But not that ritual, nor that approximation

Solstice, mid-30s. Agender, asexual, they/them. Pagan. Jew. Witch. The three previous facts are unrelated to one another.

[ignorethisatyourperil]

[astra-the-dragon]

the old 'what if the world was made of pudding'

[notaplaceofhonour]

what I love about that last rebuttal is it almost certainly took more time and effort to go and get two different goat cheeses than any simple verbal answer would have lol.

“hold on, this question is so ridiculous I need props to deal with it”

[lawbreaker13]

Asking rabbis questions still goes like this by the way

[evergreen-femme]

im just so happy i live in a time period where actual meaningful biological transition is possible. even if we lose rights or the ability to exist in public, nothing can turn back the clock on that, and just by having any sort of access to that our lives are made immensely better. millions of our sisters throughout history would never have dreamed of a day where they could have what HRT does for us.

please don't lose the plot of this. if you're a trans person on HRT you're a living miracle, the dream of hundreds of millions of your ancestors. your lives are all deeply meaningful no matter what anyone says.

[t4t4t]

תפילה להפך – מאבן בֹחן | Prayer for Transformation, from the poem "Even Boḥan" by Rabbi Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir (1322) • the Open Si

A prayer by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus ben Meir that appears in his poem ספר אבן בוחן, יג Sefer Even Boḥan (§13), describing the author's wish t

[unabashedllamamusic]

Cursed be the one who announced to my father: “It’s a boy!"... ...How could he twist the course of the stars so much? How could he have erred so in his astrology? A lying tongue, a fool’s mouth it had given him For he foolishly transformed justice to poison He altered the law and transposed the lines

Oh, but had the artisan who made me created me instead – a worthy woman... ...I would say "how lucky am I"

Father in heaven who did miracles for our ancestors with fire and water... ...Who would then transform me from a man to woman? Were I only to have merited this being so graced by goodness...

What shall I say? why cry or be bitter? If my father in heaven has decreed upon me and has maimed me with an immutable deformity then I do not wish to remove it. the sorrow of the impossible is a human pain that nothing will cure and for which no comfort can be found. So, I will bear and suffer until I die and wither in the ground. Since I have learned from our tradition that we bless both, the good and the bitter I will bless in a voice hushed and weak: blessed are you [HaShem] who has not made me a woman.

I think I'm gonna go lay down for a little while.

[the-indigo-symphony]

A very disturbing number of people on here are like "Yeah, I support Jews! I just refuse to learn anything about Jewish history or culture even when it's extremely relevant to the conversation, I misuse Jewish terminology in the same way people who very openly wanted (or still want) to kill all Jews misused it, and I take everything about supporting or showing sympathy for Jews in bad faith! Antisemites DNI btw lol"

[ccrushpuppy]

i would like to project these words into the minds of Every Jew in the world

[postarcadian]

generally I try to tread lightly re: neopaganism/reconstructionist European paganism on here but I do think that its false claims to historicity have done a lot of damage when it comes to people understanding what e.g. early modern witch hunting and the Spanish Inquisition were actually about. and I think it’s important for practitioners of modern paganism, as well as people in general, to acknowledge the fact that modern western and southern European reconstructionist paganisms are fundamentally a product of 19th-early 20th century Romanticism, with all of the baggage that that entails. they cannot be practiced in a way that is not inflected with that history, any more than Christianity can be practiced in a way that is not inflected with its own history.

*this is obviously not to say I don’t think people should practice said religious traditions, or find meaning in them! there are plenty of other religious traditions worldwide that are also products of the 19th century (Mormonism is the obvious one that springs to mind, but the Baháʼí Faith also traces its history to the 19th century, among many others). but the neo- in neopaganism is doing a lot of work.

