#tw Jewish persecution

[sinkjustlikeastone]

what if what if what if

what if (and idk much like history wise so idk if this even works but it is A Thought)

(also worth mentioning that I thought of this cause I dreamed about it-)

in 1936 the Jacobs family travels to Poland to be with family. Jack is absolutely devastated that they leave, all but Les, who stays to go to school. He refuses to return any letters from the family and just wants to forget all about them.

But he picks up a newspaper one day and reads about the war, and what’s happening to Jewish people over there, and suddenly he’s sending a letter every day, praying that by some miracle David or *someone* will answer.

He’s in the middle of writing one of these letters when there’s a knock on his door and none other than Les Jacobs stand across from him, looking like a scared cat on the street, and he just falls into Jacks arms and cries because *did you read the news today*

Headline: David Jacobs, co-leader of Newsies strike killed, along with parents and sister

Jack has never felt more torn apart.

Les moves in with him, because what is he supposed to do, leave him to fend for himself?

And Jack finds his way back to old friends who are all mourning the loss of the boy with bright blue eyes and a smart mouth.

Additionally- I want to hear from y’all if I end up writing about this I want to know what I need to do to be respectful and sensitive of this topic and everything and I want to know everything you have to say! If I’m being a dick I’m relying on y’all to call me tf out on it cause I don’t wanna be a dick

[greensaplinggrace]

“but the otkazat’sya are suffering too!” girl the otkazat’sya have one thousand safe havens to choose from. because it is their entire country and they are the privileged majority. they never have to fear that they are alone or isolated or vulnerable in a land that caters directly to them. do you understand. the grisha have one safe haven in a land that fucking hates them and seeks to strip away their basic human rights at every second. they are not the same.

Wdyt about Israel Palestine

i think that anybody trying to bring a real life attempt at fucking genocide into petty fandom bullshit maybe needs to take a step back a little. what the fuck is wrong with you people.

i think that i don't know nearly enough about the situation to make a statement about anything, but it's pretty damn obvious that israel is making an attempt at wiping out palestine. next person to bring this subject into my ask box as fandom discourse is getting blocked by the way. there are people fucking dying out there right now.

i also think that it's fucking ridiculous to take a statement out of context and try to spin it in some accusatory direction, considering the context is that the otkazat'sya hold irrevocable power within this fictional universe and seek to cull the grisha despite their safe haven. which is genocide. last I checked genocide is bad. it really shouldn't have to be stated that this is fucking fiction versus reality, though. literally what the fuck.

[fmluder24]

The X Files Loves Dead Jews (Part 5/7~): Fox Mulder and Paradoxes of Pain and Privilege

We are going to start closing out our discussion of Jews and Jewishness in the context of The X Files by studying the way these tropes all coalesce around Fox Mulder. For Part 1 on the appropriation of the Holocaust in the myth arc, go here. For part 2 on appropriation of the Holocaust in “The Field Where I Died,” go here. For part 3 on the Syndicate being essentially a Jewish cabal, go here. And for part 4 on Kaddish, you can go here. 

Let’s round up the ways in which Mulder is associated with Jewish tropes, in terms of Jew-as-Victim and Jew-as-All-Powerful. Basically, Mulder is repeatedly and continually associated with tropes around Jews and Judaism because that was an easy cultural shorthand for the blend of martyrdom and power they were going for in the writers’ room. Additionally, as we will explore in the next meta (I am almost done, I swear), this coding serves to make him a Christ figure, who was Jewish. Therefore, by the transitive property of Jewishness… let’s get into it.

TW for historical and contemporary antisemitism and also experiences of sexual violence

Mulder is meant to be a fairly archetypical Western hero. This means we need him to have sort of high born and low born qualities at the same time. An heir to en empire raised on a barren planet. A prince in exile after he sees the suffering of other people. A wizard raised by muggles. A demigod born into poverty. Baby Moses, a Hebrew slave and a prince of Egypt. However, TXF is not just culturally Christian in the abstract way that virtually every piece of American pop culture is, it is actually very committed to self consciously invoking Christian symbolism, particularly in the martyrdom of Mulder. Lets pretend we are in the kitchen cooking up our hero. We need him to be the lowest of the low. We need him to be persecuted and suffering as much as possible. Lets draw on the tropes and historical references we’ve already been invoking around what it is to suffer and use them in our character. Due to the sloppy nature of the writing, we are then shoveling tropes around Jewish trauma into our hero.

Mulder and Tropes of Jewish Victimhood Mulder is repeatedly associated with historical and contemporary moments of Jewish suffering. We’ve talked about most of these moments already in this meta. Here is a quick rundown mostly pulling from parts 1, 2 and 4 of the meta, although we need to take a quick detour to touch on other tropes.

Associated with Jewish Experiences of the Holocaust and WW2 He is explicitly invoked in situations where literal Nazis are after him not once, not twice, but three times. Each of these times invokes imagery of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust. The first of these, that I rarely see the fandom talk about is him hiding in a piled of gassed corpses in the “Anasazi”/“The Blessing Way” segment of the myth arc. The Greys are the Jews relative to the Nazis of the Syndicate quite explicitly and he has to align themselves with their desiccated (did I mention gassed?) corpses to survive. He has to do this to avoid murder by the self-same Nazi collaborators. The second time is the monologue in “The Field Where I Died,” where he remembers his death as a Jewish woman in the Holocaust. The third, while less evocative of Jewish suffering in particular, is when he is trapped in the 1940s and facing execution by Nazis in “Triangle.” These Nazis don’t make a comment on his “looking Jewish” thankfully, but it is hanging in the air, as we are coming straight off “Drive,”  where he was captured by an antisemite.

