#trying to learn Yiddish

[vaspider]

I cannot express how deeply or on how many levels this song cuts me.

[majesticcorn2000]

ketzeleh

[notaplaceofhonour]

lol okay who decided 3 entire letters were going to be literally just a single straight vertical line I just want to talk

[shalom-iamcominghome]

A cool positive to learning Hebrew is I'm left-handed, so if I ever learn to write Hebrew, I won't ever have to deal with pen smudges on my pinky 🤩

[the-one-eyed-seer]

On this speak your language day I wish all Jews reconnecting to their languages a very am yisrael chai and mir veln zey eberlieben

[meyerlansky]

take away from my first yiddish class: i am gonna have to drill that alphabet like i'm in kindergarten

[ziemiawypalona]

im never gonna be over how angry yiddish class made me. i hope they all drop out

[tragedyposting]

Should I make a langblr or is this just a short burst of hyperfocus. Only time shall tell.

[harrowharkwife]

oh FUCK yeah now we're talkin...

[aboardthescheherazade]

Tintin goes into town to get an antique appraised, and Tournesol tags along...no matter the language, poor Tournesol only ever seems to hear half of it.

(I've been trying to learn more Yiddish lately and find something to do with Mr. Shelman, so it seemed only natural to put these tasks together. Ikh bin treyng, I've been trying!)

[jewish-vents]

I am about ready to scream at goyim going "imagine if a country that was mostly one religion committed genocide other than Israel! imagine any other country being that awful!" I AM JEWISH AND CHOCTAW. My people have been massacred, forced off our land, raped, beaten, killed, death marched down to Oklahoma, forced into residential schools, been denied tribal membership and access to the reservation (and our own fucking culture) for being too light-skinned, Christians came in and beat and killed and raped everyone trying to practice our ancestral religion, Christian charity was contingent on you being willing to go along with Christianity, the government that has its' boot on our neck to this day is Christian, and goyim really want to act like NO ONE religious has ever done anything bad other than (((some people)))?! Choctaw women are STILL raped and beaten by police at four times the rate of white people and you know what the dominant religion in the state it's being done is? Hint, it's not Judaism!

Do you know why my ancestors converted, goyim? It's because the only people who ever offered them any kindness or support who weren't asking them to give up their language, culture and way of life were Jewish. The only people who agreed being forced off of your land and death marched to Oklahoma was fucked up were Jewish people. The only one who would let my great-great-great-great grandfather work for an honest day's pay and pay him the same amount they would a white person was a Jewish man. When white people wanted to take my great-great-great grandfather and his sister and put them in an Evangelical school to indoctrinate and mistreat them, it was a Jewish woman who straight up lied to them and went, "oh they're not Native, they're my kids, actually! no need to take them anywhere, they're not Native, they're white, the father of my bastards is just tan from working outside a lot!" and thus kept them out of there. They converted because they saw the love of G-d and it sure as shit wasn't from Christians!

And people see me and they think, "oh, he's not white, so he must not be Jewish. I can say antisemitic shit in front of him" and it makes me want to go fucking feral. Do they think I just forgot why my ass is in Oklahoma and why I can speak English and Yiddish and not fluent Choctaw? Do they think I forgot who gave my family a plot of land to live on when my ancestors were declared too light skinned to be allowed to live on the reservation while also not being able to return home because white Christians had built a town atop the ruins of my people's land? Because it wasn't you, Karen. You would have been saying Native kids were better off at a residential school and we both know it! We know it because you're fine hating a minority if you just have something you can spin into an excuse and you're fine dehumanizing people if the opportunity presents itself. "Imagine if any other religion-" I don't have to imagine. I'm in Okla-fucking-homa, Karen!

I've been observant all my life but this has switched it from 'lazily observant' to 'digging my heels in and being as Jewish as humanly possible' for the same reason I work my ass off learning Choctaw despite the obstacles: white goyim do not own me and I do not owe it to them to conform to their culture and expectations.

Am Yisrael Chai Akostininchi li Yisrael

(yes I know how to say it in Choctaw, my parents embedded that in my psyche, even if the rest of our knowledge of the language is spotty)

.

[vaspider]

So my wife, who loves me very very much, got me this book for Janice:

She heard about the book bc apparently the translator is a friend of someone on her IT Security Slack, and she figured I'd like it.

