#kosher rules for orthodox

[kyliecatqueen]

Every time I think of Human!Sam I imagine him having peyos instead of his flappy dog ears. And then Human!Max has a pair of very clean bunny ears that he found in a dumpster as a kid and fell in love a 2nd time (the 1st time was with violence, the 3rd time with his gun, and the 4th time with Sam). The bunny ears are meticulously cleaned and cared for, and they'd be the only thing on Max that he'd willingly keep such high maintenance on if it weren't for Sam forcing him to take care of himself as well as the bunny ears.

"Peyos" (or "Pe'ye" if it's singular) are uncut/unshaven sideburns, it's a thing done by a lot of Orthadox Jewish men and boys because one of the rules of the Torah that they uphold to is to "never shave the sides of their head". Most people wear them curled, and the literal translation of "Pe'ye" is "corner/side/edge".

[ageofxail]

🍝🗒💖 !!

🍝 — favorite food(s)?

My ultimate meal consists of sauteed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, and a thick cut of well marbled hangar steak that's been cooked to blue rare Pittsburgh style-- that is, cooked in an extremely hot, well oiled skillet with a generous coating of heavy spices, so that it has a crunchy, crispy Maillard reaction crust thats full of flavour while the inside is cool and soft, melts in your mouth and the natural flavour of high quality beef shines incredibly brightly. Follow this up with a maple sugar creme brulee with turbinado sugar and an espresso americano? Absolutely perfect.

🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write?

I love romance. I love shipping. I love writing love stories. They make me happy. I also enjoy writing fight scenes and hurt/comfort.

💖 — what was one of the greatest/happiest moments you’ve had in the rpc?

Technically not in the RPC, but related to it. I have had a Utah muse for years, and finally had a chance to visit Utah myself last summer. Interactions with locals affirmed a lot of the headcanons I've developed and touring museums affirmed that many of my historical theories about Gabriel were, in fact, accurate and plausible paths for a Personification of Utah.

[ripley-ryan]

i’ve been keeping kosher since i was like ten but one thing i do really miss and i don’t think i’ll ever get over is that like dried little shredded pork bits??

this stuff. as a kid sometimes id either hang out with my friend at her grandmas or hang out at her home and her grandma would be there and whenever someone made rice this would be there and it was so good. literally going kosher this was the hardest thing to give up

[kemetic-dreams]

All Abrahamic religions claim to be monotheistic, worshiping an exclusive God, although one who is known by different names. Each of these religions preaches that God creates, is one, rules, reveals, loves, judges, punishes, and forgives. 

However, although Christianity does not profess to believe in three gods—but rather in three persons, or hypostases, united in one essence—the Trinitarian doctrine, a fundamental of faith for the vast majority of Christian denominations, conflicts with Jewish and Muslim concepts of monotheism.

Since the conception of a divine Trinity is not amenable to tawhid, the Islamic doctrine of monotheism, Islam regards Christianity as variously polytheistic.

Judaism and Islam have strict dietary laws, with permitted food known as kosher in Judaism, and halal in Islam. These two religions prohibit the consumption of pork; Islam prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages of any kind. Halal restrictions can be seen as a modification of the kashrut dietary laws, so many kosher foods are considered halal; especially in the case of meat, which Islam prescribes must be slaughtered in the name of God. Hence, in many places, Muslims used to consume kosher food. However, some foods not considered kosher are considered halal in Islam.

With rare exceptions, Christians do not consider the Old Testament's strict food laws as relevant for today's church; see also Biblical law in Christianity. Most Protestants have no set food laws, but there are minority exceptions

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) embraces numerous Old Testament rules and regulations such as tithing, Sabbath observance, and Jewish food laws. Therefore, they do not eat pork, shellfish, or other foods considered unclean under the Old Covenant. The "Fundamental Beliefs" of the SDA state that their members "are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures".

Proselytism

Judaism accepts converts, but has had no explicit missionaries since the end of the Second Temple era.

Judaism states that non-Jews can achieve righteousness by following Noahide Laws, a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God[k] as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah"—that is, all of humanity. It is believed that as much as ten percent of the Roman Empire followed Judaism either as fully ritually obligated Jews or the simpler rituals required of non-Jewish members of that faith.

Christianity encourages evangelism. Many Christian organizations, especially Protestant churches, send missionaries to non-Christian communities throughout the world. See also Great Commission. Forced conversions to Catholicism have been alleged at various points throughout history. The most prominently cited allegations are the conversions of the pagans after Constantine; of Muslims, Jews and Eastern Orthodox during the Crusades; of Jews and Muslims during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, where they were offered the choice of exile, conversion or death; and of the Aztecs by Hernán Cortés. Forced conversions to Protestantism may have occurred as well, notably during the Reformation, especially in England and Ireland

[frownyalfred]

Hello! I’m not Jewish and I just learned about Pikuach Nefesh. Being Jewish yourself, I’m guessing you have a lot of thoughts on this and how it relates to Bruce’s no-kill policy. I’d be really interested in hearing them if you want to make a post!

Hey friend!

I absolutely have thoughts, but I must begin with a disclaimer:

My perspective does not cover all Jews, nor is it the authority on what is or isn't Jewish. I grew up Reform/Reconstructionist, in an ethnically Ashkenazi Jewish family, and these are just my thoughts as a Batman blog.

Another important note: different types of Jews hold the halacha (rules/principles) of Judaism to be far more important in their lives. An Orthodox Jew will observe halacha much more strictly than a Reform Jew. Despite what some people will tell you, this doesn't make either of them better. Just different.

Whew, okay. Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business.

What is Pikuach Nefesh?

In very general terms, Pikuach Nefesh (hard ch sound in the back of your throat) allows Jews to override other religious "rules" or values in the pursuit of preserving or saving a life.

