the-lesser-light

[the-lesser-light]

Orthodox Jewish men wearing sackcloth and praying during the Seventeenth of Tammuz fast day, at the Western wall in Jerusalem, Israel; 2013. x

In Judaism, the fast of the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, known as Shivah Asar B’Tammuz, is the start of a three-week mourning period for the destruction of Jerusalem and the two Holy Temples.  The fast commemorates five tragic events that occurred on this date: Moses breaking the tablets when he saw the Jewish people worshiping the Golden Calf, Jewish people being forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep during the Babylonian Siege of Jerusalem, Apostomos burning the holy Torah, an idol being placed in the Holy Temple, and the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege.  Even those who are not able to fast due to illness or pregnancy should not partake in sweets or delicacies as the 17th of Tammuz is a somber day.  It is customary to dress as one is in mourning; with torn garments or sackcloth.  As well as a day of fasting, the 17th of Tammuz is also a day of reflection as we are allowed an opportunity to repent before G-d.

The fast on the 17th of Tammuz begins on dawn June 11th and continues until nightfall of June 11th.

[the-lesser-light]

magneto is a zionist and xavier is a diaspora jew tyring to survive via assimilation and hiding and if you are a goyische x-men fan who talks constantly about how mutants are a metaphor for gay people then you are missing the point.

[the-lesser-light]

[the-lesser-light]

[the-lesser-light]

It sickens me how many Jews are thanking him for his support and helping the hostages. it's all a show for him. He knows exactly what he is doing.

I want us to be smarter than this. Do not trust this man. I need everyone to wake up and realize that he will turn on us the second he gets what he wants.

i need you all to understand that trump knew exactly what he was saying. he knew this was white supremacist language because he is a white supremacist. he is testing the waters to see how far he can go, just like elon did with his nazi salute. please for the love of fuck stop ignoring that the president of the united states is intentionally and repeatedly targeting jews and stop pretending like antisemitism is just hurt feelings.

[the-lesser-light]

A Talmudic dispute. Artur Markowicz, circa 1909-1916. Krakow, Poland. Source.

[the-lesser-light]

Pride 2025

These Colors Don't Run!

this Pride remember your roots, fight the fuck back, remember your allies and friends and don't get distracted.

[the-lesser-light]

Your parents ended up emigrating to Israel in 1988 when you were in university. You wore a yellow pin honoring the October 7 Israeli hostages at The White Lotus premiere in February.

I always wear it if I’m on a red carpet and a press line.

Public sentiment on Gaza seems to have shifted a lot since then. I wonder where you are right now on the issue?

Where I am is either a full magazine or no comment about it, because two or three sentences in a profile are not enough to deal with the issues. I wear the hostage pin because there are innocent people who were taken from their homes. Most of them are peace activists who lived in border communities where they were ferrying sick kids to hospitals and working with people from Gaza constantly. There are Holocaust survivors, there are children who were taken, there are people being starved and tortured and raped who have no access to the Red Cross. People are rightfully talking and thinking about all the civilians that are in danger everywhere else. But those people in tunnels, it’s now 600 days they’ve been there, they’ve been forgotten entirely. And so I wore the pin once and the hostages’ families got in touch with me and they thanked me enormously. I now am aware that they are watching me and that it matters to them. If my son or sister or daughter or father was being kept in a tunnel somewhere and weighed 25 kilos now, or may have been strangled or shot, and it felt important to me that some actors somewhere wore the yellow hostage pin, then who am I to not wear it?

So when it comes to more nuanced arguments about Netanyahu and the right-wing lunatics in the cabinet, or whether the IDF is or isn’t doing things, or this new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is or isn’t handing out food correctly, or whether Hamas’s press releases should be printed as fact, and whether there aren’t journalists in there — there are so many complicated arguments. It isn’t a place to dip one’s toe or to have a simple quote on it. What I wish for everybody, obviously, is peace. Who doesn’t? I don’t know anybody, apart from the extremists on all sides, who want either continued war or tension.

The argument that you make for the ribbon is a humane one. Why don’t you think more actors have worn them?

Because just for wearing it, I’ve been called a Zionist baby killer, a Zionazi. Even a yellow hostage pin for innocents is deemed political, which it isn’t.

[the-lesser-light]

remember how remarkably precise the pager attacks were against Hezbollah?

this operation against the Islamic Republic was more precise than that. so far the only casualties have been the intended militant targets (may it remain that way) of the regime.

social media round up:

there are many more articles about this, and many more will be developing.

may Iran be free, and may the Middle East be released from its grip of terror and oppression and malevolent proxies. may this truly be the dawn of a new era, one that ushers in prosperity and peace.

[the-lesser-light]

If you feel scared—it’s because this is scary.