Contemporary Jewish Experiences of Discrimination In addition to the use of tropes that tie him to historical Jewish oppression, he regularly has experiences that align with contemporary Jewish oppression. These happen in “Drive,” which I discuss here., and “Pine Bluff Variant, which I discuss here. Obviously, there is also the exchange with the antisemite in “Kaddish,” which is the most referenced incident of the antisemitism Mulder faces. It is interesting to point out that in none of these situations does he disavow Jewishness. Neither does he affirm that he is Jewish, although he does quip that he is speaking on behalf of the international Jewish conspiracy in “Drive.” He regularly is shown in situations that invoke contemporary profiling and violence against Jewish people in the modern U.S. context, strengthening the association between him and tropes of Jewish people as victims.

The Christian God uses him as a scapegoat This aspect of the character is a little hard to disambiguate from the whole Jesus thing, but suffice to say there are two separate canonical forces we can understand to be the Christian God in The X Files. The first of these is the Christian God as he appears to Scully in Catholicism episodes; the second is CSM’s function in the myth arc as the God who will sacrifice his specialest boy and impregnate the unsullied womb of Dana Scully (ew to both). We are going to focus on the “Monster of the Week” God. I’m reproducing a segment of a meta I wrote on this a while back. Basically, Mulder’s distance from God exists to improve Scully’s faith in the Christian God. To quote myself:

He is a sign [of the will of God] in the context of the show, yes in terms of his Jesusness but also in terms of how he doesn’t connect to the Christian God. Take this exchange from the end of “Revelations.”

SCULLY: Because my partner didn't see them. He didn't … he didn't believe them. And usually he … he believes without question. PRIEST: Maybe they weren't meant for him to see. Maybe they were only meant for you.

The Christian God, per the priest, did not reveal his wonders to Mulder because they were only for Scully. His lack of blessings in this regard is meant to test and ultimately strengthen her faith. Is it that far of a leap to say that a God who would not grace him with his wonders would also not grace him with his protection and intervention? A God that would possibly allow Mulder to suffer as he canonically does to ultimately strengthen her? The way he exists as a symbol of what happens when one is outside the body (politic) of Christ? He, the martyred pseudo-Wandering Jew to her questioning, yet ultimately repentant, Catholic; her, the fridged, raped, helpless woman to his action hero. It’s not empowering writing for anyone. Really, aside from a line in the revival where he says he outright doesn’t believe in God, I think the majority of X Files episodes that touch on Catholicism do establish him as a man who does believe that God exists, but that he ultimately does not find this God to be worthy of his worship. I take as evidence of this these two exchanges from “Orisons” and “All Souls” respectively:

Orisons: SCULLY: How do you prove that somebody isn't being directed by God? You don't believe that it happens? MULDER: God is a spectator, Scully. He just reads the box scores.

All Souls: MULDER: And why would God allow this to happen. Why do bad things happen to good people? Religion has masqueraded as the paranormal since the dawn of time to justify some of the most horrible acts in history. SCULLY: I was raised to believe that God has His reasons, however mysterious. MULDER: He may well have His reasons but He seems to use a lot of psychotics to carry out His job orders.

God exists for Mulder in these quotes. He has merely decided to not believe in the benevolence of said God, and therefore not give him his devotion as Scully has. This has always brought to mind for me a Phillip Roth quote from Operation Shylock.

“‘Yes? And was it for their sins,’ Aharon asked, ‘that God sent Hitler?’ ‘God sent Hitler because God is crazy. A Jew knows God and how He operates. A Jew knows God and how, from the very first day He created man, He has been irritated with him from morning till night. That is what it means that the Jews are chosen. The goyim smile: God is merciful, God is loving, God is good. Jews don't smile — they know God not from dreaming about Him in goyisch daydreams but from living all their lives with a God Who does not ever stop, not once, to think and reason and use His head with His loving children. To appeal to a crazy, irritated father, that is what it is to be a Jew. To appeal to a crazy, violent father, and for three thousand years, that is what it is to be a crazy Jew!’”

One common trope of how Christians view Jews historically is that our persecution is God teaching us a lesson. This is basically the point of the Wandering Jew, which is a European folklore character of a Jewish man who is cursed to wander until the end of world because he taunted Jesus while he carried the cross. Mulder, due to his relationship with the canonical God of The X Files, exists outside of the covenant as a sort of metaphysical whipping boy for Scully to learn from. Mulder, perhaps in a move that originates his cosmic torment, perhaps in retaliation for it, takes a very dim view of a traditional understanding of God, one that parallels certain modern American Jewish orientations towards God. So not only does Mulder take on a Jewish role in the psychodrama of The X Files, he has a stereotypically Jewish response to what is happening to him.

