#I love the Yiddish

[age-of-moonknight]

“Kill List,” Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #20.

Writer: Jed MacKay; Penciler and Inker: Alessandro Cappuccio; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Letterer: Cory Petit

[jewish-sideblog]

I am sick and fucking tired of the fandomsphere's obsession with explicit canon. A character can be coded to hell and back and people will still refuse to acknowledge it unless the character looks directly into the camera and says "I'm [marginalized identity]."

The Spider-Verse movies made Peter B Parker Jewish and made Gwen Stacy trans. I don't give a shit if it's never said outright. It's canon. Peter B Parker has a Jewish wedding on-screen and shows off Hannukah bling in promotional material. He's Jewish. Gwen has a trans flag in her room and a trans-coded coming-out story that peaks with being cast in clear and intentional trans flag lighting. She's trans. Good on Spider-Verse for giving us solid representation without sacrificing time that should be spent on the characters' stories to bring explicit attention to their identities! The consequence is that you can't say he's Jewish or say she's trans in a public forum without having to pull out screenshots to prove your case.

Those are just two irksome examples from the same franchise, but this happens all the time across all fandom media. If you refuse to accept evidence and coding as proof, then you're perpetuating the idea that privileged identities are more normal and default than marginalized ones. Gwen shouldn't need to say "I'm trans" and Peter B shouldn't need to say "I'm Jewish" on-screen. No character should ever have to do that, because we never expect a character to reveal that they're canonically cisgender or goyishe.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Please use this post to gush about your favorite jewish music, music that's themed around judaism, or anything like that... This is totally not because I want to listen to more music like this but have no idea where to start. Totally not.......

[notaplaceofhonour]

lol okay who decided 3 entire letters were going to be literally just a single straight vertical line I just want to talk

[jonpertwee]

Anti-Zionist Yiddish song, "Oh, You Foolish Little Zionists".

[hindahoney]

I want to hear what jumblr's favorite Jewish names are (could be Hebrew or any judeo-language).

I'll start: if your hebrew name is Chaya or Chava, just know I have always been jealous of how cool your name is.

[nesyanast]

[omg-i-think-i-like-you]

Steve woke up to a loud noise from downstairs. He jumped out of bed, his heart pounding in his chest. He grabbed his bat, and slowly and quietly went down the stairs, only in his boxers. As he was approaching the end of the staircase, he heard the loud noise again, this time followed by soft humming. He kept walking towards the source, the kitchen, when the noise startled him again, and he jumped into the kitchen, holding the bat high and ready.

"Jesus Fucking Christ!" Eddie yelled and ducked behind the kitchen island. Steve lowered the bat, and scanned the very messy kitchen. Mixing bowls and pots were all over the place, along with ingredients that Steve couldn't think of what they can make together.

"Eddie? Did you go to war in my kitchen?" He put the bat on the floor and walked around the island, where Eddie was stretching up and standing again.

"Hi Stevie," Eddie avoided the question and kissed Steve quickly on the lips, who smiled against the kiss but kept his arms crossed on his chest.

"You scared me," He said when Eddie broke the kiss, "I thought someone broke in. Are you trying to cook something?"

"Not trying, sweetheart, I am cooking something. Baking, actually." Eddie smiled cheekily and started picking up pots from the floor.

"Then why are all the pots out?" Steve teased and Eddie stood up and released a nervous laugh, "Well, I... I didn't know exactly where you keep things, so I kinda took everything out?" He rubbed his neck and Steve laughed.

"It's okay," He started putting the pots in place, "What are you making?"

Eddie, relieved that Steve isn't mad, started clapping in excitement, "Hamantashen!"

Steve looked at him, confused, "Bless you..?"

"No!" Eddie slapped Steve's shoulder, "It's food. And it's amazing."

"I want to believe it's food," Steve teased and Eddie crossed his arms and looked at Steve seriously.

"I don't make fun of your traditional cultural food, do I?"

Steve froze in place, "No, you don't. I'm sorry. Wanna tell me what haman... what did you say, tashen, is?"

Eddie smiled, "With pleasure!" He then pulled a chair and pushed Steve onto it, who giggled to himself, knowing Eddie is about to make the explanation into a whole performance.

"It all started in the faraway kingdom of Ahasuerus," Eddie opened and his eyes lit up, "The King of The Persian Empire, who ruled from India to Kush. He was a hedonistic king who had parties and feasts almost every day," He checked on Steve, making sure he was following. Steve nodded and Eddie continued.

