#fuzzytheduck

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I need an emergency frum squad on this STAT

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I think a lot of Americans have a hard time grasping the idea of Jewish indigeneity because they dont know where their own ancestors came from. Maybe they'll have vague ideas like German, Italian, or Irish, but what they know has very little bearing on their day-to-day lives. They don't dress any different, they don't speak the language their great grandparents spoke, they don't hold regular ceremonies and rituals that harken back to the old days.

The idea of an ethnic group maintaining a constant identity over thousands of years is patently absurd to them. "You're telling me you're still mourning something the ancient Romans did? That's ridiculous! Clearly you've fallen for modern Israeli propaganda, otherwise you're deliberately arguing in bad faith in order to justify land theft and genocide!"

It's very frustrating, because when I say these things I do not say them in bad faith. My friend once said "it's a very American thing not to understand large timescales", and I think she was right on the money. The process of American assimilation has cut peoples ties to their ancestors to such a degree that they can no longer comprehend a continuous identity spanning millennia.

So I'm going to say this in the clearest language I can:

There is a genuine, historically provable, continuous connection from ancient Israelites to modern Jews. By the laws and customs of those ancient Israelites I am one of them. Let me reiterate. I am an Israelite, a Hebrew, like from the Bible, and the fact that my identity has been so mythologized and talked about as if it's a thing of the past will never change that.

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you have to be normal about religious jews you have to be normal about religious jews you have to be normal about religious jews you have to be normal about religious jews

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I think if you recontextualize the word "Jew" to mean "citizen of Israel/Juda" rather than "person who practices the Jewish religion" you'll come to a much better understanding of Jewish law and tradition

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I'm reminded of a time in high school when I had the honor of informing people that parchment is made from animal skins for the first time

"Niche" knowledge that immediately outs you as someone who grew up Orthodox:

-all the steps of grain harvest and processing

-all the steps of textile making

-all the steps of hide tanning

-which animals are ruminants (and what a ruminants is)

-which animals have split hooves and which do not

-the porosity of various kitchenware materials

-always know when sunset is

-always know where East is

-what a heddle is

-what rennet is

-what cochineal is

-what murex dye is

-where the sciatic nerve is in an animal

-that gelatin is in *everything*

[fuzzytheduck]

Modern Ashkenazi dialects of Hebrew just as valid as modern Sephardi and Mizrachi dialects of Hebrew send tweet

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Sometimes I wonder how many Jews on here I actually just know in real life but don't know that I know because I can't say anything and they can't either.

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I don't know what Ashkenazi needs to hear this but the old country sucked and the shtetl isn't your homeland.

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shout out to the good people of Peru for domesticating potatoes and elevating Ashkenazi cuisine forever

Everyone say thank you american indigenous people for cultivating corn, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, cacao, pumpkin, squash, and anything i missed. Makes life more meaningful globally

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everyone more religious than me is crazy and everyone less religious than me is a heretic. it is simply a law of the universe.

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If you are Jewish, and did/do menstruate, did your mother slap you when you got your first period?

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I wish people would stop saying that Megilas Esther is about feminism/misogyny. It's really not. There is no overcoming of misogyny in the narrative, there's no good feminist versus bad misogynist (I would go so far as to say that there were actually zero feminists in ancient Persia!), there is no message of women's liberation.

is there a powerful and good female protagonist? Yes! But if I called every text fitting that description feminist I would have a very strange list of books!

[fuzzytheduck]

i so badly wish i could feel safe doing this as a jew. with all my heart.

My comic about why we should all be activists. Made possible by my wonderful patrons at patreon.com/davidhellman Please share, and get involved in your local community!

[fuzzytheduck]

wait do reform Jews not recognize kohanim??

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what obscure jew lore did you think was common knowledge growing up

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The importance of the land of Israel to Judaism cannot be overstated. It is inseparable from the Jewish people, culture, and religion. the only denial of this comes at best from ignorance or at worst lying about history.