And... I do. I very much do. It's a quick read, and it definitely has A Point Of View - which is ofc not surprising, in context of the author's life & beliefs. (Ben Gold was the head of the Furrier's Union in NYC at the time when the union won the first 40-hour, 5-day work week contract in the United States in 1926. This is the contract that started that standard.) It is both a snapshot of life in the Pale of Settlement & in immigrant NYC radical leftist organizing in the early 20th century. As with all books that I really love, this book knows exactly what it is and does that thing 200% without apology.

The translator, Annie Sommer Kaufman, does an excellent job of preserving the feel of Yiddish text. Yiddish has a very lyrical flow to it that's unmistakable once you're accustomed to it, and you'll find it clearly preserved here. (Also, Kaufman appears on the late November episode of the Proste Yiddish/Simple Yiddish podcast, a podcast that allows Yiddish learners to practice listening to spoken Yiddish. If you speak Yiddish or are trying to learn, I definitely recommend at least that episode!)

I devoured this book in a Shabbat afternoon and had enough time left over for a lovely nap. A perfect Hanukkah Shabbat, I think.

[chaoticbug]

Jewish TK Strand headcanons:

you give me canonically Jewish characters it is my duty as a Jewish fan to make one of these:

When TK was a kid in Hebrew school learning about the Purim story TK once asked his teacher if Haman had a crush on Ahasuerus and was jealous of Mordecai and that's why he was acting like that, the teacher was too stunned to speak

Purim was TK's favorite holiday as a kid because he loved making Hamantaschen with his Mom, but because he wanted to seem cool he would tell people it was his favorite for the costumes

Before TK was sober he also loved the holiday and used it's drinking culture as an excuse, so after he got sober the first time he wasn't sure he could ever celebrate the holiday again without feeling guilty

eventually, after Gwyn dies, trying to connect with her he volunteers at a local synagogue's Purim carnival and his love for the holiday as reignited and he finds its a way he can honor his mom

When TK got his first tattoo Gwyn was distraught and kept freaking out about TK couldn't be buried with her family anymore

TK responded with telling her she was one to talk because she married a goy, Gwyn paused her rant to laugh and tell TK he had a point

TK loves a good yiddish insult

even though TK doesn't really go to services, since he started working at the same firehouse as Owen, Owen always made sure TK was scheduled off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in case he wanted to go to services

When he was first learning how to write Hebrew, TK was thrilled that it was a right to left language because as a leftie he finally was able to write without smugging anything

don't ask him to write anything in Hebrew now though because he forgot it all

TK was bar mitzvahed and he couldn't decide on a party theme for months making both his parents go crazy

TK wanted to break the glass at his wedding but it took awhile to convince Carlos to let him do it because Carlos was so sure with how accident prone TK is he would be one of the grooms who has to go get stitches on their foot on their wedding day from breaking the glass wrong (luckily TK broke the glass and did not require medical attention)

TK lights a yahrzeit candle every year for his mom's yahrzeit to honor her

he wasn't sure if it would be over stepping but he does it on the anniversary of Gabriel's death too, Carlos cried because he was so touched

When TK was in high school Gwyn forced him to go to a USY/NFTY/BBYO event and he very quickly ended up on the spit chain chart that connects to Malia Obama

[more-sonorous]

Idk if someone has already asked you, but favorite Jack and davey headcanons????

mmmm i love this :D i have so so so so so many headcanons for them so i'm gonna try my best to narrow it down lmfaooo

overall

jack never stops drawing davey. he's obsessed. he'll fill sketchbooks with the most mundane things about this boy because he finds him so impossibly pretty

davey is taller, and jack pulls him down into kisses. be it by the tie, the collar of his shirt or his hair-- jack doesn't do tiptoes. davey also loves dropping kisses onto jack's forehead.

davey loves jack's hands. could stare at them all day. he's always wanting to hold them or run his own fingers over the callouses, or rub the constant streaks of paint off-- jack's hands are constantly on his mind

jack could listen to davey read for hours on end and never get tired. there's something about davey's voice, how soft and soothing it is, maybe, that's unfairly addicting. he'll listen to davey read anything, sometimes not even registering the plot in favor of listening to the rise and fall of davey's voice

davey wasn't touchy until he met jack. then he was like 'oh maybe physical touch does make sense as a love language' and there was no going back. they're sort of always touching, whether it's just their pinkies brushing or they're sitting on top of each other. jack's favorite is keeping his hand in the back pocket of davey's jeans, and davey likes to walk with two fingers hooked in jack's belt loop.

davey kisses all of jack's scars whenever he gets the chance.

jack kisses davey's freckles in the same way, if he's not using them to draw constellations.

