it-is-not-in-heaven

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

Believing in Jesus as the son of G-d is completely incompatible with Judaism. “Jews for Jesus” is a dishonest Christian evangelizing organization that tries to convert Jews. That said, a Jew remains a Jew even if they start worshipping idols and worshipping men as gods. What they are doing is wrong and wholly not Judaism, but they themselves can never lose their Jewishness.  So: Judaism says that no, it is not at all acceptable to worship a man as a son of G-d, and trying to convert Jews to Christianity in this dishonest manner is a despicable thing to do. Spreading “Jews for Jesus” stuff is disgusting and anon should know they’re being extremely disrespectful of the Jewish faith. But if someone does worship Jesus, or Donald Trump, or Thor, or anyone else, they’re still as much a Jew as I am. They’re just a Jew who is ignoring one of the most important elements of our law and our history as a people. :(

Hi! Actually it's possible to be Jewish and believe in Jesus as the son of God! Since being Jewish is also a heritage/culture thing, there is such a thing as "Jews for Jesus"

[for those curious, this is the post the anon is referring to.]

this seems completely contradictory to everything i’ve learned about judaism. hm. i’m going to look into this more because now i’m genuinely curious as to how this is even possible and how this “jews for jesus” group is viewed by the majority of traditional jews.

thanks for telling me about this, anon! :)

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

FORCED STERILIZATION OF ROMANI WOMEN – A PERSISTING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

While human rights can be violated by individuals or by institutions, they can only be defended by institutions. The European Court of Human Rights does not deal with single individuals who have committed crimes. Rather, it focuses on why the government in question could not take action against what happened. But where are the doctors, politicians and all the people who personally contributed to or carried out such surgeries, and when they are going to take responsibility for their actions? In order to take action against this human rights violation, blaming the Communist regime is not enough. The practice continues today and forcibly sterilized Romani women are still a long way from receiving true justice.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

am I right that you’re a gentile? because if so calling a bunch of jewish people nazis because you disagree with them is deeply fucked up.

the person Ozy defended choosing to remain friends with (despite the fact you consider him a nazi) is Jewish. he’s also, obviously, not a nazi, and it’s pretty fucked up to try to isolate Jews from our social networks/communities by telling the people around us that we’re nazis. You don’t have the context/background here that would let you understand what it’s like to be called a nazi as a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors, but it’s seriously a disgusting thing to do.

omg ozy is literally still banging on about how important it is to still be friends with people who “don’t fit the proper ideological standards” i.e. nazis 

jesus shit.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

new gross leftist trend on tumblr: gentiles calling Jews who they disagree with “Nazi apologists” or actually straightup calling them Nazis.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

There are Orthodox Jews who commit horrible crimes, Reform Jews who commit horrible crimes, and gentiles who commit horrible crimes. I am very sorry that you had negative experiences, but they unconditionally don’t justify demonizing millions of people. Would it be okay for someone abused by a Reform rabbi to declare that Reform Judaism is a cult of child abusers? Would it be okay for the rest of the world to demonize all Jews on the basis of the unacceptable actions of one or two - oh, wait, that happens all the time. 

If your experiences have made you unwilling to engage respectfully with Orthodox Jews, don’t talk to us. But being viciously nasty to anyone who had a positive experience with a community you had a negative experience with doesn’t change any of the things you want our communities to change. 

hey so can you explain the difference between orthodox and reformed judaism to me?? I really don't have any experience with judaism and I haven't actually noticed anybody calling any of the jews at my school "bad" or whatever, and it seems really weird that people would be that picky about something like that to me.

agnellina can probably explain better but reformed Jews don’t follow all the Jewish laws, we generally still do “work” on Shabbos (I’ll give up my laptop for two whole days every week over my dead body). Some reformed Jews don’t go to shul at all. I had friends who called me a bad Jew because I like hot dogs and usually don’t check if it’s beef or not.

Sorry, I’m really not good at explaining things right now, I haven’t taken my meds in like three weeks bc I left them in another state.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

Friendly reminder, kids, that no matter how tolerant, kind, and thoughtful you are, the internet is full of vicious jerks who will call you a cult, spread slander about you, and applaud each other for doing so - and that you should continue to be tolerant, kind, and thoughtful anyway.

I disagree with Chabad on some things- in particular, creationism was really bad for my faith, and acknowledging that evolution is obviously true helped me develop a much deeper appreciation of G-d. I wish I’d never been told that the consensus in modern science wasn’t compatible with believing in the truth of Torah, because it absolutely is. But it is absolutely revolting and unacceptable to call fellow Jews cultists, or to slander Schneerson with the (absolutely false) claim he beat his wife, or to treat your fellow Jew with the hatred on display here. 

