#jewish identity

[matan4il]

Every single time I hear someone referring to a Jewish person as ‘white’ another little piece of my soul dies.

As a non-American Jew, the first time I ever heard Jews being referred to as white was when I was a full grown adult watching an American reality show. I FOR REAL thought they were making that shit up in order to generate buzz and get people talking about the controversy! That’s how foreign the notion was to me. Imagine my shock and horror to discover that THIS IS A COMMON MISCONCEPTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

It’s the way that referring to Jews as ‘white’ ERASES white people’s antisemitism, it erases our persecution at the hands of white people, it erases our suffering, it erases the OTHERING that Jews had suffered for CENTURIES from actual white people.

Based on what the skin tone of some Jews in a few places might afford them SO LONG AS NO ONE KNOWS THEY’RE JEWISH.

If you have to hide your real identity in order to enjoy the privileges of being perceived as white, YOU’RE NOT WHITE (this is true for Jews just like it is true for other white-passing People of Color).

White passing is not the same as white.

WHITE PASSING IS NOT THE SAME AS WHITE.

Jews are NOT white. Not a single one of us. Not even the ones who can pass as white, let alone all of the Jews who can’t.

[jewelleria]

I don’t usually talk about politics on here, if ever. But it’s been almost six months since the conflict in the Middle East flared up again, and I’m finally ready to start. Here are some of my thoughts.

I say ‘flared up’ because this has happened before and it’ll happen again. Because, even though what's currently going on is absolutely unprecedented, those of us who live in this part of the world are used to it. Let that sink in: we are used to this. And we shouldn’t have to be. 

But I use that term for another reason: I don't want to accidentally call it the wrong thing lest I come under fire for being a genocidal maniac or a terrorist or a propaganda machine, etc., etc.—so let’s just call it ‘the war’ or ‘the conflict.’ Because that’s what it is. Doesn’t matter which side you’re on, who you love, or who you hate. 

This post will, in all likelihood, sit in my drafts forever. If it does get posted, it certainly won’t be on my main, because I'm scared of being harassed (spoiler: she posted it on her main). I hate admitting that, but honestly? I’m fucking terrified. 

I also feel like in order for anything I say on here (i.e. the hellscape of the internet) to be taken seriously, I have to somehow prove that a) I’m “educated” enough to talk about the conflict, and b) that my opinion lines up with what has been deemed the correct one. So, tedious and unnecessary though it is, I will tell you about my experience, because I have a feeling most of the people reading this post are not nearly as close to what’s happening as I am.

How do I explain where I live without actually explaining where I live? How do I say “I live in the Red Zone of international conflicts” without saying what I actually think? How do I convey the fear that grips me when I try to decide between saying “I live in Palestine” and “I live in Israel”? I don't really know. But I do know that names are important. I also know that, due to the various clickbaity monikers ascribed to the conflict, it would probably just be easier to point to a map. 

I haven't always lived in the Middle East. I've lived in various places along America’s east coast, and traveled all over the world. But in short, I now live somewhere inside the crudely-drawn purple circle. 

If you know anything about these borders you probably blanched a bit in sympathy, or maybe condolence. But in truth, it’s a shockingly normal existence. I don't feel like I've lived through the shifting of international relations or a war or anything. I just kind of feel like I did when COVID hit, that dull sameness as I wondered if this would be the only world-altering event to shape my life, or if there would be more. 

I've been told that, in order for my brain to process all the horrific details of the past six months, there needs to be some element of cognitive dissonance—that falling into a sort of dissociative mindset is the only way to not go insane under the weight of it all. I think in some ways that’s true. I have been terrifyingly close to bus stop shootings when my commute wasn’t over; I have felt my apartment building shake with the reverberations of a missile strike; I have spent hours in underground shelters waiting for air raid sirens to stop. 

But. I have also gone grocery shopping, and skipped class, and stayed up too late watching TV, and fed the cats on the street corner, and cried over a boy, and got myself AirPods just because, and taken out the trash, and done laundry on a delicate cycle, and bought overpriced lattes one too many days a week. I have looked at pretty things and taken out my phone because, despite it all, I still think that life is too short not to freeze the small moments. 