[nonbinaryjudean]

antisemites will really look at you and say “erasure of jewish history isn’t antisemitic” and expect you to agree

[teaboot]

I will forever maintain that genuine fortune-telling and psychic medium junk is a load of bull, but as a person who owns tarot decks and regularly uses them as a tool for self-reflection I also have to admit that it does kind of work for that and it's very very funny when it does

Once I laid out some cards before I left the house and couldn't figure out an interpretation of the symbolism that made sense outside of "stop focusing and pay attention", which was of course absurd, so I was puzzling over that all the way to my bus stop and was so distracted the whole time that I walked face-first into a massive fucking spiderweb

[teaboot]

It always hits so good

[chutzpahchesed]

It is impossible not to be antisemitic

The miracle of Jewish survival is also its burden: that it requires, in every generation, the performance of a lifetime.

You must remember the Holocaust, but not invoke it too readily, because that is manipulation. You must acknowledge Jewish suffering, but not center it, because other people are suffering too. You must be a minority deserving of protection, but not that kind of minority, not in the way that counts, because you are also somehow powerful. You must be powerless enough to deserve sympathy and powerful enough to deserve suspicion, and you must impossibly manage the distance between those two positions.

You must have no homeland, because nationalism is a retrograde idea. But you must also not be too attached to the homeland you do have. You must support a state that has the right to exist, but whose existence you may not defend too vigorously, and whose history you must narrate only in the way that others find acceptable. You must mourn your dead, and the dead of your enemies, and you must mean it.

You are told that antisemitism is a problem of the far right. When it comes from the left, it is called criticism. When it comes from the street, it is called resistance. When it points to you specifically, in your neighborhood, at your institution, on your campus, it is called a "response" to something you did, or something others who share your identity did, which is more or less the same thing. This is precisely the logic that antisemitism has always used, and you are not supposed to name it, because naming it is considered inflammatory.

You must be a light unto the nations, but you must not be too visible while doing it. You must contribute to every society you enter, and you have, but you must not take up too much space. You must integrate completely and also preserve an identity that, when preserved, makes certain people uneasy. Your values must be universal but your history particular, and you must never let the particular become inconvenient for the universal.

You must, above all, make people comfortable. Not with your disappearance, of course not, no one is saying that. Just with a version of you that does not require too much of them. A version that does not remember too much, or ask too much, or need too much. You must not complain, because complaint is unbecoming, and because the world is tired of hearing it, and because after everything, after all of it, you are still here, which should be enough.

The miracle of Jewish survival is also its burden: that it requires, in every generation, the performance of a lifetime. To exist fully. To apologize for nothing. To be, in the face of every instruction to the contrary, exactly what you are.

[hillbillybubbeleh]

Fuck Your Magic Antisemitism: A Lesser Key to the Appropriation of Jewish Magic & Mysticism

I am once again asking practitioners of magic, mysticism, and occultism to defer to Jewish voices and Jewish practitioners about the history and real-life impacts of appropriation of and theft from Judaism and Jewish mysticism instead of deferring to the opinions of non-Jewish occultists. I am also asking you to use discernment when engaging with revisionist history perpetuated by non-Jewish practitioners who profit or benefit from said revisionist history, such as claims that Jewish practitioners willingly "shared" or "gave" our practices with/to other communities, the refusal to acknowledge Jewish authorship, or the speaking over Jewish voices/attempts made by non-Jewish practitioners to speak for Jewish practitioners.

Now, I understand this can be overwhelming and many may not know where or how to begin, so I want to drop a recommendation. Fuck Your "Magic" Antisemitism: A Lesser Key to the Appropriation of Jewish Magic & Mysticism by Ezra Rose is an excellent place to start. This zine, which you can download for free (please leave a donation to support the author if you are able, and please share their work), is a wonderful treasure trove of history and resources. Per the author's description of the zine: FYMA is 'a guide to understanding the history and results of antisemitism in western occult and esoteric movements,  from the origins of "Solomonic" magic in medieval and Renaissance ceremonial grimoires, through the late 19th & early 20th century occult revival's "Qabalistic" ritual,  to ongoing appropriation and demonization in the 21st century.  A labor of love & spite, the zine is both a personal and academic look at a widely ignored topic.'