A good example of this is a an Orthodox Jewish person, who, following halacha, will not drive or operate items with electricity during the Sabbath (Shabbat). But what happens if someone has a heart attack and they need to call 911? Pikuach Nefesh would permit them to use electricity, despite it being Shabbat.

If a Jewish person who keeps total kosher is in a situation where they will starve if they do not eat non-kosher food, they are permitted to eat non-kosher food.

Exceptions

There are some notable exceptions to Pikuach Nefesh, which I suspect is what your question is getting at. The threat to an individual's life generally has to be known, urgent, and not abstract.

Murder is another large exception, with some conditions. Generally, the intentional act of killing another person, or injuring them to the point where they might die from their injuries, is not an act that can be permitted by the principle of Pikuach Nefesh.

The slim exceptions to this include highly specific cases of self defense of oneself or another against an aggressor. One may kill to preserve a life in very strict situations, but they cannot murder. There are even times where killing is obligated, such as war.

So how does this relate to Batman/Bruce's no-killing rule?

Okay. So. I've had a lot of discussions with folks about this, and the answer I've learned is: it doesn't. Not really.

Pikuach Nefesh refers to the principle that a Jewish person should preserve life over almost any other rule or halacha. It does, actually, permit Bruce to kill under very specific situations. It does actually forbid him from gravely injuring people and doing so in the name of fighting against abstract threats, which are both things he does in canon.

The last time I wrote about this, I was definitely off about the details of Pikuach Nefesh in regard to Batman. I was corrected and I stand by that correction. I didn't grow up in the Orthodox faith and I don't observe much of their halacha, which is where a lot of religious theory questions arise from. I'm not an expert, and my explanation is only as deep as my own experience.

I think a good way of looking at Pikuach Nefesh is not as a way to define what, if any, killing is acceptable, but rather, what are we obligated to do to save a life?

The more important Jewish principle shaping Batman's ideology (in my opinion)

"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

This is much more of an important focal point for Bruce's Jewish-influenced ideology. The flipside of this quote, from the Talmud, is equally important: "Whoever kills one life, kills the world entire."

Bruce's no-killing rule is famously tied to his parents' deaths during his childhood. In a way, his entire world ended with their murder. He sees his mission to clean up Gotham as a way to prevent that loss from occurring for anyone else.

Saving one person, like he tells Barry in Justice League, is enough. That is a viciously Jewish thought. It is frequently quoted in reference to those who acted in support of Jews during the Holocaust, doing what little they could against a fountain of evil.

Conclusion

In that regard, yes -- Pikuach Nefesh tells us that preserving a life is the most important thing above all else. But Bruce's no-killing rule would swiftly be broken if he followed the principle of Pikuach Nefesh closely, in that he would a) likely have to kill someone in self-defense at some point in his duties and b) it would not allow him to injure or hurt people to the extent that he currently does in canon.

More importantly, Bruce's no-killing rule is a better reflection of the Talmudic quote that "he who saves/kills a life, has saved/killed a world entire."

It is not much of a stretch, in my opinion, to connect Bruce's trauma from losing his parents at young age to his outright refusal to kill later in life. The more interesting question, in my mind, is if the creation of this no-killing rule truly was shaped by Batman's Jewish creators and their view on life and death, especially post Holocaust.

Comics became more widely available during and after WWII and the Holocaust, during which time many -- many -- Jews entered the field as writers and artists. Their influences on the characters we see today are obvious, often intentionally Jewish, but just as often un-intentional.

Was Batman's no-killing rule a product of the post-WWII Jewish comic writers who shaped his character? Was it a coincidence that lined up well with the Talmud, but not necessarily all the conditions of Pikuach Nefesh?

How else does Batman represent, or not represent, the goal of Pikuach Nefesh (the necessity that a person act in the preservation of human life, above almost all else)?

[mariacallous]

A war stretching into its sixth month with no end in sight, more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas, nearly 120,000 evacuees from towns along the Gaza and Lebanon borders waiting to return home, and a sputtering economy. Any one of these issues should be enough to bring down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the greatest threat hanging over his government today is the question of whether the ultra-Orthodox should be conscripted into the military, an affair that has been simmering unresolved for more than 20 years.

At first glance, it might seem strange that in the Jewish state, the most intensely religious Jews refuse to serve in the military. But the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, have always had a problem with a Jewish state created by human action rather than by divine decree. To help win them over, Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, made a series of concessions to them around the time of independence in 1948, including exempting from conscription young men for whom “Torah is [their] occupation.” In other words, men spending their lives engaged in the study of religious texts.

It seemed like a minor issue at the time. Many Haredim were fighting in the war. Europe’s ultra-Orthodox community had been decimated by the Holocaust, and its numbers were tiny and expected to decline with assimilation. The total number who were to be exempted was about 400.

By the end of the 1990s, however, that concession no longer looked so minor. Thanks to an extraordinarily high birth rate, the Haredi population was growing rapidly. Today, it comprises about 13 percent of the population and by 2042 it may reach more than 20 percent, by the government’s own estimates. Meanwhile, state subsidies for the Haredim grew immensely after Menachem Begin and his Likud party took power in 1977, enabling the community to realize its ideal of a lifetime of Torah study for males. Even as they took money from the state, refusal to serve in the military became, for the Haredim, as sacrosanct as keeping kosher or the Sabbath.

The first serious challenge to this arrangement came in 1998, when the High Court of Justice ruled that it violated the legal principle of equality among Israelis—in this case, the “equality of burden” in regard to military service. That began a two-decade saga of legislation that failed to correct the problem, more court challenges, and foot-dragging. While the draft issue periodically became headline material, it quickly faded. Politicians from the left and the right were loath to touch the issue for fear of losing the support of Haredi political parties, which often hold the balance of power.

The fact that the controversy has suddenly been reignited is due to a confluence of events.

