#this tag is Jewish and so am I

[attackfish]

As it is Passover again, it is time for the annual debate as to whether the frog plague, which thanks to a quirk in the Hebrew, is written as a plague of frog, singular, rather than the plural, plague of frogs, was in fact, as generally imagined, a plague of many frogs, or instead a singular giant Kaiju frog. This is an ancient and venerable argument that actually goes back to the Talmud because this is what the Jewish people are. If we can't argue for fun about this sort of thing, what are we even doing.

In that spirit, I would like to submit a third possibility, which is that in fact it was one perfectly normal sized frog, who was absolutely acing Untitled Frog Game: Ancient Egypt Edition. One particularly obnoxious frog, who through sheer hard work, managed to plague all of Egypt.

[spindrifters]

my nana died yesterday. she was 94, and beautiful. the boys at her university used to call her champagne. she was a leo. an actress. a youth counselor. a labor union organizer. a mystic. very much the main event. she got to live a long and fantastic life, and I will miss her so, so much.

but I want to talk about something.

my nana had a difficult relationship with jews. not her own judaism. other american jews.

she was sephardi in ashkenormative america to begin with, already had serious beef to start. the ashki temple in her city refused to bury her father in the only jewish graveyard because he wasn't a member. she was a microminority within a minority that had no grace at the time for her.

it didn't help that she was born in the 1920s and watched over the course of the 20th century and the aftermath of the horrors of the shoah as zionism went from an unpopular fringe movement to something that took over and corrupted the establishment of her faith. my nana was a staunch and vocal antizionist, like her parents before her.

it isn't lost on me, the irony of her maiden name.

israel.

something that long predates the establishment of the settler colonial state in palestine. it was never meant to be what it's become. did you know that jews didn't used to have last names? we had patronyms. christians forced us to take their idea of surnames around the 17th century. most ashkenazim picked their trades. gold or silver or cohen. for sephardim, it was popular to go with where they lived at the time or where they had once had roots. mitrani and lousada and taranto. maybe it was so they could find each other in the diaspora.

but my ancestors took it a step further. they chose to go with israel. the name of that diaspora. the unifying tribal name, that needs no physical land to identify itself. it means one who wrestles with god. it was something beautiful, once. like my nana. for her sake, I hope one day it could be again.

may her memory be a revolution.

[attackfish]

So I reported this asshole and IP blocked them, for their intense and blatant antisemitism, but I'm screenshotting and posting this ask because it's a perfect example of what I talked about here: [Link] on my other blog.

I am really open about being an atheist. I am of course really open about being Jewish. I frequently talk about the two in conjuction, and when I talk about Christian cultural hegemony in atheist spaces and antisemitism in atheist spaces, I am talking as a Jewish atheist. But the first thing any gentile atheist who doesn't want to think about antisemitism and Christian cultural hegemony does, is erase my atheism and paint me as the outsider religious person attacking atheists.

And the same thing happens when queer Jews bring up antisemitism in the queer community. Our queerness is erased, and it's "Oh the Jews are such bigots, attacking queer people!" Every time. Intracommunity discussions of antisemitism in communities we belong to, over and over are shut down by gentile members of those communities, painting us as outsiders and interlopers trying to atrack the community. Thank you, Nonny, for providing a perfect example.

[spindrifters]

gentiles, you are encouraged to reblog for a wider pool but please respect the integrity of the poll

[bitegore]

Zionists want you to conflate Judaism and Zionism. Zionists want you to believe that Judaism cannot exist without Zionism and that all Jews are Zionists. Zionism would have Jews believe that a Jewish state is the only way that they can be safe from antisemitism and will point to any instance of antisemitism as proof that Zionism is the solution- so Zionism wants gentiles to be antisemitic in their support of Palestine. They want you to conflate all Jews with Zionism and the state of Israel, and they want you to treat all Jews regardless of political affiliation as the face of Israel. Antizionist Jews exist, and incidences of antisemitism ostensibly acting against Zionism will not help dismantle the forces propping Zionism up.

Don't do their work for them.

[zarohk]

This is why synagogues still use a Torah, not a prayer book, when you’re reading from it on the bimah.

sorry but there is no romance in bluetooth earbuds. they're very handy and nice but nothing will ever compare to sharing a pair of corded earbuds with someone to listen to music or watch a video and leaning together so the earbuds don't get pulled out. even now when i get handed a bluetooth earbud to share i lean close out of instinct. we need to bring the cords back for the love of god

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I've been doing a lot of reflection as of late, especially after this past class.

This past class was about the Torah and Tanakh in general, and the way the rabbi talked about the commandments (specifically the ten commandments) has made me really reflect on how I interpret them, specifically the fifth commandment, or honoring your mother and father.

This is a commandment I have wrestled with for a long time - in fact, it brought me away from g-d at multiple times. I was severely abused when I was incredibly young by my mother, and I used to feel insulted at the implication that I were to honor her while she got to live a better life. It was hypocritical, in my eyes.

But this rabbi surmised that this particular commandment was because parenthood is an act of creation, something that is like the g-d from which we come from. My realization is this: I don't think we're necessarily meant to take even these commandments literally.

I this particular commandment is more of a call to honor creation - creation is a gift, and like any gift, many people simply will not like it and will discard it. The person who abused me created me, but she did not honor creation. She didn't honor me, but I can still honor it.

I have started to honor creation much more. I'm too young, too unstable, not mature enough to be a father (though I fantasize about it), but I create all the time. I create relationships, I create with my hands through crochet. I create memories, I create my world. And I can honor who I am and where I came from that made me who I am. I've been learning one of the mother tongues of my family (Italian, since part of my family originates there) and it was judaism that inspired me to do this.

