#edited to add hebrew!

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Another independent Palestinian terrorist attack happened today, wounding two Palestinians who happened to drive by the terrorists, who intended to shoot at Israeli soldiers. The IDF neutralized them, while one soldier's life was saved thanks to his gear (I found the report on the shooting terrorist attack in both Hebrew and English, I only found the info on the two wounded Palestinians in Hebrew).

During the International Court of Justice's decision regarding provisional measures against Israel, only the majority opinion was read out loud. The minority opinion was published separately. The short of it is that the judge from Uganda found that South Africa didn't have a right to make this case at all, and therefore decided against every single provisional measure SA asked for, while the Israeli judge had the same conclusion, and a few words to add, as a child survivor of the Holocaust. He wrote, among other things, "Genocide is not just a word to me" (a sentiment that should be shared by everyone, not just survivors of genocide, IMO) and that essentially, the ICJ became a stage to put Able on trial for having been murdered by Cain, or in Barak's words, by focusing on Israel instead of on Hamas, South Africa "wrongly sought to impute the crime of Cain to Abel."

This footage aired a few days ago, but since I couldn't find it anywhere in English, I ended up editing it out of an article in Hebrew. What you can see here are two things... First, you'll see the Israeli Air Force following a Hamas squad, where the terrorists are carrying RPGs and going into a building. The IAF then strikes from the air that building, and what really stands out is the secondary explosions after the initial hit, indicating that the building was full of explosives. Second, you'll see Gazans evacuating to safety. As they do, they chant against Hamas. But what really got to me is how they're moving slowly next to Israeli tanks. If they were scared that the Israeli army would shoot at them indiscrimintaely as part of some attempted genocide, they would be rushing it out of there, and likely they wouldn't have even stepped anywhere near the tanks. They can walk slowly next to the IDF, because they're sure that the Israeli soldiers are NOT going to fire at them.

In the last couple of days, we've had repeated reports of Israelis being injured by Hezbollah fire into northern Israel (after civilian communities were continuously targeted, and people got killed by this Iran-funded terrorist group), and that IDF units which have concluded their fighting in Gaza, are now starting to train for a possible war in the north. Let's hope it won't come to that, but the only thing that might stop that option is a diplomatic agreement leading to Hezbollah leaving Israel's border, and there are no signs of those efforts succeeding for the time being.

The final warning before a subponea that the House committee investigating antisemitism had to issue Harvard, because the university hasn't produced the documents it was asked to, sure does make it sound like Haravard has nothing to hide...

Today, 4 months and a day after the Hamas massacre, they started removing the ruins of houses in kibbutz Be'eri, where over 100 members of the small, agricultural community had been slaughtered on Oct 7. This is a first step in re-building the kibbutz.

And this is one of the kibbutz members, Meni Goddard.

In continuation of yesterday's info on the number of Israelis already murdered by Hamas, and their bodies held hostage, today it was confirmed that Meni was murdered on Oct 7, and his body was kidnapped to Gaza. It was already known that his wife Ayelet was also murdered during the massacre. Kibbutz Be'eri currently has 11 members who are known to have been kidnapped to Gaza, of which 6 are bodies held hostage, depriving the dead of their right for decent burial, and their families and community of closure. May his memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[thefirstknife]

I'm gonna be 100% real with you in that this is an entirely earnest question and not meant to be me throwing shade or being obtuse in any way.

Osiris is Jewish? I missed this in lore somewhere probably?

Yep! In the opening cutscene to Curse of Osiris, Osiris briefly curses in a non-English language when trying to arrange the cubes. The language spoken is Hebrew! This is due to his voice actor, Oded Fehr, who is Jewish and from Israel and naturally speaks Hebrew. Here's my other post about it!

If it had been just his VA being Jewish, we could speculate about it, but Osiris speaking Hebrew is canon due to this cutscene; they let Oded say this and also kept the line in. This makes him Egyptian Jewish and canonically speaking at least three languages: English, Hebrew (cutscene) and Arabic (the word "sagira" is Arabic for "little one"). Here's also a link to the old Curse of Osiris reveal stream where the devs said that "really early on we made a commitment, we wanted to make sure he was Middle Eastern and he's actually even voiced by Oded Fehr." This shows that his heritage and little details surrounding him are very much relevant.

A lot of Destiny storytelling about heritage is told through names and languages as little details to pick up on. For example, Elsie Bray is very much heavily implied to be Muslim. Back with Beyond Light lore, we got a lot of details about the Bray family, including Sylvie Bray, the mother of Elsie, Willa and Alton. She was shown speaking English and French (+ a single Italian word), and Elsie was shown replying to her using French and the specifically Muslim term "inshallah" which is Arabic. This is repeated in Lightfall's Collector's Edition in Elsie's booklet, showing that Elsie followed the same faith as her mother, or at least honored it:

"Oh daughter," Mom squeezes me tight "You can't make them love you, inshallah. You have to let go."— The horror consumed her as easily as the Stasis. She felt like a frightened child cast loose in the wind. Alone. Every assertion of control met by a temper tantrum in the face of a hurricane…. "Inshallah." She half-remembered her mother's words, and let go.

Words hadn't saved her, or her mother's faith.

Adding this mostly to show how details about names and languages are used to tell us information without having to spell it out directly, but rather to add to the storytelling. This means that these details about Osiris aren't just random, or at least their outcome isn't, now that it's been allowed to become canon through one of the most important cutscenes.

[luimnigh]

How does an English translation of the Torah differ from the 'Old Testament'?

I'm not Jewish, but what I half-remember from Tumblr posts is that the Christian Bible's Old Testament is translated into the local language from the Latin original, which itself is based on a very bad translation into Ancient Greek from Hebrew.

And aside from the issues that arise from running the text through Google Translate multiple times I believe I've heard that several of the books have been placed in the wrong order; some books removed or added(?); and the whole thing edited to be more pro-Jesus, a figure who does not exist in the Torah.

