simcha-is-a-mitzvah - Tumblr blog

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Jewish Joy will be when I get my hands on some bread and pasta as soon as Passover ends

Chametz my beloved. I totally get it. Soon, we're almost there. I hope everyone enjoys the return of the chametz

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After being born Jewish but not raised it, in the past couple of years I've finally been able to practice Judaism. There isn't a synagogue here unfortunately, but I'm able to practice with other people and it feels amazing!

I'm so glad you still found a community, even if you don't have a synagogue. Hopefully you can visit some once in a while! If you'd like some help finding any near (or near-ish) you, I'm sure jumblr will be happy to help

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My Magen David necklace is really useful to stim and fidget with, that helps keep me happy and calm

Neurodivergent Jews unite!!

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We do not have a post queued for today. But that doesn't mean we can't still spread some happiness!

How was everyone's shabbat? What did you do? What are your favourite things to do during shabbat?

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I saw all the posts about challah, and one of the best parts about making my own challah is being able to experiment with the different spice toppings! My personal favorite is rosemary, but its really fun to just open up the spice cabinet to see what your brain can come up with!

Haha we hear challah and immediately get happy and full of ideas!! I guess everyone has many new things to try after Pesach. Although I guess if you make you matzah by hand you can add toppings too

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Saw the honey in challah one and wanted to share a similar trick!

Add vanilla extract in your egg wash for the challah, it makes the house smell delicious but doesn't actually affect the taste of the challah much so you can still do whatever you want with it. There's only that hint of vanilla that comes from smelling it but you can still make the challah savory and it'll still taste good

Well here is an amazing tip for everyone to try! You can get your house smelling amazing for Shabbat while baking challah. Two birds with one stone

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I'm reconnecting with my Judaism and I'm lighting shabbat candles for the first time in my adult life this week! Wish me luck!

P.S.: thank you thank you thank you for this blog, we really do need joy right now. Shalom!

Good luck! I'm so proud of you. Don't forget to take a few seconds to admire the light and the warmth of the candles. I always find it a beautiful moment

PS. I'm happy to be able to help the community in any way I can. If it makes even one person's day brighter, it's already a success

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I always put a spoon of honey in my challah dough. After kneading the dough, i love smelling my hands. The smell of honey stays on them for hours and it makes me happy

Sounds like such a cozy smell!

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After cleaning out the freezer for pesach my mom took a ton of challah that we still had and made French toast!

Challah french toast always hits different. And after all that cleaning it's almost like a reward

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Jewish simcha is finally having continuity in Hillel after a couple years of mess

Very good indeed, having a good community is such a blessing. I'm so happy for you!

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Thank you everyone for voting on the poll! Over half of you voted to keep it mostly Judaism related, so I've clarified that in the rules.

Now that the blog is set up, please feel free to come spread your Jewish Joy!

I know these are hard times, but even now it's important to live to the fullest as much as possible. Our ancestors survived and so will we. Celebrate your Judaism and Am Yisrael Chai!

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This is a blog meant to be a safe positive space for the Jewish community. So I want you to help decide the focus of this blog.

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Intro and Rules

Welcome! I made this blog to help provide Jewish people with joy and happiness. Especially lately, these have been hard times, and everywhere I've seen people express that they feel themselves drowning in so much negativity.

As the name of the blog says, I believe holding space for Simcha, even in dark times, is a very special mitzvah.

This isn't to say you shouldn't feel sad or angry or upset ever. It's normal to sometimes not be able to find joy. So allow yourself to not feel happy all the time, but also allow yourself to be happy sometimes.

About me: I am currently in the process of converting and have been for almost 2 years. So while I'm not technically Jewish yet, I love this community more than I will ever be able to express. I want to make it very clear that I do not speak for the Jewish community as a whole, nor do I claim to. I'm just here to share other people's joyous moments to maybe help others cope with life.

You can call me Simcha, as that is probably the Hebrew name I'm picking. I'm in my 20s, and I'm queer and neurodivergent.

If you need to vent, or are going through a rough time, don't hesitate to visit @jewish-vents instead, a blog similar to this one where Jewish people can vent. Like I said, there is no shame in feeling less pleasant emotions and you're not alone in feeling them.

Rules

This is a space curated specifically for Jewish people. We need a space that is safe and joyful. Goyim/gentiles/non-jews, please respect that and don't try to center yourself here. You can interact respectfully, and show your support by uplifting Jewish voices, not center your own. Unless we decide to change the rules, do not send submissions.

IF YOU'RE JEWISH feel free to send an ask, anonymously or not, about anything happy you might want to share. It can be big or small, as long as it is somewhat related to being Jewish and it makes you happy!

To clarify: when we say submissions should be related to Judaism, it can be just tangentially. Something funny that happened at shul, a recipe your family likes making, a Jewish wedding you went to, a friend who is a good ally. We're not too restrictive here!

If anyone, for any reason, submits something hateful, that is discriminatory to anyone at all or wishing people suffering, you will be BLOCKED and your ask will be DELETED. Yes that works for antisemites, but it also works for anyone coming here expressing happiness for the death or harm of anyone.

If you're submitting something involving other people, please make sure to not give identifying information to avoid doxxing and harassment. We need to be keeping each other safe.

If you want to submit something that for some reason can't be done anonymously, but you still would like it to be, submit it and state IN THE SUBMISSION that you want it to be posted anonymously. I will make a separate post and not mention your identity, and then delete the original.

For the sake of simplicity and anonymity, you are a Jew if you consider yourself a Jew. This includes Jews from any movement, background, color, nationality, patrilineal Jews, people that are still converting, etc. This does NOT include Messianics or Black Hebrew Israelites (not to be confused with just Black Jewish people in general, Jews come in all colors like I said)