hey, your response to the lilith anon seems extremely familiar, something i've seen written up before by someone else in a discord server, probably years ago. it definitely has been a while, but they would most likely appreciate their type-up on lilith to be credited to them. i'm not trying to be mean or say you didn't have the best intentions (educating those who don't know better), i get it's been so long, but i thought i'd comment on it
hi!! yes, it was written by my friend carver, you probably have seen it in their old discord server The Enchanted Serpents, they’ve given me permission to use it :)
I’d have tagged them, but they no longer have tumblr and have no issue with me copy and pasting
In order to understand who and what Lilith is, one must look at the history of her development. In the 70's, a Yale student (Judith Plaskow, a Jewish woman), wrote "The Coming of Lilith", which examined Lilith from a feminist perspective. This interpretation of Lilith was taken completely out of context, and she was reimagined as a pagan sex goddess of feminism, which just isn't true.
Within Judaism, Lilith began as a category of lesser demon, ones that killed babies and raped men.
The modern view of Lilith comes from a Medieval misinterpretation of Genesis 1 and 2, which thought of them as two parts of one story, when in reality they are two different retellings of one creation myth. In one, it says that both Adam and Eve were created out of dust, and in another it says that Adam was made of dust with Eve being made later out of his rib. People conflated these and assumed that there must have been a "first Eve" created out of dust and then for some reason a "second Eve". Then, we get the Alphabet of Ben Sirach, which was a satirical text that was a comedic commentary on a lot of other ideas and opinions at the time (lots of commentary on flatulence, interestingly enough). Within it, we get the first appearance of Lilith as this "first Eve" and the reason given for a second Eve being created is that Lilith did not obey.
Before the Alphabet, liliths were a category of lesser demon or malicious being, usually one associated with being mischievous wind/night spirit, killing babies at night (usually as an explanation for miscarriages or sudden infant death syndrome), or assaulting men.
Sure, there are pre-Jewish entities that are loosely connected with liliths, appearing in Sumerian/Mesopotamian texts as a category of mischievous wind spirit. So, sure, there are the Sumerian/Mesopotamian "lilitu"/"lilit"/"lil", but that's not going to be a feminist goddess, it's going to be a lesser type of wind spirit.
Ill say this here, this is a safe space for everyone, if you come into a conversation willing to learn i will listen to, but if you arrive with the intent to tell me i am wrong and youre right, i will not listen, that is so not right.
Thanks for asking! Don't take my word for it 100%, I am a flawed person who can make mistakes, as far as i know this is what it is.
Messianic Christianity (also know as Messianic 'Judaism') is a sect of Christianity, despite it's common name of Judaism, though there are a few different contributors to its creation, it is largely because of antisemitics wanting to convert Jewish people to Christianity, most popular being 'Jews for jesus' it's just Christianity, but taking Jewish holidays, customs, and rituals. it has been and always will be just a Christian sect rooted in antisemitism, and appropriation, they believe in Jesus as the messiah, the holy trinity, etc. aswell as Jewish holidays, I hope this helps a bit! I'll most likely make a post explaing more in depth, i'm a bit busy right now though, feel free to ask again for it to be reworded.
I'm not sure if it's like this for any other jewish converts, but converting to Judaism is genuinely one of the most healing things in the world. Like, yes, I feel like spiritually I'm healing and filling apart of my life that was missing, but it's so much more than that. It's healing my relationship with people and humanity. I'm learning how to be patient and being okay with not knowing everything. I'm also reading and interacting with learning again. I'm also becoming less anxious. It's easier to talk to people at my synagogue even if I don't know them, I'm getting better at emailing tbh, I'm just better at socializing in general. Being around people and community, singing, laughing, and just sharing joy and sadness. It's beautiful and is genuinely helping me recover.
When your moral framework combines genocide, talking animals, stoning people to death, dragons and leviathans, plagues, giants and satyrs, slavery, blood magic, raping the prisoners of war, magical fruit, and worshiping the one who orchestrated all of this.
If you're gonna say religions are fake, at least get them all, p sure you had some bad experiences and now wanna make everyone else feel bad, you're the only one here who needs help
The Hebrew word for religion, דת, is a Persian loanword that first appears in the Book of Esther. The closest concept prior to that was “worshiping other gods.” Mostly, Jews are described as a people/nation (עם, גוי, or אומה) who have been given a set of laws (תורה) to follow. In some medieval works, תורה is used to talk about other religions, e.g. תורת ישמעאל (law of Ishmael - Islam) or תורת אדום (law of Edom - Christianity).