So, basically try reading a book that's been run through Google Translate multiple times, had it's chapters rearranged/discarded/new ones added, and references to brand new character inserted; and then discuss it with someone who's read the original, and try and say it's the same book.

If any Jewish people would like to correct me/add more info, please do. I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough to be answering this question solo.

[loki-god-of-mischief-13]

Hamantashchen recipe

no pictures right now, going to make it most likely tomorrow.

This is one of my Hebrew school teacher’s recipe, she makes killer hamantaschen.

the first picture is for one batch, the second is for two and the third is three batches.

also @floralcavern I believe a while ago you asked me for some Jewish recipes.

Edit: forgot to add, you can put the filling of your choice, just get jelly or something. You can also make chocolate hamantaschen though I’m not sure if you use chocolate chips or Nutella. You’ll have to decide how much to put in, don’t put in too much or it will overfill.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Dropout Antisemitism - This one has me flabbergasted

I am watching in real time the Dropout palestine channel state that Arabic is the original language of Israel/Palestine... It begins with one user saying that they've noticed that Arabic is "slowly being erased" due to language exchange between Hebrew and Arabic. They also state that this is happening because Israel uses Hebrew on its major documents, signs, etc...

Fig. 1. User who begins the Arabic language erasure conversation. This person is not a usual poster in the channel. This is followed by one of the common users in the channel saying that they need to refer to places by their Arabic names.

Fig. 2. Frequent user saying to refer to places by Arabic names. However, one user then states that they refer to Mt. Rushmore as Six Grandfather due to the USA's cultural erasure of the original name. This is absolutely wild to me because they are insisting on using the Arabic names...you know...the names that came about after Arab Colonization of the region? They are outright denying that the Hebrew names of certain cities are the original indigenous names. It's also astounding that people can support one cause of indigeneity, but not another.

Fig. 3. User equates referring to cities with post Arab colonization names to calling Mt. Rushmore by its indigenous name - Six Grandfathers.

But we all know why that is...they don't view Jews as indigenous to the region. I'm absolutely astounded that this level of erasure is just being allowed on the official Dropout Discord. This is blatant antisemitism and Jewish historical erasure. Edit: If more gets posted I will add to this. I doubt anyone in the channel is going to point out that Hebrew is the original language for a majority of these locations.

[perrysoup]

As an arab who has lived in Israel, everyone's accusations that they are some kind of apartheid state? I don't understand where you get these ideas from? I think you conflate that idea with the things you Americans learned from your racist history of white and black people and your past of segregation and with the history of South Africa's past as well. I have never been othered or harassed as a Lebanese woman by my coworkers, bosses, or friends. I can read everything here becuase we have access to everything here, I cant read hebrew well, but I can read the arabic around the country. I'm not forbidden from places for being arab. I have had uncomfortable experiences in some areas, but never at the hands of a Israeli, but by men who assumed i was Israeli/ a jew and thought I couldn't understand what they would say about me/ my female family or friends with me.

I was gonna write out a different full response but frankly I don't believe you. You are asking as an anonymous person so you could very well be one of the Zionists who keeps complaining I don't have sympathy for the PTSD coming from MURDERING PEOPLE AND LAUGHING ABOUT IT! Or you may be telling the truth but the slew of go fund me scams claiming to be people that are really sets the bar high for someone being anonymous.

I have seen orthodox Jews on the streets of Israel beaten to an inch of their life for trying to stop a Palestinian from being harassed by police.

I have seen the videos about the Israeli government beat back protestors for wanting aid through.

I have seen rallies where people in Israel screamed "Death to all Muslim"

I have see a fucking girl torn to shreds and shoved on rebar like meat by the IOF so politely don't fucking tell me how YOUR experience defines the entire group currently being genocided and tortured.

Do you really expect me to think that just cause things were okay for YOU that the murders I saw with my own eyes aren't real?

Side note: Everyone in the Middle East is Arab, that's a regional cultural identity, not a religion or even a descriptor of which country they were born in. Jews in Palestine are Arab and Muslims in Israel are Arab.

"Arab identity (Arabic: الهوية العربية) is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as an Arab and as relating to being Arab. Like other cultural identities, it relies on a common culture, a traditional lineage, the common land in history, shared experiences including underlying conflicts and confrontations. These commonalities are regional and in historical contexts, tribal. Arab identity is defined independently of religious identity, and pre-dates the spread of Islam and before spread of Judaism and Christianity, with historically attested Arab Muslim tribes and Arab Christian tribes and Arab Jewish tribes. Arabs are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. Most Arabs are Muslim, with a minority adhering to other faiths, largely Christianity,[1] but also Druze and Baháʼí.[2][3]"

Edit: to add an item on this, I’ll trust South Africa on if Israel is an segregation/apartheid state over you

[crimsonvelvet]

Meanings of names. Batim/Batdr edition!

Hello there! I'm back with another name meanings list! This time it's the Bendy verse, because it was immortalized (Hehe heh get it) yet again, and I couldn't be more excited.

So! I will be doing the primary characters for both games, BUT not all of them. I’ll be doing all the folks from Batim, since there aren’t as many as in Batdr, which added a TON of new characters and I for the live of me can't do them all. It would take me an eternity, so there... So, I won’t do those who had like one tape or memo. Sorry. I also will not be including characters from the comics or the books. Yeah. (but I can do a part 2 if you guys want ehehehehe)

Let's go!

Toons (not doing the corrupted versions, they’re technically the same)

Bendy. I'm pretty sure that Meatly made it up from the name of some editing program. Something something Bender, not sure.

Boris. From a Bulgar Turkic name, also recorded as Bogoris, perhaps meaning "short" or "wolf" or "snow leopard". Hey! Literally a wolf!

