#the jewish experience tag

[afrenomes]

Losers harassing online Jewish communities… must be a day ending in y 🙄

[rabbiaharon]

On the anniversary of the vicious attack against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th, I would like to go over what I’ve seen to be the feelings of most Jews I’ve met concerning the attack, and also talk about the experience that Jews in the United States (and perhaps worldwide) have had in the time after October 7th.

When you look in the grand scheme of things, there aren’t very many Jews in the world. In fact, we make up just under 0.2% of the world’s population. Statistically speaking, this means that the entire Jewish people could be lost by the margin of error of any given data set. There are nearly twice as many people in the United States who openly identify as LGBT than there are Jews on the planet. As a result, we tend to be tightly connected one with another, and running into a fellow Jew on the street can feel more like running into a long lost cousin, than being introduced to a complete stranger. Most Jews in the world either have at least some extended family or friends living in Israel. Israel is not a jewish state - it’s a secular representative-democracy with a loose Jewish identity due to the majority of the voting pubic being Jewish, but it is occupying our ancestral land, and we pretty much all know someone who knows someone (if we don’t have a personal connection). Gaza, on the other hand, is a terrorist enclave. It is ruled by an internationally recognized terrorist organization (recognized by the UN, the same organization for they brag that they’ve had their statehood “recognized”) who was democratically elected in 2006 by residents of the enclave, and assumed military control afterwards, and has not held a single election since then. This organization glorifies the murder of Jews - not just Israelis - and their charter calls for the total elimination of all the world’s jewry, and the downfall of the western world (including the US and Western Europe), replaced with muslim caliphates. They house military hardware in the basements of schools, and launch rockets indiscriminately from atop UN-funded hospitals. They are known for using human shields, and when their military structures are destroyed by the people they are shooting at, they use the bodies of all the innocent people gathered inside to wage a PR campaign in the news and social media, claiming that they’re the only victims in this conflict. This isn’t my personal opinion, this is well-established fact, and a quick google search or use of a meta-news search tool like Ground News can confirm that.

Last year on one of our most joyous holidays, a group of armed terrorists from that organization breached the border of that secular state and attacked innocent people. Some were teenagers and young adults who were just enjoying themselves at a concert. Some were babies or the elderly, who were killed in their homes, or violated and then killed or taken hostage. The next day, another terrorist organization that had taken control of another terrorist enclave on the north side of that secular state opened fire on that secular state, raining rockets down daily on the cities in the north, killing some, and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes and live in bomb shelters.

Many of us were personally affected by the attack on innocent jews in Israel. There was anger that so many of our own people were killed while just trying to enjoy themselves, or living in their home. Our friends or family who were being held hostage by that savage terrorist organization known for indiscriminate violence and the use of human shields? We wanted them back. Those of us who were paying attention were asking why Israel, which supposedly has one of the best intelligence gathering operations in the world, was blindsided? Why was there - in a country known for its military readiness - was such delay in their response, where it took them as long as 7 hours to begin their response. We wanted to see accountability from Netanyahu and his government, and we wanted to know why Israel seemingly let it happen.

In the midst of our mourning, most of the non-jews who seemed like they were somewhat supportive and open to us - especially in the wake of antisemitism on the right spurred by insane rhetoric by a certain president of the United States - suddenly lost their minds. They showed up to protest at holiday celebrations screaming "from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free" over our prayers. Pro-palestinian protestors have shown up to our places of worship brandishing knives, or baseball bats, or threatening with guns until the police are called. They harass jews on the streets who are minding their own business and threatening Jewish kids on their way to school. They have threatened violence to totally innocent jewry who are unrelated to the entire conflict, and followed through, not unlike the people who first attacked us. This is only the tip of the iceberg - as I have only mentioned the things that have so far happened in my community, and this is not the place or time to delve into it in all the gruesome detail. Suffice to say, my personal experience has been mirrored by jews all around the world who have been at best abandoned by their non-jewish neighbors, and at worst attacked by them, verbally, or physically. This trend has been reflected, of course, onto this website, and antisemitic behavior has long since spiraled out of control. Even as I type this, I am sure that some non-jew will jump onto this post, calling me out for not supporting the people who would be happy to see me dead. The one who does so will be no better than a member of that terrorist organization.

I am not minimizing the tragedy of innocent Palestinian children and parents who have tried to take their families and leave, but have been prevented by their government - or even prevented from emigrating by Israel. They are true victims, held captive by the same terrorists holding our own family and friends as hostages. But for those who voted that terrorist organization into power and have opted to stay and continue to support them? Those who have endangered their children by volunteering them to be human shields, and by teaching them the ways of violence and hatred? They are my enemies, and you should see them as yours too.

