#urj

[pizzamassacred]

"I don't think I want to-a show myself yet. With all this drama."

"Don't worry about it. I doubt anyone's going to bother us right now."

[notaccurateornice]

Just got an invite to a group chat for people I went to camp with, our CIT group from 2009. Apparently we’re doing a combo in person meet up/zoom call on the 30th. It’s literally been 14 years since I’ve seen any of these people. But the best part of being jewish is the community and I’m surprisingly looking forward to seeing everyone.

[jinxpologist]

Dunno if this is weird but like, seeing you talk about your experiences with religion and Judaism is like, really cool? Idk how else to explain it, its just nice to see?

oh this is. so sweet i needed to hear this ;;;; it’s not weird at all and it means so much!! i very much have a sort of. anxiety? when it comes to talking about my spiritual experience, because i’m very worried that i specifically am being a bother when i talk about it. so it’s really really nice to hear someone enjoys me talking about my experiences w judaism and the conversion process!!!

[therainingkiwi]

I am a Jew.

I did not know that civilians lived in Palestine until i was probably sixteen. SIXTEEN. You know when I first learned that Palestine existed? Oh, probably when I was three or four, in Hebrew school.

I was literally taught that Palestine is a nation of terrorists. I thought it was basically one giant army base where Hamas planned attacks, rather than a real country with hospitals and cities and schools. Again: I did not know that civilians and everyday non-terrorists lived in Palestine until I was a fucking TEENAGER (and even then, it was despite my synagogue's best efforts, not because they changed the shul curriculum or anything).

I'm not saying this because I'm proud. I am DEEPLY ashamed to have once believed this. It's why I focus my anti-Israel activism around the Jewish community in particular: I do not trust myself around Palestinians because I fear I haven't rooted out my prejudices enough for them to be safe in my company. I'm not sure I ever will.

But you need to know how intense Israeli propaganda is. You need to know WHY so many people can't distinguish between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Israel has spent lots of time and money on its international image. They've spent possibly even MORE time and money to smear Palestine into the mud. Israel relies on the world seeing their colonization as valiant Jews holding steadfast against evil Islamic terrorists. Without their indoctrination, they don't have power.

I hope Palestine rises higher and freer than Netanyahu's worst fucking nightmares.

I was asked why there's a zionist claim that the Palestininian identity is not legitimate. And I think it's important to understand why Palestinians as a whole are seen as a threat by Israel. To understand why it's not about Hamas.

The claim is that the Palestininian identity was made up in order to push us out. Palestinian existence is a threat to the legitimacy of Israel as a country.

I was taught in school that Palestine was empty when we got here. They used a Mark Twain quote. It was a barren land full of swamps and some nomadic people (Beduins) but as soon as we wanted to come here, the awful antisemitic Arabs sent people to settle here before we could to take up the space. I was in school in the settlements though. I was taught the most extreme version of this.

Another version of this is that Palestine was never its own thing, they're just Arabs the same as all Arabs from the surrounding countries. So they could just... scooch over and give us the space, please and thank you. In Israel no one uses the term Palestinian. If I do, people roll their eyes and dismissively go "Arab." An Arab is an Arab. It's a way to strip away their unique identity and blend them in with the rest to say they could always move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, and it's all the same to them.

It's a way to make Palestinian existence by itself into a malicious plot to deny us a homeland.

Because if Palestinians exist as a distinct group of people, we aren't the only ones with a connection to this land. And you don't create an ethnostate by sharing.

You still hear echoes of this mentality. Why won't all these Muslim countries take the people of Gaza as refugees? That's asking why they won't let Israel make its ethnic cleansing more neat and convenient. Yes, refugees should be taken in and given shelter. But this question shifts responsibility away from Israel. Palestinians shouldn't be forced suffer either ethnic cleansing that leaves them as refugees, or a genocide.

[vamptastic]

I got my kit to be a blood plasma/stem cell donor but for some reason the instructions say there's an extra swab in the kit in case you mess up but I only have one. Weird.

[itswalky]

Question: How do you pronounce "Scourge" when he comes up in conversation? On-line sources say the word is "skerj" but Cyclonus on the old cartoon called him "skoorj". He really drew it out, too: "Skoooooorrrrrj"

I had to learn, post-cartoon, that the word should be pronounced "skurj." It's how I pronounce the word now. But as a kid, I assumed it was how everyone on the cartoon said it, like some deranged "skew-urj."

[marauding-bagel]

When I took the URJ's intro to Judaism class it was mostly conversion students and engaged couples but there was one woman in her 80s who grew up in New Jersey.

She was Jewish, she was hiding, that's all her father taught her. That was a Jew and that she needed to hide. She came to learn what she had been hiding for 60+ years.

She stopped coming after a few weeks. Just never appeared again. And I find myself wondering if it was because she got busy, or what she was looking for wasn't there, or if walking into a synagogue past the security fencing and guards and joyous Jewish art and Torah was all too much for her.