Alice. From the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis, which means "noble type". Hmm, I like it! Fits her. I’m obviously also counting Twisted Alice and Allison Angel. They all have the same name.

Charley (one of my favourite characters hehehehe). Diminutive form of Charles, which means  "man". Literally. Just man. MAN. That’s it. I guess that fits... Charley is, after all, A MALE. Yeah.

Barley. Means “grower of barley”. Lmao. Just like that.

Edgar.  Derived from the Old English elements ead "wealth, fortune" and gar "spear". I mean... I guess? He has nothing to do with spears, but he’s got fangs. They’re sharp. Spears are sharp.

Humans (from here on going in alphabet order)

Allison Pendle. Norman French diminutive of Aalis, so basically the same as Alice. Cool! She’s very sweet, so it fits for her as well!

Audrey Drew (putting her here because I don’t really count her as an ink entity). Medieval diminutive of Æðelþryð, which is derived from the Old English elements æðel "noble" and þryð "strength". Oh, she sure is strong! 

Bertrum Piedmont. Means "bright raven", derived from the Germanic element beraht "bright" combined with hramn "raven". Uhhmm. Ooook then. Not sure where the raven comes from.

Daniel ”Buddy” Lewek. From the Hebrew name דָּנִיֵּאל (Daniyyel), meaning "God is my judge". Nuuuu, Buddy:(      I still feel very bad for him... Man, poor guy.

Grant Cohen. From an English and Scottish surname that was derived from Norman French grand meaning "great, large". Well, his boss had GRANT plans for the studio (please don’t hurt me, I know the pun is bad).

Henry Stein (the man!). From the Germanic name Heimirich meaning "home ruler", composed of the elements heim "home" and ric "ruler". OOOOHH, i love it! Considering he is the actual creator of Bendy, he technically is the ruler!

Jack Fain. Derived from Jackin (earlier Jankin), a medieval diminutive of John, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "Yahweh is gracious". Maybe Jack is jewish? It’s unlikely, but I literally don’t know what to say here.

Joey Dr(ew). Diminutive of Joseph, which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף (Yosef), meaning "he will add". Endless torment, that’s what he’ll add. Ugh, poor Henry.

Lacie Benton. Variant of Lacy. From a surname that was derived from Lassy, the name of a town in Normandy. I couldn’t really find anything else, so...I guess?

Nathan Arch Sr. From the Hebrew name נָתָן (Natan) meaning "he gave". Wha-  what’d he give? A new chance for Bendy to be relevant again? Idk, really.

Nathan ”Wilson” Arch Jr (please don’t hurt me, but I kinda like him as a villain... Like, yeah, he’s creepy as all heck, but isn’t that kinda the point? So there, I said it). I will be doing his moniker, since duh. The name comes from an English surname meaning "son of William". Eeeehhhh, almost fits, just replace William with Nathan.

Norman Polk (eeeeyyyy it’s ma dude!). From an old Germanic byname meaning "northman", referring to a viking. Now that’s interesting. I can’t tell English accents apart very well, but I saw someone say he’s got a southern accent. And then there’s NORTHman. Hmmmm.

Sammy Lawrence. Diminutive of Samuel, coming from the Hebrew name שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el), which could mean either "name of God" or "God has heard". Lmao, I guess his god really did hear him. And decided to fucking murder him.

Shawn Flynn.  Anglicized form of Seán, which on itself is the Irish form of John, so basically the same as Jack.

Susie Campbell. Diminutive of Susan. This was derived from the Hebrew word שׁוֹשָׁן (shoshan) meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose"), perhaps ultimately from Egyptian sšn "lotus". Oh, maybe those are her favourite flowers!

Thomas Connor. Greek form of the Aramaic name תָּאוֹמָא (Ta'oma') meaning "twin". OH he and Buddy are technically twins! Or, well, clones.

Wally Franks. Diminutive of Walter, which comes from a Germanic name meaning "ruler of the army", composed of the elements wald "rule" and hari "army". Pffft, he’s the ruler of the army that got OUTTA THE STUDIO, yeah ok it fits.

Ink entities (not doing Sammy, Jack and Norman for obvious reasons)

Betty. Diminutive of Elizabeth. From Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath". The heck- did she turn into Sammy?

Big Steve. Short form of Steven, which derives from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath". Uhh, I guess? Is there something that we have yet to discover?

Heidi. German diminutive of Adelheid, which means "noble type", from the French form of the Germanic name Adalheidis. Damn, what’s with all the nobles? Unrelated, but I love her bowtie.

Porter. From an occupational English surname meaning "doorkeeper". Oooohh, ok then, he technically is one.

And that’s it! Whew, took me quite some time. Please do tell me if you want a part two with the other folks! I’m not sure, when (and if) I’ll make it, we’l have to see.

[eretzyisrael]

Good News From Israel

In the 31 Dec 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

A 95-year-old reservist re-enlisted to fight for Israel.

Volunteer overseas medics are rushing to help Israel.

See who is being successfully treated with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

Papua New Guinea has opened the first consulate in Judea & Samaria.

Israeli scientists are fighting bad bacteria and utilizing good bacteria.

Intel’s billion-dollar investment shows confidence in Israel’s economy.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is “playing” its part in Israel’s war effort.

Welcome to 1,200 new French Israelis.

Read More: Good News From Israel

As 2023 comes to an end, I unashamedly write this introduction with much emotion. There are now definite signs that Israel is winning the war against Hamas in Gaza. It cannot fail, thanks to a winning team of supporters in Israel and across the globe who, like the many thousands of readers of this newsletter, have been donating time, money, skills, accommodation, essential supplies, and more, to help the IDF fight against those wishing to destroy the Jewish State and civilization as a whole.

