mostly

personal archive on jewish stuff. this is a sideblog. i'll rarely be reblogging public posts here

[mapsontheweb]

Map of the original Jewish diaspora

[athingofvikings]

Two notes on this, for context:

It was called “Judea” before this Diaspora; in the 100s CE, the Romans renamed it “Palestinia” after the Philistines, a cultural group that had been wiped out by the Babylonians in 700 BCE, as a giant middle finger to the Judeans.

And the reason why? Well, the Judeans had just revolted against the Roman Empire for the third (and final) time, and the Romans went “Well, that’s enough of that,” killed half of the Judeans, and took half of the remainder as slaves to work across their empire, with most the others fleeing for their lives, leaving just a small minority to persist in their homeland for the next nineteen centuries, as it got conquered back and forth by multiple kingdoms and empires. So that’s why the majority of those “dispersion routes” are through the Roman Empire–because they were moving the Judeans around as slave labor.

[gehe-lihiyot-androgynos-varda-d]

Shoutout to Simon Bar Giora, who rallied the Pirates of the Judean coast to blockade the Egyptian grain exports, which directly caused the downfall of the Julio-Claudian Imperial Dynasty. Take that Nero.

I mean it didn’t work out for us long term, but faced with the might of Rome we took out two full legions and a Caesar… Which I think is dope of us.

[thecolorofthegame]

[ossseous]

The kind of funny thing about this is I studied the entire history of Mesopotamia. Was it my favorite topic ever? No, but apparently it’s necessary knowledge to have to combat antisemitism so maybe more people need to learn about it because a lot of commentary on the middle east that laypersons spout as “Facts” just baffles me. Because on the historical and archaeological side the Fact that the Jewish are indigenous to the area is just ??? That?? A known fact. No question. Like literally physical indisputable evidence exists?? Please understand that calling Israelites colonists equates to calling Native Americans who chose not to live on a reservation “colonists”

Context for the even earlier exile of Jews from Samaria (kingdom of israel) that no one ever mentions for some reason:

From Abdullah, F. (2020). Representations of homeless children in warlike scenes in the neo-assyrian period. Egyptian Journal of Archaeological and Restoration Studies, 10(1), 43-57. https://doi.org/10.21608/ejars.2020.98961

“According to El­Saady and Haugberg, this phenomenon of deportation was achieved by many empires in the ancient near east, such as the Egy­ptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian [27,28]. Shahylat and Al-Hamadani and Oded argued that this strategy was well-known in the middle Assyrian period [29,30]. Tsakanyan reported that the first Assyrian king who practiced this policy widely was Tiglath­Pileser III (745-724 B.C.) [31]. He not only moved the people of Damascus and Samaria from their homelands but also resettled the Arabs instead in Samaria. The textual sources of his reign indicated the deportation of approximately eighty-seven hundred and fifty people described by texts as Assyrian people [32]. Moreover, Beckman and Salman argued that the Judeans of Samaria were the most people who suffered from disp­ossession by Assyrians [26,33]. The depo­rtation of captives and sending them away to other cities were frequently depicted in Assyrian art [15]. The successors of Tiglath­Pileser III, such as king Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), adopted his policy [34-36]. Al­Aaraji and Al-Qaabi and Sarlo analysed the political and economic causes of this policy [37,38]. Politically, the Assyrians wanted to punish the rebel nations and weaken the center of resistance by deporting the important ethnic groups away from their homeland. It targeted senior officials and skilled craftsmen [37]. The most important economic reason was using the deportees as farmers or as soldiers [38].”

(Figure (1) Shows a nude child among prisoners of war -The Bronze Gate of Balawat -the reign of Shalmaneser III (726-722 B.C.), (after Bahrani, 1993).)

This is an example from the article of a bronze relief located on the gates to a temple/palace in Balawat (modern day Mosul, Iraq) depicting exportation of a line israelite captives from Lachish. (Please do not add an alt id)

Like honestly I’ve stayed quiet on this colonism stuff because I know it’s a hard topic and I really don’t want to get pulled into debates on stuff like human rights (like that’s a topic that is even up for debate) but I am going to just share the facts. Assyrians literally removed judeans and replaced them with Assyrians.

The Jewish homeland has verifiably been in Israel for thousands and thousands of years. Before Judaism even existed, the region was the home of Yahwism. If it’s too hard you to look up, Yahwism is the predecessor of Judaism, hence, Yahweh, Yah, YHWH. Like this is so easy to research it’s ridiculous. it’s in cuneiform, it’s in art. Recorded millennia before the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, before WWII, before the development of the Palestinian nationality, before even the development of Islam or Christianity as religions, before the Roman Empire. For millennia the Jewish and their ancestors have been exiled and deported from Israel and replaced by colonists. They return only to be deported. Again. And again.

If knowing this information, you cannot accept that there are people saying this situation is too complex to be fixed by blanket calls for decolonization, I cannot help you. No one can I am afraid.