So I'd say, all things considered, I live an incredibly privileged life—compared, of course, to those suffering in Gaza—one filled with sunsets and over-sweetened knafeh and every different color of sand. One that allows me to throw myself into a fandom-induced hyperfixation (or, alternatively, escape method) as I sit on the couch and crack open my laptop to write the next chapter of the fic I'm working on. 

But there are bits of not-normalness that wheedle their way through the cracks. I pretend these moments are avoidable, even if they’re not. 

They look like this: reading the news and seeing another idiotic, careless choice on Netanyahu’s part and groaning into my morning coffee. Watching Palestinian and Jewish children’s needless suffering posted on Instagram reels and feeling helpless. Opening my Tumblr DMs to find a message telling me to exterminate myself for reblogging a post that only seems like it’s about the war if you squint and tilt your head sideways. 

These moments look like all the tiny ways I am reminded that I'm living in a post-October seventh world, where hearing a car backfire makes me jump out of my skin and the sound of a suitcase on pavement makes me look up at the sky and search for the war planes. They look like the heavy grief that is, and also isn’t, mine. 

Here's the thing, though. I know you’re wondering when the ball will drop and my true opinion will be revealed. I know you’re waiting for me to reveal what demographic I'm a part of so that you, dear reader, can neatly slap a label on my head and sort me into some oversimplified category that lets you continue to think you understand this war. 

No one wants to sit and ruminate on the difficult questions, the ones that make you wonder if maybe you’ve been tinkered with by the propaganda machine, if you might need to go back on what you’ve said or change your mind. We all strive for our perception of complicated issues to be a comfortable one.

But I know that no matter what I do, there will always be assumptions. So, while I shudder to reveal this information online, I think that maybe my most significant contribution to this meta-discussion spanning every facet of the internet is this: 

I am a Jew. 

Or, alternatively, I am: Jewish, יהודית, يَهُودِيٌّ, etc. Point is, I come from Jews. And, like any given person, I am a product of generation after generation of love. 

I'm not going to take time to explain my heritage to you, or to prove that before all the expulsions and pogroms, there was an origin point. If you don’t believe that, perhaps it’s less of a factual problem and more of an ‘I don’t give weight to the beliefs of indigenous people’ problem. But, in case you want to spend time uselessly refuting this tiny point in a larger argument, you can inspect the photos below (it’s just a small chunk of my DNA test results). Alternatively, you can remember that interrogating someone in an attempt to make their indigeneity match your arbitrary criteria is generally not seen as good manners. 

Now, let’s go back to thathateful message (read: poorly disguised death threat) I received in my Tumblr DMs. I think it was like two or three weeks ago. I had recently gained a new follower whose blog’s primary focus was the fandom I contribute to, so I followed them back. I saw in my notes that they were going through my posts and liking them—as one does when gaining a new mutual. Yippee! 

Then they sent me this: 

I tried to explain that hate speech is not a way to go about participating in political discourse, but the person had already blocked me immediately after sending that message. Then, assured by the fact that I surely would never see them complaining about me on their blog (because, as I said, they blocked me), they posted a shouting rant accusing me of sympathizing with colonizing settlers and declaring me a “racist Zionist fuck.” Oh, the wonders of incognito tabs.

Where this person drew these conclusions after reading my (reblogged) post about antisemitism…. I'm not actually sure. But I greatly sympathize with them, and hope that they weren’t too personally offended by my desire to not die. 

For a while I contemplated this experience in my righteous anger, and tried to figure out a way to message this person. I wanted to explain that a) seeing a post about being Jewish and choosing to harass the creator about Israel is literally the definition of antisemitism and b) that sending a hateful DM and refusing to be held accountable is just childish and immature. But I gave up soon after—because, honestly, I knew it wasn’t worth my effort or energy. And I knew that I wouldn't be able to change their mind. 