The remaining 50% of this week's newsletter celebrates winning teams of Israelis: - developing medical innovations, therapies, and performing life-saving surgery. - two award-winning scientists, - winning the battle against bacteria, radiation, and environment-unfriendly gases - increasing revenues in Israel's top 5 companies

It's also good to see: - a winning Israeli gymnast auctioning off his gold medal to help war victims - global IT companies, such as Intel, supporting the winning side - record numbers making Aliyah from France, even during a war.

And what a way to end the year - with a new winning team of translators from Syracuse, New York who have translated my last newsletter issue into French, Spanish and Hebrew to add to the translation by my loyal German translator.  We hope for more winning news in 2024.

The photo (TY Aubrey) is of a Hebrew sign that translates as "We will win in Gaza".  The sign can also be translated as "We will win with God's help".  Amen.

[best-birdnamed-blorbo-bracket]

Matthew was submitted without propaganda.

Jemima:

When you start to think about it, she's just an incredibly sad story. Also love every scene she's in.

(edited to add: sorry, I forgot to put it right away: Jemima comes from hebrew and means dove)

[greencarnation]

To fully understand what's happening right now, you have to understand that Palestine has been going through an ethnic cleansing since 1948.

But let's start simpler than that. What exactly is ethnic cleansing? There are several definitions that vary very slightly, but they all agree on one thing: it's a crime against humanity and punishable under international law. However, for Palestinians, no justice was ever served.

The Hutchinson encyclopedia defines ethnic cleansing as expulsion by force in order to homogenise the ethnically mixed population of a particular region or territory. The purpose of expulsion is to cause the evacuation of as many residences as possible, by all means at the expeller’s disposal, including non-violent ones.

This definition is accepted by the US state department, whose expects add that part of the essence of ethnic cleansing includes the eradication by all means necessary of a regions history. Sound familiar? The UN employs a similar definition, linking a state/regime's desire for to impose ethnic rule on a mixed area with the use of acts of expulsion and other violent means.

(To understand ethnic cleansing from a more detailed, scholarly standpoint, the work of Drazen Petrovic is recommended, who exposes the close connection between politicians and the army in the perpetration of the crime.)

Wikipedia can be turned to to reflect the most popular definition, due to the fact that it can be edited/added to by anyone. It says: "At the most general level, ethnic cleansing can be understood as the forced expulsion of an ‘undesirable’ population from a given territory as a result of religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of these."

So what happened in 1948? The Nabka ("Catastrophe") is the Palestinian word for the ethnic cleansing that occured when Israeli settlers systematically uprooted almost a million Palestinians from their native homes.

On the evening of the 10th of March 1948, military orders were dispatched to units on the ground to prepare for the systematic expulsion of the Palestinians from large areas of the country. Methods outlined to forcefully evict people included: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centres; setting fire to homes, properties and goods; expulsion; demolition; and, finally, planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning. Each unit had it's own list of villages and neighborhoods as targets.

This was called Plan D (Dalet in Hebrew), and was the fourth and final version of the plans that outlined what the Zionists had in store for Palestine and its native population. Previous schemes delt only obscurely with how they would deal with so many Palestinians living in the land that the settlers wanted as their own, however this one spelt it out clearly and unambiguously: the Palestinians had to go.

The aim of the plan was the destruction of both the rural and urban areas of Palestine. They succeeded. After six months, 800 000 people had been violently uprooted, 531 villages destroyed, and 11 urban neighborhoods emptied. Very few Palestinians were ever able to return.

Many atrocities and war crimes were committed during this time, including the poisoning of the water supply into Acre with typhoid, numerous cases of rape and dozens of massacres the Jews perpetuated.

This is the most formative event in the modern history Palestine, and it has ever since been systematically denied and erased from the global public memory. It's still today not recognised as an historical fact, let alone acknowledged as a crime that needs to be confronted politically as well as morally.

"When it created its nation-state, the Zionist movement did not wage a war that ‘tragically but inevitably’ led to the expulsion of ‘parts of’ the indigenous population, but the other way round: the main goal was the ethnic cleansing of all of Palestine, which the movement coveted for its new state." - Ilan Pappe

This is still happening today. We are watching live on our phones the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, that's a direct continuation from what began in 1948. It hasn't ended and will not end until Palestine is free and has it's land returned to it. There are no two sides here.

[customkits]

My wife got me a set of historic 3d files for my birthday, which I am going to add to my collection. My interest in history, as well as miniature painting, can now be married in a cool way! Stay tuned!

Edit:

The pack of figures are the major peoples of the Bronze Age. Egypt, the Hittites, the Sea Peoples, Hebrews, and more. I will probably do a few of each first then get more units of infantry made once I get a feel for how they are to paint.

[bringmemyrocks]

Are you a convert to Judaism? When did you get interested and how long was the process? Im thinking about it

Hi anon, yes I'm a convert. I was orthodox for many years before going the more liberal/non-denominational route.

"How long is the process" really depends on:

Your denomination: Reform and some conservative or non-denom can have you done within a year. Orthodox may take longer unless you're getting married and/or have a lot of money.

It took extra long for me because I'm pig-headed and tried to be frum when I shouldn't have. The frum world didn't deserve me *hair flip*, and doesn't deserve any of the amazing queer people who still try to make it their home.

Don't be orthodox, anon.

Anon, if you want to learn about Judaism, read books, learn Torah, join a community, please don't get all or even half your information from Tumblr (and that includes me). Facebook groups can be a bit better but still not great.

This sounds like a TV pharmaceutical ad ("Ask God if Judaism is right for you!") but do try praying. Learn Jewish prayers in English, pray psalms in English or Hebrew or whatever language you want. Talk to God like you'd talk to someone you trust. (Some Jews call this "hitbodedut" because they think a hasidic rabbi invented it, but I don't think anyone can claim to have invented the practice of speaking to God outdoors.)