The degree to which antisemitism makes people just fucking stupid astounds me.

You know what, Here are additional readings. I’m not here to educate you, educate yourself. Look it up yourself if you don’t trust me.

Cogan, M. (1993). Judah under Assyrian Hegemony: A Reexamination of Imperialism and Religion. Journal of Biblical Literature, 112(3), 403–414. https://doi.org/10.2307/3267741

Astour, M. C. (1971). 841 B. C.: The First Assyrian Invasion of Israel. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 91(3), 383–389. https://doi.org/10.2307/600256

Bagg, A. M. (2013). Palestine under Assyrian rule a new look at the Assyrian imperial policy in the West. The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 133(1), 119+.

Collins, J. J., & Manning, J. G. (Eds.). (2016). Revolt and resistance in the ancient classical world and the near east : In the crucible of empire.

Matty, N. K. (2016). Sennacherib’s campaign against judah and jerusalem in 701 b. c. : A historical reconstruction. Walter de Gruyter.

Na'aman, N. (2005). Ancient israel and its neighbors : Interaction and counteraction. Pennsylvania State University Press.

Keimer, K.H., & Pierce, G.A. (Eds.). (2022). The Ancient Israelite World (1st ed.). Routledge.

https://www.historystudies.net/dergi/tar2015127f485.pdf

This was just a bare minimum search. The scholarship is out there and it’s your responsibility to locate it. Go to a library if you have to.

[thisgingerisareallybadwriter]

You know, I used to believe that the leftist… fixation, shall we say, on Israel/Palestine was in good faith. Like, I figured the reason they talked about it so much was because they saw Israel’s lopsided military power, and how they were using it (to commit war crimes), and were rightfully horrified. It descended into antisemitism for them at times, not because they truly hated Israelis or Jews, but because they had bad rhetorical habits built into them and just didn’t realize. So of course, I was of the very firm belief that in the event of an attack like the one on Israel, leftists would condemn it as horrific, since their problem wasn’t Israelis themselves, but how Israel was perpetuating the conflict with their disproportionate military power and committing human rights violations. I truly believed they would never cheer on those doing the same to Israeli civilians—because the war crimes were their problem, not the Jews.

And, um, yeah. I was wrong.

[thejewitches]

This post is meant to serve as a jumping off point. Those citations exist for a reason and we encourage you to read further. This post can only address so much.

There was so much that simply couldn’t be covered in such a short post; not to mention a breadth of research that feels like it should be must read material for this topic.

A huge thank you to willatheewisps and a.hearth.witch (on instagram) for going over this prior to posting.

Let us know in the comments if you’re interested in a post going over the origins of the Christian Zionist movement, as well as how it inspired Jewish Zionism.

Did you know that it was a “proto-Christian Zionist” Church of Scotland clergyman & author Alexander Keith who coined the phrase, “land without a people and a people without a land” in his 1843 book?

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

In light of that ask, to my fellow jumblr folks: reblog if you are Jewish and stand in solidarity with Muslims against Islamophobia and believe that it is ethically, morally, and religiously important to do so. Reblog if you, too, view this as part of the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. ♡

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

This seems to be an apropos moment to reboot this statement, which I stand by 100%.

[screamingfromuz]

The Zygon Inversion

The Doctor: You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. You're not superior to people who were cruel to you. You're just a whole bunch of new cruel people. A whole bunch of new cruel people, being cruel to some other people, who'll end up being cruel to you. The only way anyone can live in peace is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?

Bonnie: Why should we?

The Doctor: What is it that you actually want?

Bonnie: War.

The Doctor: Ah. And when this war is over, when -- when you have the homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you given it any consideration? Because you're very close to getting what you want. What's it going to be like? Paint me a picture. Are you going to live in houses? Do you want people to go to work? What'll be holidays? Oh! Will there be music? Do you think people will be allowed to play violins? Who will make the violins? Well? Oh, You don't actually know, do you? Because, just like every other tantruming child in history, Bonnie, you don't actually know what you want. So, let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've killed all the bad guys, and it's all perfect and just and fair, when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do with the people like you? The troublemakers. How are you going to protect your glorious revolution from the next one?

[ghostscreamss]

nobody on this entire website understands fucking nuance. Israel bad does not mean Hamas good. Israel bad. Hamas also bad. Not mutually exclusive NOR is this the full extent of the opinion people should have on this subject. Please dear lord i am begging people to have complex thoughts for once in their life.

[quark-nova-deactivated20260116]

This is too important to stay in the comments. Hamas supporters and Netanyahu supporters are two sides of the same.

[spacelazarwolf]

there have been MASSIVE protests in israel, by israelis, since JANUARY of this year in opposition to the government. the media will not cover that but god knows they will absolutely be covering this. the west benefits greatly from this constant conflict, and for some reason western leftists just refuse to see that.