But I still remember staring at that rather unfortunate meme, accompanied by an all-caps message demanding for me to Free Palestine, and thinking: the post didn’t even have any buzzwords. I remember the swoop of dread and guilt and fear. I remember wondering why this kind of antisemitism felt worse, in that moment, than the kind that leaves bodies in its wake. 

I remember thinking, I don’t have the power to free anyone.

I remember thinking, I’m so fucking tired. 

And before you tell me that this conflict isn’t about religion—let me ask you some questions. Why is it that Israel is even called Israel? (Here’s why.) Why do Jews even want it? (Here’s why.) But also, if you actually read the charters of Islamist terrorist organizations like ISIS, Hamas, and Hezbollah (among others), they equate the modern state of Israel with the Jewish people, and they use the two entities interchangeably. So of course this conflict is religious. It’s never been anything but that.

But I do wonder, when faced with those who deny this fact: how do I prove, through an endless slew of what-about-isms and victim blaming, that I too am hurting? How do I show that empathy is dialectical, that I can care deeply for Palestinians and Gazans while also grieving my own people? 

There's this thing that humans do, when we’re frustrated about politics and need to howl our opinions about it into the void until we feel better. We find like-minded souls, usually our friends and neighbors, and fret about the state of the world to each other until we’ve gone around in a satisfactory amount of circles. But these conversations never truly accomplish anything. They’re just a substitute, a stand-in catharsis, for what we really wish we could do: find someone who embodies the spirit of every Jew-hating internet troll, every ignorant justifier of terrorism, and scream ourselves hoarse at them until we change their mind.

But, of course, minds cannot be changed when they are determined to live in a state of irrational dislike. In Judaism, this way of thinking has a name: שנאת חינם (sinat hinam), or baseless hatred. It's a parasite with no definite cure, and it makes people bend over backwards to justify things like the massacre on October seventh, simply because the blame always needs to be placed on the Jews. 

So when a Jew is faced with this unsolvable problem, there is only one response to be had, only one feeling to be felt: anger. And we are angry. Carrying around rage with nowhere to put it is exhausting. It's like a weight at the base of our neck that pushes down on our spine, bending it until we will inevitably snap under the pressure. I’m still waiting to break, even now.

I wish I could explain to someone who needs to hear it that terrorism against Israelis happens every single day here, and that we are never more than one degree of separation away from the brutal slaughter of a friend, lover, parent, sibling. I wish it would be enough to say that the majority of Israelis (which includes Arab-Israeli citizens who have the exact same rights as Jewish-Israelis) wish for peace every day without ever having seen what it looks like. 

I wish I could show the world that Israel was founded as a socialist state, that it was built on communal values and born from a cluster of kibbutzim (small farming communities based on collective responsibility), and that what it is now isn’t what its people stand for. 

I wish the world could open their eyes to what we Israelis have seen since the beginning: that Hamas is the enemy, Hamas is the one starving Palestinians and denying them aid, Hamas is the one who keeps rejecting ceasefire terms and denying their citizens basic human rights. Hamas is the governing body of Gaza, not Israel. Hamas is responsible for the wellbeing of the Palestinian people. And Hamas are the ones who are more determined to murder Jews—over and over and over again, in the most animalistic ways possible—than to look inwards and see the suffering they’ve inflicted on their own people. I wish it was easier to see that.

But the wishing, the asking how can people be so blind, is never enough. I can never just say, I promise I don't want war. 

When I bear witness to this baseless hatred, I think of the victims of October seventh. I think of the women and girls who were raped and then murdered, forever unable to tell their stories. I think of the hostages, trapped underneath Gaza in dark tunnels, wondering if anyone will come for them. I think of Ori Ansbacher, of Ezra Schwartz, of Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali, of Lucy, Rina, and Maia Dee, of the Paley boys, of Ari Fuld and of Nachshon Wachsman. I think of all the innocent blood spilled because of terror-fueled hatred and the virus of antisemitism. I think of all the thousands of people who were brutally murdered in Israel, Jews and Muslims and Christians and humans, who will never see peace.