The first and most important is the war in Gaza, which has made the fact that some Israelis are fighting and dying while others are not more glaring than in many years past. Since Israeli ground forces entered Gaza in late October, more than 240 soldiers have been killed and thousands wounded. More reservists have been called up than at any time in the last 40 years. The sacrifice they have made has been underscored by the fact that most Israelis see the Gaza campaign and the fight with Hezbollah in the north as a war of survival unlike any the country has fought since the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The sense of national unity that emerged after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre has made it harder for the ultra-Orthodox to explain their unwillingness to share in the sacrifice.

That imperative for public sacrifice will not go away when the war ends. Oct. 7 has fundamentally altered Israel’s national security thinking of the last 20 years, which held that threats from Hamas and Hezbollah could be contained and that technology could replace boots on the ground. To ensure it has enough soldiers, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) plans to increase mandatory service and the number of days reservists may be called up every year. Even now, it is reportedly short some 7,000 soldiers in the standing army—which numbers around 170,000.

Before the war, the Netanyahu government promised the Haredi parties it would pass legislation shielding the Haredi exemption from future court challenges. Among the wilder ideas was to pass a quasi-constitutional law that equated Torah study with military service, thereby getting around the equality-of-burden problem. However, preoccupied with its judicial-overhaul drive, the government failed to act. Instead, the cabinet voted to give itself what has turned out to be an inauspicious deadline of March 31 to come up with a solution. It is now asking the High Court to give it another three months, but at a Feb. 26 hearing, the justices showed little sympathy for further delays. If they don’t extend the deadline, young Haredi men will, in principle, be liable for the draft starting April 1.

If Haredi political leaders recognize that the public’s attitude has changed, they have shown no signs of it. There was a brief flurry of news reports at the start of the war about ultra-Orthodox men signing up for military service, but it turned out to be overblown. The IDF’s Personnel Directorate told a Knesset committee last month that just 540 had actually enlisted. By comparison, a record 66,000 Haredim received an exemption over the past year. In a December survey of Haredim by the Jewish People Policy Institute, 70 percent said the war had not changed their opinion that they should be exempt (another 12 percent said they felt even more strongly about it). “We won’t agree to anything in regards to drafting yeshiva students. … Nobody can force us to abandon the Torah,” Rabbi Meir Zvi Bergman, an influential member of the rabbinical advisory panel of the United Torah Judaism party, vowed last weekend.

Haredi apologists offer up a variety of justifications for the draft exemptions. They claim that the military doesn’t actually need them and point out that many Haredim volunteer for civilian rescue services. Ultra-Orthodox rabbis contend that Torah study is no less important than military service because it ensures Israel’s divine protection.

But even many believers acknowledge that some of the men who shirk the draft are enrolled on paper in yeshivas but don’t actually study. The real reason the Haredi leaders fear the draft is that it threatens the barriers they have so carefully erected: In the military, young enlistees would encounter non-Haredim in a serious way for the first time in their lives; see the outside world; perhaps learn a useful skill or trade; and, worst of all, meet secular women. Many may never come back.

For Netanyahu, the Haredi case for exemption or the military’s personnel needs are secondary at best. What concerns him is keeping his coalition intact. If the two ultra-Orthodox parties quit over the draft and take their 18 Knesset seats, the coalition won’t survive. Yet Netanyahu cannot, as he has in the past, assume his party and far-right coalition partners will do as commanded. Ordinarily spineless Likud backbenchers have said that a solution involving at least some Haredim being drafted is unavoidable. Even Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an extreme rightist sympathetic to ultra-Orthodox interests, has picked up on the change. “The current situation is outrageous and cannot continue,” he said during a visit to a yeshiva for more moderate Orthodox students who do enlist.

In the end, most of these renegades will fall in line with Netanyahu; they, too, are focused on their political survival. But that may not be true in the case of the National Unity, a centrist party that joined the coalition at the start of the war, and in the case of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a Likud politician. Gallant laid down the gauntlet on Feb. 28 when he said he would not back any conscription bill that did not have National Unity’s support. The party has laid out a relatively moderate plan for drafting Haredim, but nothing Haredi leaders would ever consent to.

As a result, Netanyahu is boxed in. On the one side is Haredi obduracy; on the other, Gallant’s position raises the risk of National Unity and even Gallant leaving the coalition if they don’t get what they want. Technically, the prime minister doesn’t need National Unity or Gallant to stay in power. But their exit from the coalition would leave him in a difficult position, running a complicated war with mostly inexperienced and extremist ministers. The Haredim may feel boxed in as well, in which case they might force an early election—as a way of buying time. A caretaker government would not be allowed to deal with such a critical issue, putting it off until the formation of a new government.

Netanyahu may try to kick the can again by giving the High Court a plan for a Haredi draft that looks good on paper but is designed to fail. If it’s vague enough and impractical in the long run, the Haredim might be willing to go with it. The problem is that in the post-Oct. 7 reality, almost no one else would accept it.

[batboyblog]

Okay you may ignore this question so dearly because I can freely admit this can chalk up to my personal religious-political ignorance on how things truly operate so I apologize in advance;

Regarding Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, since he holds the highest office in the land that’s been long regarded as the Holy Land for both the Jewish people and faith, does he have influence over the faith akin to how Pope Francis at Vatican City has the influence over the Roman Catholic Christian faith (to which I belong too but I digress) Or is Netanyahu’s office a purely secular position with no tangible influence on the faith?

Again this is purely my complete utter ignorance on this subject and I offer all my sincerest apologies

Short answer: No the Prime Minster of Israel has no religious function or influence.

For one thing Judaism unlike Catholicism is not a top down religion with one agreed on "head" who can make rulings that all Jews agree to. So While there's a Chief Rabbi of Israel (actually there are two) his rulings are unlikely to be even be noticed by American Jews, and if any do its out of respect for the Rabbi's learning not so much his office and the power of it.

