מגנ דוד

ana // 18 // she or they // finland™ // prospective jewish convert this is a blog for resources/a personal blog / about.  my url means "magen david" in finnish because i'm v creative™

[zemestoun]

מה אומרות עינייך

[hazak-ubaruch]

HOLLERING

[elinka]

Pomengranates and Oranges

by Peter Hammer

[becomingjuwuish]

I made challah again :)

[goddammitravio]

if anyone wants to know how the relationship between jews and god works I think this sums it up pretty well

[yidquotes]

“All is one: God, Israel, Torah, the world-to-come, and this world. All brings forth the flow of Godliness, this world in a more external way, but containing within it that inward self of the world-to-come. These must be joined into a total oneness, such that all will allow the body to be translated into soul, just as happens with a single human person.”

— Rabbi Menachem Nahum of Chernobyl

[daavidinkilpi]

might have accidentally forgot abt this blog 😳

[lets-talk-about-sects]

Protestants: work hard to get redeemed

Catholics: suffer to get redeemed

Jews: tell god to get fucked, apologize, wonder if god even exists, pick fights about it with like sixty old men, write 7 years worth of pages about it, realize you still don’t have an answer, tell god you love him anyway, suffer, tell god to get fucked, rinse and repeat

[queermachmir]

Jewish Books to Read After Introductions

So, when I first started reading about Judaism, I picked up all the intros I can find - and there are many amazing ones. Some are more encyclopedia style (The Jewish Book of Why, Essential Judaism, Jewish Literacy, This is My G!d) and some more weaving everything together (Settings of Silver, Choosing a Jewish Life, To Life!) - all authors have interesting perspectives and wisdom to offer, but I feel once you’ve read a couple you start to get this gist of what Judaism is. Where do you go from here?

There are always more to learn about Judaism, but you’re ready to get past your introduction level readings. I’m going to offer suggestions based on categories, and most of these I’ve either read or come highly recommended.

Philosophy*:

The Sabbath by R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

Man in Search of Meaning by Victor Frankel

God in Search of Man by R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

LGBTQ+:

Twice Blessed by Christie Balka

The Soul of the Stranger: Torah in Transgender Perspective by Joy Ladin

Balancing on the Mechitza by Noach Dzurma

Fiction:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Eternal Life by Dara Horn

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

Memoir:

If All the Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan

Taking Judaism Personally** by Judy Petsonk

Becoming Eve by Abby Stein

Prayer:

Entering Jewish Prayer by Rabbi Reuven Hammer

Davening: A Meaningful Guide to Jewish Prayer by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Pray Tell: A Hadassah Guide to Jewish Prayer by Jules Harlow

Spirituality:

Sacred Therapy by Estelle Frankel

The River of Light: Spirituality, Judaism, Consciousness by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

Jewish Meditation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

Halacha***:

A Taste or Text: An Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash by Ronald H. Isaacs

The Observant Life (Conservative) by Martin S. Cohen

To Be a Jew (Orthodox) by Rabbi Hayim Halevi Donin

History:

A Rainbow Thread: Anthology of LGBTQ+ Jewish Texts by Noam Sienna

Jews, G!d, and History by Max Dimont

The Story of the Jews by Simon Schama

Torah Study:

Torah Queeries by Gregg Drinkwater

The Bedside Torah by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

Five Books of Miriam by Ellen Frankel

*My least strongest subject, so I don’t have tons to offer. You can never go wrong with AJH though.

**Part memoir part guide, felt it was relevant here.

***This so much varies on movement and idea, this is just a taste and of course nothing better than asking your Rabbi on your community’s decisions.

[mostlycatsmostly]

(via icybrian)

[reallymakesyouthink-blog]

[princesshamlet-deactivated20210]

me: i don’t wanna do my essay right now

the ghost of hillel that lives in my head, strumming a guitar: if not now, then when

me: shit ,fuck goddammit. fuck you

[ofskfe]

Jewelry amulet made of gold and adorned with Hebrew script

Persia, 18th century

Gold, engraved, punched, and soldered; turquoise and ruby; filigree

Inscribed in Hebrew with “Abag Yatatz…” the ‘42-letter Name’ (a magical name in the tradition of Practical Kabbalah and also an abbreviation of the prayer by Rabbi Nehunia ben ha-Kanah: “By the great power of thy right hand, set the captive free. Revered God, accept thy people’s prayer; strengthen us, cleanse us. Almighty God… accept our prayer, hear our cry, thou who knowest secret thoughts”)

[daavidinkilpi]

fuCK i love having two tumblrs open in safari at the same time & mixing up the blogs HHHHHHHHH

[murdershegoat]

my favorite jewish fact is that our most famous ghost, elijah the prophet, isnt a ghost because that dude straight up never died.

[ja-khajay]

that one extremely homoerotic painting of a babylonian man listening to a babylonian twink playing babylonian harp. that one

[ja-khajay]

yeah

[theotherwesley]

this is my favorite painting full stop

[adulthoodisokay]

that “babylonian twink” is King David

[lunoki]

The baffled twink composing Hallelujah

[swinnub-deactivated20200629]

@lgbtunis

[catacademic-deactivated20191127]

12.11.2019 | on this blog we only read good poetry