[emptydragonseverywhere]

Jews are literally indigenous to Israel and share genetics with other Levantine groups (yes, even "white" Ashkenazi Jews!) so if we could stop parroting the idea that diasporic refugees who were returned to their indigenous homeland after surviving a genocide are colonial interlopers, that would be great

[noblegasseswithglasses]

this is true, if you don't mind, I'll add on to this post

the above plot is a PCA* (Principal Component Analysis) plot which shows global diversity using 50 populations. The inset ("zoom in") shows Levantine populations in their regional and religion context. The Levant region includes Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and often Cyprus and historical Armenia. The Levantine core cluster is shaded in pink. This is from the study found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3585000/

Now interesting to note how the groups of the caucasus that the ashkenazim are closest to are armenian and georgian; this can be explained by the following: "[A]mong populations of the Caucasus, Armenians and Georgians are geographically the closest to the Middle East, and are therefore expected a priori to show the greatest genetic similarity to Middle Eastern populations. Indeed, a rather high similarity of South Caucasus populations to Middle Eastern groups was observed at the level of the whole genome in a recent study (Yunusbayev and others, 2012). Thus, any genetic similarity between Ashkenazi Jews and Armenians and Georgians might merely reflect a common shared Middle Eastern ancestry component, actually providing further support to a Middle Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Jews" (https://www.familytreedna.com/pdfs?path=%2Fpdf%2FGenetics-of-Ashkenazi-Jewish-origins.pdf) from this article we also get this plot:

(sam = samaritans, leb = lebanese, syr=syrian, dru = druze, cyp = cypriot, pal = palestinian, jor [almost cut off near the left bottom to the right of Pal] = jordanian etc. with the red ones being various jewish groups (yemJ=yemenite jew, libJ=libyan jews, morJ=morroccan jews, AshJ=ashkenazi, KurJ=kurdish jews, etc. etc. most of the abbreviations are pretty self-explanatory - the colors indicate the regions as seen below:)

For anyone wondering about the similarity of the Samaritans and the Jews, "Principal component analysis suggests a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood (Cohanim) at the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel." (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15300852/)

and from this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2797531/ We have these MDS plots:

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of population structure. (a) MDS for European, Jewish, and Middle Eastern individuals. (b) MDS for European and Jewish individuals. (c) MDS for Jewish and Middle Eastern individuals, excluding Mozabites. (d) MDS for Palestinian and Jewish individuals.

Where it can be seen that "the closest population in Figure ​5C to the four Jewish populations was the Palestinian population" and "that the Tunisian Jews are the most distinctive Jewish population, whereas the Ashkenazi, Turkish, and Moroccan Jewish populations are genetically more similar to each other"** (btw if it's too grainy to read because of the scaling, i'll try to transcribe below what the dots represent):

From top to bottom it reads: mozabite, bedouin, druze, palestinian, tunisian (jewish), morroccan(jewish), turkish(jewish), ashkenazi (jewish), sardinian, italian, tuscan, french, basque, orcadian, russian, adygei.

and from http://europepmc.org/article/MED/25230663 :

another PCA plot (this is for a study about ancient human genome, but the genetic data for the modern populations they compare it to are relevant for what we are interested in, so i included this study to look at how the modern populations relate to each other)

and this PCA from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3032072/:

ASH=askenazi, IRN = iranian jews, IRQ = iraqi jews, SYR = syrian jews, ITJ = italian jews, GRK = greek jews, TUR = turkish jews. we see the jewish populations generally cluster near druze, bedouin, and palestinian. The nearest european clusters are that of the north italian and sardinians. The greek and turkish jews cluster together, and there is much overlap between the jewish groups, although iranian and iraqi jews are less centered and more "spread out" indicating diversity within the cluster. This may be due to admixture which took place with the local populations (given babylonian and persian history's relation to the jewish people)

*The basic idea of PCA is to take something multidimensional (such as the many genes that make up humans) and reducing it to fewer dimensions (in this case 2; dimension 1 and dimension 2) to easier see how similar/dissimilar different groups are. Groups that cluster nearer together are more genetically similar and vice versa for clusters far apart, for more knowledge on the actual mathematics for doing PCA is explained simply by this guy (Josh Starmer) who has made multiple videos on the topic e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgakZw6K1QQ **The study comments on this, "Among the Jewish populations, the Tunisians were found to be the least variable and most distinctive, and their genotypes could be most easily distinguished from those of the three other Jewish populations. This result suggests a smaller population size and greater degree of genetic isolation for this population compared to the other Jewish groups, or a significant level of admixture with local populations. These explanations are not incompatible, as it is possible that early admixture was followed by a long period of isolation. Some Berber*** admixture of Tunisian Jews may very well have taken place [61,63], and documentation of rare Mendelian disorders in Tunisian Jews [67-69] supports a view of isolation with relatively few founding individuals." ***the term 'Berber' is an term related to 'barbarian' and is thus considered offensive by some, the term 'Amazigh' is being used more in academia, as it is the self-name of the various ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa (prior to the Arab conquest and later migrations).