My ties to this land are knotted a thousand times over. Even when I leave, a part of me is left behind, waiting for me to claim it when I return. But when I see the grit it takes to live through this pain, when I see the suffering that paints the world the color of blood, I look to the heavens and I wonder why. 

I ask God: is it worth all this? He doesn't answer. So I am the one, in the end, to answer my own question. I say, it has to be. 

Feel free to send any genuine, respectful, and clarifying questions you may have to my inbox!

EDIT: just coming on here to say that I'm really touched & grateful for the love on this post. When I wrote it, I felt hopeless; I logged off of Tumblr for Shabbat, dreading the moment I would turn off my phone to find more hate in my inbox. Granted, I did find some, and responding to it was exhausting, but it wasn’t all hate. I read every kind reblog and comment, and the love was so much louder. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 🤍

Source Reading

The Whispered in Gaza Project by The Center for Peace Communications

Why Jews Cannot Stop Shaking Right Now by Dara Horn

Hamas Kidnapped My Father for Refusing to Be Their Puppet by Ala Mohammed Mushtaha

I Hope Someone Somewhere Is Being Kind to My Boy by Rachel Goldberg

The Struggle for Black Freedom Has Nothing to Do with Israel by Coleman Hughes

Israel Can Defend Itself and Uphold Its Values by The New York Times Editorial Board

There Is a Jewish Hope for Palestinian Liberation. It Must Survive by Peter Beinart

The Long Wait of the Hostages’ Families by Ruth Margalit

“By Any Means Necessary”: Hamas, Iran, and the Left by Armin Navabi

When People Tell You Who They Are, Believe Them by Bari Weiss

Hunger in Gaza: Blame Hamas, Not Israel by Yvette Miller

Benjamin Netanyahu Is Israel’s Worst Prime Minister Ever by Anshel Pfeffer

What Palestinians Really Think of Hamas by Amaney A. Jamal and Michael Robbins

The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology by Bruce Hoffman

The Wisdom of Hamas by Matti Friedman

How the UN Discriminates Against Israel by Dina Rovner

This Muslim Israeli Woman Is the Future of the Middle East by The Free Press

Why Are Feminists Silent on Rape and Murder? by Bari Weiss

[magnetothemagnificent]

been thinking about this question and hopefully this won't be too awkward to ask. since judaism is itself an ethnicity and religion at the same time, imagine you have ancestors from like idk portugal who converted to judaism centuries and centuries ago and so their descendants are all jewish but don't know about the conversion part. can they call themselves ethnically jewish?

A person becomes part of the Jewish ethnicity when they convert to Judaism. Ethnicity is more than DNA, it's about your peoplehood. As a student of anthropology I honestly don't like how the rise of at-home DNA test kits have put into people's minds their identity is a complicated equation of DNA percentages. People are not math problems. If you were born Jewish you are 100% Jewish. If you converted to Judaism you are 100% Jewish. DNA tests only measure the genes you're more likely to share with certain populations, and even then they're not completely accurate. Ethnicity isn't about blood quantum, at least it shouldn't be.

Here's an example, using myself:

I've never taken a DNA test, and don't intend to, but if I had to guess it would probably give me a result of something like: 58% Ashkenazi Jewish; 25% Northern European; 15% Sephardi Jewish; 2% Northern African.

What does that tell me about my ethnicity? Nothing. It tells me percentages of DNA I have that are most likely shared with certain populations of people from certain geographic regions (haplogroups), but my ethnicity is 100% Jewish and I don't need a DNA test to tell me that, because I know I was born Jewish.

DNA tells you your haplotypes. Peoplehood tells you your ethnicity. And peoplehood is defined by the people themselves.

So yes, the descendents of converts are ethnically Jewish. All Jews are ethnically Jewish.

[applesauce42069]

when i went to poland for the first time last year for a seminar everyone i knew really pushed this idea that i was returning to my homeland. I didn't like it because I knew they could never understand what I felt. In some ways, poland did feel like a homeland to me, mostly because of the rich Ashkenazi history there and the knowledge that my family lived there for centuries, all the way up until the 1968 ethnic cleansing. There was very little left there for me today, the Jewish civilization there was destroyed, but the ground felt special to me, because I knew that generations upon generations of my family walked on it.