I have recommended this zine several times and have said that I think it should be required reading in witchcraft and witchcraft adjacent communities, and I stand by that. It's very, very good, and it is absolutely packed with thoroughly researched, cited, useful information.

[Follow and support Ezra Rose, the author: @sheydgarden on tumblr / @/sheydgarden on instagram.]

[revolutionaryletters]

thinking about this duolingo yiddish illustration by ilya milstein again.. 

[disfiguredgrace]

yidgirl, listen to me. your coarse hair belongs to your mother and her mother and her mother.

your monobrow that boys made you feel alien for in school is an heirloom from the first of your foremothers forced into exile.

your slow metabolism and the weight you carry in your hips and belly are traits inherited from those who nearly starved.

your nose in profile is like the rock of gibraltar.

your crooked smile is the reef that nazi u-boats run aground on.

don’t augment your bodies so you might assimilate more easily. be ugly to them if you must. but your being is undeniable and beautiful.

i love you and i will always defend you.

[disfiguredgrace]

my yidden transmascs, listen to me. the unrest in your body is a prayer of protection from your grandfather’s grandfather’s father.

the furrow in your brow as you linger in the hall, uncertain of which side of the mechitza is yours, is a mirror of your forefather’s, his fingers worrying his patchy beard and fretting at his too-long sleeves.

your voice cracking in musaf is evidence of things not yet to be, destinies not yet written. yet, there is time still, for you are written here.

the way your nose is tugged down by your lips when you laugh is how we tenderly remove the sheets from our mirrors after shiva concludes. the dead are not gone, never gone, but they will not scorn you as you seek to look upon yourself.

the animal of your body paces in anticipation, for fear of the next blow. may you trust it better than anyone before you, may it receive you kindly as it grows taut and wild, and as familiar as if it were your first meeting.

what kind of man will you be, all told? a knightly lion? a giant killer like david, an angel tussler like yaakov? will you be like yosef, will you be envied for your gentleness and scorned for your clear-sight? you will wear the armor of a general, or a coat of fine colors, or the pure garb of a kohen.

when a zadie chases you down and asks you to make a minyan, go. when a bubbe chases you out of the kitchen to go sit with the fathers and cousins and uncles, you may go. or, you may stay, to help her make stock and knead challah.

do not deform your proud back so they may not have to look at you, and be unnerved. don’t forget your kippah before you go, and and do kiss the mezuzah as you pass through the door.

i love you and i will always defend you.

[disfiguredgrace]

my yidden transfems, listen to me. the cry in your heart that leaps to your throat and compels you to say “i would rather become a new woman than be stranded to live as the same man” is the the cry of ruth to naomi, begging that she walk with her forever, to be one people and to know one Gd.

when you are among women and you do not stay your tongue, when you speak what is true you are adding your own thread to the tapestry of tales girls tell to one another when night falls, and we feel bold. don’t be afraid.

when the undeniable hunger to be known draws your gaze across the mechitza, where you know you should not look, shut your eyes and dare to imagine what it is like to be there instead of here.

the strong line of your shoulders is the polished wood of a harp your foremother played as a song of Hashem, her nimble fingers leaping from string to string like a hind in a dappled wood.

rummaging through boxes of tarnished judaica, seek a pair of fine earrings, find a mirror and hold them up. do they suit you? do you dare to wonder if you might wear them as well as your mother, and her mother, and her mother before?

a chasid approaches you and asks you if you want to wrap tefillin today. do you? is it a sense of affection for Gd’s law, or ritual, or a sense of obligation that gnaws at you? ask yourself this kindly, without moral judgement.

know that the way you may shrink from fact of the dark bristle at your cheeks, the heaviness of your hair, the thickness of your fingers is a shame known to all the women come before, their chafing laughter brandished as a burning iron to frighten and deny them the right they had to be women so brash and unyielding. affirm yourself that right they could not for themselves.