4. Emasculation through the Torture of Scully I considered skipping this component of what is going on, but unfortunately I think I need to lay this out. One of my least favorite things about canon is the constant need to make every terrible thing that happens to Scully ultimately about Mulder. Fanon inverts this by trying to make every terrible thing that happens to Mulder ultimately about Scully. This is also annoying. However, with the way they are written to be codependent perfect opposites that are so informed by each other and feel for each other so deeply, we do have to grapple with the fact that, yeah, what happens to her impacts him pretty deeply and vice versa. One perennial theme in The X Files is Mulder’s impotence in terms of keeping Scully safe. Specifically, he cannot save her from the reproductive and sexualized violence she faces in her abduction and subsequent conception of Emily, and then the events of “En Ami” that led to the existence of William. Of course, we can pause here and do a whole thing about how Scully should have been given the option to save herself, and that the fixation on this type of violence is really reductive to her character in canon, and all of that is very true and something I deeply agree with! But many, many meta written by many fans have covered this point well, and I am focusing on other problems at play. Does this patriarchal framing of Mulder as the man who can or cannot protect Scully as a victimized woman reflect some screwed up gender norms in the writers’ room? Yes. It, however, mirrors an anxiety around Jewish masculinity and an inability of Jewish men to protect their female counterparts from violations of sexual and reproductive autonomy. Here is a very famous quotation from the controversial poem “The City of Slaughter” by H.N. Bialik:

“In that dark corner, and behind that cask Crouched husbands, bridegrooms, brothers, peering from the cracks, Watching the sacred bodies struggling underneath The bestial breath, Stifled in filth, and swallowing their blood! Watching from the darkness and its mesh The lecherous rabble portioning for booty Their kindred and their flesh!

Crushed in their shame, they saw it all; They did not stir nor move; They did not pluck their eyes out; they Beat not their brains against the wall! Perhaps, perhaps, each watcher had it in his heart to pray: A miracle, O Lord,—and spare my skin this day! Those who survived this foulness, who from their blood awoke, Beheld their life polluted, the light of their world gone out— How did their menfolk bear it, how did they bear this yoke? They crawled forth from their holes, they fled to the house of the Lord, They offered thanks to Him, the sweet benedictory word. The Cohanim sallied forth, to the Rabbi's house they flitted: Tell me, O Rabbi, tell, is my own wife permitted? The matter ends; and nothing more. And all is as it was before.”

This is a controversial framing of the Jewish man’s experience of Jewish women’s mass rape during pogroms. They are framed here as unable or unwilling to save the women that are framed as being under their protection, concerned only with how this impacts their own sexual purity. I do not think this is a healthy framing for anyone, but it is nevertheless a thing in Jewish spaces historically that there be the anxiety or emasculation for Jewish men around the type of violence Jewish women have been subjected to. Some will say, although there are competing explanations for the practice, that the violation of the reproductive and sexual autonomy of Jewish women is a reason for the matrilineal descent rules that most Jewish communities prioritize. If a Jewish woman were raped and a pregnancy was the result, the child is still a member of the community, and the identity of the presumably non-Jewish rapist would be incidental. This is actually something you can see reflected on certain varieties of revival fix-it fic, where William may still be the result of CSM raping Scully, but he is nevertheless the child of Mulder and Scully in the ways that matter culturally.

Mulder’s emasculation by way of the constant assault on Scully’s autonomy invokes more tropes around Jewish manhood through the feelings of impotence and judgment around that impotence that ultimately fueled the development of political Zionism This is another way that Mulder is associated with tropes around Jews-as-Victims, although it may be unpopular for me to say so. Noting how Mulder suffers in the myth arc does not detract from the fact that it is ultimately Scully’s autonomy that is being violated and that she should be prioritized when it comes to the rape(s) she survives. However, there are many meta on that topic and I am looking at a different angle.

In summary The writers are pulling from a grab bag around victimhood and suffering. That grab bag of tropes is heavily infused with tropes that are associated with Jews in the Western, culturally Christian understanding. In these tropes around victimhood (historical suffering in the Holocaust, contemporary experiences of antisemitism, getting picked on by the Christian God outside of the myth arc, and being emasculated through Scully’s being stripped of her sexual and reproductive autonomy), Mulder is associated with Jewishness.

Mulder and Tropes of Jewish Power Okay okay, we don’t want our hero to be totally disadvantaged and have the shit beat out of him all the time. We gotta give him a leg up sometimes. Actually let’s give him the ultimate leg up! Coming from a group with the ultimate power and privilege. What tropes can we apply to our hero in this way?

The Cabal of it All As explored on my meta about the Syndicate, Mulder’s background invokes a lot of stereotypical tropes of Jews in power. He was born into an elite international group bent on the establishment of a new world order through white genocide, who controls the media, was involved in covering up for Nazis after the Holocaust and deliberately spreads disease amongst innocent people. While we don’t get canonical blood libel in the show, the show gets damn close by invoking just about every other popular trope around “Jewish cabals.” This is the world that Mulder stands to inherit twice over; by virtue of being raised by Bill Mulder, and by virtue of being the literal progeny of CSM.

Richie rich The various times we see the numerous homes that Bill and Teena Mulder own hint at the fact that Mulder comes from a quite wealthy background. It isn’t quite as established as the cabal nonsense, but it is there, and it’s something Fanon tends to run with. This invokes a lot of historical tropes around Jews having a lot of money, or being good with money, or controlling money, and so on.