canon era

jack's always tugging davey around by the tie. there's no stopping him.

jack blows all of his meager spare change on green paints and pastels because he wants to get the color of davey's eyes just right

even though jack's technically catholic, he finds himself obsessively trying to learn everything about judaism to be closer with davey. he wants to understand everything about davey's traditions, and there's something about the way davey lights up with love and passion as he explains his religion that makes jack fall a little bit more in love every time.

modern era

jack steals all of davey's clothes and davey is powerless when it comes to stopping him (he even steals the sweaters that he complains are nerdy, and davey pretends to be annoyed, but the sight of jack in his clothes is just... yeah)

jack learns how to brew tea just for davey and davey teaches himself all of the recipes jack's mamá used to make, even if they're too spicy for him and he gets a runny nose every time he makes one for dinner

davey, a polyglot, did not know spanish when he met jack. jack, fluent in spanish and english and nothing else, wonders how the hell his boyfriend (who fluently speaks languages as difficult as yiddish and polish) doesn't know spanish and takes it upon himself to teach davey. davey is so enamored by the gentle way in which jack teaches that he doesn't tell jack that he picked up spanish fluently about three months after dating him. when jack finds out years later, hell is raised-- but then the happiness he gets from being able to speak his native language with the man he loves the most outweighs any overdramatic feelings of betrayal

can you believe that isn't even it? these are just my favorite ones i could come up with off the top of my head.

thank you so much for the ask oml <3

[coming-home116]

dont forget to kiss the mezuzah on your way in!

shalom!! you can call me Eli (for Eliezer) if you need to put a name to my presence. this is my Judaism blog, for anything that relates, probably primarily books (i now have a stack of Jewish books and am slowly working my way through it TwT), art, fashion, cooking, meditation, anything!

i am:

༄.° 18 years old, been considering conversion since i was around 15

༄.° blessed to be genderqueer. my pronouns are she/her, he/him, xe/xem/xyr, fin/fins, gill/gills, cer/cers, in no particular order

༄.° a prospective convert - i currently am not in the best position to convert as i live out of town of the Conservative synagogue i am hoping to convert through, but i am trying (and really really hoping) to make it work

༄.° hoping to learn some amount of Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, Arabic, and French in my lifetime

༄.° a Star Trek fan! are you surprised? /lh (admittedly ive not watched most of it, and im primarily a fan of The Next Generation - Data, my beloved!)

༄.° alterhuman/otherkin/other such similar terms. this wont come up most likely but it is important to me, and something i think one can be casual about online. im not gonna post my 'types but if youre interested in knowing them, shoot me a DM maybe :3

this blog is NOT antizionism friendly - i will probably block you. if you consider Zionists to be bad Jews or people, you should block me. i will not respond to asks about the conflict. my asks are open and the anon option is on for anyone that might want to chat but is shy, not for hate.

messianic 'Jews' will be blocked on sight. other Christians are on thin ice - i ask that yall dont reblog or reply my posts with any Christian commentary. this is Jewish-related blog, for Jewish people.

other people i dont really fuck with and will probably block:

༄.° transmeds

༄.° so-called misanthropes

༄.° Wiccans (specifically Wiccans, otherwise witches and folk magic practioners are alright)

༄.° TERFs, radfems

BOTH Israelis and Palestinians deserve a safe home without war, and no one side or people deserves damnation just because of their government. Hamas is a terrorist organization.

im trying to observe Shabbos more, in the ways that appeal to me and make me feel closer to HaShem, so i might not be online Friday evenings and Saturdays (Central Standad Time)

im gonna come up with a tags list, stay tuned!

buhbye!

[indecisiveavocado]

So you want to learn more about Judaism, part 1: The Complete Beginner's Guide to Judaism

This is a series about judaism for those who want to learn more about it. It also covers Judaism-adjacent topics, like antisemitism, Israel, and Jewish history/culture/etc.

But first, you should probably know the basics of Judaism. I'm assuming you know nothing about us, or have realized that what you do know is wrong. This is a bit oversimplified, but should be reasonable enough.

What does it mean when someone says, "I'm Jewish"?

It can mean a lot of things, but it generally means one or both of the following:

I follow Judaism as a religion

I am ethnically Jewish

Let's dig into each of these.

The religion

Judaism is a religion. It arose over 3,000 years ago in the region roughly corresponding to the modern-day countries and regions of Israel, Palestine, southern Syria and Lebanon, and western Jordan.