See if this tradition speaks to you. The Bible is free, and you can access a ton of English-language commentaries and prayer books (siddurim) for free on the website Sefaria.org. opensiddur is an online source with free prayer books, some have transliteration. Lots of synagogues stream their services to youtube. Judaism is not a closed tradition in any meaningful sense--you can visit, learn, eat all you want. Very few things in Judaism are truly reserved only for Jews, and you won't do them accidentally.

I don't have many book recs because most books people give orthodox conversion candidates are not worth the time you spend reading them. Some liberal Jews like "choosing a Jewish life" by Anita Diamant but I haven't read it myself.

The Book of Legends pulls the narratives/stories from the Talmud and puts them into an anthology, but the book is formatted terribly and it's not in the public domain yet, so nobody has fixed that. A lot of those stories made it into Nathan Ausubel's Bible Stories section in A Treasury of Jewish Folklore, which is a bit more accessible.

Anyone is welcome to comment book recs on this post for anon and I'll add them.

I can recommend you more books or resources if I know more about your theological background and/or current interests in religion.

Anyway.

Here's a copy-paste of my journey to Judaism that I wrote in August 2023. Entitled "Why Stay Jewish?" as a play on "Why Be Jewish?" It does not touch on the current genocide being perpetrated by Israel in the name of Judaism, but in case someone who doesn't follow me comes across this post:

Free Palestine from the River to the Sea. Zionists f off.

Everything below this line was written in August 2023:

Why Stay Jewish?

Aka “a religious Jew who still hasn’t read Heschel tries to assemble a coherent testimony for Judaism”

A few days ago, a friend asked me what drew me to Judaism. (Background: I decided to be Jewish almost 10 years ago, gave it up for a bit after burning out in orthodoxy, and ended up coming back a few years ago.) The TL;DR is that I’ve always been fascinated by religion, and my conversion was more driven by religious faith than by anything else. 

This is a bit disjointed, but I don’t want to spend weeks editing a Tumblr post, so just going to post it as-is. I talk a decent amount about the theology of orthodox Judaism as well as that of various Christian sects, but I’ve tried to make this readable for anyone with a different theological background. 

In 2015, progressive Christian leaders Nadia Bolz-Weber and Rachel Held Evans (RIP) started the “Why Christian” conference. The conference, which had its last meeting in 2019 shortly before Evans passed away, sought to answer the question “why be Christian in the twenty-first century?” Christian theologians such as Peter Rollins, Gustavo Gutierrez, and James Cone have all addressed this question when dealing with issues of race, class, and other axes of oppression. Evans and Bolz-Weber held “why Christian” conferences to discuss these questions, inviting both Christian leaders and lay people to talk about the role of Christianity in their own lives and in the world. 

While my friend asked me “why did you become Jewish,” I feel (like Bolz-Weber and so many others) that the more pertinent question for me is “why do you stay Jewish?” Because if you’ve followed me or known me personally for any length of time, you know that I wrestle a lot with Judaism, and not in the cute “my lesbian rabbi makes jokes about fighting G-d in a Denny’s parking lot” way, and have done for the past decade. (No hate towards those who experience their religion this way; I imagine that’s a much easier path than the one I took.) 

The short version is that I am a theist, someone who believes in God and revolves my life around this belief, and that I believe Judaism is the truest way to connect with God. I do not believe in intermediaries between people and God, not priests, rabbis, or any person. 

My religious journey started off with me as a young Roman Catholic who chafed against the idea of priests as gatekeepers between people and God. Eventually my anti-intermediary philosophy applied to saints, Jesus, or any human institutions. Some people on here will say “Judaism isn’t Christianity minus Jesus!” but for me that was definitely part of the progression, stripping away useless layers that clung to my religious faith. I don’t think my conception of God himself has changed much since I was a child, and there’s good and bad in that. I wonder how many Christians have a similar concept of God that I did, loosely modalist with very little focus on the incarnation, that Jesus was always secondary and that the New Testament was interesting but not a theological guide except for its reinforcement of Old Testament concepts (Matthew 25 in particular comes to mind). Atonement theories were confusing and none really made sense. I was always the “odd Christian out” for preferring Matthew’s ethics-focused Gospel to John’s word-become-flesh. 

When I learned that much of Jesus’ teachings came from the Torah, I decided to study those texts instead. The Jewish view of God (is there such a thing?) resonated with me far more. God as omnipotent and all-knowing creator, one who loves but whose love can be incomprehensible to the point of terror–I experienced the world and my religion as overwhelming at regular intervals, so it all made sense to me. I can be a bit more rational now (my rabbi is a philosophical though not political disciple of R. Slifkin), but the idea of God as imperfect in the Harold Kushner sense never sat right with me. Maybe I’d be happier if it did. 

An aside: People online often tell Christians that “Judaism isn’t just Christianity without Jesus,” but I have an issue with that statement. There is no Christianity at all without Jesus. Even naturalist Christians who reject the idea that Jesus is literally God, or that God is a personal being rather than a nebulous force, even these Christians center their religion around the life and teachings of Jesus. Even Christians who view Easter only as symbolic are not practicing a “Christianity without Jesus”. They may have a very low christology, but their religion does not “lack Jesus” in any meaningful way. Even liberal Protestant Biblical scholars who agree that Jesus is not foretold as a messiah in the Old Testament still view the text through Jesus–they just filter their Christianity through liberation or womanist theology (both of which are Christian worldviews which believe in Jesus as a teacher and redeemer of some kind). This is not to condemn Christianity at all, conservative, liberal, academic, or otherwise; just to say that anyone who claims that Christianity minus Jesus is a religion or philosophy at all is mistaken. 

I sought out Judaism because it was what I had been searching for all along in a religion: largely unencumbered access to God. What with learning Hebrew and realizing the difficult path that converts are put on (often unfairly), the “unencumbered” part became murkier, but still I stuck with it. Not all the rules made sense then, and not all of them do now. I used to be more comfortable davening with a mechitza, but now praying separately from women feels wrong and misogynistic. 