Also, my sister is a lesbian. No one at the shul we go to will speak to her or let her enroll her children in the school here, but the local Chabad daycare took them gladly, because they believe that every Jew ought to have the chance to learn about Judaism. There’s no resemblance to fundamentalist Christianity in their practice, philosophy, or actions. 

hey so can you explain the difference between orthodox and reformed judaism to me?? I really don't have any experience with judaism and I haven't actually noticed anybody calling any of the jews at my school "bad" or whatever, and it seems really weird that people would be that picky about something like that to me.

agnellina can probably explain better but reformed Jews don’t follow all the Jewish laws, we generally still do “work” on Shabbos (I’ll give up my laptop for two whole days every week over my dead body). Some reformed Jews don’t go to shul at all. I had friends who called me a bad Jew because I like hot dogs and usually don’t check if it’s beef or not.

Sorry, I’m really not good at explaining things right now, I haven’t taken my meds in like three weeks bc I left them in another state.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

It does not help the Jewish people or Judaism as a religion to spread misinformation, which is what you were doing. 

*makes a post regaurding my people* *gets unneeded bs for it* Last time I help my religion

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

I have seen people doing this in a way that feels gross, but, like, I think being a Holocaust survivor does give people a perspective on the existence of a Jewish state that is important to articulate. I know that in the past few years, my grandmother has started opening up about the reasons they stayed in Austria until 1940, desperately trying to get everyone who needed one a visa out, trying to find literally any country in the world that would take them in. 

And that does influence my thinking on Eretz Yisroel - or, at least, on the importance of the existence of a state that is guaranteed to take us in so that the Shoah can never happen again. Obviously it’d be inappropriate of me to go around saying “if you oppose Israel you wish my family was dead!” but is it really inherently manipulative to discuss the ways very recent history affects our thinking? 

Using the opinions of Holocaust survivors and/or your status as (the descendent of) Holocaust survivor(s) to manipulate people into siding with you on one side or another of issues surrounding Eretz Yisroel is so unbelievably gross.

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

I think it is misleading and dishonest not to acknowledge that ‘no homosexuality’ is one of the Noahide laws. Jewish ethics for gentiles are not just common sense.

So, yeah, like G-d has given you a universal morality. No, it isn't in your own language, it is in my ethnic group's language. No, no, your family's religion is shameful to G-d, he told me to tell you. No, he didn't tell me, who told someone that one of my ancestors knew. No, you shouldn't question me. G-d told me, I'm telling you, that settles it.

I mean, if you’re really opposed to the following feel free to keep being upset, Anon:

-not murdering-not stealing-not eating limbs torn off an animal while it was still alive-establishing courts to uphold justice

I also don’t go around preaching to people unsolicited as implied by your ask, so….

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

Jewish people who type the word “god” as “g-d”: Do you think you can fool the big man upstairs with a technical work around? When he goes through your emails/texts/facebook posts after you die, you don’t think he’s gonna see that dash and think “this sneaky fuck here, enjoy h-ll.”

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

basically always CYLOR, your rabbi won’t lead you down a path to horrible spiritual damage and anyone on the internet scaremongering doesn’t know you or care about you. HaShem does. 

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

This really upset me and of course that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but I wanted to say why just so you’re aware.

I developed anorexia nervosa when I was sixteen. I lost eighty pounds and nearly died. Most of my compulsive thoughts relating to food were about whether it was kosher enough, whether it was dirtying my soul, whether maybe someone could have been careless with a plate because you never really know. I all but stopped eating. Today, after a lot of consultation with a secular therapist and with my rabbi, I don’t keep kosher. My rabbi says this is absolutely a pikuach nefesh case, and that for me it is mandatory not to think about kosher laws because I cannot do it without spiraling into mental illness. 

So being told that even though I’m halachically doing the right thing, I’m still blemishing my soul forever, was devastating. I cried for several hours after reading this. I skipped dinner even though it was definitely kosher. I’ll be okay, probably, and I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. But there are hundreds of thousands of Jewish women with eating disorders, and from what I have been told for most of us anxiety over treif food plays a major role in those eating disorders. And so saying things like this tells many very ill people that they’re doing irrevocable spiritual damage by eating even to save their own lives and I hope you can see how harmful that is.

Of course if it’s true you shouldn’t stop saying it just because it’ll hurt people. But I thought you might want to know about this and take it into account when you speak about kosher with people. At a minimum, say “unless your rabbi has told you otherwise!” and mention the exemptions for ill people. Unless you think that eating treif causes spiritual damage for us too, I guess.

 And personally I believe that violating halacha is what blemishes the soul, and that if you are acting in accordance with halacha then there is no spiritual damage done even by actions that would otherwise cause it.

What if you eat it unknowingly? Or have to because there's no other options?