I don't think g-d wants me to honor my abuser. I think He wants me to remember the Holy action of creation. When I am a father, that act of creation will be Holy, and indeed, I am already joyful about the thought.

I have seen many people struggle with this particular commandment, but I think this perspective helps me personally. I don't think I ever have to forgive my abusers (plural), and I don't think I am commanded to simply because they happened to be family. I am commanded to recognize the holy, to elevate the mundane. In doing so, I will remember g-d. Through creation, I honor g-d and everything he has done for us, for me, and for our collective people.

[attackfish]

L'shanah Tovah! May you be enscribed in the Book of Life! May your Rosh Hashanah be full of apple cakes, honey, and joy!

If you're gentile, happy weekend, I guess.

[spindrifters]

I need zionists to stop telling me this is none of my business because I don’t live there. the state of israel made it my business when they claimed to represent and act on behalf of every jew. that made it personal. you don’t get to have it both ways.

[zarohk]

Meanwhile, Conservative Judaism says:

Within the Jewish community and the larger culture, too often transgender people have been excluded, marginalized, harassed, or worse. The Jewish community and the Conservative movement must be committed to the proposition that all people be treated with dignity and respect and that our institutions, culture, and practices be welcoming and accommodating to the needs of transgender Jews as well as trans people who wish to become Jewish, and to doing so in an authentically Jewish way.

…

Once a person, child, adolescent, or adult, has the understanding and vocabulary to assert a gender identity, it is that which should be honored. Adopting this strategy is not about acceding to "whatever people want." Transgender people to not "choose" or "want" their gender identity any more than cisgender people choose or want theirs. Rather it is a core element of a person's being and does not seem to be subject to deliberate attempts to change.

I keep hearing people talk about how great this piece of shit is, and how the church is making sooooo much progress, but uh…

“Addressing participants of a two-day conference in the Vatican on the evolving role of men and women according to Christian teachings, Francis said what he called "gender ideology" was a threat because it sought to erase the difference between the sexes.

"I have asked that studies be carried out into this ugly ideology of our times, which cancels out the differences and makes everything the same," the Pope said.”

Anyway, I hope he dies in the very immediate future, that it hurts the whole time, and that the disgusting edifice he’s part of crashes down soon too.

[nonbinary-vents]

What people have done to the am Yisrael chai (and also עם ישראל חי but a little less so cause these guys don’t know the first thing about Hebrew) is beyond disgusting and shows exactly how ‘just anti Zionist!’ they really are. Am Yisrael chai is a centuries old Jewish saying that celebrates us not just surviving, but living in a world that will kill us every time the opportunity presents itself. Am Yisrael chai is the best defiance to the world of still being here when everyone wants us gone, it is a pure joy of being on this world and being a Jew, it is that the Jewish people are alive. We are alive

You know, I wanted to talk about how horrible it is that that’s been twisted, how non Jews ar e determined to snuff out our life, but like… actually I don’t want to. I’m so tired of all of that. I just want to be happy, and I want to celebrate with my people. We’re still here. We’re alive! !עם ישראל חי! עם ישראל חי

‏וגם זה יעבור

[iliothermia]

dont mean this in any disrespectful way when you posted that i did go through your account and saw you had posted about gaza back in oct 13, i think in the current climate where so many zionist weaponize anti-semitism to silence people trying to stop the genocide i was also worried when you posted that and had seen no posts about palestine on your twt i did go down farther and saw that that was not the case and its just not easily apparent i do feel like you are aware of this though and it feels a little exploitative to post that knowing people would be sensitive to the language you used and your lack of public sentiment around palestine and unfollow you thinking you were a zionist i dont think your a zionist but your immediate outrage at people unfollowing you for that post is ignoring the context in which your posting in. please remember people are dying before our eyes everyday from people who use the language of anti-semitism to fuel that death i implore that you act with compassion towards people and not bad intentions

(for reference to others, this is about this post I then shared on my twitter as well.) Me commenting about people unfollowing me for sharing support for my community is not outrage, it's an observation on how I can't support fellow Jews without it being connected to Zionism. I said a very positive message to support others who have been dealing with things IN DIASPORA like I have and get messages like yours and this.

It is not exploitative for me to express love for MY COMMUNITY (NOT ISRAEL) after experiencing multiple actually antisemitic incidents IRL recently and saying the words I needed to hear for others. I need to hear that people care. My synagogue got bomb threats and I've been called a kike and harassed in real life multiple times. I didn't even post about most of the stuff I've dealt with to be sensitive to others and the online environment lately. Yet here I am being called exploitative and that I should be more sensitive to others for supporting my community. I have never once called anyone on here or anywhere else an antisemite or weaponized antisemitism so please don't project on me.

[bookofwambs]

some of you have pissed me off and i would like to remind some of you again of how zionist these two individuals are. i truly hope noah and that bald headed loud loser never get booked for anything ever again. evil individuals. this is islamophobia. this is zionism. this is propaganda. this is advocating for the genocide of palestine. i don’t know how else i can say this but if you support either of these us, you are just as bad and are complicit. you should be ashamed of yourselves for putting your favourite show or ship above the lives of millions of innocent people.

stop babying noah. he is an adult. 19. old enough to vote and make decisions. this is who he is.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Person with no whimsy: Why are you trying to trick g-d with loopholes? 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[attackfish]

Happy eighth and last night of Hanukkah!

[spindrifters]

the violent craving for matzo ball soup vs the refusal to spend money at the local zionist deli 😭🎻