[daloy-politsey]

Poor and working-class Jews are underrepresented in pop culture, new analysis argues - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A research firm analyzed hundreds of movies and TV shows hoping to change the conversation around Jewish poverty.

According to the report, while TEN estimates that one in five Jewish American households earn less than $50,000 a year, they are one-tenth as likely as wealthy Jews to appear in movies and TV shows. Moore primarily focused on works made since 2008, concluding that only three of 85 films during that time depicted Jewish poverty at all and that Jewish poverty is typically portrayed in the context of American Dream-style upward mobility. Some portrayals of wealth in Jewish communities conform to antisemitic stereotypes, the study concludes.

[nerdygaymormon]

[agnosticmysticism]

Like, this is very much in line with parts of Jewish tradition, but I think it's important to stress that there are absolutely countertraditions to this. We just finished Yom Kippur where a repeated part of the liturgy goes "we are not so stiff-necked as to say we have not sinned," being stiff-necked here is very clearly painted as a bad thing, a thing not to be. We also have a strong tradition of the yoke of Torah, submission to G-d's will as expressed through the Torah and later rabbinic teachings. Arguing with G-d is definitely part of the Jewish tradition, but He is also avinu malkeinu (our father, our king) and obedience to G-d is very much a Jewish virtue.

I had an interesting conversation with an Orthodox Jew a few years ago specifically about the Oven of Akhnai. I told him that in progressive Judaism we often use this story as an example of how it is permitted to argue with G-d and even possible to win such an argument. This interpretation was entirely foreign to him; he'd always seen it as a very straightforward tale with a moral of "you can't prove a point of halakha by a miracle."

[keshetchai]

Yeah there's definitely important/valuable counter traditions too. Or at least nuances as to how much is too much being stiff-necked, or what is "too far."

Emunah definitely does have the sense of "your brothers will hold up your arms if you falter," but I think also the other side of emunah this thread isn't touching on is how it ties in to the King/Husband (or Sovereign/Spouse) metaphors relating to God.

Steadfast, yes. Literally steady hands, but also metaphorically! But also faith, as in faithful to someone or something. Fidelity and loyalty.

[keshetchai]

#also Moses wasn’t supposed to hit the rock if I recall the story correctly

Yeah you're right. he was told to order the rock to bring forth water, but he hits it twice, and god is annoyed. And so Moses cannot enter the promised land.

[salvadorbonaparte]

Help save the Yiddish Translation Fellowship Program

I wanted to ask my followers and fellow language enthusiasts to donate to the Yiddish Book Center so that they can continue to train translators and make Yiddish literature accessible (or at least share this post if possible) 🐐

[mental-mona]

In Judaism joy is the supreme religious emotion. Here we are, in a world filled with beauty. Every breath we breathe is the spirit of God within us. Around us is the love that moves the sun and all the stars. We are here because someone wanted us to be. The soul that celebrates, sings.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Studies in Spirituality, p. 258

[jessicalprice]

Yup.

It’s so weird to me that so many Christians act like Judaism is depressing and something that people need to escape from.

Like, I know that’s what y’all want to MAKE it to pressure us out of it, but we’ve always known that joy is a form of resistance.

Judaism, as a practice, exists to sensitize us to both the goodness of reality, so we feel joy and gratitude and awed tenderness, and to the brokenness of reality, so we can heal it and finish the work of creation. And the guiding star even there is joy and awe and wonder.

[tucsonhorse]

I think at least for most Christians it's not a conscious wanting to make Judaism something people have to escape from, I think it's a combination of projection (because Christianity *is* something lots of people want to escape from, at least white, European Christianity) and the fact that the only things the US school system, and I suspect lots of European school systems, teaches us about Judaism is about the Holocaust and other persecution. (I understand that said persecution is Christians trying to make Judaism something bad to be escaped from by making it miserable/deadly to exist as a Jewish person, but I don't think antisemites are aware of anything other than hating people because they're different in this specific way)

I was raised Christian and have been putting myself into spaces designed to help broaden my understanding of Jewish culture, and I was honestly surprised by your statement that it's about joy. I think perhaps this is one of those things that doesn't get talked about to outsiders, possibly because to those in the Jewish community it is so obvious/well known?

[terulakimban]

Speaking personally? It’s not that it’s not talked about to outsiders, it’s that it’s not always talked about explicitly.

So, like... if you follow a bunch of jumblr bloggers and notice us going absolutely feral passing around some pictures of pomegranates? That’s Jewish joy. When you see our pictures of sukkot and chanukiyot and shabbat tables? That’s Jewish joy. Delightedly “yes-and-ing” each other about speculative halacha? That’s Jewish joy.

More privately, part of our morning daily liturgy -something that, in many communities, is part of the “at home and waking up” daily prayer routine as opposed to the “in synagogue and functional” daily prayer routine (although it’s usually still said in shul, at least in the spaces I’m familiar with) is called “Nissim B’Chol Yom” - (literally “Miracles in Every Day”), in which we express gratitude and wonder at the mundanities that theoretically shape our existence. Also in that “at home and waking up” section are a prayer called “Elohai N’shama” in which we express gratitude for our souls, and “Elohai N’tzor” (also said after using the restroom) in which we express awe at how wonderful it is that the human body works.