"One day, King Ahasuerus was having one of his many parties, when his wife, Vashti, refused to join. Ahasuerus, who had a very fragile ego, took it personally and decided to fire her, and banish her. Silly Ahasuerus, realized soon after that he misses her, and decided to look for a new wife. He sent people around the kingdom and put his eyes on Good Girl Esther, a Jewish sweetheart who was raised by her Jewish cousin, Mordechai," He checked on Steve again, who looked a little lost now, "Are you following?"

"Yes, it's just... Is all of that important for the food?" He asked carefully.

"Yes." Eddie stated, "moving on. Joining the story now, the infamous Haman. Haman was an official in the king's court, and had an order from Ahasuerus himself, that everyone who saw Haman had to bow down to him. They all did, except-" Eddie stopped to see if Steve completes him, but he only tilted his head at him and stayed silent, "Mordechai, Steve! Mordechai didn't bow down to Haman!"

Steve was invested now, "Oh shit, he probably didn't take that well, did he?"

Eddie smiled in delight, "Oh, absolutely not, Stevie, dear. Haman also had a fragile ego, even more fragile than Ahasuerus. He got so upset, that he decided it's required not to only kill Mordechai, but to execute all the Jews in the Persian Empire!"

"What?? How can he do that??" Steve was on the edge of his seat, "Did Ahasuerus agree? Wait! Isn't he married to Mordechai's cousin??"

Eddie held Steve's face, "He is, Stevie, he is." He did a little twirl and continued his lecture, "Ahasuerus is married to Esther, but he doesn't know she's Jewish. Haman came to Ahasuerus and asked him if he can kill all the Jews, and the stupid king agreed. Haman went on with his plan, and even prepared a special tree for Mordechai's hanging," He paused, enjoying Steve's curious face, and proceeded, "The rumour got spread, Haman was gonna kill all the Jews in the Empire and no one was saying a thing," Steve shook his head, "I know, terrible. Mordechai walked around wearing bags, but it didn't do a thing. That until..." He stopped again, teasing Steve.

"Until what??" Steve burst and Eddie laughed.

"Until Ahasuerus found out Mordechai saved his life. You see, Ahasuerus had these two guards who planned to assassinate him, and Mordechai uncovered their plan and saved the king's life."

"And Mordechai didn't want credit for that? How did Ahasuerus find out?" Steve asked quickly.

"He told Esther to tell Ahasuerus. The guards were executed and Mordechai got promoted, but here things get complicated." He paused again.

"How??" Steve stood up and Eddie pushed him back into his seat, giggling.

"Ahasuerus summoned Haman, and asked him, 'what is to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?'" Eddie finger quoted the sentence, "Haman, who thought Ahasuerus was talking about him, told him to give him a city, dress him in fancy clothes, give him a horse and have him escorted around the capital for everyone to see. Ahasuerus accepted the idea, and told Haman to do all that to Mordechai."

"Yes!" Steve jumped, "Poetic justice!"

Eddie chuckled, "Yes, but Haman was still gonna kill all the Jews. He went around the capital with Mordechai and cursed every step, having his rage and hate fueled more and more."

"So what happened? Didn't Ahasuerus realize Haman wants to kill the person who saved his life?" Steve asked.

"I remind you, Ahasuerus was very dumb," Eddie answered, "He didn't care about Jews or not Jews, and he didn't even know Mordechai and Esther were Jewish themselves. So what happened, is that as the date came close, Esther started to fast -"

"Wait, what date?" Steve cut him mid-sentence.

"Oh, right," Eddie shook his head, "I forgot that part. When Haman decided to kill the Jews, he left it to fate to set the date. He basically rolled dice, and it fell on the thirteenth day of the Hebrew month Adar, so everyone knew when the mass killing was due. We call it Pur."

"That's intense..." Steve almost whispered, "So all the Jews were just waiting for their death?"

"Almost. They all fasted and wore simple clothes and grieved, but Esther, who was the closest to the king, took it a step further. She was having feasts where she wouldn't eat, and Ahasuerus was getting worried. He asked her why she wouldn't eat or drink, and she said an evil man wants to kill her and all her people. Ahasuerus got scared, and asked her who it is, and that he would kill him immediately." Eddie stopped.

"And?? You can't stop here! What happened?! Did all the Jews die??" Steve started pacing around in worry.

"Esther told Ahasuerus it's Haman who wants to kill all the Jews." Eddie said seriously and Steve started jumping in excitement, and Eddie smiled, "Ahasuerus, who finally found some brains, ordered to kill Haman, who was hanged on the same tree he prepared for Mordechai."