It, in some ways, is my country but, it's not my homeland. I am not a Pole and no one in my family has ever been. We were Jews who lived in Poland, and then we were Polish Jews. Poland is special to me but is not where I come from and it is not where my people come from. Hell, it's the last, not the first place, in Europe where my family lived. It's not even where we got our European genes from.

But it is one of those things that you just can't expect people to get.

[cata613]

Although times are dark right now, we can all be lights. חג חנוכה שמח 🕎

[mental-mona]

Pesach is the festival of Jewish identity. It is the night on which we tell our children who they are.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l, The Chief Rabbi’s Haggadah (Essays), p. 15

[where-our-stories-start]

[franknfurterstriangulardinosaur]

only i get to define my jewish identity

[radioactivespiderblood]

Jewish Damian Wayne thoughts

Ok gentile here

I'm trying to get back into writing fic and I'm working on a DamiJon fic featuring Jewish Damian.

Like, there are so many amazing possibilities for this! At some point in living with Bruce (who's canonically ethnically Jewish but was not raised Jewish) he decides to go to Sabot service one week. He ends up really liking it and going every week (or as many as possible) until he decides to get serious about being Jewish. Ra's would probably disown him for not bowing to him and valuing God above him. Good riddance if you ask them.

Eventually he would have a bar mitzvah (which would be a huge event because Wayne) and the entire Batfamily would be there. I guess Superman would keep an eye on Gotham for a bit?

Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Cass, Tim, Steph, Duke and Kate are all invited of course. (Jon and Lois too, a shame Clark couldn't make it)

Jason and Talia have to get creative. Talia is probably crouched in the rafters somewhere. Jason is security.

Mara al Ghul (Damian's cousin) might be hiding in the shadows somewhere. Who knows, does she love him? Does she hate him? Bruce's old friend from boarding school Oliver Queen is invited. Minhkhoa Khan somehow managed to get invited. Harley Quin and Poison Ivy are there, invited or not, cheering loudly. Cassandra asked to invite one of her model friends, Kori Anders. No one can stand to say no to Cass, not even Damian.

Everyone got very drunk at the party and Bruce did take Khoa home. He does not regret it. He does wish he remembered it. Barbra did not drink a drop, knowing she'd have to remove embarrassing pictures and videos from the internet. (If she keeps a little bit for blackmail no one would blame her. That shit was gold)

Damian doesn't care as long as no one gets murdered nothing gets set on fire and he gets to have one day where nothing goes wrong. He has way more fun than he expected.

[mostpeculiarmademoiselleetmsieur]

I went to a panel about our personal and communal response to October 7th this morning, and I feel like I need to share my biggest takeaway from it. This is nothing either pro-Israel or anti-Israel. It is purely about us as Jews.

The most important message I took from this panel is that we as Jews need to stand together in order to survive and to thrive. No matter how religious or secular we are, and no matter which sect we call our base. The times when Jews have tried to fit in and ignore our Jewish identity to make those in power happy have been the times when we have been at our weakest as a people. The times when we have put our energy into educating our younger generations and sticking together and fighting to keep our Jewish identities and traditions have been the times when we have thrived.

The only way to fight Jew Hatred—and no, I will not hide it behind the moniker of antisemitism because that’s exactly what it is, with no veil to misunderstand—is to stand up for ourselves and our identities as Jews, and to stand together.

When it comes to fighting Jew Hatred, we need to forget the tradition of “two Jews three opinions” and work as one.

We are One People.

We Must Stand Together.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life said in an interview that her recommendations to the US focused on “the whole range of antisemitism—online education, Holocaust remembrance, security.”

And then she said something odd:

Fostering Jewish life is central, she said, “to make sure that Jews in Europe can go about their lives in line with their religious and cultural traditions, and also free from fear.” [emphasis added]

Oystein Lyngroth said something similar.