It is monotheistic, which means it worships one god. Its holy text is the Five Books of Moses, or Torah. It does not believe in the divinity of Jesus. If you see someone claiming you can be religiously Jewish and believe Jesus was the Messiah, son of God, or divine, they are wrong.

Judaism has many requirements (613 in the Torah alone!). Some of them are more famous, like not eating pork, not mixing milk and meat, resting on the Sabbath (for Jews, sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday), et cetera. Some of them are less famous, often because they aren't able to be done.

You see, many of Judaism's rules presume a temple in Jerusalem. There was, once, a temple in Jerusalem; it got destroyed and Jews were exiled. Then we came back and built it again. It got destroyed again by the Romans in 70 CE, as part of a campaign to destroy us[1]. Only a small part of it, the Western Wall, the holiest still-standing site in Judaism, survives to this day; the rest of it is underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Judaism has many different denominations. The big ones are:

Hasidic: These people try to follow all of the rules, and then some. They follow many different rebbes, or leaders, and were hit very hard in the Holocaust due to being heavily concentrated in Eastern Europe. They are most of the speakers of Yiddish today. They can be very isolated from the outside world, but many of them aren't.

Orthodox: More lenient and open to the outside world than Hasidic Jews generally are, Orthodox Jews range from Hasidic to Open Orthodox, who ordain women and do other no-nos in traditional Orthodoxy.

Conservative: Conservative Jews occupy an intermediate position. They generally follow the rules as laid out, but are more flexible with them. So while a Reform family might drive on Shabbat, and an Orthodox family might not, a Conservative family might only drive to get to shul (temple, religious building) if they live far away from one.

Reform: Reform Jews are very flexible with the rules of Judaism, in a good way. They're very permissive of queer things. (Disclosure: I'm Reform.)

There are many smaller groups, like Ethiopian Jews, who have unique traditions stemming in part from long isolation from the rest of the world's Jewry; Karaite Jews, who reject the Talmud, which interpreted and expanded on Jewish law; and Humanistic Jews, who don't ever explicitly say there's a God.

Ethnic Judaism

Judaism is also an ethnicity. Well, several. With the exception of a few small communities, all are clearly from the Middle East genetically, but they do have differences, including in terms of customs. Since Jews have spread all over, there are a lot of divisions, but the big ones are:

Mizrahim: These Jews never left the Middle East. Formerly they were all over the Middle East, but after the foundation of the State of Israel, they were persecuted out of their homes, and most now live in Israel.

Sephardim: Sephardic Jews were originally from the Iberian Peninsula, but, due to the Spanish Inquisition (and its Portuguese cousin), most lived in the Middle East, North Africa, and southern Europe for hundreds of years. In the case of the former two, after the founding of the State of Israel, they were persecuted out and fled to Israel. In the case of the latter, they generally died in the Holocaust.

Ashkenazim, or Jews from Eastern and Central Europe. The vast majority of American Jews, a minority of Israeli Jews. Most Hasidim are Ashkenazi. Most of the Jewish Holocaust victims were Ashkenazi, and so today the major centers of Ashkenazi populations are the US and to a lesser extent Israel. It used to be Eastern Europe, though. (Poland alone had 3 million Jews, although it managed to kill 90 percent of them and make something like 99 percent of the survivors flee, then deny any wrongdoing.)

There are lots of smaller ones too, like the:

Mountain Jews and Georgian Jews: Two distinct Jewish communities nestled in the Caucasus who seem to have been in the diaspora since some number of centuries BCE, well before most other diaspora populations.

Persian Jews: Similarly long diaspora history. A surprisingly large population remains in Iran.

Yemenite Jews: Distinct in ritual from other communities of Jews, they have by now mostly fled Yemen.

Ethiopian Jews: Highly distinct from other Jewish groups, they lived in almost total isolation from the broader Jewish world for over a thousand years. Their traditional religious practice doesn't follow the Talmud, as most other ones do, meaning they seemingly codified their own set of Jewish law. Early observers from more integrated Jewish communities noted that they observed customs that had long since died out in the broader Jewish world. Most of them now live in Israel.

A few seperate communities of Jews in modern-day India, now mostly in Israel

Many more[2]

[1] The genocide (it was a genocide) included expelling us, distributing us as slaves, killing us, and erasing our traditional name for the region (Yisrael) to try to erase our connection to the region. They called the region Palestina.

[2] Seriously, if it's a country in Africa or Eurasia, odds are there is/was a Jewish community in it, often with distinct traditions/origins.