#Torah study

[jewish-microwave-laser]

being jewish feels so lonely right now. i turn to the torah and liturgy for comfort and i see verses like the blessing/curse of bil'am or the opening lines of megillas eikha or the fact that the very root of the word meaning holy also means separation and being set apart. is it helpful to know that my people have experienced this for as long as we've been a people? despite everything, my pain and my sorrow and my momentary lack of hope, jewish art finds me and wraps me in her comforting arms. despite everything, i start laughing again. i see the roots this art has in our torah and liturgy and suddenly they are helpful again, suddenly i'm reminded of how comforting being part of such an old people can be

[penguicorns-are-cool]

I'm pretty sure Avraham failed the test

like if I was given a test and the person giving the test very obviously told me that I was wrong and not to actually do the thing, I would assume I failed the test

also, that's about where the torah switches focus from Avraham to Yitzchak. There were no more tests after that, his story just kind of ends. His next big task is to just marry off his son and that's it he's done.

Like, I really don't think he passed that test I think he failed for refusing to question God for giving him a very unreasonable task.

And it's not like others haven't been rewarded for questioning or even fighting authority

like Yaakov is very definitely rewarding for tricking his Dad cause like right after it says he has a dream where God basically told him good job you will have many descendents. Then later on he literally fights an angel and it's a good thing cause he got renamed Israel as part of a blessing and now we're B'nei Israel

And Moshe definitely questioned authority that was like his whole thing. And even beyond Pharoah, he also had to reason with God to get them to not kill everyone.

Even Avraham that time he convinces God to not kill everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah if there are ten good people. There aren't but Avraham's questioning and reasoning with God is portrayed as a good thing.

Also, Judaism is generally very supportive of questioning authority and child sacrifices are very specifically banned in the torah, so It makes no sense that Avraham passed the test because he would've obeyed God even to kill his child. Like that moral is pretty inconsistent with the rest of the Torah.

so I definitely think Avraham failed that test.

[ceaseless-exhauster]

I was scrolling way back on my own blog to look for an old specific post, and I could see the progression of my unending joy and fervor for Judaism morph into fear and anger and defensiveness as things have gotten worse and harder, and, crucially, as I have become a more solidified and educated member of the community. This makes me deeply sad, so I’m going to fight it actively.

All that to say: Torah study last night was delightful. It was a small group this week, just four of us, but not only did we laugh much and do a lot of Hebrew decoding exploration (which is my 🎶faaaaaavoriiiiite🎵), but we ended up talking at great length about the relationship between HaShem and Moses.

We did this in the context of HaShem getting super into wrath and retribution, as they are wont to do, and Moses’s reaction is to basically say “okay, but like, if you kill your own people, everyone else is gonna think you’re a loser who couldn’t defend this people you promised to protect.” And it WORKS!!

So we were talking about how interesting it is that not only is Moses of course the only prophet in the Torah to whom G-d appears in person, but how much more of an equal footing they appear to be on, more of a partnership than anything else. Look at Avraham when he bargained for Sodom and Gomorrah: “yes HaShem you are great and powerful but I also believe you are merciful please let me search for one righteous person there.” Yaakov literally wrestled an angel. Joseph received dreams and had very earthly concerns about them.

Meanwhile, we have Moses - this man who, despite being raised as a prince of Egypt, is by all accounts a pretty terrible social leader whose little brother has to do most of the logistical stuff. And yet, he perhaps has the deepest relationship with HaShem. He has the kind of relationship where G-d can appear right in the Tent for the sole purpose of looking Moses in the eye to proclaim “I am deeply hurt and angry!!” and Moses has the standing to say “I understand that, but you have a bad plan about it.” Isn’t that wild??

I’m glad this week was Sh’lach L’cha, there was so much in there to talk about and explore and it did so much to remind me of the simple fact that I LOVE Judaism!!! I’m gonna do my best to continue to embrace that more often even in the face of everything. I hope everyone is having a restful Shabbos 💙

[thespiritualmeatgrinder]

hey jewish people can you tell me things about ur religion pls

pls pls cherry on top

[sentimentalsol]

Lev 18:22

A man shall not lie with a man as one would with a woman. Since when does that imply two men having sex as men? Only irreversible rabbinical interpretations have made it as such. According to the torah anal intercourse is the most that’s forbidden.

Why isn’t anyone talking about this?

[kijew]

[dogmalilith]

Ragman (1991) is an eight issue mini series that incorporates jewish mythology with a hero. He is one of a limited number of Jewish superheroes, and his continuity is tied to that of the Golem. Ragman is sometimes compared to the other nighttime defender of Gotham City, Batman, and was a member of the Sentinels of Magic and Shadowpact.

[askjumblr]

What do you think we can learn from the meraglim, the spies? Is it that if something challenging is coming our way, that

* we shouldn't even investigate it and just trust that everything will go well, or

* that we should look into it and trust that everything will go well even if what we've seen scares us?

Or some other combination of options?