This makes it clear that the notion of religion isn’t particularly meaningful in a Jewish context, to such a point that it has often had to be paraphrased, often in such a way as to imply that these other religions are laws for other peoples/nations (e.g. the Ishmaelites or Edomites), which is what makes the most sense to Jews. To traditional Judaism, Jews are a nation first and foremost, one with laws we are expected to follow and a God who gave those to us.
There has been such an unbelieveable amount of antisemitism on Tumblr, so, I'll just say this.
Lilith is closed.
The Kabbalah is not an occult-y thing you can just use, It is closed to Judaism, always has been, always will be.
The Jewish G-d is not just every other abrahamic deity, they are not the same.
Abrahamic religions are not evil, stop generalizing, if you had a bad experience with Christianity or Judaism or Islam, that is not the whole religion, do not put others down because of it.
and i'll just ask this; why are goyim so, so, interested in jews? why? why does it matter to you? If you aren't trying to learn and be respectful, why are you so interested in telling them why something is closed or open?
Alright, so I've encountered some not-so-happy reactions to my answer to this ask. I'll be responding to some of what has been said here. For context, here's a quote from the ask:
"If it's wrong to work with Lilith if you're not Jewish, is it also wrong to work with Greek deities if you're not Greek, or take part in a Santeria ritual if you're not Cuban? Because all the Santeros I know would be happy to bring in people from different races / national backgrounds. Why would a demon, a supernatural entity that exists outside of human laws and comprehension, discriminate based on race/religion?"
I'm not sure if you are autistic, and therefore were unable to full understand the tone of the person who asked, but this was not a genuine question, and was undoubtedly asked in an explicitly malicious "haha, gotcha!" way. I am an autistic person, and also someone who has been fighting the Lilith thing for years at this point (no, I will never shut up about it). I have encountered this exact kind of "question", word-for-word, countless times. I know what I am facing when it is not asked in any good faith. This is also offensive to autistic people (like myself) who don't do obviously bad things like this. Please reflect on that.
I'm not even going to tackle what the other person (on a throwaway account) said because it's just so obviously antisemitic. I wonder if this is what you want? Is this what you were trying to say with your comment? Are you happy that goyim just love what you're saying because it validates their antisemitism and appropriation of Judaism, which actively contributes to the destruction of our culture? Yes, our culture, the one that I share with you, no matter how apparently ashamed you are of that fact. I will say this one thing about what the throwaway said, and that is that there is a gigantic difference between the natural sharing, melding, and evolution of cultures happening over time with the intent of both cultures and a random person completely disconnected from a culture stealing it and using it for themselves in a wholly uneducated and disrespectful way. Unless you're cool with that, I guess.
The Lilith thing has contributed to unimaginable amounts of antisemitism, as you can see within the comment agreeing with you and the other reblogs. I don't care about Lilith herself, I have not interacted with her and don't plan to. But I do care about antisemitism, and I do care about my people, which extends to the Jewish feminists who have reclaimed and loved Lilith so greatly.
I will be blocking the throwaway account, because it's a throwaway, and a vessel simply used to attack Jews. I will not be blocking you, but please do not continue to harass me or interact. I would hate to block you, or the actual person behind the throwaway, because I will be releasing an extensive blog going through the entirety of the Lilith argument. You both could benefit from taking a look at the arguments and overview of Lilith's history that I will present, with plenty of scholarly and academic sources cited.
Anyway, I will no longer be interacting with you. Again, thank you so much to everyone who has showed such support in my asks and DMs. I will be responding to you all shortly, as I would hate to focus only on the negative. Thank Ha'Shem for the visibility I've been given and the amount of people I have been able to reach.
The synagogue was build in 1905 in Neo-Moorish style. After the end of the WWII Jewish symbols were removed from the synagogue. Today the building houses the Transcarpathian Regional Philharmonic.
i. "Kashrut" and "Kosher"?
ii. Kashrut Specifics
iii. Modified Ways to Keep Kosher
iv. Resources
border inspo & header art
You may already be confused about what these words even mean, and that's totally okay, we're all here to learn. The following are some important terms to keep in mind:
Halakha : Jewish Law as outlined within the Talmud. It governs everything from punishment for crimes to sex to defining "what" Judaism is. It is more of a way of life than a set of laws.
