garlic-and-cloves

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while we're at it, tearing down the hostage posters was always evil and fucked up.

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The Jewish Bride by Aleksandr Tyshler

In 1919, [Aleksandr Tyshler] volunteered for the Red Army, serving in a special department of the 12th Army, where he made posters, organized a propaganda train, and produced plays. (…) In the 1950s, he took up sculpture and also continued to paint and draw. His works are characterized by irony, plasticity, paradox, and the grotesque. While depicting objects realistically, Tyshler poeticized and fantasized their interactions with human beings. 

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Sarah Milgrim and I both grew up in Kansas City. She was my age; I knew her family. Ten years ago, a Neo-Nazi Klansman shot and killed three people at our Jewish Community Center, and I can’t stop thinking about it today. It was the worst thing our community could conceive of at the time, and it cast a heavy cloud over many of my friends’ b’nei mitzvahs, but we thought that was the end. The city overwhelmingly supported Jews in those days, and everywhere we looked, there was nothing but sympathy, and no threat of further violence. It’s difficult not to compare the two crimes.

I live in Canada now, and the news story of Sarah Milgrim’s death was immediately linked to two stories on the war in Gaza and one story debating the existence of antisemitism on college campuses. Even institutions that condemn the killing are quick to add “context” and place it into a larger culture war. Any sympathy we receive now will be gone in the next week’s news cycle. 

When the gunman fired at our JCC in 2014, he killed three Christians, but there was no question of it being an antisemitic attack. It was very clearly understood that indiscriminately opening fire at a Jewish institution meant a person wanted to kill Jews. I feel heartbroken, and disgusted, and sick at the response to Sarah’s death. May her memory be a blessing.

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Teaching Jewish kids is so amazing and I wouldn't give it up for the world. But it's also heartbreaking at times. Two of my students said today that their synagogues had always marched in their local pride parade, but they aren't doing it anymore. At one, someone threatened to throw a bomb at them. At the other, the people organizing it said they weren't welcome back. The world has no right to make Jewish children go through this. They deserve to be taken care of and know that they are valued as they are

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Maybe I'm not a nice Jewish girl but I'm a nice Jewish lesbian

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Ok, loves, so we've all got the message that joking about suicide is bad for your mental health. Now we need to get on "joking that the planet/all of humanity has no future" is bad for societal health/encouraging resistance to bad shit."

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Tel Aviv Pride

Photo by Dave Schwartz

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anyone have good reads and resources on Jewish history in the Dominican Republic? curious and asking for a new friend of mine

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It’s summer and that means the kids are going to camp! Last week the kids were at gymnastics camp at the place they take lessons. This week they’re at kosher culinary camp at the local Chabad.

The difference could not be more stark.

Last week, I drove up outside the front doors for pick up and drop off, shouted their first names through the window of my car, and either received a thumbs up at drop off, or had the kids walk out unaccompanied at pick up.

This week, I had to walk them inside (adults have to present ID to be allowed in the building) and check them in with two separate sets of adults. I had to present ID again (separately from getting into the building) to be allowed to pick them up. If someone who is not their legal guardian is going to pick them up, paperwork needs to be filled out in advance.

Last week, the only people outside the building were a couple of teenagers in orange vests to make sure the littlest of kids got inside the building ok.

This week, the only people outside the building were security guards with walkie talkies on one hip and very obvious pistols on the other.

My kids are signed up for three different Jewish camps this summer. All three of them have sent emails outlining the security measures in place to protect the children. No details, because the more people that know the details, the easier it is for someone with ill intent to discover and subvert them, but I know that there will be armed security personnel at all three camps and they will be coming with on field trips. I know that staff at all three camps have been conducting safety drills in the weeks leading up to camp, and I know that all three camps are partnered with local and federal law enforcement to stay up to date on any threats or recommended security changes.

I have never received information like this from any non-Jewish camp. I have received information like this from every Jewish camp.

This is what Jews are talking about when we say that antisemitism impacts the way we live our lives even when we are not being directly targeted by antisemitism. Summer camps shouldn’t have to hire armed guards to keep kids safe. Going to camp at the JCC should not put you at greater risk for violence than going to camp at the YMCA. Requesting that non-Jews help us live in a world where that’s true is not a ridiculous thing to ask.

And before anyone tries to say ��Oh just because you feel like you’re not safe that doesn’t mean you’re actually not safe,” I’d like to point out two things. The first is that the Chabad my kids were at today has received multiple bomb threats in the last couple of years. We feel like we’re not safe because people have made it clear that they would like to attack us. We are, in fact, actually not safe.

And the second is that even if we were actually safe, and all the people out there who were saying that (((Zionist))) institutions should be attacked were just running their mouths and were not going to act on it (disproven by recent (and not recent) violent attacks, but we’ll accept the premise for the sake of argument), isn’t it pretty messed up that antisemitic actions have made Jews feel like this is necessary? Like, if one person in a couple was constantly so verbally threatening to their partner that the partner was 1) fearful for their safety and 2) felt it necessary to reach out to law enforcement, we would rightfully call that abuse. Why can we easily recognize that behavior as being immoral in that scenario, but find it acceptable in the local/national/fucking global treatment of Jews?

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🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Happy Pride🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Here to remind you that saying that trans women as a whole can't pass as well as trans men is not only demonstrably false and reductive of trans people's diverse experiences, it is incredibly transmisogynistic.

