There’s a lot of accidental anti-semitism in the world , but sometimes I come across the deliberate and malicious anti-semitism im DND and I’m just reminded that no matter how much I love this game it does not love me back and the original creators never wanted me to play it.
Today’s example is: Phylactery
In d&d:
In real life
That’s right. they named the evil artifact that the evil undead spellcaster hides their soul in after a Jewish ceremonial object.
Actually I want to add something because the genius of this particular kind of anti-semitism is that most gentiles won’t know what a Phylactery really is, The only people who will notice are the Jewish players. Making them instantly feel isolated, alone, and unsafe in their d&d group.
when you come across that you should at the table paralyzed wondering
Do my fellow players know this is anti-Semitic?
If they don’t know and I bring it up will they be mad at me for ruining the fun?
If they do know and I bring it up will revealing myself as Jewish be dangerous?
It’s a tactic to deliberately push Jewish people out of the game. and nobody jump up to tell me it was an accident because it fucking wasn’t. Before d&d Phylactery only had one definitionand I find it impossible that they would know the word without knowing the meaning. Or at least knowing it was Jewish.
Holy shit can this post fucking disappear from my dash please!
Attention goyim: Jews don’t use the word phylactery. That’s stupid and greek. They’re called Teffilin.
I don’t know why articles everywhere say that this is what The Jews™ call their Weird Little Prayer Boxes, but we don’t say that, and it’s not even a super common aspect of prayer (at least where i’m from) and i wish y'all wouldn’t pretend to be offended at this. No jew calls Teffilin phylactery, when i first saw this post i even tried finding out if anyone i knew said phylactery, and they all looked at me like i was a dumbass. We don’t need your fake outrage, and I SEE YOU FUCKIN GOYS IN THE NOTES PRETENDING TO BE JEWISH AND FEEL ALIENATED! GROSS! This is a non issue, dispel it from your mind and stop spreading this horseshit!
I was going to let this slide as someone making an honest mistake, and that you can never be too cautious around antisemitism, but then I find out that OP lied about being Jewish for this post and frankly that’s just pathetic to the point of hilarity.
(Image sources: https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/)
Also op’s insistence that “before d&d Phylactery only had one definition” is just an outright falsehood. A phylactery is a fancier word for a reliquary, which is an ornate sealed container that holds a fragment of the mortal remains of a Catholic saint, usually a bone.
Gee, what magic item could that have inspired in D&D? Hm?
(Gentile followers, feel free to reblog this not just for the educational aspect, but also for the unexpected faint echo of tumblr bone stealing witch drama)
God I was seeing this post for days and I knew it couldn’t be quite right. I was already sure “phylactery” was just a more archaic way of saying “amulet” but I thought maybe I was just a big dummy because I’m not Jewish, OP was so sure of themselves and anybody questioning them was just getting EVISCERATED. Now that the notes are like 200 real Jewish people saying “excuse me, what the FUCK???” It feels safe for me to point out, as others have already, that whatever the hell OP intended, it’s the kind of misinformation actual antisemitic groups love to perpetuate and use as evidence in their Jewish SJW conspiracy theories.
