#Torah thoughts

[bdkinz]

The Gates are Closed/ The Gates are Open

The Gates are Closed/ The Gates are Open

Yom Kippur has come and gone. We have prayed, fasted and spent the day in the most spiritual way possible. The gates are closed. We emerge with the hope that this year will continue to be a year of good and of life. And yet, with one gate closed, another is open: Today begins a New Beginning. We have achieved our yearly moment of closure, the books of the past are sealed and now we have the…

[fromgoy2joy]

I asked my handy Jewish theology student friend, @bubbbeleh , who I always keep in my back-pocket - “Is it a somewhat accurate statement to say that David was G-D’s problematic fav?”

The response- “yes. but David is everyone’s problematic fav.”

[jewishthings]

From Emunah Affirmations on Instagram

[atomicradiogirl]

have you considered that paul is moses and dune is exodus if the harkannens are the egyptians and the fremen are the hebrews but paul became power hungry and the bene gesserit is a more sinister version of god

[magnetothemagnificent]

Thinking about how in Hebrew, the Star of David is called Magen David, which means Shield of David, because of the legend that it was the symbol on King David's shield.

But who was the real shield in David's life? The one who would constantly try to protect him from King Shaul and his army, who put his life and honour on the line defending him multiple times?

Yonatan.

The Magen David is Yonatan.

Yonatan gave David his weapons when he fell in love with him, but not his shield. Why would that be? Maybe it's because Yonatan was his shield.

When David sings a surge lamenting the deaths of Shaul and Yonatan, there's a line that goes as such:

"Behold in Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, or bountiful fields; for there the shield of warriors, the shield of Shaul were rejected, no longer anointed with oil."

It's interesting that Yonatan isn't mentioned in this stanza, but Shaul is.

But upon analysis of the context....David was a poet.

He wouldn't have to mention a person by name in order to mention them.

What if the "shield of warriors" wasn't a physical shield, but Yonatan?

David and Shaul were both warriors, Yonatan never was. He gave away his weapons to David, he was skilled with the bow but the only time we see him use it is to send a coded signal to David. Yonatan was called weak by his father for his lack of aggression- he was always the defender and never the offender.

Yonatan is the shield.

Perhaps when we wear our Magen David necklaces, or embroider and carve them into our Judaica, we are wearing a symbol of Yonatan- a man who chose love over war.

[syn0vial]

yesterday, i learned that one of my acquaintances from church is like, gleefully and unreservedly supportive of the gazan genocide despite going to a church where every sermon for the past few weeks has been about the horrors and tragedy of said genocide. like, i could not fucking believe how hilarious he seemed to think it is that innocent palestinians are dying, just grinning and laughing and shaking his head and rolling his eyes when my pastor and i expressed horror at the innocent people being killed. just remembering it makes me choke up with anger.

anyway, i'm going to be very stupid and try to talk to him about it this coming sunday. i'll use all my teacherly tricks to try and gently lead him to feel one single scrap of empathy for the victims of israel's civilian massacre, but lbr: he'll probably respond with the same amount of glee and condescension as last night and it's going to end with me making me a scene at church.

but i know i shouldn't. so here are some things i should NOT say, no matter how angry he makes me:

i've always hated the sound of your voice, even before you said such horrible things. you say everything with such condescension. when you read the gospels in church, i have to hide my face behind my program to hide my grimacing. you make the words of christ himself sound like a grift of some oily used car dealer who thinks he's smarter than he actually is. i pity you for going through life with such a voice, and pity you even more for thinking it charming.

it baffles me that you'd allow something as basically human as compassion for the suffering of others to be so utterly sanded away by propaganda. it's pathetic that you could laugh at innocents dying. you've let yourself be lobotomized by a clumsy surgeon and style yourself wise with the icepick still sticking from your skull.

i've always thought your face looks like an easter island head sculpted from a raw chicken breast.

see? none of those would be productive, no matter how truly they express my feelings about this person.

thus: people of faith, pray that god grants me the wisdom and restraint to not light this motherfucker up in the middle of coffee hour. amen.

[tikkunolamresistance]

L’CHAIM AND TO THE REVOLUTION!

(image from myjewishaesthetic, “beta israel girl in wallaka, ethiopia, 1984”)

[ephemeral-winter]

i love when you see a professor at your undergrad cited in something and you have to be like oh right that man was not just a meme for the amusement of my personal circle of friends he is actually a really important scholar of early hellenic judaism. or whatever

[blastlight]

Arguing about fantasy halacha based on actual halacha is the same as trying to establish a headcanon that fits within the subject's worldbuilding setup.