Steve clapped and hugged Eddie, "Yes! Amazing!"

Eddie laughed, "It really was. All the Jews were celebrating for days afterwards, partying and drinking, and everything was good." He hugged Steve back.

"This is such a cool story," Steve said with dreamy eyes, "But what does it have to do with the hamantashen? Wait, it has Haman's name in it??"

"Yes, but it's not like that," Eddie assured, "There are a few interpretations of the meaning of the hamantashen. Some say it symbolises his ears, some say it's his hat or his pockets, but the idea behind it is to celebrate his defeat." Eddie smiled in victory, and Steve smiled back.

"As we should!" He laughed, "But what are hamantashen anyway?"

"Oh, they're cookies. Triangular cookies with filling, traditionally it's poppyseed filling, but poppyseed is disgusting, so I'm putting chocolate." Eddie said and Steve chuckled.

"Of course you are. Can I... help you make them?"

Eddie nodded enthusiastically and the boys got to work. They kneaded the dough in turns, and put it to rest in the fridge for a few minutes. They cleaned up the counter and Steve started washing some dishes, and then closed the tap.

"What holiday is this? Like this story, and the cookies, what are we celebrating?"

Eddie beamed, "It's called Purim, from Pur, fate. We celebrate the defeat of Haman, and how we were saved by the Pur, instead of killed."

"It must be a very happy holiday then," Steve smiled, "Are there more traditions, other than eating Haman's ears?"

Eddie laughed, "Of course there are. First of all, we wear costumes. Purim is the holiday of changed fate, so like Haman was killed instead of the Jews, we symbolise that by being someone else for a few days. We also have a big feast and read the Megillah, the story I just told you," He smiled, "We also make gift baskets for each other, and donate food and money for those who need them. Another thing we do, and you're gonna like that, is to get so drunk, that we can't tell between Evil Haman and Good Mordechai," he giggled, "I know I like this one."

"Do you... Wanna do that?" Steve asked shyly and Eddie started laughing.

"I think you know the answer to that." He winked.

They took the dough out of the fridge, rolled it and cut circles into it with a glass. They then put chocolate in the middle of some, after Steve convinced Eddie to make some with strawberry jam too. They folded them into triangles and put them in the oven, and then Steve poured them newly opened wine.

"Happy Purim, Eddie," Steve clinked their glasses together.

"Happy Purim indeed, Stevie, L'Chaim," He clinked back and took a long sip.

"You made that sound again," Steve said, "Like in tuches."

Eddie started laughing so hard, he had to put his glass down, "Steve, god. Yes, it's the same sound," He kissed him wetly on the cheek, "but it's a very different word. L'Chaim means cheers in Hebrew. It translates to 'to life'. We celebrate life." He smiled, a warm feeling set in his chest. "We celebrate life." He said again, quietly, and Steve smiled at him in understanding.

"We celebrate life." Steve repeated and kissed Eddie slowly and deeply.

The oven rang a few minutes later. Eddie pulled the tray out and a warm, sweet smell filled the kitchen. He put the hamantashen on a plate and took it to the living room, and Steve followed with the already half-empty bottle of wine, and another one he found in the fridge.

Steve and Eddie spent the rest of the day feeding each other hamantashen, getting drunk out of their minds and kissing like it was their first time, again and again and again.

They both passed out on the couch, laying on top of each other, full of wine and hamantashen and love.

Celebrating Life.

[torahtot]

so sad when ashkenazim make their whole personality about how their food is so bland and spiceless when really it should be about how they're hot as fuck

[remyfire]

[myriadeyed]

Something happened to me today. I looked at the sequoias tearing up the sky and thought aren’t you my cousins how-many-times removed, crawled from the same sea? Something grand. Something very small. I looked at the stars putting the sky back together and thought, aren’t I part of that, too? Something interconnections. Nothing separations. באַרוך האַם אַנכנו, גאַנאַנים האַ׳אָלאַם, who fell in step with the rhythm and made it a whole new dance. If there is a god, he’s probably jealous.