when shabbos approaches, when the bride and her procession are just down the street, ask that you may greet her. draw the match, light the wicks, dousing the wood with a flick of your hand. cup your hands over the flame like you are drawing water into your palms, bring this gentle water to your eyes, may it kiss your skin with its cool touch.

if you find a timbrel, give it a shake. the song of your foremothers is there, of miriam and all the women leading us from from bondage— can you hear it? if you find yourself thirsty, lost in the barren wilderness— and trust that, someday, you will— do not despair. listen. listen for the sound of running water that only you know how to summon.

be meek before Gd, but never a man. be shrill or shrewish or kind or mean, but do not be ashamed.

i love you and i will always defend you.

[vitterdotter]

spirits don't have to be your friend. the rock in your backyard doesn't have to behave like a human or be useful to you to deserve respect. there is inherent value in loving the web of spirits that surrounds us without asking what they can do for us.

[creature-witch]

I think that more people in the occult community should do outdoor sports (hear me out)

Rock climbing and mountaineering drastically shifted my perspective and understanding of the way I interact with and interpret spirits.

You can be exhausted to the point of tears, bruised, bleeding (limestone is sharp) and the mountain will be as it always has been. The rocks will not work with you, are are working with them. You asked to be there, you came to the mountian and asked to step on it, and walk with it.

Ive tried surfing, got my ass kicked by the smallest wave exerting hundres of pounds of force without any effort.

From a witchcraft perspective, we seem to recognize huge forces of nature as great and powerful when there is something obviously drastic happening, like a thunderstorm or tornado. We know that there is danger but we talk about it like reckoning rather than simply a process of nature. The storm is not angry at you, personally, it is just a storm (and all of the energy and power that comes with it is also indifferent to you).

Plants don't grow for us, anyone who's had an uncomfortable brush with poison ivy can tell you that much, they just grow and we can learn to use them and work with them, but they would grow regardless.

And this is my opinion, based on my expiriances, but interacting with nature in such a way that youre trying to accomplish a goal (like summiting a mountian or climbing a rout or rafting a river or skiing a slope etc) really helps put it into perspective that its not just the large terrifying forces of a thunderstorm that are indifferent to you, its all of it, and that is why you have to learn to work with it through that lense of choice.

You are choosing to try and work with the spirits around you, not the other way around.

Of course you dont /have/ to be an ultra marathoner or mountian biker to come to this conclusion, but I think that there's something about the direct goal oriented physicality that, when relying on the features of nature specifically, helps to put it into perspective.

(This is also a reason why I love survival stories, it really puts the indifference into perspective. I highly recommend the two podcasts National Park After Dark and Tooth and Claw for fun survival and animal attack stories)

[bobemajses]

Ceiling of the synagogue in Szeged, Hungary.

The emancipation of Hungarian Jews in the 1860s manifested itself in many synagogues built at the end of the century, which constituted sacred centres of the empire. Such were the great synagogues of Budapest, Pozsony/Bratislava (Slovakia), Nagyvárad/Oradea (Romania) or Szeged, whose Moorish/ Oriental style refer to the thousands of years of Jewish history. Or the impressive synagogues of the great Hungarian plains, Hódmezővásárhely, and, above all, Szabadka/Subotica (Serbia), which used the motifs of the “Hungarian Art Nouveau”, devised by the architects of Budapest, for the expression of their identification with the Hungarian nation.

[todaysjewishholiday]

🧿

[bobemajses]

Synagogue of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2015

Archeological evidence suggests that Aramaic-speaking Jewish traders arrived in Kyrgyzstan from Khazaria in the 6th century CE. Marco Polo, on his way to China, mentioned numerous Jewish communities in Kyrgyz lands where Jews were called the “people with colored eyes” and were allowed to build synagogues. In Kyrgyz tradition, the term dzeet (Jew) is found for the first time in the national epic poem Manas. Later, under the Mongol and Uzbek conquerors, Bukharan Jews came to Kyrgyzstan. Ashkenazi Jews began to settle mostly in the provincial cities in the 19th century and became an inseparable part of Kyrgyz urban culture.