I wonder if she's still hiding

[vampacidic]

no i don't have autism and social anxiety i don't know what you're talking about

i hate college tours all the staff is so nice to me and it makes me so anxious because What if i fuck up socially and they go urgh..... we don't want you actually....... or the opposite happens and they really want me and then i tell them No. liek what do i do then

[jedi-enthusiast]

Ahhhh I’m so happy!! I recently registered for URJ’s Intro to Judaism course in the Fall!! I can’t wait!!

Also, Shabbat Shalom to everyone who sees this post, and I hope y’all have a wonderful Shavuot!!

[azems-familiar]

today i got the chance to sign up for URJ's online intro to judaism classes! after missing the set that started in january due to some Troubles i am super excited for this. classes start in august and run through next january and i am practically vibrating out of my skin with eagerness. i cannot wait to start learning properly, rather than just reading books on my own!

[catboywizard]

if any other reform jews follow me, please consider signing this letter from reform jews for justice to the urj urging them to change their official position/policies regarding the palestinian genocide

edit: non jews free to reblog too! just don’t sign the letter

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Is a person who is of Jewish descent and was raised Jewish for several years before their parents gave up and raised them irreligious actually Jewish?

The answer to this varies depending on your exact circumstances and where on the spectrum of Judaism the person you're asking falls. As a result, we'd have to say:

That is the sort of question you'd have to ask your rabbi. None of us here have any sort of ordination; we're just a bunch of geeks who like doing research. :)  Even if we did have ordination, there are so many differing opinions within the spectrum of Judaism that we'd probably not feel comfortable answering definitively. If you are having trouble finding a rabbi in your area, we suggest you look for your local rabbinical councils or associations, or check national groups’ websites. For example, if you live in the US, there’s the OU (Orthodox Union) https://www.ou.org/synagogue-finder/ , USCJ (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) https://uscj.org/network/ , and URJ (Union for Reform Judaism): https://urj.org/urj-congregations . And of course wherever you may live there’s almost certainly a Chabad: https://www.chabad.org/jewish-centers/

[vaspider]

hi there! im a trans person that's Jewish by blood but was not raised that way and i was hoping to ask some questions about where to learn about judaism (and general jewish culture) if that's ok!

to provide context: my great-grandparents were practicing Jews, but they stopped practicing and changed their names to escape attention during WW2, and, as far as we know, did not start practicing again until they were near-death in old age and revealed to my grandparents their jewish history.

this led to one of my closer family members to begin partially practicing judaism, but uh... in a way that i now know to be tied up with Zionism. when i got curious and asked about the culture and the history of our people, i got a whole bunch of Zionist rhetoric tied in, which i thought didnt sound awfully nice! this, tied in with them using Kabbalah to (falsely, ive discovered) justify some rather nasty takes about my gender identity and neurodivergence (such as. uh. neither of them existing) led to me deciding that i didnt want anything to do with the culture as a whole, thinking that that was all there was to it.

thanks to your blog, and others on tumblr, ive discovered that i have been incredibly wrong! and was simply unlucky with my One Connection to my culture, and i find that i resonate with some of the ideas i have seen really strongly?

so! i wanted to ask (and i must emphasise, only if it is not too much effort, I don't want to be a bother!) if you might know of any good online resources for beginners wanting to learn about Jewish culture and Judaism (And perhaps Kabbalah!) preferably without Zionist rhetoric, lol, because i think i may just want to reconnect with my culture after all.

thank you so much, even if it was just reading this, as ive wanted to just state it for a while <33

Wow, that's... a lot, to be sure.

My general basic recommendations for people looking for 101-level information is My Jewish Learning as well as the Union for Reform Judaism's Introduction to Judaism online classes. URJ has been trans-affirming as a movement since 2003 or 2004. There's also their whole Learning section, which has a lot!

Jewish Virtual Library has a lot of resources in it; it's run by AICE, so do with that what you will. Sefaria is also a huge virtual library of Jewish texts.

That said, Judaism is first and foremost a people and a culture, so I would actually highly recommend that you talk to a rabbi and see about attending an Intro to Judaism class near you. Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements are all trans-affirming; I've personally had my best experiences at a Reform shul and an independent shul.

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlNcRmRHzJE

I feel like this year, it’s not too early to start thinking about and remembering a Jewish resistance movement against forces actively trying to make us be less Jewish so we’d fit into their society better.  (Even if the real story is much more complicated than that, with overtones of Chabad deciding to try and fight the URJ.)  It’s not a bad thing to remember that the Jews are generally pretty agreeable about accommodating the larger culture we live in, but that we do have limits.  And when we reach those limits, if larger culture tries to push us beyond them . . . we push back.  And sometimes we win!

[vamptastic]

do people really think jewish summer camps exist to prop up zionism 😭 it's just sleepaway camps where you can still practice judaism because we have dietary restrictions, they're not even necessarily religious in nature. like i cannot emphasize how little indoctrination goes on you just play sports and do crafts.