And to take that further, we have prayers of joy and wonder for surviving dangerous situations, but also for seeing mountains for the first time [ever/in a while] or the ocean or particularly beautiful people. There is so much joy and awe and wonder for the amazing world we live in, and that we are part of it, and it spills into so much of what we do.

When we’re jumping around going “YES AND THAT PERSON/TRADITION IS JEWISH” -that’s not “hey, notice us” (okay, it’s sometimes “hey, notice us” or “hey! please remember we exist”); it’s something we do in our own spaces too, and it’s an expression of joy -communal responsibility means that we aren’t just shamed by each other’s failings, but that we reflect the glow of each other’s successes.

Ever been in a shul during a celebration, when we reach a lull and pelt the celebrants with candy while singing congratulations to them at the top of our lungs? Or watched the dancing spill out into the street as a community welcomes a new Torah? Heard the mood shift during the High Holy Days as we begin Ki Anu Amecha? Seen the look on a child’s face on their first day of school when you give them a honeystick and then start the lesson?

I had a rabbi growing up who dressed as Elmo for Purim every year so small children wouldn’t be frightened by all the noise going on when we boo Haman, and every year, especially as it got late, he wound up with a whole bunch of children arrayed around him while he/the chazzan/various other congregants read the megillah; often holding a small child and pointing things out. In the synagogue I currently belong to, the Hokey Pokey is part of the Simchat Torah dance lineup so that even the smallest, least Jewishly-knowledgeable children will have something they are confident that they know and can participate in wholeheartedly. My b’nai mitzvah class (I teach Sunday school) will launch into the Torah service at the top of their lungs with the slightest provocation because they think it’s fun to sing.

I wouldn’t say that it’s about joy -not everything in Judaism is joyful, and something does not become less Jewish for not being joyous. And there is an unfortunate reality that often, when there is joy, it’s shaded together with sorrow or defiance. The broken glass at weddings, the spilled drops at the seder, the counting of the Omer, because we have so many things to never forget.

And beyond that there is so much longing written into Judaism. So many what-ifs. So many places where too many died. So many places where people still do. So many somedays and maybes. Musaf. Leshanah HaBaah. The way many people will fall silent near the end of Birkat HaMazon. And so much of that is hopeful, but at the same time, so much of it still commemorates tragedy.

But... well. It’s not that we don’t talk about our joy. We do. A lot. But I suspect it’s harder to immediately comprehend and recognize for people who want to learn but don’t have the cultural context to do so. And I feel like portraying us as joyless and miserable and archaic and so caught up by the burden of historical suffering (not of our own making, for the more charitably minded) that we can and never will be free of it even if we want to (but we don’t want to because that’s how we manipulate people, for the particularly hostilely minded) is... a very efficient way to dehumanize us? Because people, writ large, experience joy. Experience a broad range of human emotions. So if “those people” don’t? Well... there’s probably something wrong with “them.” Or at the very least weird about “them.” To acknowledge our joy means to acknowledge that we’re people. That we’re still here, that we’re surviving, that we’re continuing to grow and change.

And there are a lot of people who are very threatened by that idea. Not just our joy, of course -this is a conversation I’ve had before with friends of other minority backgrounds. And on top of that... trauma can sell, and if you can convince the intended audience that it wasn’t really that bad or give them a hero fantasy where they would’ve helped, it can sell really well. Let them say “it could’ve happened to me“ and clutch their pearls, because they didn’t quite empathize before. Let them walk away able to sleep soundly, secure that it wouldn’t’ve been them as the victim, and if it had, someone would’ve come to the rescue, because someone always does, because these are stories, not people. Let them sleep soundly, having not even considered that they would’ve been the bad guys because those are characters and they know better.

And when all you know of a people is their pain, and you learn to define them by it, it becomes very difficult to see that that’s not necessarily how they see or define themselves.

[tucsonhorse]

Thank you for sharing your moments of joy with me. None of these are moments I have, or expect to have, the opportunity to see and I appreciate you sharing them and helping me to understand better.

[terulakimban]

If you want to see -at least a bit.

That first paragraph of examples? We do stuff like that on tumblr quite often. We’re currently a week out from Tu Bishvat -the corresponding uptick in excited posts about trees and plants is already starting. Two weeks after that is the beginning of the month of Adar, which will have with it a whole bunch of posts about constellations (especially old zodiac art from synagogues) and fish. Two weeks after that is Purim, and while you probably won’t see many costume photos on tumblr because of safety/privacy/anonymity concerns, there’ll definitely be food photos. (Two years ago, I got into a hamentaschen bakeoff with @nonasuch​ over our grandmothers’ respective recipes -the results of that should be pretty visible on both our blogs.)