[ida-backwards-intherain]

“…I discovered - to my great surprise and delight - that Judaism not only permits questions, it sometimes even requires them. It happened during a study session with my rabbi, a pious and solemn soul. I was answering question after question that he posed me, as I had done each week for nearly a year. Suddenly he posed a problem to which I could not respond. “Don’t you know the answer?” He asked. “I know the answer,” I finally replied, “but I do not agree with it.” This ever stern rabbi underwent a total transformation. Elated, he rose from his desk and, with his eyes shining and his voice booming, banged his fist upon the table. “Baruch Hashem!” He shouted. “Bless the Lord! You are finally thinking like a Jew!””

— Your People, My People: How to Find Acceptance and Fullfiment as a Jew By Choice - Lena Romanoff with Lisa Hostein. Preface. (via keshetchai)

[chalumot]

notes regarding Jewish textual tradition:

-our sacred texts include more than just the 5 books of the “old testament” 

-we don’t call it the old testament and please don’t call it that unless you’re referring to the christian use of it, when talking about the jewish torah use the term “hebrew scriptures” 

-torah = the 5 first books (genesis exodus leviticus deuteronomy numbers)  + the prophets and the writings (song of songs, psalms, etc)

-there is also Talmud (mishnah and gemara) which is where conversations by rabbis about how Jewish law should work were recorded (mishna) and further commented / debated on (gemara), and the law codes that later simplified and revised the talmud for better practical use (the shulchan aruch and mishne torah), sages’ commentaries on these law texts, and centuries of responsa to them. these texts are where you will find a lot of the rituals, observances, and rules that Jews follow (so for example the kosher laws, when we say what blessings, how we celebrate holidays, etc). so no, we do not participate in “old” testament ritual sacrifice and looking directly in there for how Jews live is a rather fruitless attempt. 

-sometimes the word “torah” can refer to talmud as well, it can refer to any study of holy texts. 

-responses and interpretations of Jewish law and scriptures goes on to this day

-Midrash is another type of important jewish texts which are basically poetic or interperative writings about the things in the torah/talmud/etc, comparable to parables, written by various jewish scholars to think through Jewish thought, history, religion, etc. not seen as binding legal texts but rather ways of thinking through torah/judaism. there are ancient published midrashim as well as modern ones. 

-Basically understand that Jewish textual tradition goes far beyond what you know of the Hebrew scriptures and “Jewish practice is just Christianity without the New Testament” is terribly inaccurate.

-The idea that “Jews just do ancient barbaric Old Testament rituals” is ages old antisemitic slander. 

non Jewish people are ok to reblog this because it is so often misunderstood

[daisysactuallyjewish]

All of this ^^^

[wearyewe]

“when talking about the jewish torah use the term “hebrew scriptures””

YES THIS. Also considered okay? Hebrew Bible, which is used interchangeably with “Hebrew Scriptures” in academia, or Jewish Bible, which a lot of Jews use in day to day life.

[theres-a-hole-in-my-wall]

JVP put a New Testament quote on a Haggadah?????

Yeah let me pull it up

here

This from Matthew 5:13-16. 😐. The first book of the new testament, gospel of Matthew. Look me in the fucking eye jvp and tell me you're a serious Jewish org.

Also some other things I unfortunately had to see while searching for it. (Their haggadah is littered with mistakes.)

Not correct grammar. It should be chag pesach sameach. Unless you're telling the 'concept of pesach' chag sameach. This is like writing: happy holiday, Easter. Instead of: happy Easter holiday.

I can barely read their atrocious handwriting. (Maybe make the circle bigger instead of shoving it all in there.) But what's checked in red is an incorrect translation. Unless there's some extra meaning I'm missing here truth ≠ מלכות. (Truth = emet／אמת.)

מלכות means kingship/Kingdom

As for the rest in red they're also incorrect.