For another thing, for millennia, Jews have believed and hoped for a coming Messiah who would unite the Jews and return us all to the Land of Israel and found a Kingdom there etc. From time to time since the exile waves of Jews would go to the holy land believing the moment was at hand. In the 19th Century some Jews who had become more secular but hadn't given up on the dream started talking about maybe a secular political movement could return the Jews to the land, they also felt with rising violence against Jews in Eastern Europe that a safe place for the Jews was needed. All this crystalized into the Zionist movement around Theodor Herzl and his book "The Jewish State" in 1896 and the first Zionist Congress in 1897.

Herzl himself was very Secular, and the generation of leaders that came after his death in 1904 were more secular and the Zionist movement quickly became socialists. Soon there was a pretty strong conflict between Zionists and ultra Orthodox Rabbis. The Zionists felt like over strict obedience to the laws of Torah had made the Jews in exile passive. The Rabbis had long rejected ANY involvement in secular government, fearing angering the Gentiles. Indeed to this day there are ultra Orthodox who feel that the only defense of the Jews is the study of Torah and the involvement of Jews in politics is not Kosher, a leading Rabbi, Yitzchok Sorotzkin, called on Jews not to rally against antisemitism in Washington last month (500,000 did any ways) but study Torah

Understandably the Holocaust greatly changed the relationship on both sides with many homeless and stateless Jews settling in the new state of Israel after 1948. But the founding generation of Israel remained very secular and socialist and the Religious Jews remaining at best lukewarm to cool toward the state and many using the term "Non-Zionist" or even "Anti-Zionist" As the founding generation of Israel left power in the 1970s and secular socialist Labor Party became less dominant relationships between the state and the Religious has slowly warmed and Israel's political class has become less defiantly secular for better or worse. In 2021 Naftali Bennett became Israel's first prime minster to wear a kippah regularly.

Before I wrap up, I should note that while the Prime Minster is a secular job with no religious role or influence. Israel is not a purely secular state the way the US is. Family Law (marriage, divorce, child custody) are governed religiously. Meaning there are judges paid by the state who are religious experts who rule on divorce cases and other family law matters, and that representatives of the faiths are the only people who can marry people. There are a number of religions recognized by the state, Judaism of course, Islam, the Druze (an important Religious-Ethinic minority in Israel) and a number of branches of Christianity. As part of that there's an officially recognized Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which has two Chief Rabbis, one Ashkenazi one Sephardi. Together they can make rulings on "who is a Jew" which determines if a group might immigrant to Israel, they also oversee who is licensed as a Rabbi and oversee the Jewish Courts that rule on divorce and the like. As a religious body that is supported by the state and has real powers in it, its very controversial both in Israel itself and among American Jews who tend to be much more liberal religiously than Israeli Jews who are religious. There's not much space for liberal religion in Israel its very Secular=liberal religious=conservative

Also while Israelis can't get civilly marriage in Israel (so no interfaith or gay marriages) the state is required to recognize any marriage carried out overseas so for generations secular Israelis and interfaith couples have taken vacations to nearby Cyprus to get married and in the 21st century Zoom weddings were recognized leading to a boom of gay marriages by Zoom officiated from Utah of all places

[nullbutler]

okay but jewish orthodox communities are fucking nothing like catholic/christian groups of that nature AT ALL

source: I visit Muncy to see family and have seen that family since i was very small, i KNOW this community

and specifically this community...this community where the women cover their hair and wear ankle length skirts, where the men have payot and wont be caught dead withous a tallis, THIS Community where every resturaunt is kosher and you'll be squinted at if you drive on shabbat, THIS COMMUNITY has been so chill. for context i usually stay with my grandparents where we spend all day at an old folks home. not only is most of the staff dedicated, smiley folk from all over the world (jamaican, ukrainian, probably coming in from new york -- not really worth mentioning but they're all so nice and JKLD my grandma's old nurse didnt do half of her job and they still kept her for a year which :( but also yeah!! no xenophobia that i could pick up on, quite the opposite) but even some of the oldest members of the community decide not to follow the religious 'rule.' old ladies will wear pants, shorter skirts, reveal their hair, and they will recieve NO flack for it FROM ANYONE

and when i was sitting outside one time next to a group of old ladies, one of the ladies had a little 1 year old grandson who was bored out of his mind, so as I was waiting for my grandma to get back from a walk i sorta played peekabo with him for the better half of an hour. and the ladies looked over at me and went "oh how nice of you ^^" even though I was (1 very obviously queer (2 very obviously not from the community

and also after my grandma outed me to my slightly more religious aunt (as in EXTREMELY religious WILDLY religious MATRIACH of the community religious), her response was just "shrug. she'll do what she wants. lets get dinner as a family :)"

they almost all have phones, MOST people have access to the internet. it felt like I was walking through the 80s, honestly, kids playing with chalk on the sidewalk and riding bikes and walking to the convenient stores. the biggest drama was the fact that my boy cousin wanted to impress the people he was going to camp with, so he asked his sister to drive over and bring his 'cool' pants, and she was like...'what. why.' 'i want to look cool' 'is everyone wearing dress pants' 'no, just me' 'wh' and she did it anyway so she could pick up icecream on the way back HJGJLDS

and even my littlest cousin, who is very obviously autistic, definitely isn't recieving any school mandated support but is handled with the loving community approach of "oh, let him do as he pleases, he means no harm" and if anyone bullies him they have to deal with his parents

its just AAAAGH its so wholesome, and even as far the more conservative approaches go, its more of a dartboard than a specific community rule. like for instance even if the people nearest to the center of the board were extremely strict with the rules and narrow minded, the people in the outer ranks would be much more accepting. its like different social circles, you cant get ostracized by the entire community because everyone has different levels that they're willing to go, and to everyone in the area its more unusual to be as extreme as my aunt

AHGHHHHH college is making me long for a simpler life drawing chalk on the sidewalks and living in blissful ignorance of what fandom drama is. TAKE ME BAAAACK

[magnetothemagnificent]

Random but is artificial/lab-cultured meat kosher?