My favorite Jewish communities have always been lay-led, using folding chairs rather than pews, and arks made from ikea cabinets, and plastic table bimahs. I’ve never been a fan of purpose-built synagogues. (Liturgically-inclined Christians would describe this as being “low church”.) I’m very no-frills in this way. Unfortunately, there’s a not insubstantial part of the Jewish world that also loves the casual, baggy mismatched clothes of the pop-up minyanim that I used to go to. It took me far too long to grasp this, perhaps out of denial, but the large knit kippot and colorful tichels and guitar music that I loved in the “left-wing” modern orthodox communities I was in are also widely popular among settlers, and have been for longer than I’ve been alive. (That and the music of Shlomo Carlebach, but that’s another post. TW for the all-too-common #metoo stuff.) 

A lot of converts say they fell in love with Jewish culture, and that religious belief came later, but for me it was the opposite. Part of this may have been that unlike the vast majority of converts, I came to Judaism alone, without a romantic partner. (The vast, vast majority of converts to Judaism are heterosexual women converting to orthodox Judaism.) To me, God is central and always has been, and that’s one reason I fell into orthodoxy when my sexuality and politics would have otherwise made me more comfortable in a different denomination (thanks, Mordecai Kaplan). The New England frum culture I found myself in at age 19 was totally alien to me, and the misogyny and racism that I witnessed was both antithetical to my life philosophy but also something I was in no position to fight against. There is no single “Jewish culture”, but you wouldn’t know that from davening with the orthodox minyanim where I was. I became Jewish first as a young single man, with a tentative, arm’s length liking for the man-made tongue-and-mustard-eating, upper middle class world I found myself in. I did not love the Jewish world at first, and I still find it difficult to love my fellow Jews uncritically. Racist grandfathers are all too common among people of all backgrounds, and Jews are no exception. 

In this century, I don’t believe my love for the Jewish world will ever be uncomplicated. It’s been poisoned by nationalism and chauvinism, some of which has roots in trauma, but most of which instead has much deeper origins in centuries of racism learned in Europe and the USA. And much of the Jewish world has no love for me, either. But still I pray three times daily, often in English and rarely from a siddur except for Monday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. I wonder if I’m just wired this way. Since Sinai, since birth, since learning that praying was something I could do, perhaps. 

I remember speaking to an evangelical pastor many years ago about my relationship with God after I had left orthodoxy and was trying to do church again, seeing it as the next best option. I realized that while I had had little trouble setting up theological discussion places for LGBT people of faith since I was 15, I could not speak of my own religious experiences easily. I told him that God had been my comfort since I was young. That I turned to God in times of strife and also saw God’s beauty in the world (sorry, Karl Barth). God was refuge, redeemer, source of wisdom, sometimes in the world and sometimes not. I had no experiences with Jesus directly, and this pastor never pressed me on my christology. He seemed, as I was at the time, fine with me not knowing which “person” of the Trinity was the source of my theological experiences. I saw God in my experiences, and while I liked reading theology, I never found Aquinas or Tillich particularly interesting. I preferred Buber and Nouwen with their deeply personal writings. I felt there was more soul there. I left out the fact that if I’d discovered that I was halachically Jewish, I would have jumped ship immediately and stopped practicing Christianity. 

I don’t have many points that I could point to as a “testimony”, a particular life event that convinced me that God was real, or that a particular stream of Judaism was my lifesource. In his Varieties of Religious Experience, William James describes “peak experiences” as intensely religious experiences that someone can have. My journey has had few of these, preferring to take a more slow, scenic path. Not every journey of the mind and heart has moments of blinding light or burning bushes. But I’ll try and pick out a few, in loosely chronological order. Not all of these are directly Jewish, but I’m including them because they help frame my “spiritual autobiography”. 

----------------

The first is a recurring dream I had between 2015 and 2019. It drew on the story of Thecla, an early follower of Paul the apostle. When she was led into the arena to be killed by lions, she baptised herself first so she could be baptised before her death. I had a similar dream that repeated itself every few months, minus the lions, in which I immersed myself in water while those around me refused to baptise me. I don’t believe in clairvoyance, but I do think of them as the brain’s way of communicating with itself. In this context, I had been prohibited from joining any religious community, and was willing to do almost anything to achieve that. 

Another experience I had was in a class on Catholic mysticism. (Most of my study of academic theology has been in Christian environments, largely because Christians are more amenable to teaching in English.) I experienced something not-quite akin to psychosis, in which images and sounds from my old Jewish life flooded my brain. I spent the entire two-hour lecture drawing the pictures of the shul that came to mind (the Ikea-branded ark, the men in assorted hats and yarmulkes, the mechitza a cheap cream-colored curtain hung on a washing line, etc.) At the time, it felt like part of me was dying. Perhaps it was, perhaps it still is–I’m no longer orthodox, and in good conscience can’t be again. 

My experience with religion has always had large positives and large negatives. When I finally did my mikveh a few years ago, I told one of my (only remaining) frum friends, and his immediate response was “that’s lovely news, especially after [proceeds to infodump all the depressing queer frum news that I’m not privvy to living outside NYC.]”  

I’ve talked about this next one before, but I got to attend a mostly-secular Jewish retreat last year, and went with the bf. The one genuinely non-secular part of it was an optional kabbalat shabbat service led by a former-haredi now non-denom rabbi and a cantor from a similar background. They didn’t have siddurim or anything, so we all just sang from memory. I got to sit next to my bf with my arm around him–the very concept of singing yedid nefesh while being openly, visibly gay was insane to me, but I got to do both there. I’m always glad that my partner (or his being secular) pushed me to explore outside of orthodoxy, because it’s been a much better experience. Sometimes the familiar isn’t always what’s safe. (A more innocent example of this would be my cat, who used to be a street kitty. He still prefers sleeping on plastic bags or pizza boxes to sleeping in a real bed. In the same way, I felt more comfortable in environments that placed heavy restrictions on gender and sexual identity, even if they didn’t kick you out the door.) 