In Conclusion In terms of tropes that align Jews with power, particularly sinister uses of power, Mulder also checks a lot of boxes. He is a rich guy born into the elite global (Jewish?) cabal. When you add in that he consistently experiences antisemitism in historical and contemporary ways, things get even more uncomfortable. When you sprinkle on top of that that he is a cheapskate (“Bad Blood”), that he hates his nose and longs for a nose job (“Sanguinarium”), and that he has an in with shady Yiddish speakers (“Fight Club”), you get another weird smear of negative tropes around Jews that are sprinkled on top of his character for no real reason.

Essentially, if you sit down in the European American world and want to write a long-suffering hero who regularly faces the ultimate evil, it’s easy to end up writing a Jew. If you sit down in the same context wanting to write a character who comes from the ultimate, most powerful, evil background imaginable, you might just accidentally write a Jew. If you do both at the same time, well. But then the drive to sprinkle on other negative tropes and have him played by a famous Jewish guy… what a mess.

In our next, penultimate installment, we will focus on how Mulder functions as Jesus in the myth arc, and how this actually reiterates a lot of the tropes around powerlessness and power that are historically associated with Jews. After that, we will discuss the move to reclaim Fox Mulder from this bullshit. Thank you for reading.

[pinktwingirl]

Hi. I’m Israeli, I saw a few of your posts and I would like to share my perspective with you.

You talk a lot about Zionism as an ideology, but I think it’s important to distinguish between the ideology itself and what is being done today.

Zionism is an ideology that states that Jews have a right for self determination in their own state. A lot of it is rooted in religion, but a large part of it was a response to Jewish persecution in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Being a minority you are essentially helpless when people decide to pillage you or treat you like a second class citizen (and yes, that also happened to Jews in North Africa and the Middle East) when you have your own state, you can at least defend yourself.

Just like any other group of people can strive for self determination (including Palestinians) so can Jews. It’s not just a matter of being secluded from others, or being elitist, it’s a matter of insuring your own security as much as you can as a people.

Zionism is not an evil ideology. You can maybe argue that the way it was achieving its goal is evil, but by that logic you can also argue that Palestinians are evil since they had also committed heinous acts against Jews in this land way before the invention of Zionism and even before they defined themselves as Palestinians.

Zionism is also very tied to Judaism. The longing for returning to “the homeland” is referenced throughout countless Jewish texts in the diaspora, again, way before the invention of Zionism.

There are some sects of Judaism that are against it, but saying “hey, Judaism and Zionism are completely detached!” Is I’d say… incorrect. Like to a point where the overwhelming majority of practicing Jews have some sort of Zionist views.

So about the situation today. in an ideal world, I believe that Palestinians have a right for self determination as much as we do. Saying Zionism is just like this evil, western colonial power, whose sole purpose is to harm and torture Palestinians is very very incorrect.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day 🙏🏽

This is gonna take me a whole essay to respond to so I’m gonna do y’all a favor and put a cut below feel free to read more if you want

If Zionism were purely about “Jewish self-determination”, that would be one thing. However, the reality is that the ideology of Zionism is inseparable from anti-Arab racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The argument you are making only works if you are operating under the assumption that Palestine was an empty piece of land before it was settled by Israelis, which is a notion that many Zionists have tried to push, hence the Zionist slogan: “A land without a people for a people without a land.” However, this is not true. There were always people living in Palestine, and there is no way that an exclusively Jewish state could have existed there without systematically murdering them and expelling them from their land. If you go back and read the texts of the original Zionist leaders, they make it explicitly clear that this was their objective from the very beginning. Ilan Pappe’s book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” documents this extensively. I’ll include a few excerpts here. This is Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion’s second in command Moshe Sharett explaining how he wanted to pay off villagers to leave in order to “reduce the number of Arabs” in Palestine:

This is the description of “Plan Dalet”, which was explicitly designed to drive out Palestinians and murder whoever remained:

This is David Ben-Gurion explicitly saying that even 40% “non-Jews” (aka Arabs) in Palestine was unacceptable:

This is an example of how Plan Dalet was carried out in the village of Deir Yassin (tw: murder, sexual assault, this is extremely graphic)

While to some, Zionism might seem like a nice idea, in practice, it requires murder and systematic cruelty towards the Palestinian population that is continuing to this day. This is why people are opposed to it. It has nothing to do with religion or antisemitism; it is because people can very plainly see that the occupation and genocide it has caused is morally wrong. To quote Dr. Gabor Mate on why he is no longer a Zionist: “Yes, we created this beautiful dream, but we created a nightmare for somebody else.”

I don’t know what percentage of the Jewish population are Zionists, but I think the fact that there is such a strong Jewish anti-Zionist community is proof enough that Zionism should not be linked to Judaism. In fact, you could even argue that saying so is antisemitic because it implies that every single Jewish person is complicit in Israel’s war crimes, which is not true. Furthermore, I strongly believe that many Jewish Zionists subscribe to the ideology because they have been told lies and propaganda about the creation of Israel. It is very evident that Israel is going out of its way to cover up its crimes against Palestinians (i.e. outlawing mentioning the Nakba, planting trees over destroyed Palestinian villages to make it look like nothing was ever there, etc.) I think more Jewish people would have second thoughts about Zionism if they knew the truth behind the ideology.