It's complicated.

First, there are a lot of potential Halakhic issues we need to dissect:

-Ever Min HaChai: The prohibition against consuming meat from an animal that is still alive. Currently, "lab-cultured meat" utilyzes cells from a still living animal. Would that be considered eating flesh from a live animal? How small a quanitity of live cells would it have to be to not constitute Ever Min HaChai?

-Is the "source" animal kosher/ fit for consumption?: If the animal isn't kosher, how small would the amount of cells have to be that they're not regarded?

-Mar'it Ayin: The custom to not do something that might appear as doing an Averah so as to not lead others astray. If the artificial meat, whether or not it's just really good plant-based imitation or lab-grown, looks like inherently non-kosher meat like pork, would it constitute as Mar'it Ayin for a kosher-keeping Jew to eat? If a kosher-keeping Jew is seen eating it, would we have to worry that someone would think it's actually pork, and be led astray?

These are some of the many discussions that are taking place among Halakhic authorities.

With that in mind, "lab-cultured meat" hasn't yet been released for general consumption, and is still in the experimental stage. The Halakhic status of "lab-cultured meat" is still up for debate, because it's extremely complicated. It's at the moment, a very deep Makhloket- Halakhic debate.

"Impossible Pork", highly realistic plant-based "pork", has been ruled as non-kosher by the Orthodox Union because of concerns of Mar'it Ayin. The ingrediants in "Impossible Pork" are kosher, and indeed other "Impossible" products are certified kosher, but the Orthodox Union would not give its certification. Whether other kashrut agencies will certify it remains to be seen.

Now, my personal opinion: I'm vegetarian. I'm also very much aware of the laws of Ever Min HaChai. For myself, I don't think I'd eat "lab-cultured meat". I don't eat meat anyway, so I don't really have any desire to have meat. It just feels halakhically grey and icky to me, too. But, that's my personal choice, and "lab-cultured meat" isn't on the market yet, and I'm by no means a halakhic authority.

Sources and further reading material:

Is Lab-Grown Meat Kosher?

Is Cultivated Meat Kosher or Halal?

Halachic Insights into Genetically Engineered Meat

Impossible Pork Won’t Be Certified as Kosher

Ever Min Ha-Hai

Marit Ayin: Avoiding the Appearance of Violating the Law

[bringmemyrocks]

On being "more religious"

This post was inspired interaction with orthodox-leaning conservative Jews who measure everything by the standards of Orthodoxy and by a blog post by CrazyJewishConvert, whose page is currently under construction. Archived link here. Text from Hillel: If not now, When? by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin:

...[I[f two Jews are speaking about a third, and one of them asks if the person being discussed is religious, the answer is invariably based on the person's level of ritual, not ethical, observance. "He keeps kosher, he keeps Shabbat; yes, he is religious," or "She doesn't keep kosher, she doesn't keep Shabbat; no, she's not religious." It is virtually inconceivable that you would overhear the following conversation: 

"Is so-and-so religious?" "Oh, definitely." "How do you know?" "Because he's very careful never to embarrass anyone, particularly in public. And he always judges other people favorably."

Conversations such as this simply don't happen. Religiosity today - and perhaps even during Hillel's time - is assessed on the basis of ritual observance. If a Jew is known not to observe Shabbat or kashrut, that individual is regarded as nonreligious, even if his or her ethical behavior is exemplary and is based on what the ethics of the Torah and Talmud demand of him. In such a case, people might say, "Unfortunately, he is not religious, but he's a wonderful person." On the other hand, if a person keeps Shabbat and kashrut, but violates, for example, Jewish laws on business ethics or, in violation of the Torah, speaks unfairly and inappropriately of others, it wouldn't occur to people to say that such a person is not religious. Rather, they might say, "He's religious, but unfortunately he's not ethical."

I would also add that even among people who are more ritually observant (kashrut, keeping shabbat, TH, etc.) there are still differences, and being machmir (extra observant) looks totally different depending on the community, including within orthodoxy.

Not only can we argue that "more religious" does not have to mean "more observant", but what "more observant" even means starts to break down once you examine the orthodox world more closely.

For example, no Jew would take up all of the following practices because they would be contradictory, as they come from different communities:

Daily mikveh immersion (common among men in some hasidic communities)

Studying hasidic texts or following a particular rebbe in the hasidic tradition (Tanya, Likutei Moharan, etc. depending on the hasidic community)

Keeping cholov yisrael (extremely strict kosher dairy observance that R. Moshe Feinstein, followed by many orthodox Jews, ruled was unnecessary). There's an idea among liberal Jews (and even some conservative ones) that more restrictions = more religious, or at least more restrictions = more observant. That simply isn't the case.

Excluding kitniyot over passover if they're not ashkenazi. No matter how religious this person is, if they are sephardic and live in a sephardic community, giving up kitniyot is not sign of additional observance. More restrictions =/= more religious ("machmir").

Holding by sephardic rules (no eggs, no sugar) when making challah if they're ashkenazi/living in an ashkenazi community.

Minhag (community custom) matters a great deal.

So even if we agree that "more religious" = "more observant" rather than "more religious" = "more ethical", the distinctions only carry you so far. Observance is not an either/or decision, even if you agree that orthodoxy is correct.

You can argue "halachah=/=minhag" when it comes to issues of challah, but especially with issues of cholov yisrael, that distinction is blurred to the point of non-existence.

Because if you decide that orthodoxy is correct and all other forms of Judaism should measure themselves in relation to it, you still have to decide which orthodoxy you're measuring by.