I assume you’re talking about blood and milk/meat cooked together. Unknowingly, it isn’t held against you according to halacha, but while it doesn’t necessarily have any of the punishments attached the spiritual blemish remains, and is tremendously hard to clean off (I’ve tried). Regarding the other query, “because I didn’t have any other choice” is not something I would use as an excuse in general, but I don’t know your situation. I am not an expert on the b'dieved (after the fact) sort of laws, but obviously the first thing is to make sure that you don’t end up in a situation where you would “have no other choice” (if you knew the spiritual effect on your soul of eating milk and meat together, or of drinking blood, you’d go through tremendous care to avoid it). Learn all the laws in detail, and don’t leave anything out, so that you know what choices you have. To know when you can be lenient if circumstances call for it - there are certainly details. But don’t just make these decisions yourself. Learn everything, and ask these questions of your local orthodox rabbi. They’ll know much more than I will. I’m not there yet and I’m not afraid to admit it. :-)

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

i think something a lot of gentiles don’t get – especially gentiles from christian cultural backgrounds or who live in christian-dominated places – is like… theres a vastly different attitude to texts in judaism than there is in christianity. like. the obvious example here is talmud and rabbinical debates and etc, like you can point out “well rabbis have been dissecting the tanakh into teensy little pieces for millennia” which is true. but also, like

just regular jews! we are meant to read the entire torah every year. there is a different portion assigned to each day. even in non-orthodox synagogues, usually (in my experience), we discuss the week’s portion on friday before shabbat or saturday afterwards. we talk about it. 

here’s an example: you wanna know who the first person who ever said “hey, isn’t it kind of fucked up that in exodus, pharaoh is always willing to let the israelites go, and then the hebrew god “hardens his heart”, making him refuse?”

it was a jew.

the relevant rabbinical discussions about that and other issues in exodus are PRINTED RIGHT IN many haggahdot  

this is… the backbone of our religion and culture. “israel” means “wrestles with god”. literally. 

if youre ever like “wow i bet noones ever told this PROBLEMATIC JUDEO-CHRISTIAN SOCIETY OF OURS about how FUCKED UP A CERTAIN BIT OF THE ~OLD TESTAMENT~ IS!” you are wrong someone has indeed told society about that and it was jews. in fact we are probably telling someone about that right now. as we speak

and as an example: if there’s part of the hebrew bible where youre like “wow… this sounds super sexist” (or whatever), let me tell you, jewish women have been writing books about that part? for decades if not centuries. like… trust me

“hey wanna hear my opinion about something fucked up in our holy texts?” - jews, like, all the time, since forever

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

I usually don’t recommend abandoned/unfinished fanfiction but Goldstein is worth the heartbreak you’ll experience when you reach the final chapter and realize it’s not going to be finished. If you’ve ever wanted to read Harry Potter fanfiction that’s also a haunting and oddly compelling mediation on living a Jewish life in an unsupportive community, peppered with footnotes like:

In this story, Yehuda/Anthony Goldstein, his parents, and their rabbi are Ashkenazi Jews of Lithuanian yeshiva affiliation. Hebrew is transliterated accordingly.

and

Opinions expressed are those of the characters, and not the author. Never drop a lit match on the floor. For the kosher status of broccoli, CYLOR.

and the occasional touching scene at a Scotland Chabad house and accidental magic lighting someone’s peyos on fire then you should go read it.

I’m trying to work out exactly why it resonated so much with me emotionally. I think it is emotionally honest (in a way that sometimes we can’t afford to be with the goyim looking on) about the emotional and physical toll of keeping kosher at Hogwarts, for instance, while also managing to capture the ways G-d strengthens us. And this is, fundamentally, a story about faith that grows stronger in the face of adversity without being at all deliberately didactic. Also it argues ‘being Jewish in an uncaring secular society is painful’, which I find much more compelling than ‘the secular world is dangerous and seductive’, the latter of which never really matched my experiences.

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And as they waited one came through the trees, and they saw that he was a tall Man, armed, clad in black, with a long sword drawn; and they wondered, for the blade of the sword also was black, but the edges shone bright and cold. Woe was graven in his face, and when he beheld the ruin of Ivrin he cried aloud in grief, saying: ‘Ivrin, Faelivrin! Gwindor and Beleg! Here once I was healed. But now never shall I drink the draught of peace again.’

-Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth

i drew one of my fav scenes in Unfinished Tales, when Tuor sees Turin in the distance.

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Then Húrin spoke to Turgon, saying: ‘Go now, lord, while time is! For in you lives the last hope of the Eldar, and while Gondolin stands Morgoth shall still know fear in his heart.’ But Turgon answered: 'Not long now can Gondolin be hidden; and being discovered it must fall.’ Then Húrin spoke and said: 'Yet if it stands but a little while, then out of your house shall come the hope of Elves and Men. This I say to you, lord, with the eyes of death: though we part here for ever, and I shall not look on your white walls again, from you and from me a new star shall arise. Farewell!’

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, p.194 (Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad)

[it-is-not-in-heaven]

Blind you are, Morgoth Bauglir,and blind shall ever be, seeing only dark. You know not what rules the hearts of Men, and if you knew you could not give it. But a fool is he who accepts what Morgoth offers.

Húrin, to Morgoth in The Children of Húrin (via teamedain)