As for the notion that the military occupation and apartheid of Palestinians is somehow “necessary” for Jewish safety, I would say that this is not only untrue but also makes no sense. Violence is inherently necessary to run a military state and keep a population under an occupation, and violence is always going to beget more violence, which is the exact opposite of the “safe utopia” that Israel strives to depict itself as. Think about it: if you were in a Palestinian’s shoes, would you not do exactly what they are doing? If you were born under a military occupation where you were routinely at risk of being bombed and having your home stolen by settlers, would you not resist by any means necessary, even if it meant resorting to violence? At the end of the day, the only difference between you and a Palestinian is luck in where you were born - that’s it. Safety is not achieved by oppressing others. Safety is achieved with peace and respect for others. I am not against Israelis living in Palestine. But there is no reason why Palestinians need to be ethnically cleansed for that to happen. People of different religions coexisted in Palestine before Israel; there is no reason why that can’t happen again. The more Israelis that realize ending the occupation is in their best interest, the faster the violence will end. It really is that simple.

[jewishbarbies]

I really hope this doesn't offend you because that is not what I'm aiming for. I don't know how to do tw. Tw : Zionism

Is Zionist an insult? Because what I saw is this definition and it didn't really scream bad. Maybe I am just dense. I don't know, can you help me out?

"Zionism (Hebrew: צִיּוֹנוּת Tsiyyonut [tsijoˈnut] after Zion) is a nationalist movement that emerged in the 19th century to espouse support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition."

no, imo it’s not an insult, because there’s different kinds of zionism but the core value is believing that Jews have a right to self determination in their own homeland, which is israel. the goal in creating the country we know today was to give jews escaping worldwide persecution a safe place to go because there wasn’t one before that. christians and politicians misuse zionism on a daily basis and it’s important to distinguish between non jews using zionism to further their own bullshit and jews who believe they have a right to exist in the land they’re indigenous to. some jews who believe that don’t identify with zionism just because it’s been so misconstrued and misused.

[what-even-is-sleep]

Finally filled out a form that had Jewish as an option under ethnicity!!!!!!!!

[son-of-avraham]

Personally, this is a huge fear of mine and it's a large reason I kept myself away from conversion. But I think my heart's pull toward this is so much stronger than the persecution I may face, I feel like this is a life only partially fulfilled. Persecution is a reality, and it may be a reality I may face, but that isn't all that is being Jewish, and that in particular is why I feel the need to convert

got a question (genuine) for converts. why would someone want to be jewish? why would you wish this life of persecution and hatred upon yourself? why not just stay safe from the terrors we are born into and cannot escape even if we do not practice or identify as such? i am a cultural jew and i am terrified all the time when i read the news about antisemitic attacks and see comments online on videos featuring jewish subjects. why join us? you are stronger than i will ever be, willingly joining a persecuted group of people because you believe in the community it provides. thank you.

[fruitea-witchh]

Since Chanukah is in 2 weeks, let us take this time to remember all the #JewishRefugees around the world who have been discriminated against because of their religion.

The Jewish people have often been persecuted for this, since the dawn of time. It’s time we, Christians, extended our sympathy and gave them a helping hand.

#PrayForTheJews

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Syria and the immense suffering which Syria has never made amends for.

https://twitter.com/emilykschraderI made these images several years ago. Still, years later, not one country has made amends. Today on Memorial Day, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Tunisia and the suffering which Tunisia has never made amends for. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Yemen and the suffering which Yemen has never made amends for. Arab states ethnically cleansed their Jews - yet the world is silent. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Iraq, what was once one of the largest and most thriving communities in the world. Iraq has never made amends for their ethnic cleansing of Jews. Today we remember. #JewishRefugees #IraqProtests

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Egypt and the suffering which Egypt has never made amends for. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Libya and the suffering which Libya has never made amends for. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Algeria and the suffering which Algeria has never made amends for. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Morocco and the persecution which they faced. While Morocco was far from the worst the #antisemitism they faced greatly harmed Jewish life there. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

Remembering the Jewish refugees from #Lebanon and the suffering which Lebanon has never made amends for. Today on Memorial Day for the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, we remember. #JewishRefugees

(((Emily Schrader)))

[luasworkshop]

Look, I don't want to be that guy - but this is a reminder that depicting the (now strongly) Jewish-coded Devoraks* as the Devil or vampires is genuinely antisemitic (whether that's the intention or not).

Don't do that.

(This is just a PSA not a call-out post - but yeah it's bad form for either of those things - I understand if you didn't know, but you should be aware.)

TW: Discussion of Antisemitism

In regards to the belief (which people STILL HOLD TODAY) that Jewish people have horns or are otherwise monstrous in form**:

"A widespread medieval negative image of the Jew was based upon a misinterpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Moses was often depicted with two horns on his head as a result of the Latin mis-rendering of the verb “sent forth beams” (karan) in Exodus 34:35 as “grew horns.” (A horn is a keren.) This image, which was widely portrayed in art of the Middle Ages by artists including Michelangelo and Donatello in Italy, led to the widespread notion that all Jews had devilish horns."

This very much has modern trickle-down implications: "The Nazis seized upon the negative Jewish body image and used caricatures and other forms of propaganda to present the Jews as sub-human or as disfigured humans.  The Nazi weekly Der Sturmer was famous for disseminating these images." (I will not link them here, suffice to say they are as bad as you can imagine.)

Ties to the Christian Devil*** in relation to Judaism and how this is antisemitic are more than enough for books on the topic which discuss the world's current unfortunate state of antisemitism and it's historical roots.