[afrenomes]

Like, how can thousands of people on this hellsite be like “yeah, don’t be antisemitic! Antisemitism is bad! Don’t say [insert the most blatantly antisemitic statement ever]! Instead, say [insert the SECOND-most blatantly antisemitic statement ever]!”

I don’t use this term lightly, but I feel like I’m being gaslit???? Like, did I read that post wrong??? I don’t think so, but how can so many people, including the person I follow who put this on my dash (and whom I’ve been following for a long time and until now I respected), be this fucking stupid???

[homosexualhooligan]

trying to put all my jewish feelings into something sweet

1 month until Rosh Hashanah, one of my favorite holidays

[afrenomes]

If I was better with words I’d write an entire thesis-length essay on not just the deeply-entrenched antisemitism of all this, but also the deeply-DEEPLY-entrenched misogyny of this whole past year

[afrenomes]

“It’s the Jews Zionists that control the media!”

Yeah, that’s still blatantly antisemitic. Also, those famously antisemitic radio talk show hosts are also saying literally the same “Zionists control the media” schtick, so instead of parroting them maybe you need to rethink what you’re saying and where your values lie 🤷‍♀️

[afrenomes]

Going through the notes of that post because I hate myself for some reason and I’m about to fucking scream

Putting this word and any iteration of it on the highest shelf til goyim actually learn the definition and history of it and how it’s used in antisemitic dogwhistles

[afrenomes]

The irony of some pathetic antisemite suicide-baiting jumblr being the ONLY thing to get me out of my suicide-ideation funk of the past 15+ hrs is kinda hilarious to me ngl

Me: the world sucks and i have no future

Their lame ass: kill urselves

Me: actually you know what? Fuck you. My crops are growing, my skin is clear my depression is gone 💆‍♀️

[afrenomes]

Lately I’ve become increasingly more frustrated with the dissonance between what’s reported in Western news media and what I’ve heard from people experiencing the conflict directly (and which is often confirmed by Israeli media from across the political spectrum), and I think this article from 10 years ago does a really good job at explaining what’s actually happening and why we’re only hearing selective parts of the “story”. Despite being written 10 years ago, I think it’s still incredibly relevant to today.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Funny things about being in jewish culture™

You absolutely cannot expect jews to (1) stay on a topic topic or (2) be concise. The notion of "having a topic" to talk about is merely a suggestion (apparently, this includes me)

Jewish time means you're transported into a universe where time doesn't exist. Every shul has to have a portal to a different plane of oblivion - it's as important as having the scrolls in the ark

You might only know someone by their hebrew name and consider if they will look at you weird if you call them by it outside of shul

There is a latent jewish mother hiding in everyone and that mother will arise like a sleeper agent if someone has deduced that you aren't eating enough during any potential communal meals

Why so many puns

Why are all of you as sarcastic as me...

The one person who's actually fluent in hebrew flexing their superior language comprehension (diaspora)

Celebrating having a minyan

Singing prayers to popular children's songs

It's surprisingly normal to ask about someone's bris if it comes up

There are seven people in the building, yet I thought there were twenty

[afrenomes]

It’s one thing when strangers dismiss or belittle the fear and anger I’ve felt since 10/7, it’s next level when friends and acquaintances do that, but family? The people who’ve known me since before I was born, who claim they love me? When they do they do that, when my goyische family members dismiss and belittle the horrific experiences I’ve had since 10/7, when they know so little about what it means to be Jewish despite having Jewish family members for over 4 decades, everything inside me breaks. I don’t think I will ever forgive that. I don’t know how to even begin to process that.

[fakakta-art]

Happy Hanukkah! My gift to you- some quick lil doodles of the batfam celebrating!

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I am all for atheism, but I will say that watching a short video where a person said one of the reasons they were an atheist is because people uncritically follow their parents' religion was rather funny because

Most of my jewish friends are converts, and all of our parents are still of a different faith. In fact, one of the people at shul joked that we ought to study the phenomenon of ex-catholics becoming jewish because they've seen the "catholic to jewish" pipeline so much.

I think what bothered me more about that video was focusing on religion being Right, especially about g-d. I can only speak for myself, but I didn't choose judaism because I thought it was correct (at least, that isn't my sole reason), but because it enriched my life in a way that nothing else has. I think focusing on the idea of a Perfectly Right religion is too shallow an endeavor.

I think the third layer that makes this funny to me is I (semi-jokingly) call myself theistic, agnostic, and atheist combined