The second paragraph: Here’s the everyday miracles being chanted, plus translation (Reform nusach). This is a harmony of Elohai Neshama and Asher Yatzar. Here’s the text and translation for Elohai Neshama; this is Asher Yatzar.

This is an explanation (and story) on the blessing for natural wonders. This has several examples of Jewish blessings on marvels of nature (please note the blessing for firsts, which is said often -and gets this special tune when sung the first night of Chanukkah). This is the prayer said responsively after surviving something dangerous; here’s the text and translation.

This is our main celebration song -looking at the video, that’s a celebration of a Bat Mitzvah. This is a major song for weddings -the text is biblical. This is a common dance for weddings (that has spread to B’nai Mitzvah in many communities) -hoisting the people getting married up into the air and dancing around them (the song is a prayer for peace in the daily liturgy). Here’s people throwing candy at a bar mitzvah.

This is a torah scroll completion and dedication. It’s really long, but highlights are the scribing, the singing, the part where the person reading the first reading every from that scroll does so under a canopy like a wedding, and then at the end where the whole congregation goes up and dances. This is another Torah dedication, with dancing in the streets as the Torah is escorted to its community. This is the tone shift I mentioned in the high holy day liturgy -the opening solemn bit is a prayer for forgiveness, but the main prayer here is about how we see our relationship with G-d.

This is a Simchat Torah celebration -this is a major religious observance -the celebration is reaching the end of the annual torah reading cycle and restarting it, and people are singing and dancing and drinking in the streets.

[mental-mona]

I’m the OP of this quote, but I’m reblogging for the amazing additions! Thank you for the links, whoever you are!

[vaspider]

Stop helping Stuart fucking Semple advance a racist and antisemitic narrative and build his brand on a pile of fucking lies.

Thank you @gehe-lihiyot-androgynos-varda for putting this so clearly and succinctly.

[vaspider]

THIS POST IS FULL OF LIES AND YOU SHOULD STOP CIRCULATING IT

Hey, reminder: Anish Kapoor did not "buy the rights" to a pigment. He was SELECTED by the COMPANY THAT OWNS THE CHEMICAL PROCESS VANTABLACK

Until Ragnarok

I know tumblr has fun with this post but the amount of misinformation and fact twisting contained in it makes me mad everytime I...

Here you go, @quark-nova.

[quark-nova-deactivated20260116]

Thanks a lot! I saw the second post but not the first so I was missing a lot of the important context (notably the fact that Kapoor was selected by the company who developed Vantablack, rather than decide to "greedily keep it for itself" as the narrative goes)

[vaspider]

Also, it's not a pigment or a paint. He can't "greedily keep it to himself" because you physically cannot use it. It's an application of carbon nanotubes. It has to be done in a lab under extremely controlled conditions. It's also not actually made for art but for industrial applications. The company that developed it decided they wanted to show off their neat new process, so they decided to pick one artist to work with.

The company's CEO stated that they picked Kapoor specifically because of his previous work, namely stuff like The Bean. So, again, they were never going to pick Semple or any of the other white dudes who whined really loudly in the press, and why? Because they don't do art like that at all.

So yeah.

[yellowstonewolves]

Just wanted to mention, there’s also a pervasive idea that Anish Kapoor hates Cloud Gate being called the bean, (many notes to the tune of “his only crime is being pompous about what we call his statue ) but the only public quote I’ve been able to find from him on it is “It’s great for it to have a colloquial name, its own lingo. I call it ‘The Bean,’ too.”

[babka-enjoyer]

A YouTube video just dropped explaining the evolution of Jewish "denominations" (movements) from the Bible times until now. It's fairly American-centric once you get to modern time but still useful.

[prof-grace-aspen]

I think this screenshot right here is like, HUGE.

[jewish-kulindadromeus]

The Jewish Pain of Crowley in Good Omens 2

Spoilers. Spoilers everywhere. S p o i l e r s.

Alright let's dive in. So, it's even clearer in s2 that Crowley is the Jewish Representative in the Christian World ->

remember that Good Omens is essentially a world where Christianity is, with some modification, True. Classic Christianity. With the 7 days of creation and the hierarchy of angels and everything. (the exceptions are that its not patriarchal or queerphobic, but I digress)

in christianity, Jews are one of two things: - misguided fools (bc they don't realize Jesus is the messiah) - evil liars (bc they keep saying Jesus isn't the messiah)

-> making it obvious why the Jewish Rep, Crowley, is a demon. In Christianity, Jews and Judaism are at best treated like ignorant children, at worse treated like the agents of Satan.

All Crowley ever did was ask questions. Question the internal lack of logic within Christianity. Why make everything for it to end in 6k years? Why make people just to have them die in an apocalyptic battle? Etc. That is Crowley's Jewishness in action. Not only because he's asking questions, the Big Thing Jews Love Doing ->

-> but also Because Judaism is, essentially, a religion of celebrating life and humanity. Our books start with the creation of everything, not just Jewish people (which, at the time of writing, was extremely novel). We are a "nation of priests" in order to show the world a lifestyle of goodness we can all strive for. Not everyone has to be Jewish to have a good life or afterlife, we do not proselytize.