-

Vampirisim**** ties directly to blood libel - again something antisemities still use in their arsenal of anti-Jewish rhetoric.

"Blood libel, also called blood accusation, the superstitious accusation that Jews ritually sacrifice Christian children at Passover to obtain blood for unleavened bread. It first emerged in medieval Europe in the 12th century and was revived sporadically in eastern and central Europe throughout the medieval and modern periods, often leading to the persecution of Jews."

And it's not just 'in old times': "In the 1930s the blood libel became part of Nazi propaganda. It was subsequently a staple of anti-Semitic propaganda in parts of Europe and the Arab world."

These ARE very much things with modern, current issues and implications in our world, where antisemitic rhetoric and practice have genuine, terrible repercussions for an already marginalized people.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

*Even if trying to distance themselves from real-world religious practices, as NyxHydra has claimed, they have still chosen to depict the Devoraks as having Jewish names, kosher practices, and Julian is straight-up based on a Jewish man (Jeff Goldblum), as well as NyxHydra showing endorsement of the Jewish head-canon for the characters.

**Yes, this does mean bird Julian is on thin ice, but that's a more nuanced issue - as that is a result of his own inner emotional turmoil, and while caricatures involving birds have been used in anti-Jewish propaganda it's less of a staple - still worth critical thought though.

***The Devil as depicted in the Arcana seems to be a Faustian archetype, rather than explicitly a character out of Christian mythology, however, the tie is still there in name, form, and implication.

****Totally inappropriate side-note: personality-wise don't you think Julian would rather be the VICTIM than the VAMPIRE? Come on...

[innuwu]

So I just got my hands on the 1938 German dub of Snow White and started thinking about the cast. A lot of information about them has been lost, since a lot of the cast was Jewish. So, here's a small list of them (again, a lot of information was lost so I can't cover all of them) and what happened to them.

(Tw! a lot of anti-semetism, genocide, Hitler, and Nazi stuff under the cut)

Snow White - Hortense Raky (1918 - 2006) She was a German born Austrian actress, and was 19 at the time of recording. She fled to Switzerland after the annexation of Austria, but got to return to Vienna after the war. She died at the age of 90 on September 25, 2006.

The Queen/Witch - Dora Gerson (1899 - 1943) She was a Jewish singer and actress of the silent film era. She was 39 at the time of the recording. She began her career as a touring singer and actress, during which she met her first husband, Veit Harlan. They divorced in 1924. Later, Veit would direct anti-semetic propoganda films under supposed coercion. She remarried to Max Sluzier, and had two children with him, Miriam Sluzier, and Abel Juda Sluzier. After the Nazi party came in to power, she was blacklisted on working on "Aryan films". So, she started working for a small Jewish record company. She also began recording in Yiddish. She went to the Netherlands to escape Nazi persecution. After the Netherlands was invaded, Dora and her family were caught fleeing to Switzerland. They were sent by railroad car to Drancy internment camp bound for Auschwitz were they died. Dora, her husband and her children died on February 14, 1943.She was 43, Maz was 36, Miriam was 5, and Abel was 2. Her body was lost or destroyed.

Sleepy, Bashful and the Magic Mirror - Kurt Gerron (1897 - 1944). He was a Jewish actor and Director, and was 41 at the time of filming. He studied medicine before he was deployed in World War 1, and after being seriously injured, he was qualified to be a Military doctor despite having been only in his second year of university. After world war 1, he became an actor and a director in 1920. After the Nazi government came into power, he fled with his wife and parents, first to Paris and then to Amsterdam. He continued to work as an actor there, and despite being offered many jobs in Hollywood, he refused to leave Europe. After the occupation of the Netherlands, they were captured and sent to a transit camp at Westerbork. His parents were deported and murdered in Sobibor. Kurt and his wife, Olga were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where they were forced to make a lot of propoganda films. Once filming was done, the film crew were sent to Aushchwitz, were they were murdered immediately on arrival. They died on the 28th of October, 1944. Kurt was 47, and Olga was 48.

Doc and Chef - Otto Wallburg ( 1889 - 1944) He was a prolific actor of the late silent film, and early sound era. He was 48 at the time of recording. He was the son of a Jewish banker. He started stage acting before being deployed into world war 1. He was wounded whilst on the Eastern front after winning an iron cross. After 1926, he started working in the German film industry. He fled to Austria where he kept working in film. He was arrested on 1940, following German invasion. He was held for a while at Westerbrok transit camp befor being taken to Auschwitz where he died at the age of 55. He died on the 29th of October.

Sneezy and Grumpy - Kurt Lilien (1888 - 1943) He was a Jewish actor. He was 56 at the time of recording. He appeared in 50 films between 1919 and 1933. He was arrested and sent to Sobibor extermination camp where he was murdered on May 28 of 1943 at the age of 60.

Happy - Siegfried Arno (1895 - 1975) He was best known as Toto in The Palm Beach Story. He was also a well known stage comedian. He fled Germany and later Europe, and went to work in Hollywood, making him the only Jewish cast member that made it out of Nazi Germany alive. During the next 20 years, he appeared in films often as a waiter, and a "funny European". He was nominated for a Tony award as Best actor for his work on the play "Time remembered" in 1958. In 1966, he won an honorary award at the German Film Awards "for his continued outstanding individual contributions to the German film over the years." He died from Parkinson's disease in California on August 17, 1975, at the age of 79.

