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Heads will roll. (Judith Beheading Holofernes)

Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Valentine de Boulogne (1591-1632)

Artemisa Genitileschi (1593-1653)

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me: is having a Reasonably Good Time

the Mental Illness™: [adele voice] hello......

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If we’re gonna be totally meta about it, Hibike! Euphonium was about a teenage lesbian who was crushing so hard on an oblivious straight girl, whose straightness came up when she was already in too deep. Who, along her other “friends”, kept pushing her towards a boy she literally couldn’t care less about. Gradually, she started getting over Straight Girl, and was able to move on, as she got closer and closer to another, older girl, whom she used to hate. As she was allowed to be closer to the other girl than anyone else, her feelings for the straight girl faded into a friendship, and she came to terms with her new deepening love with a most complicated girl, whom she understood better than anyone else. The series ended with her confessing, and the older girl accepted her feelings. 

And I think that’s beautiful.

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Why are graven images forbidden by the Torah?“ I once heard Abraham Joshua Heschel ask. Why is the Torah so concerned with idolatry? You might think that it is because God has no image, and any image of God is therefore a distortion. But Heschel read the commandment differently. “No,” he said, “it is precisely because God has an image that idols are forbidden. You are the image of God. But the only medium in which you can shape that image is that of your entire life. To take anything less than a full, living, breathing human being and try to create God’s image out of it - that diminishes the divine and is considered idolatry.” You can’t make God’s image; you can only be God’s image.

Rabbi Arthur Green (via yidquotes)

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A story that the Jews tell each other is that when the slaves were fleeing Egypt they came to the edge of the Red Sea and thought: well, fuck, this is it. Water in front of them and enemies behind. They had escaped, sure, but all this meant was that they were going to die free instead of in chains. A meaningful distinction in an abstract sense, but the Jews are a practical people, and mostly what they were concerned with in that moment was: they would be equally dead either way.

A man stepped out from the group. He stepped into the water. He said: mi chamocha ba’eilim adonai? Who is like you Adonai, among the gods who are worshipped? He sang that verse over and over again. He sang it as he waded into the sea. He gave his body over to his faith as he walked. There was nowhere to go but forward. If he was going to die, he figured, and be equally dead either way, he was not going to die in slavery and he was not going to die at the hands of the Egyptians, either. He was going to die walking and singing, believing, trying to find progress in the chaos, in the waves. 

In the story, the water laps first at his feet, then his knees, his thighs, his ribs, his neck, finally flowing into his mouth as he sings and sings and sings. The words get choked, mispronounced: the hard cha of mi chamocha becomes mi kamoka, strangled but still certain. 

In the story, this man is why the people get their miracle, the waters parting to let them cross through on dry land. It is an act of divine intervention, but it only comes because someone is willing to put his life on the line to make it happen. I keep thinking about him this week, that apocryphal man and how it is a story we make sure to keep telling each other: when there is water in front of you and enemies behind, you do not wait for your god, or a sign. You trust in something larger than yourself and open your mouth to sing about it. You put your feet on the ground and walk forward. 

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So, since I virtually died and have come back, a lot has gone on. I unfortunately haven't wrapped as of late. I've had trouble with the mitzvah, but feel it will come back to me with time. We have switched temples again, but only because we've moved! We bought a house in what seems to be a surprisingly accepting suburb in Gastonia, NC. Great neighbors who are chill on the lesbian Jewish couple who are basically smol babies. We even have a couple our parents' age that's been adorably checking in on us. Also, the other smol, our puppy has grown up! She's fully grown almost at 4 lbs and 10,000 decibels a bork. 2016 was a really tough weird year but I'm really excited to be back in the swing of life.

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me: [wakes up] me: brooklyn nine-nine is a show that airs on fox and stars two black men in leading positions, one of whom is the captain of the precinct and is gay but is never made fun of for this by the characters or by the show. the other is physically intimidating but is a loving father and the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet. there are also two latina women as police detectives who are nuanced and fleshed out and never conform to stereotypes. all three starring women have totally different personalities but support each other through everything. the show repeatedly calls out racism, homophobia, sexism, and (on one occasion) transphobia. the ‘nice guys finish last’ trope was smashed to pieces in the first season with said ‘nice guy’ owning up to and apologizing for his behavior. jake peralta (who should be your typical White Dude Lead) is explicitly a feminist and once punched a homophobe in the face. what a miracle. i will never forget this gift thank you mike and dan

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The first meme for 2017 should be all the old ones but wholesome

I’ll go first

What she says: I’m fine What she means: I love you so much and I want to declare it to the world but public extreme expressions of love short of marriage proposals are looked down upon or made fun of by society and I’m worried people are going to judge me but I’m content being by your side because there’s nothing I love more

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traditional Ashkenazi Jewish music genres

-A Verse From the Torah/Talmud/Pirkei Avot/Shulchan Aruch/Zohar/etc, But Put To Music And Made Incredibly Catchy And You Will Never Be Able To Stop Singing It

-Our Hometown Has Been Completely Destroyed, But It Will Live Forever In Our Hearts

-This Love Song Is So Sweet And Gentle And Wait Both Of These Lovers Are Dead

-Hooray, We Made It To <Holiday> Without Being Slaughtered

-It’s Time For Atheist Socialist Secular Revolution, But In Yiddish

- ya na nai nai nai nAI NAI NAI NAI

-Get Fucked Nazis (A Soviet Jewish Partisan Song)

-Get Fucked Commies (The Same Partisans, Four Years Later)

-WHY AREN’T WE IN ISRAEL

-ba bum ba ba bum (bu du dum)

-This Is What A Love Song Sounds Like At Triple Speed And In Yiddish

-Save Us, O G-d, From <Insert Tyrant Here>

-rumANIA RUMANIA RUMANIARUMANIA

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President Barack Obama’s farewell address [1/10/17]

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this hannukah, live in the spirit of the festival and punch a neo-nazi in the face

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Can't believe it's been so long. I got pulled back in, y'all. These damn gay anime reeling me back with feelings and love.

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