But you are not alone.

And we are not powerless.

This post is a Jewish invitation:

To anchor in ritual

To return to community

To take courageous action

And to remember that joy is resistance, and resilience is our birthright.

Am Yisrael Chai.

[the-lesser-light]

The sound of the shofar kicked off the festivities as hundreds of people attended the Boulder Jewish Festival on the Pearl Street Mall on Sunday.

It was the 30th anniversary of the festival and one week after a man allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a group that walks every Sunday to advocate for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

"We've been singing and dancing, crying a bit, and coming together and celebrating what it means to be community," said Simcha Schwartz. "We have to respond with joy and action to hate, and so that's what's happening."

The mood was a mix of somber and joyous. People remembered those injured in last Sunday's terror attack in the same spot on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall with a reading of their names.

"People are very worried and concerned about what's going on, not just in the world, but in our local community," said Karen Bigelow.

But attendees also celebrated being Jewish and shared their culture with those who came but were not Jewish.

"It's just important to show love and compassion in every community. And I happen to be a part of the Jewish community that I know and love and respect, but I think it's important for everybody to show compassion and unity in times, especially, that are difficult like right now," said David Winterstein.

The event has been planned for months, but given last week's attack, there was extra security, which attendees say was a blessing but also a curse.

"There's a lot of people that feel maybe scared, concerned about the fact that there's so much security, that there has to be that much security," said Bigelow.

But attendees say, despite the fear, it was important for them to come out because they don't want to let hate keep them from living their lives and expressing themselves.

"We have to show up, we have to speak up, and we need to make people realize that now is the time to speak up for everybody in our communities. We're all human beings," said Bigelow.

[the-lesser-light]

Sometimes I look at how far I've come and everything I've done and it still amazes me.

Things I've learned since converting to Judaism:

How to look forward. The future has always been a haze to me. When people ask how I see myself in five or ten years and I have never had an answer. I can't see myself in 1 year or 1 week. Yet now, I eagerly look towards the next Friday night. The next Shabbat. I look forward to the calm and the feeling I get when I hear the call to prayer. No matter where I am or what I am doing, Shabbat will always come.

How to relax. I live day by day and moment by moment. I have for a long time. For a long time, I have also been living disaster to disaster and trauma to trauma. But every Shabbat I am forced to take a deep breath and let it all out. I close down all news and toxic things. I force myself to just breath and live in this moment of quiet and peace.

How to sing. I'm pretty self aware and very self conscience. I know my voice isn't that great and I've spent a lot of my life being told I was too loud and to be quiet. Yet my first time in a synagogue someone must have seen how nervous I was and that I was struggling with the Hebrew. I didn't know the songs, prayers, melodies… They smiled to me and explained what a Niggun was. You can bim bom along all you like because we are all in the moment together and the love and joy is so great that we can't help but sing. I have gone from quietly mumbling along to singing along loudly and with all the joy in my heart. When I don't know the words, it's okay to bim bom along.

Community. An introvert semi-hermit loner like me has struggled with this the most. I have never been a part of a community. Suddenly I am welcomed into my synagogue with open arms and no judgement. They don't care where I have been, only that I am here now. It started with helping to clean up after oneg. Clearing the trash, washing the dishes. It didn't require me to talk. Now I volunteer at events, sign up to help where I comfortably can.

It's okay to not know something. Boy howdy this was a hard one that I am still learning. I'm impatient when it comes to learning things. I want to know everything right away. I want to not feel left out. I want to be a source of knowledge and have the answers. NO ONE in Judaism knows it all and NO ONE has the answers. And this is celebrated! Because we are all learning. All of us all of the time. If you don't know the year the Temple fell, you are not a bad Jew. If you forget the melody for the prayer, you are not a bad jew. If you can't remember what goes on a seder plate, you are not a bad jew. It is the effort and desire to continue to learn that makes us special.

There is still so much to do and learn and there will always be so much to do and learn.

I'm still finding out what Shabbat means to me and what being Jewish means to me. Not to mention how to let it fully into my life.

I'm okay with that. It gives me something to look forward to.

[the-lesser-light]

Me: I'm starting to worry I'm getting burnt out and doing too much. Money is also getting a little tight. Should I continue my Hebrew lessons? I feel guilty taking a break because the class is so small....

The universe on Shabbat: Hebrew classes have been cancelled for the summer. Also here is a refund check for a time over a year ago when you paid too much for a doctor visit.

Me: ......thank you.

[the-lesser-light]

[the-lesser-light]

Sacred fruit

[the-lesser-light]

If anyone had wanted a kippah, but didn't get them in time before- there's 5 of each design up on my shop again! They're my final ones left of them until I make new experiments!