[argonautsoul]

I am what I am — And what is that?

“Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence.” ― Robert Anton Wilson

When GOD said, “I AM WHO I AM,” repeating “I AM” twice, GOD was in effect, saying, He IS.

That is one possible translation for "Ehiyeh asher ehiyah” which is usually inadequately translated as "I am that I am" — which tells us nothing.

“Who shall I say sent me?” — Moses asked.

Moses asked God what God's name was

And GOD told him, “Ehiyeh asher ehiyah”

— “I am what I am, what I have always been, and what I will always be.”

So can one tell what “is” GOD?

Everything that happens is just one more manifestation of what GOD does and "is."

There are entire books which attempt to present the ISness that's why “Ehiyeh asher ehiyah” can not be translated.

It is not “I am what I am” and it is also not "I will be what I will be"— it is not any “what” or “that” at all.

Christians claim that GOD's Name is "I AM" and that also falls short.

There is no English word that means “Is–ing.” As the word “being” becomes distorted, and so it is very difficult to convey in English.

The word “Being” becomes “Supreme Being” as in merely the supreme Thing.

GOD is beyond all that.

GOD is the SOURCE of whatever happens, whether we see it or not.

GOD is ISness. GOD is not a “Being” and GOD is not even “being itself” — GOD is a verb, the verb of IS-ness.

GOD is the ongoing act of existing and causing to exist.

To define is to limit, and GOD is unlimited.

And... “We are the Creator?” 👀

You see, I can not create a sunset.

Can you, or anyone else you know?

I did not create myself either. Did you?

Does our existence depend on some event?

The less dependent something/someone is on other entities, the more real it is.

In order to be fully real, it must exist independently of anything else.

Nothing within the universe fulfills that demand.

So, by this definition of “real”, — you and I are not real.

Our existence depends on our parents' having met. Our existence depends on the existence of the world.

And the world's existence depends on having been created.

HE was before there was an “IS”.

And nothing was needed in order for the Creator to be real. The Creator has always existed.

The Bible says this about GOD: “Ayn OD.” That means, “There IS nothing else.”

Nothing exists except GOD. The diversity we seem to see? Each is a different manifestation of GOD's energy. But GOD is not IN the universe.

Rather, the Universe is IN GOD.

“The slowly fading lights of the daily life that´s surrounding me are throwing long shadows on the film of my life where I´m not the leading actor but only watching.”

Indeed, the life of a human being is a script. Or comparable to a script.

GOD is the only real reality. GOD exists on His own.

Without our unbelief taking anything away from his reality.

GOD wrote the program that brought us into existence.

GOD is the writer.

And the great secret:

The key to all mysteries

Lies within the heart chamber...

Words: Forever Being

[bdkinz]

Searching for the Chametz inside of Us

We are now one month away from Passover. It is a hectic time for most people as the month prior to Passover is spent planning, cleaning and preparing for the holiday. In addition to the physical components of preparing for Passover, there is a practice that begins the laws of Passover in the Shulchan Aruch, which states: שואלים בהלכות פסח קודם לפסח שלשים יום: 1. We learn the halakhot of Pesach…

[fromgoy2joy]

Me with a comically large Stanley water bottle dupe, filling it up at a water fountain: oh wow I’m basically Rivkah at the well right now. I have to take the copious buckets back to my home like the strong dame I am, like my ancestors before me.

My friend- Okay well I'm going to be the Cain to your Abel if you don't hurry this up.

[jewishthings]

At the Imperial War Museum London. The most symbolic moment I have ever witnessed.

Very Symbolic. Thank you for sharing.

[ava-does-dumbassery]

Anyway, tune in next time on my lettuce fuelled mental breakdown when I explain that, no, the Latin translation of the Kahun fragment is wrong again, and Horus (probably*) did not bring Set back to his house with him and then explain why he was there to his mother by saying: “What shall I do? Set came to sodomize me."

*The thing about him explaining the situation that way is definitely wrong, he used a euphemism instead. The thing about Set going back to his house with him is unclear (there’s a big hole in that part of the papyrus, the plural pronoun that the latin translation seemed to assign to a verb was actually attached to a noun instead, there’s some other stuff going on in the original that might make it safer to assume he went alone or that might not, etc.)

[sovaharbor]

i contacted my local synagogue about converting and got an email back already :] i'm really excited...

[allgather]

hey ( with the intention of infodumping about jewish uchiha lore ). this is a genuine request. please allow me to ramble in your dms i am going to combust.