So maybe stop pushing that harmful narrative.

There are many trans men that will never be able to pass no matter what. And there are many trans women who can pass pre/non everything. And everything in between. Every single person is different.

So many of you are so eager to lie about trans men's lived experiences that you either don't realize or don't care that constantly spreading the idea all over this site that trans women will never be able to pass as well is so incredibly harmful to trans women. Imagine having to constantly read, from people claiming to support you, that your transition is pointless because you won't pass anyway. Like this behavior is genuinely going to drive many trans women and transfems away from starting estrogen because they are being convinced it won't matter.

And this is not to say that "passing" should be the goal of trans people, because it shouldn't. The goal should be to become more comfortable in your own body. And many transfems are going to be robbed of that by this rhetoric that estrogen based HRT isn't worth it or not powerful.

So to any trans women out there that are considering starting estrogen but have felt discouraged by these type of posts saying trans women can't pass as well or that estrogen is not a powerful hormone: Do not listen to them. Do not let their words get you down or drive you away from starting E. Estrogen can do wonders and can be life changing and life saving.

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Right well see the thing is that if the antisemitism is just words on the internet and irony, then it's just a joke and you're overreacting if you say anything about it.

If the antisemitism is just words even if said to your face in person, then it's just words and you shouldn't let them rile you up.

If the antisemitism is just microaggressions and people taunting our kids in public schools, then it's just bullying and you should just ignore the bullies.

If the antisemitism is discrimination by not getting holidays off or having kashrus respected or having religious clothing banned, then it probably affects other religious groups just as much or more than us, so you should really be fighting for and centering them.

If the antisemitism is people using slurs or blood libel or other canards, it could be worse, you're just being a neurotic Jew; it's still just words, at the end of the day.

If the antisemitism is Jewish shops or establishments or synagogues being vandalized or threatened, then it's just a little broken glass and spray paint, it's not like anyone actually got hurt, y'know?

If the antisemitism is people shouting out genocidal rhetoric in their slogans and seig heiling in the streets at protests, well really what do you expect when Israel is committing a holocaust of their own?? (If the antisemitism is holocaust inversion then fuck you for trying to control the narrative; dontcha know lots of other people were targeted and killed by the Nazis too? How dare you try to monopolize this tragedy??)

If the antisemitism is violence-inciting rhetoric from religious or political leaders, that's just, like, free speech man.

If the antisemitism is stochastic terrorist shootings at synagogues and JCCs and day schools (etc.) then it's just lone wolf actors and it's part of a larger conversation on mental health and/or gun control; it's still too early to say we should address it on its own terms.

If the antisemitism is individual Jews being physically attacked for looking Jewish in public, that's really unfortunate but also are we sure they aren't Zionists? Because even if not they might have been asking for it by looking like Zionists.... and if they were, well can you really even call that antisemitism? Anyway it's not like it's a widespread problem and there are more pressing issues than antisemitism that we should address first.

If the antisemitism is widespread violence, discrimination, and an inability to safely express Jewish identity, then we should maybe issue some meaningless platitudes about how that's bad, but make sure to include how Islamophobia is also bad too even if it's not at all relevant to the conversation.

If the antisemitism is individual Jews being killed, it's still too early to intervene, because can we really call that systemic violence? We should be focusing on the groups experiencing systemic violence first.

If the antisemitism is pogroms, make sure to ask which side of the political aisle it's coming from first to determine whether it's worth using as additional tar for our enemies, and if it's not, best to sweep it under the rug in service of The Cause. But it's still not the right time to actually take a stand on it.

If the antisemitism is groups of Jews being attacked and killed, that's deeply unfortunate, but it still really can't be our priority when there's a genocide going on. (Also have you considered that maybe those groups of Jews deserved it or are lying?)

If the antisemitism is state-sponsored repression, expulsion, concentration camps, and/or attempted genocide, well, it's kinda too late to do much about it, you know? Why didn't you say something before now?? Why did you let it get this bad? No way can we do anything about it at this late stage; it's not worth risking our people over people who won't even speak up for themselves.

If the antisemitism is a successful genocide insofar as it seriously reduces the Jewish population for several generations, then really the question we should be asking ourselves is why didn't they stand up for themselves? Why didn't they fight back? Why did they go like sheep to the slaughter?

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Jewish culture is having the urge to do "sheket b'vakasha hey sheket b'vaka-hey sha" to get people to quiet down except said people are goyim so it wouldn't work ._.

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Jewish culture is constantly having to say “IT WAS THE ROMANS! IT WASNT US!”

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Jewish culture is constantly checking on your friends and family to make sure they've eaten, then offering to go get them food regardless of their answer. You just ate breakfast? What about second breakfast?? You just want a snack? Awesome, I'm roasting an entire chicken just for you! Got the midnight munchies? I'm baking brownies! Haven't eaten yet? Five-course meal! I love you! Let's eat!

anon I need you as a friend (I struggle with eating 😔 )

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Jewish culture is loving learning new melodies for prayers but also kinda wishing the service would be done exactly how they were in your childhood synagogue.

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Jewish culture is loving learning new melodies for prayers but also kinda wishing the service would be done exactly how they were in your childhood synagogue.

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Jewish culture is loving learning new melodies for prayers but also kinda wishing the service would be done exactly how they were in your childhood synagogue.

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