.

[is-the-fire-real]

If any Jews on my metaphorical phone wish to join a Shavuot study session online, my Rabbi is hosting one!

It should be perfect for Europeans in particular as it will be at 20:00/8 PM Central European Summer Time. The principle languages used will be Spanish, Hebrew, and English. Let me know if you'd like the link!

[jewish-microwave-laser]

something's that incredibly important to me about judaism and (as i learn more about it) islam is that so many of these laws and texts that people point to now in the 21st century as being savage, barbaric, uncaring, brutal, and scary were all improvements on the status quo at the time they were written. it was a distinguishing and identifying stance on morality that lifted these tribes up above* the others in the arabian peninsula; that slaves were not allowed to work on shabbat or yuntif, or that combatants in a war or battle had so many restrictions on their behavior was an innovation

nowadays we read that like if you take a beautiful woman captive during a war you need to shave her head and cut her head and let her live with you for a month as she mourns her family, and only then can you marry her we're like "hey what the fuck that's insult to injury and that's absolutely cruel" (and honestly. i wouldn't argue with that tbh) but it's important to remember like this mitzvah is to make sure that a man doesn't just exert the absolute power of becoming her husband over her in the heat of the moment then later realize "actually she wasn't that pretty" or "i think she's super annoying" and mistreat her. it's literally a rule forcing men who are likely to go crazy after a battle to stop, think, and experience this poor woman at her worst before making a decision about if they deserve her at her best. nowadays we obviously say "just don't take a woman captive?" but that's expecting these guys from 5000 years ago to just go completely cold turkey from how they used to live and how the rest of the world lives, if that makes sense? like yeah that's cruel NOW, but back then it was fucking revolutionary

to me, this is a sign that our religions and traditions are encouraging us to always strive to be more moral, hold ourselves to higher standards, never think our behavior is good enough to not be improved upon. it's not "do this thing that was progressive 2000 years ago," it's "take this as an example and do things that are progressive now"

*not trying to say that the other groups in this area that weren't following these rules somehow were lesser than or below the ones that did, just saying like in the formation of a national narrative for jews, muslims, etc. this was an important distinction to make

[disgruntled-detectives]

Jewish culture is getting the blessings you sing at Torah study stuck in your head.

[zionistgirlie]

A drush I heard for purim

Achashverosh did do something with the temple clothes, but it was out of respect to the jews. He had a party for 3 months, with each people he rules over having the privilege of showing their culture (he ruled over 127 countries so, you know, lots of culture).

However he did indeed stop the rebuild of the temple and didn't allow for the Jews to have autonomy in Eretz Israel.

His way was more of a "kill them with kindness" way, thinking that if he'd be respectful to the people, they wouldn't want to ascend to Eretz Israel or consumate their national designation. And he was correct in doing so. The Talmud asks why did G-d allow for the pur (destiny? lottery? Idk English) to fall. Like why did Hashem let destiny dictate when the Jews should die. Their response is "they (the Jews) enjoyed the feast of that evil man (Achashverosh)".

Obviously, the enjoyment wasn't about the food. It was about the respect. It was about the kindness. They allowed the honey trap to close around them, blinding them to their national designation: ascending to Eretz Israel, rebuilding the temple, being a people. Hence the punishment.

[pomegranates-and-poppies]

last chabad Torah study ever! it was literally just me my brother and the rabbi, and we talked about why we bless things, including an in-depth breakdown of the meaning of the words baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech haolam, and then (after we'd finished the written stuff) suicide, physician-assisted suicide, DNRs, similar trolley-problem-esque quandaries, taking a plane ride over the international date line while counting the omer, taking a plane ride on shabbat or through shabbat, and finally two stories from the rabbi about when he was younger and someone had to pick him up at the airport before shabbos and there was a pre-cellphone era miscommunication and hilarity ensued (including leaving a four-foot menorah in the airport executive's office for 24 hours)

[lesbianlenses]

Sinister Wisdom 29: the Jewish womens issue.

[kijew]

Reading “Here All Along” by Sarah Hurwitz for class.

I had a few thoughts I wanted to write down.

* Namaste is paralleled in Jewish thought: the divine in me acknowledges the divine in you. I recognize that you were made in the image of the same God who created me. I’ve always loved that concept; it’s like saying cousins visibly resemble the same family. We’re alike more than we are different.

* I’ve said on Reddit before that the lack of prosthelitizing is part of the appeal of Judaism for me but this just reinforced it. Judaism acknowledges that you don’t have to believe what I believe in order to be a good, worthy person. There are many paths; this one just happens to be mine.

* A lot of what I’m reading feels fresh and new because I’m learning with a mind toward new thought but these are still fundamental to the Christian faith, too. It’s just that so many Christians have stopped following those precepts. I’ve been reminding myself that Jews are just as capable of losing the root of their faith and it isn’t unique to evangelicals. I feel like rereading the Bible once a year (or three years) probably helps to reinforce the basics.