People have described me as “passionate” and “obsessive” about my faith, and I don’t think this is a false characterization. Someone who felt less passionately that God alone should be worshiped could have been happy in a UCC or Unitarian church, but such was not true for me. I won’t weigh in directly re: Christianity being avodah zara (idol worship) except to say that much of orthodox Judaism doesn’t see it that way. (Tovia Singer does not speak for most orthodox Jews in most matters, and I think that if people want to worship literal or figurative idols, we should leave them alone and not harass them in the street.) Rather, I would compare Christianity to any sect of a religion which demands its followers approach God through a human intermediary (make of this what you will). Rebbe Nachman has some interesting ideas, but I don’t chant mantras with his name as some of his followers do. I finally tried learning kabbalah last year, and I found it surprisingly dry. Very intricate, but why split God into a tree of life when you have God already? Perhaps I’m too single-minded. If I had more faith in myself, I would say I'm Maimonidean. 

It’s interesting being a scholar of religion while simultaneously being religious. Last spring I had to do a systematic theology course to finish my Master of Divinity degree, and I failed to articulate my personal theology very well, and I didn’t do very well in the class. I had a passion for God and for what’s right and wrong in the world, but even after decades of study, I still couldn’t make my theology make sense to my liberal protestant professors. (And I don’t think I’m doing the best job now.) If I had known more Maimonides at the time, I would have invoked him rather than trying to explain Judaism on my own, convoluted, contradictory terms. 

I was always more theologically comfortable around evangelicals because they didn’t mind me talking about God and not circling back to Jesus and his lessons. There’s an almost Marcionist impulse among some liberal Protestants to insist that every book in the Old Testament be either discarded (side-eyes the Revised Common Lectionary), or viewed solely through the lens of Jesus.

Brian Zahnd insists on this reading in his Sinners in the Hand of a Loving God, a condemnation of what he sees as “fire and brimstone Christianity.” To his credit, Zahnd argues against literalism in the New Testament just as much as he insists the “Jesus lens” be applied to the Old Testament. This isn’t to condemn Zahnd or his theology–the man has theological chops, something that can’t be said for much of the often-fundamentalist neo-Anabaptist world (David Bercot et al.) I just don’t personally find Zahnd’s worldview convincing with the weight I give the Old Testament. 

For so much of my life, Judaism was orthodoxy. It’s hard to construct a systematic theology outside of that, especially when I find myself frustrated with Buber and Rosensweig and their insistence on mischaracterizing Christianity in treatises in order to give Judaism an identity. A Jew who wants to read about Judaism without passive aggressive lashon hara about Christianity often ends up reading orthodox work. Ironically, I know now that in modern orthodox Jewish works, this lack of antagonism is largely because of R. Soloveitchik’s strong aversion to interfaith dialogue, especially with Christians, as expressed in his Vatican II-era essay Confrontation. So while I saw orthodoxy as less opposed to other religions, it was in fact the opposite–there was so much opposition, they barely even acknowledged that the Reform movement existed after 19th century Berlin. Maybe this is a sign to try reading Heschel again. He, Kaplan, and Judith Butler can have a race to the bottom on most incomprehensible philosophy, but people tell me I’ll like his ideas. 

One thing my rabbi has taught me (same former haredi rabbi as mentioned above) is that ritual and religiosity don’t have to go hand in hand. I can decide not to bench after meals if it makes me happier and still pray as often as I want. The phrase “religious Jew” often obscures the many non-orthodox Jews that exist. I can be fulfilled without scrubbing my oven with a toothbrush every March. God is everywhere, so relax, I guess. 

We’ll see. 

Added today, February 5 2024:

A friend later pointed out that I talk a lot about God and not a lot about Torah in this post. I'll reflect on that again sometime and see if I can come up with something. I forgot that I tried to psychoanalyze my dreams to try and construct a testimony last year. That's funny.

I've been reading a lot of Elmer Berger, and while his books aren't systematic theology, they describe a liberal religious Judaism that exists apart from Zionism. Highly recommend reading him because any Jew or Jew-curious individual should. Most of his books are free on the Internet Archive.

Oh boy anon, bet you didn't expect something that long-winded, huh? I think we almost hit 4000 words there.

Feel free to ping me with more questions.

[koshercosplay]

The other pictures of black Jews in your post are also of black Hebrew Israelites. So called Ethiopian Hebrews in Harlem were black Americans who claimed Ethiopian Jewish identity. Most Jews who left Ethiopia did so no earlier than the 1980s. (This is just in reference to the photos meant to be black Jews, not about the other pictures of Jews from other backgrounds)

thank you anon!

a few people have reached out to me to let me know that both the photo of black jews and the photo of ethiopian jews that I used in that post are in fact unfortunately also BHI. I'm in the process of finding, sourcing, and fact checking new images to edit the post with but have been dealing with irl stuff for a bit and haven't been able to yet.

thank you to everyone who's been proactive in their own research and reached out to me!

*editing to add that the post has now been updated!

