#non-Jews and Judaism

[son-of-avraham]

[mossadspypigeon]

okay jumblr let’s go.

[koshercosplay]

poll for JEWS ONLY

*friend: a person with whom you interact with relative consistency and enjoy their presence, NOT just like someone you interacted with one time at the grocery store

(link to the poll for non-jews)

[usssnarfblat]

Did Anastasia deserve to die for her family's crimes against Fieval's family?

I've always found it interesting that "Anastasia" and "An American Tail" were made by the same guy...

My mom got us "An American Tail" as kids, since we were Jewish, and a Disney-like movie with Jewish characters was a one-of-a-kind thing. ("The Prince of Egypt" was still a few years away. Yes, I'm that old.) More to the point, my dad's side of the family is largely Russian Jews, who immigrated in the early 1920s, for exactly the same reasons as the Mouskewitz. Being a child of this background and very literally obsessed with cats, I had mixed feelings about the movie.

When "Anastasia" came out a few years later, Mom didn't let that history stop us from enjoying the new princess movie, but she didn't shelter us from it either. We regarded it like we did the real history behind any sugar-coated princess movie. She even got us some history books about the real Romanov family, and we were fascinated by the subject.

Still, it's an odd elephant in the room, watching "Anastasia" and knowing that her granddad was the one who sent those Cossack cats after Fievel's village, and her dad himself continued doing it to the Jewish mice who didn't leave.

"Go, Pompom, Kibble and Fluff-Baron! Kill those Jew mice, and I'll give you extra catnip treats tonight!"

Don Bluth presents both the Romannov family and their victims with equal sympathy, even opening both movies with the family celebrating a holiday, with the kid heroes getting a plot-specific present, before being viciously attacked.

"Wow Grandmama! Fieval and Tanya could use this as a merry-go-round!"

*Cough* "Yes uh, about those Jewish mice Sweetie..."

Bluth's portrayal of the Romanov family is not entirely inaccurate. By all accounts, Nicholas II was a deeply loving father who both doted on his children, but raised them not to be spoiled. Despite being royalty, the princesses shared bedrooms and did charity work at hospitals.

It's a baffling irony that Nicholas was nevertheless was a tyrant, and not remotely just to his Jewish subjects. When I was about twelve, Mom got me the Dear America book A Coal Miner's Bride, about the Catholic Polish immigrants who also fled the oppression of the Russian Tzar. (Anastasia's family conquered part of Poland in the 1800s, banning the Pols from speaking their own language and drafting their sons into the Tzar's dick-measuring contest wars.) Anyway, that's what my mom's side of the family was fleeing when they immigrated. Yes, my family has double reason to hate the Romanovs.

So, I personally don't have a lot of sympathy for Nicholas II. But the horrors his poor wife and children endured in their final moments never fails to get the reaction from me.

The rationalization for the murder of the children and queen was that it was the only way to ensure that the monarchy never returned. But I assume most modern-thinking people would say that the ends do not justify the means in this case.

That said, millions of families like Anetka's and Fievel's suffered as bad or worse than the Romanovs, because of the Romanovs, and no one remembers them because they didn't wear tiaras. This no doubt was another factor that killed sympathy for the Romanov children. But they were still children.

The question today is, if we can feel for a family that was literal royalty, despite their father being an undeniable tyrant against our own families...can we also feel for Palestinian and Israeli families, during a conflict that is vastly more complicated than Imperial Russia?

Or do they need to be cute mice and glittery princesses to get our attention?

[secular-jew]

Would you kill muslims if you had the chance?

I am not a soldier. But if I was attacked or threatened, I would do whatever I could stop the threat, from anyone.

Am I able to walk freely, as a Jew, in Jenin or Ramallah? Doubtful.

Can an Arab walk freely anywhere in Israel and also live and thrive with equal human rights and dignity? Yes.

Jews are at risk even in western countries solely because of Islamic immigration.

[hindahoney]

I refuse to sell out my own people just because the conversation makes people upset and uncomfortable. I don't care if my opinions are palatable to non-Jews. I'm here for Jews and nobody else.

[askjumblr]

Kind of a weird question, and I hope I'm phrasing it right. I've been doing my best to be an ally to Jewish people for years but especially since October 7. I've been doing a lot of reading, trying to amplify existing Jewish voices, have the Hard Conversations with friends, etc. But within the last year specifically, a lot of people have been assuming that I myself am Jewish. I'm worried that people will start to see *me* as an authority even though I'm just an ally and still learning. I'm also aware of a lot of "as a Jew" people who aren't actually Jewish say harmful things. It feels... Not great to like, loudly and constantly announce that I'm Not A Jew, because being Jewish isn't bad or shameful. But at the same time, I don't want to be mistaken as a Jewish person and end up causing harm inadvertently through that. I guess my really long-winded question is what's the best way to deal with that scenario? How do I walk the line between being an ally and not overstepping?

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[son-of-avraham]

Can we please take away ashkenazi, sephardi, mizrahi, ect away from people until they understand how to use them, please? Like I don't celebrate, but it would be an xmas miracle

[mossadspypigeon]

stop tweeifying judaism and then labeling and shitting on anyone who doesn’t 5785.

[koshercosplay]

[slyandthefamilybook]

idk who needs to hear this but like. Diaspora Jews are real Jews too. there's this tendency among goyim to think that because Jews originate from the Middle East that Middle Eastern Jews are more real or authentic. that Ashkenazim are somehow doing Judaism wrong because we're white. like whiteness subtracts from indigeneity. that our practices are less valid because we've mixed them with the culture of the places we've been forced to live. they're not

[dj-of-the-coven]

HaShem save me from that Rabbi Akiva Weisinger thread about trans people

[askjumblr]

Hi, note, am Modern Orthodox, but fairly ignorant, or at least feel like it.

I am not great at Learning, but I will give it a shot now and then and I'll come across something interesting and wonder how this event or question would come across to people who don't have the background I do. How would someone who isn't Jewish approach this issue/question?

TL;DR, is it appropriate to ask non-Jewish people on the Internet what their thoughts on a question of Halacha or etc would be?

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[official-oshun]

I hope all the ethnically Asian, African, Pacific Islander, and all other Jews of Color are having a wonderful day! The world should appreciate World Jewry more! Jews are a diverse group of people spanning all four corners of the world and we are invaluable! I hope everyone, gentile or Jew, recognizes us for our devotion to ourselves and our community!

[son-of-avraham]

Thinking about all the little jewish influences I encountered before I decided to pursue conversion. G-d really plastered it on a neon sign where I was going, and I was sat there completely clueless. I think it's so fascinating when other conversion students and jews by conversion talk about their own experiences with judaism before they even knew they wanted to convert, and it's nice to know I wasn't the only one

[piedoesnotequalpi]

I have more followers than I did this time last year, so a seasonal reminder from your slightly curmudgeonly neighborhood Jew that Christian "seders" are cultural appropriation and entirely inappropriate to put on

(if you're not Jewish and your Jewish friend invites you to their seder, that's fine and I hope you have a good time! Fresh fruit is usually a safe bet re: contributing food)