And, as such, Crowley - the token Jew - celebrates the world and humanity for what it is. His temptations are usually just encouraging humans to be human. He sees the beauty in the world they all created and he wants that beauty to continue.

Now, because Jews don't proselytize, he never really tries to get Aziraphale to join him in the questioning everything thing. He knows that asking questions would give Aziraphale the anxiety sweats. He doesn't really push him into do that.

All he does - throughout both seasons - is gently nudge Aziraphale into seeing how beautiful this world is. From the food and drink to appreciating humans, and then their art, and nature around them. Gentle nudges into realizing that this is a wonderful world worth preserving.

Which makes Aziraphale reject the Death Cult that is the Christian World (I'm reminded of the statement by Beezlebub "All my demons live for armageddon... if you can call that living") but not the hierarchy and fucked up toxic power structure that inevitably leads to that death cult

so Crowley thinks he's managed to persuade his Christian Friend to see the error of his ways, the error of Christianity. Aziraphale doesn't believe in the death cult anymore! perfect! now crowley and aziraphale can coexist and be a couple. Now they can be an "us".

That's where we leave off at the end of s1.

In s2, we see how still believing in that hierarchy (constantly referring to heaven as the "good guys" is a big key) holds Aziraphale back. Crowley, however, is blind to that, because he's singularly focused on making sure that his fragile peace with Aziraphale is protected.

He thinks that convincing Aziraphale that the death cult was bad would be enough for Aziraphale to realize that the Toxic Hierarchy is *also* bad.

But the Toxic Hierarchy keeps its hold on people the same way Christianity does in our world - by convincing people it has a monopoly on holiness, goodness, and right action. And Aziraphale is still convinced of that.

To those of us outside that system, its obvious that a Death Cult could not *possibly* have a monopoly on goodness/holiness/whatever. But inside of it, it's impossible to tell, because they've convinced you that they have that monopoly, and if you reject them you'll be doomed forever, and no one wants to risk being doomed.

This is where the Jewish Grief of Crowley comes in. Because Crowley, like many of us, is in a friendship with a Christian, who - because they are Christian, and you are Jewish - still thinks of you as a "demon", or a "foolish misguided". They're just polite about it.

(note, not all demons are Jewish in Good Omens - in fact, I'd argue that most of them are just as Christian as the angels, because they believe in the hierarchy and the death cult. I digress.)

When Jewish People are friends with Christians, we know that there is a potential bomb on the friendship. At any point, the Christian could reveal that the whole time, they were just trying to convert us to Christianity, because they see us as the "foolish misguided" Jew instead of the "demon" Jew. Yes, there are the isolated Christians in the real world who are able to see Jewish folks as something separate and worth preserving, but they are the minority; and in the world of Good Omens, they just can't exist, because the physical proof shows the Christian world as Real. At the very least, Aziraphale could never be that person.

Crowley was hoping he had managed to convince Aziraphale that Christianity is bogus, so they could remain friends without Aziraphale trying to turn him into something he's not. Aziraphale thinks that he's doomed, because he rejected the Hierarchy, and is constantly doubting himself and his own worth without his codependent relationship with the hierarchy

This brings us to the end of the season. When Crowley sees that Aziraphale never really left Christianity at all, that he was just waiting to come back to it, that is a grief that many Jewish people have felt in their life when a friendship with a Christian comes to a head. Aziraphale offering Crowley a second chance at angel-hood, and to be his "second in command", is essentially Aziraphale trying to convert Crowley to Christianity.

Trying to Erase Crowley the Jew.

In real life, when this happens, Jewish people become heartbroken regardless of the nature of the friendship. The person they thought was their friend was, this whole time, someone who saw them as foolish and misguided, someone who saw them as damned and thus lesser. It was never a friendship. It was a trap.

And for this to happen between Crowley and Aziraphale, not only leads to the deep grief of losing a friend, but the deep grief off realizing that friendship - and the love that Crowley so desperately wished to finally access - was all a lie. A trick. A trap.

It's not just that Aziraphale didn't understand, or that he went back to the toxic relationship. It's that all of Crowley's memories - all of his time with Aziraphale - is poisoned now. Because he can't see it as anything other than Aziraphale trying to turn Crowley into someone he's not.

They talk so much about temptation, but in the end, Aziraphale was the one trying to tempt Crowley into self-destruction, and not the other way around. And realizing that broke Crowley's heart more than anything else could.

The kiss? A last ditch attempt to try to get Aziraphale to realize what he was doing. What he was giving up by buying into the toxicity and the hierarchy. But toxic relationships brainwash you. It was never going to work.

The only way they can come back together now is for Aziraphale to realize that Crowley was right all along. He has a lot of growth to do. And Crowley has a lot of pain that is definitely going to get in the way. He spent 6k years thinking that Aziraphale saw him as an equal, when he never once did.