Lyngroth is Norway’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief and is also the head of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) delegation in Norway. She said:

There needs to be a promotion of the visibility of Jewish life. [emphasis added]

John Mann, UK government advisor on antisemitism, echoed those remarks:

“Let every Jewish person, every Jewish student, be themselves, including those who identify as Zionist as a crucial part of their identity. With no negatives,” he said. “It’s a simple ask, and that’s what we’re building. That’s what I’d recommend to every American university.” Mann, a panelist, said it’s not his prerogative, nor anyone’s, to try and define for Jewish students how they identify.

The odd thing is that based on these 3 quotes, one would assume that a key component of the European approach in addressing antisemitism is to protect and foster Jewish identity.

That sounds like a great idea, but the problem is how can they claim to be so supportive of Jewish identity, when Europe is working so hard to undermine Jewish identity?

[anniekoh]

Between the Covers Naomi Klein Interview — Part Two

Between the Covers Podcast (Nov 2023)

I don’t know how to tell the story in a concise way because it’s been so formative to my political and writing life, my entanglements with Judaism, my run-ins with official Jewery, my unjewings, and excommunications. I think in our first conversation, I shared with you that my first published piece of writing was my bat mitzvah speech in my synagogue bulletin which was an unconventional piece of writing for a bat mitzvah speech. It was about racism within the Jewish community, within my Jewish day school, within the culture, even that reconstruction of synagogue. Then when I was in university, I had a really formative experience as an undergrad where I wrote something about the first intifada. We had a special issue of the student newspaper that I wrote for the varsity and I contributed an op-ed that caused a huge firestorm on my campus that was like a microcosm of the kinds of things we’re seeing now. It involved emergency meetings, it involved bringing in donors to pressure the president of the university to denounce me and defund the student newspaper, it involved accusing me of being a self-hating Jew and not a real Jew, and because I was just probably 20 at the time, I also think it toughened me up more than anything else, that the controversies that I faced later in writing about corporations, globalization, and capitalism, nothing was ever as intense as that firestorm when I was 20 at my university.

And Klein shares this example of how political speech is being suppressed

I’m speaking to you from Canada and in Canada, the book market is extremely concentrated even more than in the United States. There’s a single book chain called Chapters/Indigo that controls 40% of the retail book market and 80% in some regions. Chapters/Indigo, the controlling shares are owned by a Canadian power couple named Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz who are very right-wing Zionists, and they’re extremely active in organizing the Jewish lobby. They organized a merger of different Jewish groups a few years ago. The reporting sort of had it begun in their living room as a plan, bringing different people together. They wanted a more pro-Israel Jewish lobby in Canada. They also formed a foundation in 2005 called The HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers and it is an official charity in Canada. This is very, very controversial for Palestine solidarity activists because HESEG is a scholarship fund for soldiers who enroll in the IDF who are not Israeli. They’re Jews who want to join the IDF from different countries, Canada, but other countries and HESEG offers these soldiers full-ride scholarships, cost of living income, career advice, there’s a HESEG house in Israel. It’s like a fraternity but this clearly is recruitment for the IDF. If we think about the way this works in the US, how does the US military recruit, by offering scholarships, by offering all these economic incentives to working-class kids to say, “Okay, this is going to be the bonus for joining the military,” and that is what HESEG does. I have been troubled by this for a long time because I’ve been fortunate enough to sell a lot of books in Canada and that means that I’ve made a lot of money for Chapters/Indigo, and that means that some portion of those profits have gone to HESEG because Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz are the financial backers of HESEG. They spend millions of their own money but that also means that a portion of it is book money, so that means that the whole Canadian literary world is implicated in this without our consent, without our consultation. The reason why this is relevant is that there was a protest on November 10th outside of Indigo’s flagship store in Toronto and people put up mocked-up book covers of Heather’s face that said, “Funding genocide,” then they threw red paint. In the early hours of the morning about a week ago, I think it was 4:30 in the morning, dozens of riot police broke down the doors of 11 activists around Toronto, who they claim did this act of nonviolent, not property destruction, it was wheat paste, posters, and washable paint and they woke people from their sleep at 4:30, 5:30 in the morning. There were apparently a minimum of eight officers in each house, arrested parents in front of their kids, then sent out a press release saying these were hate-motivated crimes. There’s clearly a very dramatic escalation going on. One of the people who was caught up in this was a tenure professor at York University, a former chair of the sociology department. A message is being sent and the ante is being raised about the cost of just nonviolent, I mean that’s not even really civil disobedience, that’s direct action. Whatever you think about the posters, that’s political speech. That is not targeting Heather Reisman as a Jew. That is targeting Heather Reisman as somebody who is linked very tangibly to the IDF, who has a financial link.