Kashrut : A subsection of Halakha, specifically referring to regulations surrounding food and everything to do with it.
Kosher : An adjective used to refer to food or food-related products (like forks and spoons) that are deemed okay for Jews to eat/use by Kashrut. "Keeping Kosher" refers to eating according to Kashrut.
Kashering : To cause something to become kosher.
Treif : Everything that is non-Kosher.
Pareve : Food that is "neutral", neither meat nor dairy. This includes fruits, vegetables, grains, eggs, and sometimes fish.
Kashrut tells us what animals are safe to eat, how these animals should be slaughtered, what food can and can't be mixed, alongside instructions on how to use the tools made for preparing/eating food. There's a lot more to Kashrut (which I'll go into soon), but those are the basic ideas. Kashrut includes many guidelines that we see as common sense (such as not eating diseased meat) to everyday cleanliness (checking that fruits and veggies are free of bugs) to things that some people would think are "weird" (like not eating shrimp).
Of course, much of Kashrut is highly cultural in nature, and was largely shaped by Jewish cultural ideas of cleanliness and commonly eaten foods. Some animals may be a normal part of the cultural in many countries/cultures, but they are not Kosher, as Israelites never included such things in its food. This is why many Jews who are also parts of cultures to whom treif foods are significant experience a lot of inner conflictions about keeping Kosher. Instances like the one mentioned before, alongside a countless amount of others, are why there are different levels of keeping Kosher, which I will expand on soon.
Many people ask me why I eat Kosher in the first place. Reactions range anywhere from "Oh wow, I could never give up bacon!" to "Ugh, why follow such archaic laws?" when people find out.
But really, why do we? Is it because it would cause severe health issues if we ate shellfish or a ham and cheese sandwich? No, obviously not. While some of the prohibitions in Kashrut may have health benefits, such as avoiding certain diseases or infections, the primary reason for observing these laws is not based on health concerns. In fact, Halakha dictates that we should not eat Kosher if it would threaten our health or lives in any way. We live by the laws, we don't die by them.
Interestingly enough (right back at ya, "archaic laws" person), it's because they are archaic. It is not because anyone who eats pork is disgusting or wrong or bad in any way. It's our culture, our tradition, it's been passed down for absolutely forever. It's a marker and a reminder of who and what we are, a way to celebrate Jewishness. It's also a ritual, a daily form of active mediation and prayer to bring us closer to (and remind us of) HaShem.
Eating Kosher is not just about what we eat, but also about how we eat. It's a daily ritual that involves mindfulness, intentionality, and gratitude. It's a way to incorporate our culture and religion into our every day, never forgetting who we are. By following these ancient guidelines, we affirm our connection to a long and rich history, to a community that has survived and thrived through centuries of persecution and adversity.
We embrace a way of life that is not driven by the latest trends or fads, but rather by timeless values and principles that have stood the test of time. When we follow the laws of Kashrut, we are reminded of our connection to HaShem, the sanctity of our traditions, and the importance of our community.
Alright, now it's time to get into the exact specifics of what Kashrut outlines for us. It is usually Orthodox Jews who follow every single one of the rules, Conservative Jews follow most(ish) of these rules, and Reform Jews tend to not keep kosher. Of course, this doesn't speak for all denominations or even every Jew in each of the denominations I mentioned, but those are the most common "levels" of keeping kosher among Jews. Keeping kosher is hard, and not everyone has the time, resources, etc. to follow Kashrut as closely as they'd like, which is why different people choose what's right for them.
In this section, I'll cover the exact guidelines in Kashrut, exceptions to keeping kosher, and some modern interpretations of kosher expectations.
Anything produced by forbidden animals- like their eggs and milk- is prohibited.
Land mammals should have cloven hooves and chew their cud.
— In Leviticus 11:3 and Deuteronomy 14:6
— Cloven hooves: Hooves split into two "toes".
— Chewing cud: The process of chewing, partially digesting, regurgitating, and re-chewing food.
— Permitted land mammals include oxen, goats, sheep, and deer.
— Forbidden land mammals include pigs, horses, rabbits, and camels.
Marine life must have fins and scales.
— In Leviticus 11:9 and Deuteronomy 14:9
— Permitted marine life includes salmon, tuna, and carp.
— Forbidden marine life includes shrimp, lobster, and scallops.
Birds must not be scavengers or birds of prey
— In Leviticus 11:13-19 and Deuteronomy 14:11-18
— Only specific birds are prohibited, not types of birds. Rabbis have decided to forbid the categories the listed birds fall into (scavengers and birds of prey).