[aeide-thea]

beautiful & also terrible to have the sort of brain where you find yrself at 4:30 AM looking up intersections between jewishness & arthuriana. like. fucking amazing rabbit hole but. why am i not asleep. my head hurts and my eyes are sandy.

however. some cool things (that probably some of you knew abt already, but i did not!):

King Artus – "a 'Hebrew Arthurian Romance of 1279… Judaized and transformed.' […] Although the story in 'King Artus' is fairly straightforwardly Arthur’s as we know it today, there are little touches that tie it to Jewish literature. When, for example, Arthur’s mother, the Duchess, learns that her husband is dead and she has been deceived by the shape-shifting Uther Pendragon, she tries to figure out how that could be possible. 'No sooner had he gone more than a bow-shot’s distance away from the castle than the messenger came straight to my chamber.' That bow-shot’s distance comes not from Arthurian legend but from the story of Hagar, who sits a bow-shot’s distance away from her son Ishmael when Abraham casts them out and she does not want to see her son die."

Bovo-Bukh – "a chivalric romance adapted in 1507 by Elye Bokher (Elijah Baḥur *Levita) into 650 ottava rima stanzas in Yiddish from a Tuscan version (Buovo d'Antona) of the early 14th-century Anglo-Norman original, Boeuve de Haumton. This tale of the heroic adventures of the noble Bovo, exiled from his homeland by the machinations of his murderous mother, his wanderings through the world (as far as Babylon), and the love story of Bovo and Druzyana, their separation, his triumphant return home, and the final reunion with Druzyana and their two sons, proved to be one of the most beloved tales in the Yiddish literary tradition over the course of more than two centuries."

Vidvilt – "anonymous 15th–16th-century Yiddish epic. This Arthurian romance of the chivalric adventures of Sir Vidvilt (and his father Gawain), based on Wirnt von Gravenberg's 13th-century Middle High German Wigalois, proved to be one of the most enduringly popular secular narratives in Yiddish literary history, with numerous manuscript recensions, printings (the first in an extensively expanded version by Joseph b. Alexander Witzenhausen, Amsterdam 1671), and reprintings, in rhymed couplets, ottava rima (Prague 1671–79), and prose, over the course of three and a half centuries. The anonymous poet of the earliest Yiddish version composed more than 2,100 rhymed couplets (probably in northern Italy), following Wirnt's plot rather closely through the first three-quarters of the narrative (abbreviating much and generally eliminating specific Christian reference), before offering quite a different conclusion."

Sir Gabein – "from 1788-89, a tale in which the Arthurian knight Gabein does not return to Camelot but – via Russia and Sardinia – reaches China and ultimately ascends to the Chinese imperial throne as the new emperor." slow blink.

also this is getting beyond arthuriana into just epic poetry generally but. literally all of this sounds fascinating.

anyway. literary scholar manqué.e hrs as always here at k dot tumblr dot edu obviously! however. my ear is open like a greedy shark, &c.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Update on my hebrew music: I have been listening to so much israeli and hebrew music that it's almost outnumbering the english music I am being recommended. Do I get a trophy for this...

Stop making good music guys 😭😂

[sonohtigris]

One think miku has taught me is this

Slavs and Latinos we gota come together

we have similar traditional clothes

Bright colors with bands of stark white or black or the opposite embroidered flowers on everything in bright colors fancy belts

patterned skirts and vests

this is a message from (usa born) Lithuanian Jew slav to Latinos much love different sides of the world but the only difference is the flowers we embroider and choice of liquor

if I'm full of shit I'm sorry please tell me but I speak with love and full of weed

[livethrushit]

was talking to my friend about how i feel silly calling myself a bby linguist when it's "just a special interest" and not something i'll ever be professionally. they pointed out: a special interest i've spent years learning in various ways outside of academia. through multiple ongoing study groups with friends i've made bc they also love learning these languages, countless books and hyper niche journals, videos, and lotsssssss of study practice.

i learn languages very slowly and grammar fucks me up which gives way to imposter syndrome & being bad at my passion. but id rather spend my days buried in ancient languages and painstakingly learning the philosophies, histories, and methodologies of translation and linguistics than study anything else this in depth more easily.

i've done presentations for study groups on translations of specific words and how vast the interpretations could be as a result. like did you know the whale (it's actually a giant fish) in the biblical story of jonah is a masculine noun in the beginning of the story and changes to a feminine noun later on? and how much that confused the fuck out of early commentators? JUST ONE WORD!! it's beautiful.

i know grammar structures of multiple germanic languages & semitic languages. that's not nothing!! that is COOL actually.

academics are people who are *mostly* able to afford to study their special interests is the way i'm choosing to look at it. barriers don't mean my studies are less important.

[rgr-pop]

rough year for the Ekelmans. good year for the Bernsteins i guess