in text, is in oral/Talmudic tradition a leader of the Jewish community) goes into mourning. He dresses in sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he fasts at the gates of the palace, as Jews throughout shushan and the kingdom are doing. Esther hears of her cousin’s mourning behavior and tries to send along nice clothes through a messenger, which he refuses. It is then that she learns of the decree. Mordechai (through the messenger) implores her to go ask the king if the Jews not getting murdered could be a thing. Esther explains that she could be killed for approaching the king unsummoned. Mordechai stresses the severity of the situation. Esther agrees to ask the king and tells Mordechai to have the Shushan Jewish community fast day and night (as opposed to just day as prior) for three days, and she and her handmaidens will fast too (no word on what the handmaidens thought of this).

On the third day, Esther bravely approached the king, asked him if she could request something. He said anything, up to half his kingdom (which implies to me that homedude, for all his flaws, was actually into her). Esther invited him to a party, where he and Haman would be the only guests. At the party she asks if she can another request. KA is open to it and she invites him to another party the next night. Party-bro king is obviously down and Haman is tickled to death at this second invitation. 

He goes home to brag to his wife, Zeresh, about the invite and also to bitch about how angsty he is Mordechai is still alive (this angst reignited by passing him on the way home). Zeresh suggests he have fifty-foot gallows built to make Mordechai an example on, with the king’s permission, ASAP. Haman orders the building of the gallows, feeling secure in the knowledge that his bestie the king will execute Mordechai on them. 

Back at the castle KA can’t sleep. He demands a bedtime story from the his records, because those will presumably put him to sleep. The story that gets read, ~coincidentally~, is of Mordechai saving KA’s life. Haman had sidled on up to the castle to speak to the king about killing Mordechai, and the king called him in. KA asks Haman, if he were to honor someone, what should he do? Haman is thinking “this is obvi about me” and tells the king that the honoree should be donned in royal clothing, and ride through the streets on a fancy horse with people someone shouting how great he is. KA is like great, love it, perf, go do that for Mordechai. Haman is not a happy camper but does the thing. After that, he goes home and tells Zeresh about it, who warns him that this is a very bad sign. 

Finally, that night is the night of Esther’s second soiree. Haman and KA attend. The latter offers to Esther anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom. Esther asks that her life, and the life of her people be spared. KA is like “whomst” and Esther revealed it was Haman. At this point Ahasuerus.exe stops working and he takes a walk to the gardens. He comes back to see Haman begging Esther for his life, and KA thinks Haman is assaulting her. Haman was seized by nearby guards.

One of the chamberlains is then like, hey, KA, coincidentally there’s these super high gallows Haman just had built. Why not take care of the problem that way? (The fact that the random nearby chamberlain was like yup, that dude, hang ‘em in the morning, probably says a lot about how Haman treated most people around him, even more than forcing all to bow to him). KA orders it be done. 

Not that Haman was around to be sad about it, but what happened next would have massively pissed him off, as his old job then went to Mordechai. Esther then implored of the king that the degree to allow the massacre of the Jews be reversed. The king couldn’t Cntrl+Z the order to murder-all-the-Jews, but he could issue an order that they could fight back. The proclamation was sent throughout the land, and the Jews were able to prepare. Since the royal decree had been amended, the governments (princes, governors, satraps) largely reformulated their plans accordingly, but plenty of Jew-haters still wanted to use the opportunity. The ability to self-defend meant that the communities weren’t massacred. In most of the kingdom, the Jews were now safe. Outside of Shushan, the fourteenth of Adar became a feast day. 

Shushan was still not safe though. Antisemites were still out and mad (and apparently had not learned from the previous day), so Esther asked the Jews of Shushan to be allowed to defend themselves once more. Her wish was granted, and the Shushan Jews were able to defend themselves once more (so Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities). 

The story ends with the decision to write it down, and although there some debate on authorship, it is traditionally attributed to Esther herself cowriting with Mordechai. 

Nowhere in the book is God mentioned. Nowhere is there divine intervention (at least not explicitly). Just Jews sticking up for themselves, being brave in the face of mortal peril, and a metric fucktown of chutzpah.