— Permitted birds include chicken, geese, ducks, and turkeys.
— Forbidden birds include eagles, vultures, ravens, and owls.
Winged insects are… complicated.
— In Leviticus 11:22
— Some winged insects used to be permitted, but we no longer know which ones those are, so all winged insects are decidedly forbidden.
— Interestingly enough, Yemini Jews have very very old traditions of identifying and eating certain locusts as kosher animals. This could be an echo of our now lost outlines on what insects are, in fact, kosher. How cool is that?
Certain parts of kosher animals are forbidden to eat.
— All blood from the meat of land mammals and birds must be drained out during slaughter and then salted/broiled out because blood is their life force and should be respected (Leviticus 7:26-27; 17:10-14).
— Fat found on on the internal organs and below the eleventh rib (Leviticus 3:9; 7:23).
— The sciatic nerve (of the lower leg) to commemorate Jacob’s victory over an angel after they wrestled all night, during which the angel dislodged Jacob’s sciatic nerve (Genesis 32:22).
Animals must be slaughtered in a particular way.
— In Deuteronomy 12:21; 14:21 and Numbers 11:22.
— These rules pertain to land mammals and birds, but not fish.
• Animals cannot have died due to natural causes or another animal killing them.
— Meat should not be diseased or flawed in any way.
— Animals must be slaughtered by having their throat slit quickly and in one strong slash. This way, the most blood drains out and the animal is slaughtered in the most humane way.
Meat and dairy cannot mix (Exodus 23:19; 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21).
Foods which are neither meat nor dairy are pareve, and can be used freely with both meat and dairy.
— Commonly, fish is counted as pareve, but some traditions (usually Sephardic) prohibit the mixing of fish with meat.
A certain amount of time should pass between the consumption of meat and dairy.
— Traditionally, one waits 3-6 hours after eating meat to consume dairy, but only 1-3 hours after eating dairy to eat meat.
— Some traditions include that one must wait only an hour after dairy, except for hard cheeses, after which they must wait 3 hours.
Different utensils and equipment must be used for meat and dairy. This includes everything from the tools used for slaughter to the plates in your home.
— Utensils have a label just like food (meat, dairy, pareve, or treif) which affects the status of the food which comes in contact with it, but only in the presence of heat.
— For example, a fork will become treif if it touched shrimp, and if it touches any hot kosher food (or if the fork or shrimp is hot), the food also becomes treif. This affects things like dishwashers (in which both meat and dairy utensils come in contact with heat in the same space), sinks (which can be hot), and towels (when used to transport hot pots).
— It is totally fine to do something like use a knife with both meat and dairy, as long as both the knife and food is cold, and as long as the knife is cleaned between foods.
All fruits and vegetables are kosher.
— In Genesis 1:29
— Fruits and vegetables must be thoroughly washed and checked for bugs.
— Fruits and vegetables cannot come in contact with any products which include insects, like some dyes and additives.
Grape products cannot be made by idolators.
— This began because of wine's ritual importance, and Jews did not want to consume wine that was made to use in the worship of idols.
— This usually only refers to wine or grape juice.
— More recently, because the creation of wine is now automated, it is technically not made by idolators and has been seen as kosher to some denominations (usually Conservative Jews).
We've gone through the different rules and regulations of Kashrut, which include that utensils/towels can become treif. But what happens if you accidentally eat treif? If utensils become treif, do they need to be thrown out?
Accidentally (or knowingly) eating treif.
— The remedy for this is simply to feel bad and do better in the future.
— But, if you feel particularly bad, you can do a good thing so that the bad thing (eating treif) leads to a good thing, and therefore the entire mistake becomes positive. Good things can include tzedakah, charitable giving (like donating money/old clothes, volunteering, etc.).
Kashering utensils, equipment, etc.
— Kashering is done both when something is first bought and if it ever becomes trief. Usually, only new cooking equipment is kashered (like by being dipped into a mikveh, a pool of holy water), and not everything you buy.
— To "reset" utensils/equipment after it has become treif, it can be dipped in a mikveh, or things like towels can be kashered simply but putting them in the laundry.
— Everyone will have different ways to kasher and different intensities of kashering.
Treif food being the only option.