[jasperjv]

Hey man I was just reading a thread of you and another blog arguing about Israel (frankly the thread was a shitshow and I couldn't find it in my heart to reblog it) but you said at one point that veganism is kosher, and I don't know if you're Jewish, but I just wanted to correct you on that.

Pure veganism is a myth. I call myself vegan, but it's not possible to cut out animal products or cruelty altogether - for example, migratory bee farming is used to pollinate many vegetable crops, beeswax is used in processing and storing fruits, calcium carbinate (used as a ripening agent for fruits) is sometimes sourced from the shells of oysters and molluscs, and pesticides are almost universally necessary (including, despite what many people think, in organic farming).

These things are mostly ignored by vegans because of the impracticality of trying to avoid them, but that's generally ok! because veganism is more of a philosophy to minimize harm than a rule of law to eliminate it.

But kashrut are laws, and depending on your denomination, there's less flexibility if you want to keep kosher.

Wine is the obvious one. It sometimes isn't kosher even if it's vegan. They have a whole kosher certification body that oversees the production of wine. By extension, vinegar and grape products are often not kosher.

This is partly because pests are taken into consideration when determining the kosher status of plant foods - especially if they're organic.

Organic farming is generally more likely to be kosher because they use fewer products to treat and process the crops, but it has the drawback of using less effective pesticides and is non-GMO (meaning less resistant to disease and infestation) so there's a greater chance of insects being inside the food you're purchasing. Things like lettuce, broccoli and brussel sprouts are especially susceptible to this. For some Jews keeping kosher, this might necessitate them preparing the food themselves and paying extra attention to washing.

Figs can also have dissolved wasps inside them and I'm sure there are Jewish scholars out there who've spent months debating the kosher status of figs. I would personally consider them vegan but not kosher, because in this case the lifecycle of the wasp is natural rather than farmed.

In any case, kashrut don't just apply to the foodstuffs themselves but often the circumstances around their preparation. To a strictly observant Orthodox Jew who follows Bishul Akum, a vegan meal can be non-kosher simply because it was cooked by a non-Jew. Another well-known example is that chametz (leavened bread) isn't kosher during Passover.

Of course YMMV as to where you draw the line, but my point is: vegan doesn't automatically mean kosher. I'd encourage anyone interested to read about eco-kashrut. It's a movement to incorporate environmentalism into Jewish life, built on the philosophy that 21st century interpretations of Halacha should promote the preservation of life and the natural world.

Have a nice day & sorry for the infodump.

Interesting. Thanks!

[hindahoney]

Hey, I go to a combined Liberal and Reform shul and wanted to debunk some of those misconceptions on your post.

Being Reform/Liberal is not at all, even slightly, about level of observance. We have many, many men in kippot and tzitzit with payot who come to our synagogue to pray every single week. We wear kippot out and about in town, we wear Magen David proudly. We sing our prayers with all of the life and vigour of any Jews. Many of the people who pray with us also attend classes with the rabbi twice per week, in their own free time. I personally study Talmud and biblical Hebrew with my Reform rabbi every week. We have people who keep kosher extremely strictly, more than people who don't. Jewish history is hugely important to us and we honour our ancestors every single day.

Reform Judaism is just about having slightly different values to Orthodox. In shul, we are taught that the difference between us and Orthodox Jews is that Reform Judaism adapts expectations of Jewish people to be reasonable for living in the modern world, whereas Orthodox values tradition and keeping things the exact same way they have been for thousands of years. The rules about electricity use on Shabbat are loosened to allow people with hearing aids to be spoken to, to allow powered wheelchair users to leave their homes, to make sure every Jew has the opportunity to get in touch with their emergency contacts. There is no "better" or "worse" denomination, only ones that fit each individual Jew best, if any.

We still abide by kosher and the teachings of Torah, but we do not place pressure on other Jews to do the same. We do not shun or scold others for not abiding by these laws, and are open-minded to the possibility that they have very good reasons for not doing so.

We adapt some traditional ceremonies, such as holding a B'nei Mitzvah for non-binary children, and adapting conversion ceremonies for trans and non-binary adults. Jewish law is much more de-gendered in a Reform setting, with the same expectations and freedoms afforded to both men and women. Many of us choose to keep to traditional gendered roles and expressions, but queer Jews are celebrated even though they are different.

We are absolutely not Jewish "in name alone". A Jew is a Jew is a Jew. Some of us are very very religious and frum, others are not, but every Jew is always welcome at our shul, because this is a community space that does not ask any Jew to 'prove' they are Jewish enough to join in with our customs, and pray with us during service.

I am disabled and queer, and due to my circumstances I must choose how to live my life Jewishly in a way that suits me. I would not be able to do nearly as many mitzvot if I tried to meet Orthodox standards -- because my needs for care and assistance would break the laws of shabbat, and I could not live up to gendered Orthodox standards very easily as a non-binary person. This is why I choose to pray at a Reform/Liberal synagogue instead of an Orthodox one -- I am more able to do mitzvot in a Reform/Liberal context. While I know there are many Orthodox synagogues that would accept me anyway, it's always a case of trying to work out which congregations I can feasibly become part of, whereas with Reform Judaism I know that I will almost never find any difficulty or judgement.

Being Reform is just another way of practicing Judaism. It isn't lesser, and it isn't less serious, or less religious, or less frum. Really, we are just like you. I think the world would be better with less segregation between denominations. Anti-Orthodox sentiment makes me sad, but I very rarely encounter Orthodox Jews who respect Reform Judaism for what it is. A lot of us don't feel safe in Orthodox synagogues because we are shunned there.

I understand feeling more comfortable in a reform shul because of their gender or sexual identity. Though it has changed pretty drastically in the past few decades and there are many more groups to help gender non conforming and queer people feel more comfortable in orthodox spaces, there are still many who hold strongly to gendered traditions.