How could Crowley ever trust Aziraphale again?

[displayheartcode]

Let me know if anyone wants a list of Jewish fantasy novels

[longsightmyth]

Hit me

[displayheartcode]

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (adult, based on Hungarian Jewish history)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (adult, based on Lithuanian Jewish history)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (adult, urban fantasy)

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos (YA, urban fantasy)

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (adult, anthology)

A good amount of Alice Hoffman’s books

Same for Jane Yolen’s short stories and Briar Rose

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (adult, historical)

People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky and Sean Wallace (anthology)

Anything by Shira Glassman

[displayheartcode]

Adding more!

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros (ya, historical urban fantasy about a series of murders in 1900s Chicago). Also read his sophomore novel Bone Weaver!

From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos (ya, urban fantasy)

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by RM Romero (YA, ghost story told in verse)

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (ya, historical about angel and a demon coming to America)

Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (mg, urban fantasy murder mystery)

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft (ya, romantic fantasy about a fox hunt)

The Way Back by Gavriel Salt (ya, historical portal fantasy)

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (ya, historical time slip)

Feverwake by Victoria Lee (ya, dystopian with magic)

Death’s Embrace by HL Moore (adult, sci-fi)

[forthegothicheroine]

This is a great list, and I wanted to add a couple I recently read!

The Tribe by Bari Wood: Intense social horror about golems, bigotry and some very gnarly murders.

Thistlefoot by Gennarose Nethercott, magical realism about Baba Yaga’s Jewish descendants getting willed her walking house.

[will-o-the-witch]

Localizing Your Practice

So much witchcraft emphasizes how important it is to honor and work with the Earth, but then teaches us spells with ingredients we basically have to import using locations we don’t have access to. It’s rare to find an existing grimoire or guide book that actually works with where we live. We can still use them, but it doesn’t enhance our connection to our local land, which to many can feel important. Here are some tips for localizing your practice and working with the land you actually live on.

See what nature exists around you. Explore your own backyard with a critical eye. What plants can you actually go and pick yourself? What are those plants associated with? Do you have access to a creek or river? What does your local land actually have on it? If magic correspondences for your local plants haven’t been written about, you may have to do your own research. Example: I grow several plants on my back porch which I can potentially use for magic.There are magnolia trees and rhodedendrons on the grounds of my apartment complex. My parent’s neighbors have chickens in the backyard, so I have access to some feathers when they shed. 

Check out local folklore, legends, etc. This is one of my favorite parts, but can also be the hardest. What are the stories of your area, both on a local and cultural scale. Example: A West Virginian may incorporate legends of the Mothman. Everyone says that one building on my old college campus is haunted (and they’re right.) People talk about that liminal-space feeling when you drive down that one road at night.

Find the magic spots. Sometimes the urban legends will tip you off to these (usually in a bad way) but other times you can find them on your own. A place where the energy is just right for some reason. A place you can go to be closer to nature, or a place you could host a ritual if needed. Sometimes it’s just a place where you can feel your mind open a little bit. Example: The shady corner of a public park. The tunnel downtown. That weirdly-perfect circle of trees in the woods behind Wal-Mart.

Meet your land wights. Spirits of the local land. This could be the fair folk, but also house spirits, the spirits of the trees near you, the nature spirits of wherever you are. They’re there. Be good to them and they’ll be good to you! Note: Some spirits and wights will not be interested in working with you, and that’s okay. I generally think it’s good to at least leave a polite offering to just be on general decent terms even if you never work with them more directly beyond that. 

Check in with your Seasons. Harvest holidays generally don’t have actual lifestyle importance to most people reading this. The seasonal shifts other people write about may be from a very different climate than yours! Figure out a calendar that works for you. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but something that ties you to the seasons as you actually experience them. I also love working in any fun annual festivals nearby, if any.

[libeary-misspelled]

If you live in the United States, the Department of Agriculture has a plant database. It is very detailed and has everything from common names of plants and regional areas, to rarity, and a list of plants that are identified as culturally significant.

Anyway, not every plant is completely detailed, but it's a really good resource, if like me, you have never grown shit and have no idea what local plants are actually native to the area and what is or isn't endangered.

[sheydgarden]

so thrilled to be able to announce this incredible box set of darkly funny Jewish TTRPG games - written & designed by Lucian Kahn (Visigoths vs. Mall Goths) and illustrated by yours truly! Jewish liches taking on antisemitic fantasy tropes, a chaotic "vampire bat" mitzvah, and the drinking songs of a bootlegging bubbe in 1930s New York - there's something here for everyone. funded in under 2 hours, but there's still plenty of time for you to get a copy!

"If I Were a Lich, Man" on Kickstarter

[ID: promotional image for the Jewish TTRPG game box set "If I Were A Lich, Man" showing the illustrated game box and a set of 4 dreidels. text at the top reads "Hit Point Press" and "LIVE ON KICKSTARTER" at the bottom]