[regnzz00]

dc superhero girls headcanons

hey there if you found this post, that must you really like this show and i do to

i have hyper fixated and maladaptive dreaming about this show since it came out (so like 4 years i need a life lol) so i have a lot of headcanons but some of them are so wacked that they dont make sense, so i will only put the ones that make sense and ill keep adding as time goes on, oh, and another thing to note is that i know nothing about the dc universe other than this show so idk

(also if you dont know what a headcanon is, its like something about a show or a movie or a book is canon or confirmed in your head but not in the actual show or movie or book or whatever, hope that makes sense)

~ kara is an alien (which makes sense cuz she is from another planet so she technically is)

~ since kara is from another planet, english probably doesnt exist there and the language of her planet probably different from all the other languages on earth so it would make it really hard for her to learn english, what im basically saying is that english isnt her first language

~ kara probably got some sort of ptsd from the hole she was stuck in for a bunch of years or what ever it was i think its the phantom zone but idk anything about that sooo, and on top of that she lost her mother and her home so that would make a source of her anger and emotional problems

welp these are the only ones that i have thought about and/or fucked or not relevant or about people gender and sexuality wise but its not my job to label people thats their job but i could add those idk (but ignore the label i just put on kara about her mental state shhh its an idea remember shhhh)

edit 2

ok i thought of more shit

also a lot of these are going to be about kara because shes the one i decided to latch onto 4 years ago so yeah

~ i find it really weird that the names on kryton are similar to the names on earth cuz like i said they are different planets so things would be totally different like the language and stuff, but for some reason the names are very english like kara, clark, laura (whatever the aunts name is) but names like zod and non arent traditional english names. so my headcanon is that kara and her cousin either chose or were given those names to be normal ig

~ zees mother probably cared about her a lot and she probably had a reason for leaving but her father keeps its from her

edit 3

i forgot to finish last edit oops

~ karen is more angst than she makes it out to be and kara is more sweet and innocent than she makes it out to be

~ being queer on kryton is like totally normalized

~ kara find babs absolutely beautiful, like not shes attracted to her or has a crush on her or anything, she just finds her extremely aesthetically pleasing to look at (no i dont ship these two, thats fine if you do tho)

~ kara is kinda the mom friend to garth, karen, and babs

~ kara doesnt know how old she is or when her birthday is cuz all planets rotate and revolve differently so i would think that years would be different there, i would think she is probably around 16 to 19, also wouldnt she be like older is she didnt go to the hole or whatever, idk the whole story about that

~ diana once asked kara to teach her krytonian so that kara would have someone to talk to (which is so sweet when i think about it), but its like really hard and it took kara forever to learn english and she is still learning it, but kara loved the offer

~ diana speaks a lot of languages (which im pretty sure is canon), she speaks greek (cuz shes from there), english (you know), (these are the most spoken languages of the world, according to google) mandarin chinese, hindi, spanish, french, arabic, russian, portuguese, german, hebrew, latin, and she is learning japanese so she can talk to tatsu (damn girl idk how she does it, miss try hard)

edit 4

so i know its been a while cuz ive been lazy lol

i also only have a few today

~ kara actually has a good singing voice, but she never portrays it

~ kara is also very musically talented and dabbles in many musical instruments

~ also kara is much more intelligent than she portrays, she just sucks at english and earth stuff (idk if i said this before)

[nach-yomish]

Welcome to Nach Yomi!

This is a blog devoted to the project of studying and discussing the later books of the Tanakh: the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). We will be reading one chapter (perek) a day, except for on Yom Tov and Shabbat.

Anyone is allowed to participate by reading the text from Sefaria or their copy of the Tanakh and listening to the lecture (shiur) linked in each post.

I am Jewish and will be leading this discussion using Jewish methods of text study, but non-Jews are welcome here.

This is a sideblog of @unbidden-yidden, and so post replies will come from there.

Please add your thoughts in reblogs to help keep the discussion in one place.

I'd love to participate but am feeling in over my head due to all the Hebrew and background Jewish context. What should I do?

Totally understandable! I would suggest doing some background reading to get up to speed. I am also happy to answer questions to the best of my ability if you're still feeling lost after reviewing these resources.

Resources for Jewish Background Context and Judaism:

What is the Tanakh?

Why not just study Torah/the full Tanakh?

Jews study a portion of the Torah each week and traditionally chant it aloud at Shabbat morning services. This is called the weekly Torah portion or Parsha.

Therefore, most religiously involved Jews are already familiar with the Torah, but often less familiar with the later books of the Tanakh.

Some portions of the Nach also get read weekly as part of the Torah reading. This is called the Haftarah. However, these are just excerpts and do not cover the full Tanakh.

That sounds interesting! Where can I find a schedule for the parsha and haftarah? Hebcal, Chabad, Sefaria and other major Jewish websites list them up to date and for the future.

Isn't the Tanakh the same as the Christian Old Testament? Not exactly. There are many similarities and overlap, but the translations are different (different histories and theological motivations) and the books are ordered differently in the Old Testament in order to better set up the Jesus narrative.

This involves a lot of history that I wasn't taught. Not to worry! There's an app for that.

I'm struggling to follow the Hebrish (English with lots of Hebrew words and phrases) used by the podcast instructors. Here is a resource for looking up some of these. If you're still lost, please feel free to ask, although there's a chance I don't know either. Edit: @resplendent-ragamuffin has graciously been detailing them on each post and honestly, I've learned a lot from reading them, too!

Okay that's great, but why do some of these words seem to exchange the "T" sound for an "S" sound? That's a quirk of Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation; one explanation here.

I have some other question about Judaism that you didn't address here. Understandable! There's a lot to learn if you are from (for example) a Christian background and don't know much about Judaism, Jewish history, or Jewish culture. Jew FAQ is an excellent website for newcomers, as well as Essential Judaism by George Robinson (my favorite introductory book to recommend to people.)

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

7 “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised: 8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10 I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.

11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.

12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;

13 I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.

14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!

15 What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!

17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

18 For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.

19 The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.

20 The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD.

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?” — Isaiah 38 | English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Cross References: Numbers 16:33; Deuteronomy 6:7; Deuteronomy 6:18; Joshua 10:12-13; Judges 6:17; 2 Samuel 12:22; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 18:12-13; 2 Kings 20:7-8; Job 10:16; Job 33:24; Psalm 27:13; Psalm 33:1; Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 39:1; 2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 7:22; Hebrews 12:9