[magnetothemagnificent]

The Learned Son: Was privileged enough to get a Jewish education, and grew up with a passion for Jewish learning and Judaism. Always knows the answer to a Judaism question, and can come off as a bit haughty sometimes, but does have the best intentions.

The Evil Son: Grew up with access to racial and economic privilege, and because of this, decided that antisemitism isn't a big deal anymore and that Judaism and Jewish culture isn't relevant. Unlike the Simple Son and the Son Who Does Not Know To Ask, the Evil Son had access to a Jewish education and community, but they rejected it.

The Simple Son: Had a minimal exposure to Judaism, but has a true love for Judaism and wants to learn more. They did not have access to a Jewish education, and so they always have so many questions.

The Son Who Does Not Know To Ask: Is so overwhelmed by Judaism that they don't know where to start or what they want.

[rebelwheelsnyczine]

TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE INCLUDE: (MY) JEWISH IDENTITY, ZIONISM, QUEER LOVE, SELF CARE, CREATING & SPIRITUALITY

Kindly use this #ACallForHealingAndRebellion to discuss the zine

ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: According to Google Docs, the issue is accessible for those who use screen readers, however this zine issue is also available as a PDF.

[image description: A horizontal rectangle. graphic. The background is half red tartan plaid fabric and the other half is gold glitter. The two textures are placed diagonally with the plaid fabric over the gold glitter a bit. On top, diagonal & in large yellow orange letters, in a font that is bold but looks aged, as if it was chipping a bit, it reads: issue #3]

[rebelwheelsnycpoetry]

A Good Jew

A GOOD JEW by RebelwheelsNYC / Michele Sommerstein

Pt 1 Wednesday, Los Angeles, white supremacists same old rhetoric spewing, lies antisemitic, oozing, while, Zionist Jews in Israel, play theft again, in Palestine, these, violence unjust

and I feel fucked up, unsure, walking this high wire, delicately balancing poorly stacked and trembling plates & china of various sizes pondering what is my place, my lane, my right, my responsibility in this As an activist, a person of Jewish ancestry, this history that I awkwardly dance with awkwardly

unsolicited two cents, as people tell me how I should be. If I am to be “a good jew” (if I am not to cause harm) as if speaking out against the occupation, especially during attacks from anti-Semites - causes harm has me questioning if and how and when I should speak?

this identity, that I do not list in my bio, for it would somehow feel fake as if I somehow haven't earned enough points to declare it, and yet whip out strategically, like a card in my wallet, when it comes to politics for I know of it's value, of its weight & and at times privilege Dear Senator, I write to you as a Jewish constituent.

It's been decades but I remember going with my mother temple too warm, small child drowsy, rabbi speaking, drones on and on, slow near monotone, and I am, disconnected from the meaning, not understanding, attending out of some weird obligation expectation that somehow came with my birth, and why? forget that it was often in another language that I did not understand (nor yet appreciate) sometimes I'd drift off day dreaming, mid sermon, of those after service cookies served in the basement that never really felt worth it nor were they ever that good. and yet every Thursday night on repeat

I remember, small child, inquisitive, inquiring But if god is everywhere, why do we have to pray in temple? For I was told that good Jews go, that god favors those, who attend but the women in the two back rows, always gossiping I said even if they're not even paying attention? Yes, even if someone prays in the forest sincerely, he is less favored? Yes and it didn't make sense Don't ask so many questions. Why can't you be more like your peers? Who ask nothing (they are good) and although still a child, it all just felt like bullshit that Jewish was just this thing you go along with without really knowing why & so by 13 “I did my time” and got out. L'Chaim.