However, I need to point out that orthodox Jews do still wear hearing aids and use motorized wheelchairs and pacemakers. If it is a medical necessity it is permitted. In any case, I do not forsee anyone judging someone else for using a medical device on Shabbat.

Thank you for sharing. I do feel like this cleared things up for me!

[collapsedsquid]

The Haredi parties had until recently championed some of the most unpopular measures of the judicial shakeup, including the “override clause” allowing the Knesset to ignore court rulings with a simple-majority vote, the Deri law, the bills strengthening religious courts and allowing hospitals to prohibit non-kosher food on Passover. Then, all of a sudden, they seemed to be working ferociously to stall and stymie the coalition, to tone down the rhetoric and pressure Netanyahu and other right-wing figures to seek a compromise. [...] Rulings on the military draft — the court’s canceling of several compromises reached in the Knesset over the question of drafting young Haredi men to the IDF — made the court’s power and activism a burning question in ordinary households. Court rulings limiting state subsidies to schools that refuse to teach core curriculum subjects like math and English have had a similar effect, convincing a great many ordinary Haredim that the court is an instrument of liberal social engineering that tears at the fabric of their society.

Was wondering how the judicial reform thing related to the Haredi draft issue, the position of this piece is that they flipped against reform only once it became clear that it wouldn't be total and they might get kicked out of the coalition

[real-shul-stories]

An Alaskan Altar

Guy calls from Alaska two days before Rosh Hashanah. He said he went with his friends to become B’nai Noah (a noahide, or christian who wants to become Jewish but doesn’t want to put in the actual work of conversion and just wants a gold star for showing up), and the ceremony was performed by a rabbi.

After becoming b’nai noah, the guy called up his second cousin, who is a modern orthodox kosher certification rabbi for slaughterhouses. I’m not entirely sure how we got from point A to point B, but his cousin pointed out that a noahide could build and maintain an alter for ritual slaughter anywhere (Jews can’t do ritual slaughter unless the temple is rebuilt, but noahides apparently aren’t bound by those rules).

So now this guy is trying to get an altar built in Alaska and was wondering if anyone in the Jewish community in our city would be interested in getting the animal sacrifice part of Judaism going again.

Some notes: He initially asked if a rabbi was available. I told him that 2 days before a major holiday was a pretty bad time to get ahold of a rabbi. He responded that he knows, but wanted to speak to a rabbi anyway.

I also checked to confirm whether he was actually trying to reach us and not the Beth Shalom that I know is up in Alaska but he actually was looking for us.

[wouldnt-it-be-hilarious-if-i]

Books to Read (Judaism Edition)

Currently listening to: Melting by Kali Uchis

Judaism

It's a Mitzvah! By Bradley Shavit Artson

The Outsider's Guide To Orthodox Judaism by Rabbi Arnie Singer

Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant

Choosing a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends by Anita Diamant

A Short History of the Jewish People by Raymond P. Scheindlin

The Complete Tanakh (Tanach)

The Jewish Holidays by Michael Strassfeld

Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History by Joseph Telushkin

Notes

One thing about me is I have the attention span of a well-fed rat. So, I definitely can't promise I'll read all of these immediately. But I identified a few things I thought I could learn more about and decided to add them to a list of books that came up on my fyp on tiktok.

I follow a lot of orthodox Jews on there, and for some reason, it's not something I ever thought about before they started coming up on my fyp. But I find a lot of their traditions and rules very fascinating, so I thought I'd include a short guide on the basics so that I can understand what they're talking about.

Two of the creators I see most on there are Melinda Strauss and Miriam Ezagui. I find their content to be some of the most fascinating because if I'm being entirely honest here, I have almost never seen orthodox Jews outside of science fiction or historical fiction. And that's not because it's super common to see orthodox Jews in sci-fi. It's just because the first time I remember ever learning anything about it was actually on the X-Files.

I learned a strange amount about Judaism from the X-Files, now that I think about it. Because that's also where I first learned about golems. Anyway, I find these two women incredibly fascinating also because they share and explain so many things I straight up just never would have never thought about.

Recently, I think Melinda's daughter, Nora, had her bat mitzvah and it was the cutest one I've ever seen. I see a lot of Jewish creators on my fyp outside of these two, and there was one girl who was rating all the bat mitzvah t-shirts she had gotten over the years. It's a super funny series because she's a really funny person, but it reminded me of the amount of people who have shown their bat mitzvahs on tiktok and also just on other apps as well, and whenever I think about it (which isn't very often but definitely whenever I see any of Melinda's videos now), I cannot get over how cute Nora's was. It was like this super cute 80s/lightning bolt theme? The colors were like pink and black, I think. Very girly. But the t-shirts and everything were so cute.

Anyway, Melinda also goes really into detail about what is kosher and what isn't, talks about all the different rules of Shabbos, and all the different religious observances. It's so cool. Miriam is similar. Her daughters are much younger, but the videos she post really show her life as an orthodox Jewish woman. She talks a lot about marriage. One of the most fascinating things to me was learning about the wigs. It confused the fuck out of me at first because I was thinking it was like a modesty thing, but apparently it's not.

I am also really interested in reading the torah. Y'all have no idea how shook I was when I saw a real one for the first time. My friend showed me and I was like ITS A SCROLL???????? Shook. Like I actually can't name anything else that shocked me more than that. I don't know why but I just wasn't expecting that. But anyway, I found an online translation into English and I'm super interested in it.

Before I stop myself from writing anymore, I was thinking earlier about how when I was a child, I wanted to convert. I was a very serious Catholic, but I think I had a lot of trouble with my faith. So, I remember asking my mom if I had to be Christian and if I could be Jewish instead. She didn't say no. She just ask me if I really believed Jesus wasn't the son of God and if I was really ready to give up Christmas.