It's sad to think and know about the horrible things that happened to them and the people of that time (and today), but sometimes that's the point. It's to be sad and uncomfortable about the things that happened, and see how those things persist in different ways even today.

[altagraye]

The Bid part 1 (ABO)

The Bid (A/B/O):

Ari Levinson (Alpha) x Eurydice Sideris (Omega, OFC)

TW!: dark themes, human trafficking, sexual themes, eventual smut, religious themes (Jewish), pagan themes, implied elements of torture, 1980s (or my best attempt), drugs, mafia themes, elements of past torture, religious persecution, strangers to lovers, Satanic panic, cussing, abo dynamics.

Summary:

After accomplishing the impossible, Ari Levinson left the promised land and went to the land of the free. He settled in Boston. He went to a football game on the good graces of the mayor of Boston (Charles Blackwood) , and discovered sinister happenings that seemed much too familiar to him. 

Characters:

Ari Levinson (Portrayed by Chris Evans, as seen in the film Red Sea Diving Resort)

Eurydice Sideris (Portrayed by Emmy Rossum, as seen in various titles but mostly the TV series Shameless)

Charles Blackwood (Portrayed by Sebastian Stan)

Esperanza Domingo (Portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez)

Author’s note: sorry this one is short. I know it is different. And I don't intend to offend anyone! I hope this is interesting enough for my readers. Message me if you are confused about anything. I apologize in advance for accuracy errors.

The Bid

Part 1: The Pure One

1982, Boston, Massachusetts:

Eurydice Sideris:

They dolled me up, made sure they covered up the bruises, put me in a skimpy dress and drugged me. They made sure to accentuate my scent too. How? Well that was a mystery, but I’m far from home. I could barely remember what or where home was but I remember the sea. The melodies that the waves made as they crashed onto the shore. During all of this chaos, I held onto the sea, and the one born from the ocean foam. That Aphrodite herself had kept me hanging on, kept me safe, at least safer than the others. 

My feet were unsteady in these high heels. They dragged me up when I stumbled and hit me more, only in places that weren’t visible. Out of my entire faith, the soulmates legend is the one thing I didn't believe in. At least until I was face to face with an Alpha, the one I was staring at now. He looked like he lived life on the edge. He didn’t belong there, at least not next to the other Alpha who looked like they were acquaintances. 

He was striking and even more so his scent. When the aroma flew through my lungs, it felt like freedom. What a strange thing to feel. Freedom had been taken from me for so long and now it was gawking at me, drinking me in with hungry blue eyes. It was then that I realized Aphrodite had answered my prayers. She was somewhere there in this Alpha’s eyes. That unmistakable color of the sea and the voracious and primal yearning. 

All this time, just when I began to lose faith, to crumble. This tiny silent moment had tears dampening your eyes. I knew and he knew at that moment the two had found the other half. The millennia of wandering the Earth generation after generation, searching for my half was finally complete. How cruel though to be dragged through the mud to get to you, my Alpha. 

“Starting price is 10.” yelled out one man. Ten dollars!? What am I? Chopped liver? I didn’t spend five years in the shithole to get sold for 2 Abraham Lincoln's.  The Alpha turned to his friend, confused. I caught more of his scent just then. Noticing how his aroma deepened, taking note of the dry wine. His nicely dressed friend chuckled at whatever conversation they were having. Your Alphas eyes widened and he chewed on the inside of his cheek, contemplating. The price must have been much higher than I initially thought.

“30!” yelled a man from the back. The gavel rose slightly, waiting for its sentence. Once its sharp cry would ring out, I’d be officially sold. Please, please, Aphrodite! Let me be with my true love. 

“50!” said another Alpha. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t watch. 

“100!” said a closer voice.

“200!” said the last voice, desperation seeping from his lips.

 “200, that’s 200. Anyone else for a higher wage? 200. Going once. 200. Going twice, that’s 200 folks! Sold! To the Alpha standing in the middle row.” The auctioneer announced. My lips trembled with fear.  The gavel struck, its sharp sound ringing in your ear. One tear fell, ruining the make up they had hastily thrown on. 

I opened my eyes slowly to see him. The one meant for you. The soul Zeus himself had separated my own from all those years ago. He was panting, like he was unsure the outcome had really happened. It happened so fast like instinct had taken over. 

A different Alpha took my arm, gripping it tight, being sure to dig his nails into my tender flesh. The man set me down in the seat next to the stranger who’d just bought me. The stranger took notice of this and gave him a look and a growl that could have killed. He paid no more attention to the worthless piece of shit than was necessary. 

He unbuttoned his denim shirt and took it off, draping it over my shoulders, filled with goosebumps. He was wearing another shirt under it, he wasn’t naked, but just from the look of him, I wanted to invest in that endeavor. 

“I’m Ari. You’re safe now, Omega.” he whispered in my ear as he clothed me. His breath was warm and melted the cold air stinging my skin. He held out his hand, resting it on the arm of the seat. I took it, feeling its strong muscles underneath and the calloused skin on its surface. I almost forgot to breathe. Leaning in, locks of my long brunette hair falling into my face.