— During medical emergencies (like a blood sugar crash) or similar situations, it is not a sin to eat treif. Human life is put above all else within Judaism, meaning that everything will be rendered not a sin if breaking it is necessary to save a life (which is also why abortion is required even in the most Orthodox communities).
Keeping kosher is hard. There's a ton of rules and things which build upon each other. It's a lot to remember. Considering that many households separate meat and dairy to the point of having separate sinks and refrigerators, most people just don't have the resources to keep kosher in that way.
If you're low on spoons, disabled, or neurodivergent, those factors can make keeping kosher even more difficult. I'm a spoonie with ADHD and Autism, so I'm chronically fatigued, and have ARFID that contributes to multiple food-related issues.
You should always remember that you are not required to keep kosher if it interferes with medical needs (like I listed), and so you should never feel bad about how "well" you keep kosher. That being said, let's move onto some tips for modified kosher eating.
Try only keeping kosher on shabbat and/or important holidays.
Sometimes, our safe foods or the only food we have access to are treif. However, you're usually already listening to 99% of Kashrut prohibitions on which animals you can eat (like avoiding bugs, reptilians, rodents, scavengers, etc.). So that's already a big step!
Instead of having completely separate equipment for meat/dairy, simply wash your utensils between using them for meat/dairy.
Instead of waiting up to 6 hours between eating meat and dairy, wait 1 hour, drink water between the two foods, and/or create a distinct separation in time between consuming the foods (like getting up to go do something, stopping to talk, etc.).
When it comes to washing utensils, try and separate them by putting them on different washing machine racks, run the washing machine between using it for meat/dairy utensils, or rinse off the inside of the sink between hand-washing meat/dairy utensils.
Use disposable plates/cups/utensils to separate meat and dairy.
Buy only kosher meat, or only kosher foods (most foods in everyday grocery stores will be kosher).
If you're vegan, and depending on the type of vegetarian, you're already eating kosher!
You've finally reached the end of this post, and I hope it was helpful to you. Below, I will list multiple sources for further reading, help in keeping kosher, and just some cool questions about being kosher ("is meat from a cloned animal kosher?").
An extensive course on the laws of Kashrut taught by Rabbis
"Bagels: A Surprising Jewish History" by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
"Does G-d Really Care?" from Kosher Certification
"I Keep Kosher. My Parents Did, Now Don't. It's Complicated." by Talia Kaplan
"Is Lab-Grown Meat Kosher?" by Yehuda Shurpin
"Issues in Jewish Ethics: The Ethics of [Kosher] Cloning" by Dr. Daniel Eisenberg, M.D.
"Jews in America: The Kosher Meat Boycott of 1902" by Dr. Michael Feldberg
"Kashrut Laws as Written in Torah" from the Jewish Museum in London
"Kashrut: the Jewish Dietary Laws [from Biblical, Rabbinic, and Modern Perspectives]" by Jonathan Magonet
"Marijuana Is Always Kosher, as Long as You Smoke It" by Ruth Schuster
"OU Kosher Grocery Store Symbols Explained" by Rabbi Chaim Goldberg
"People Eat Treyf for Their Own Reasons. They All Think About Their Judaism." by Jonathan Katz
"Saying Goodbye to Bacon" by Liel Leibovtiz
"Ten Reasons to Keep Kosher (And They’re Not What You Think)" by Rabbi Alec Goldstein
"The Jewish Dietary Laws: Their Meaning for our Time and a Guide to Observance" by Samuel H. Dresner and Seymour Siegel
"What Archaeology Tells Us About the Ancient History of Eating Kosher" by Lina Zeldovich
"What Is Kosher for Passover?" from Chabad.org
"Why I Don’t Keep Kosher" by Rabbi Jillian Cameron
"Why I Stopped Freaking Out About Other People’s Kosher Habits" by Erris Langer Klapper
"Why Keep Kosher?: Jewish dietary practices allow us to welcome the sacred into our daily lives and into mundane acts." by Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson
"5 Misconceptions About Keeping Kosher" by Mandy Hakimi
Hey everyone! I reformatted this post ever so slightly to make a bit more sense and be easier on the eyes where I listed things. I also added a little bit on locust-eating traditions among Yemini Jews under the insect section. Please check it out if you'd like, and here are some sources below (thanks to @benevolentbirdgal):
"Kosher Locust" from BiblicalNaturalHistory.org
"The Eating of Locusts in Jewish Tradition After the Talmudic Period" by Zohar Amar
"The Rules for Kosher Creepy-Crawlies" from Sefaria