The question always freaked me out so badly as kid because the very question felt a tiny bit like I might go to hell for saying anything short of yes. So, I'd just let it go. But I came back to that question a lot throughout my childhood and teen years. Now I really just like to learn as much as I can because I am very passionate about being a good ally to my Jewish friends, and because I lowkey have a type and I do not want to keep sounding like a total dumbass whenever I talk to Jewish girls.

The main things I want to work on learning about are 1). keeping kosher (what is and isn't kosher) because I really want to cook for my friends but I want to stay respectful and ask them what is okay but also have a general idea of what is okay and what isn't. 2). Understanding the nuances of Israel (and Palestine) in politics and in Jewish communities. This topic always makes me so nervous bc I have absolutely no idea where to start and every single time it comes up in conversation people expect me to already have an opinion on it. 3) Knowing more about some of the basics: How to act in synagogue, what to say on the different holidays, what each holiday entails, etc.

My next reading list will be for books about Islam!

[whatmakesagod]

Creating a Fantasy Religion

First things first:

What do you want your religion to be? Deism? Polytheism or monotheism? Is there a messiah in this world? Or messiahs? Prophets?

What about animism? Or shamanism?

It's better to have multiple faiths running around, but you can have the same faith with multiple sects as well.

Christianity, for example, has who knows how many different sects all over the world, from Roman Catholic to Greek Orthodox to American Evangelical to Japanese Hidden Christians, there are a variety of interpretations of the Bible and the words of Christ.

I'd highly suggest looking into different sects of Buddhism and Judaism to get a feel for how culture and faith can influence each other as a starting place. Islam, Shintoism, Hinduism, and a variety of pagan faiths are also great to look into.

What is religion going to influence?

The short answer is everything. Absolutely everything can be touched by faith.

Many faiths (umbrella term without getting into sects) has different rules regarding food. More traditional Catholics eat fish on Fridays instead of meat. Hindus do not eat beef and Muslims and Jewish people not only do not eat pork, but have some strict rules for the foods they can and cannot eat (halal and kosher, respectively).

What about clothes? Islam has a dress code regarding modesty and facial hair. Judaism has rules regarding certain textiles.

Government? Historically, popes crowned kings. In Japan, it is custom for the new king to spend a night alone in a private ceremony with the sun kami Amaterasu, which no one else may witness (whether or not this is religion is a tricky question, but it did start when Shintoism was more viewed as a faith. Please look up the aftermath of WWII on Shintoism for more information). In Denmark, their flag is so old that it's believed it was given to them by God.

OK, what about holidays?

Here's the fun thing: not all holidays (holy-days) have to come from faith. Japan has a holiday that's Respect for the Aged Day and summer vacation in America is as long as it is because of farming and children needing time to help their parents. But winter vacation is because of Christmas and spring break is due to Easter. If you take Christianity away, these were taken from Norse pagan traditions.

And what about days off? Sunday is the day of rest for Christians and that is reflected in the work week in Christian cultures, same with Fridays in many Muslim countries.

One thing to keep in mind is that faith is just as alive and breathing as language is. It can adapt over time or it can remain the same. We can look at it and say 'well, they didn't have X back then, so we need to consider that we have X now' and other faiths may say 'no. We were given everything we need to know centuries ago.' The Catechism of the Catholic Church is, essentially, a bible for the Catholic Church's stance on a variety of topics and the reasoning behind it.

Once you have your faith established, what are the rituals and traditions? What is prayer like? Is it public or private? Is it at a temple, a shrine, a cathedral? Or is it at home? What happens with babies?

How does this relate to your MC?

One thing to consider is whether or not your characters are believers or not. If they aren't believers, why? Many people turn from faith due to a terrible experience and some people never believe. Some people grow up without faith and turn to it as adults. And there's always going to be different reactions.

For instance, say that you have a small island nation that worships an ocean deity. A great tsunami comes and wipes out half of the population. Some of the culture might turn away from faith entirely, because why would the god they worship kill so many of them and is that a god worth believing in? And others might turn further to faith, potentially leading to extremism or new practices being developed to guarantee that it never happens again. And is it just a force of nature and this god doesn't exist or was this an act of a higher power?

Which leads into the next part: does this higher power actually exist if you are using deism?

And, I think that can be up to individual interpretation. You do not have to confirm or deny whether or not the deities exist even if a lot of fantasy does like to do so. It can be up in the air. But it's important to reflect on whether or not you MC(s) own faith changes throughout the narrative and what that means for them.

For animism and shamanism, specifically:

Do your characters believe that all mountains and forests have a spirit or is this regulated to only the oldest trees and the tallest mountains?

What about weather? Or natural phenomena?

What is the role of the shaman in this society?

As an added note, many animism and shamanistic practices come from Indigenous societies, so please be aware of what might be closed practices when doing research and be prepared to get a sensitivity reader if you borrow too heavily from one group's practices just as you would for characters whose sexuality or race you do not share.

If you want a world without faith at all, you will probably need to contend with how religion effects culture in some manner. Every little thing will need to be examined including, but not limited to:

Social taboos, laws, work weeks, swear words, holidays, and more.

It will take a lot of work to go back and consider why certain things exist and whether or you really want to remove it, because, why would everyone just agree that Monday is the day of rest if there is no spiritual reason? Culture? OK, but where does it come from? Why Monday, specifically? The government decided? OK. But how will holidays work with no spiritualism? Will it only be based on the government? Who legitimizes the government? If there is no divine right of kings and no popes and no shamans, how does it work? Even secular states tend to have religious social and cultural structures.

And I do think a completely areligious fantasy world can be done, but it will take a lot of examination of social structures we take for granted for it to be truly areligious.

This is all to get your mind thinking about how faith, spiritualism, religion, etc. no matter which direction you go, can have deep impacts on the world you make. There are few things that are as universal as a form of spiritualism existing around the world. All known societies have religious beliefs and practices, so your fantasy world will feel more alive if you have religion somewhere, breathing, living, even if your MC does not subscribe to it.