“It’s Eurydice. Unless you’d like me to call you Alpha instead of Ari.”  I had to test the waters, throw in a curve ball of my own. Something to let him know I meant business. My own name was so foreign falling off my rose tinted lips. Those fuckers made me forget who I was. Given me a number instead, stamped it high on my neck. It was another form of humiliation. A tactic to degrade me to dehumanize me. If anyone would claim me, they’d see the mark. Number 394. They covered it up of course. Can’t have imperfections on Selling Night during halftime at the football game. It was an odd place to be sold in the first place but for the mob it was perfect. It was all done in the VIP rooms, where it was less conspicuous and ‘Megas like me could be bought at a pretty penny. It happened once every three months. 

Most Omegas didn’t make it this far in five years. Some of them died after three. I honestly don’t know how I got to this point, but I felt something close to happiness at that moment. 

He smirked. “Eurydice is a beautiful name.” His voice was sweet molasses to my ears. At first I didn't feel comfortable resting my head on his shoulder. But with the high from whatever drug they gave me wearing off, I didn’t care about much else other than sleep.

I hesitantly set my head down. His shoulder is firm with muscle yet so comforting, so right. Ari gripped my hand back, his thumb nonchalantly stroking my skin. I sighed, content and whiplashed from the events of today. I’ve been on edge for the past five years. I never knew I needed this kind of sleep. One where I didn't have to worry about a rut-crazed Alpha having their way with me in the middle of the night. This was the first day of the rest of my life. As with the Phoenix, I felt like I'd risen from ashes.

End part 1.- part 2 to be written soon.

Taglist:

@imaginedreamwrite​

@starshipsofstarlord​

[lionfirst-a]

dis  binch.

[zutarawasrobbed]

January 6, 2021 (TW: Domestic Terrorism)

I’m a Jewish woman of color (indigenous Latina). If you think for one second I’m shocked about the events that took place on January 6, 2021, you clearly haven't been paying attention. I will not grant the rotting tangerine any respect by saying his name. Instead, I’ll refer to him as he is, Orange H*tler.

This is by far the least surprising thing that has happened in Orange H*tler’s presidency. The people in minority communities- especially the Jewish community- knew we were in danger when we recognized his rhetoric. We’ve heard it in other countries and other points in time, but we didn’t expect it to be so blatant as it was in ours with him. We know it from our heritage and our ancestors who either escaped or died in the holocaust or escaped or died in other times of Anti-Semitic persecution.

However, the Holocaust is most remembered because not only was it the most recent, it was also filmed and photographed. Therefore, the Jewish community is aware of the signs of danger when it comes to the possibility of another Genocide.

I called it from the moment he announced he was running. “He’s gonna win.” He did. He used the same speech format as H*tler. (Not surprising, given he literally had a book of H*tler speeches by his bedside at one point.) This isn’t rocket science. When his supporters wear shirts that say “6MWE,” it stands for “6 million wasn’t enough.” This isn’t only about the Jewish community, of course. It’s about all POC and minorities, which makes the “master race” uncomfy.

Many people are saying, “shocked but not surprised.” And they’re right; I am shocked. I’m shocked it’s taken this long.

[leeleebee]

Ok hear me out. WWI Echo and Fives took over my brain. I’m not a writer, so here’s some plot points! TW: for war trauma mentioned.

The Great War

WWI AU

Echo and Fives

Go to the same boarding school in Britain with other 501st vod (brothers-in-arms in this case, not clones. Maybe some can be brothers. Whatever!)

Become close, learn the usual boarding school stuff of the time: modern languages, political leadership, military theory, and commerce (thank you history.com and Dr. Who)

Join the war effort. They are in their early 20s? Maybe had started university or other things after boarding/ prep school (cute flirting here?). Rex is captain (he is a few years older). You get Obi-wan and Anakin and Cody in the mix too. Lots of the 501st too. Maybe Echo or Fives get a brief glimpse of Cody and Obiwan being more than fellow soldiers and it gives them hope.

Ahsoka is a badass field nurse? Kix is there too.

Echo and Fives fall in love on the front lines?

Echo gets blown up/ actually kidnapped.

The same thing basically happens to him, experiments, maybe some magical realism/ Hellboy type magic to give him telepathy, mechanical limbs. Etc.

Fives doesn't die (because he deserves so much better.)

A few soldiers (RIP Tup) experience strange orders/ mind control (due to the Hellboy magic… OR evil sith lord controlling everything. Who knowwwwsss) but it is explained away as shock/ shitty understandings of trauma at the time.

Echo uses the telepathy whatever (by accident or intentionally. Not sure how aware he is) to send Rex his name, rank, company and regiment (dogtag info). Rex is like holy shit is echo alive????

Rex knows about Fives and Echo (not all the vod do. You know, THE TIMES.) And he is a good Captain and brother and tells Fives. Action rescue take down the telepathy site. Bad Batch special ops team here?

Echo is crazy fucked up but they save him. Fives is sweet and good and is there for him.

The war eventually comes to an end.

Echo and Fives go to live in Berlin where it was shockingly progressive and a gay haven between the wars!

Great Terry Gross interview. CW: for government and Nazi persecution of gay and Jewish people. https://www.npr.org/2014/12/17/371424790/between-world-wars-gay-culture-flourished-in-berlin

Un-ending fluff about their lives in Berlin. The end.

Gorgeous writers, if this interests you, it is yours. 🤣

Sorry in advance for all the visual nonsense I will be creating for this world 😌