Pt 2 I recall, late teens, paternal, grandparent's Oldsmobile (boxy with no power steering), grandfather (typically passive) parked in the Jersey driveway when the Queen Matriarch (my grandmother) turns to me, asking if I was yet dating, and I was, but she said “Well, when you're serious, he'll be Jewish.” For years I'd always inquire “Why?” “It's tradition” without fail she replied “But why is it tradition?” but tradition, presented as infallible and was not to be questioned. (why must you ask so many questions) until one day, 19 years, late teens, backseat. Oldsmobile, boxy with no power steering, in frustration “But why is it tradition?!” This expectation to follow without reason And she, rooted in Zionism & trauma (and the intersections of) said “OK, you're old enough to know…” Spoke of my duty as a “pure blooded” Jewish woman a what? To marry, to mate with a pure blooded Jewish man and your pure blooded – she said again – Jewish children will be part of a collective army, so when – not if but when the next Holocaust comes, this time, we. will. be, ready… Stunned and silent but with the blaring awareness that pure blooded was a term that Hitler had used against us and what the fuck?

But at the time I dared not utter a word because she was the Queen Matriarch, and respect, an elder with a free pass And I dared not utter a word because the women in my family were raised to be subservient to the men, who were then underfoot to The Queen (this also never made sense) I dared not utter a word because we had led very different lives not that this justified what I was hearing but I, who never had to escape by night, by boat, as a child from Russia so what right did I have to speak my mind? To tell her how to deal with her trauma? (a word that was never used, but influenced most things in my family)

I remember at the party DJ playing Hava Nagila (mandatory but welcomed) and everyone danced, loose & drunk-like, floppy though sober but not my grandmother. She, who moved with intention and purpose. With pride like a form of protest. In ways I did not comprehend at 13, why so serious (for no one really talked about the past, and you knew not to ask questions) but in that moment, she danced for all the times in Russia, she and her family could not Their culture, their religion, their existence, persecuted to no end I wish I was told more as a child, so I too would not have taken it for granted.

Pt 3 I don't remember ever hearing the word Palestine in Hebrew School. Nor seeing it on the maps they had us color in as kids But as I got older, I learned of its existence, And the actual history, the hypocrisy, falsely justified as if those who were oppressed, could never become the oppressors. As if our history justified it all – it does not. I saw Zionists twist the term anti-Semite to mean anyone who criticized the occupation, even when valid watering down the meaning of the word I saw a video of Palestinian people who could not even wave their own flag without persecution. and I could not help but to notice the similarities I saw Zionism exploiting the trauma of the holocaust, perpetually jabbing the wound, insisting “you need this to keep you safe!” but always failing to do so.

And when I spoke up, making art and poetry that points this out. I was yelled at, all caps, put down told to not ask so many questions, that I am bad, a self hating Jew

but I am not & nor am I alone I've marched with Jewish groups protesting conservative Zionists who had teamed up with white supremacists on the topic of Israel – and what?! I've met Jewish activists in solidarity with Palestine, who cry out “not in my name” taking a stand because “If Not Now, When?” teaching the history of Jewish rebellion & good good trouble I've seen protest signs carried that read: “Zionism is not Judaism” (because that needs to be said) I've seen temples, boldly religious but not as in controlling, oppressive - restricted as in joyous, inclusive, ask the questions! as in love, community, as in growth, as in connection, this that was healing this that I wish younger me could have seen because then I would have known there were other people like me because then I could have separated the wisdom from the trauma and acknowledged and learned from both and Jewish would've been in my bio along with Queer and Disabled and writer and nerd and activist all the things I declare with pride.

Monday, New York City, white supremacists same old rhetoric, spewing, lies antisemitic oozing, while Zionist Jews in Israel, play theft again, in Palestine, may it be known & without apology - these, violence unjust This poem was taken from the zine Rebelwheels NYC: A Call For Healing And Rebellion. Please check it out.

[centruxx]

Discussing with grand mother