she-who-run

Just a person doin stuff

[she-who-run]

one facing the window, one facing me

my family mailed me our childhood menorah, which my pagan dad got from the judaica store bc my sister, who went to a Jewish preschool, really, really wanted to celebrate Hanukah. My dad (who probably had to ask his jewish gf where to even buy it) caved, and for several years we celebrated Hanukah along with Christmas.

Now I'm approaching 40, actually Jewish, and this little menorah holds a fuzzy place in my heart. It's nice to light it in my window now, an actual Jew, knowing what the prayers mean, and to give thanks for light and community.

Chanuka, to me, feels like taking a little time for eight evenings in a row just to say, l'dor vador, we will be here. The miracle isn't the oil, it's that we're still here to remember it.

[mitzpe-rimon]

hello jumblr. the world is full of horrors as always. but here are some honk cookies I made.

like to honk, reblog to pass the plate on, scroll past to simply enjoy your cookie in peace (g-d knows we all need some)

[jewish-rock]

happy chanukah from the dorm/fire-safe test tube menorah!

not technically kosher because they are not candles and do not stay lit independently for at least 30 minutes, but i'm not allowed to have open flames.

the candles are glass vials coated with uv paint. i "charge" them by leaving them under a uv light strip, and they glow for several minutes afterwards. (the longer i charge, the brighter/longer they glow).

the frame is wood cut on a laser cutter, but i could theoretically use a real menorah with a little bit of wax/putty to stick them in.

i have blue, green, and yellow candles. the yellow are the brightest by a lot! there's a reason most glow-in-the-dark things are that specific yellow-green i guess.

i could make more colors if i wanted, i'd just need to find uv paint or resin to do it with.

[she-who-run]

THAT IS BRILLIANT. I am so impressed.

[alanaisalive]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

[iguanamouth]

oh shit

[throughshadow-to-the-edgeofnight]

[alanaisalive]

As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.

[docd666]

Y'all know what to do Tumblr.

[assistant-to-the-shell]

@official-the-united-states @official-denmark @denmark-forreal @denmark-official @denmarklandia-official

@actually-danish-denmark @official-hongkong @official-ireland @definitelytherepublicofireland @actually-literally-ireland

@forever-scotland @totally-france @france-unofficial @russia-totallyofficial

@germany-official @totally-germany @genuinely-germany @definitely-britain @definitely-canada

@official-new-zealand @nihonkokuu @india-official @yugoslavia-official @wales-official

@the-offical-roman-empire @the-official-italy @guatemala-official @totally-italy @the-principality-of-sealand

@medici-official @definitely-brasil @holy-roman-empire-revived @spain-unofficial @very-real-australia

@antiquitian-empire @literally-luxembourg @100-percent-real-official-malta @aerican-empire-real-nation

@totally-japan @therealrepublicofkorea @pakistan-official @i-am-poland @kingdom-of-asgardia-real

@very-much-mexico @republic-of-molossia @the-kingdom-of-norway @sweden-official @non-tyrannical-usa

@the-entire-country-of-sweden @greenland-offical @michigan-is-cool-trust-me @the-state-of-michigan

@state-of-0hio-official @cape-breton-island-itself @state-of-florida-official @state-of-connecticut-official @the-us-navy-offical

@the-us-navy @the-real-illinois @the-state-of-georgia-official

@mhm-wisconsin @rejasthanofficial @stateofuttarpradeshindiaofficial @the-only-ontario

@actually-alberta @newjersey-official @new-york-for-real @definitely-indiana @the-province-of-nova-scotia-real

@femboy-state-of-florida-official @the-republic-of-texas @new-hampshire-real @the-official-state-of-utah @unofficial-illinois

@newhampshireofficial @saskatchewan-real @quebec-official @texas-real @rhode-island-real

@we-are-not-the-feds @totally-texas @telangana-official @sovereign-state-of-alaska @tamil-nadu-official

@west-bengal-official @this-is-goa @totally-oregon @buffalony-official @maharashtra-official

@kolkatabbg @gujarat-official @axom-miss @karnatakaofficial

@tamilnadu-official @bihar-official @mumbai-official @communist-usa-real @officially-gay-va

@definitely-north-america @antarcitica-official @official-the-pacific-ocean @the-real-atlantic-ocean

@bangladesh-official @hyderabad-unofficial @delhi-the-capital @thestateoflouisiana @amul-unofficial

hey gimmick verse, you know what to do.

(don’t know how many of you are still around, i’m using an old list).

[mightyocelot]

@walmart-the-official do the thing

[she-who-run]

shabbat shalom

I'm away from home this week, and it's a little lonely. But my rabbi told me which shul in the area would be the most like home, so I shuffled over to this new shul from shabbat service. And for an hour, I was singing along to similar tunes, the same words, Hashkiveinu and Ahavat Olam and Shma.

The most wonderful thing about being a Jew is that when you're in a shul, no matter where you are, you're home.

[she-who-run]

Today I saw a chanukiah with the candle blessing written artfully on the base. In hebrew, all pretty and silver, but like. Ha! Now you don't have to look it up.

[etz-ashashiyot]

So in light of having had to wiggle "O Come All Ye Faithful" out my ear in N o v e m b e r

I am dropping my official Oh Lawd The Xtians Are Coming playlist

Have you gotten Xmas music stuck in your head before you've even gotten to eat your turkey? Have your ears already been assaulted with the Alvin and the Chipmunks version of Jingle Bells or the most sacchrine, nasally kid version of Away in a Manager?

Here is your cure:

[etz-ashashiyot]

That not enough? I've got more! Bouncing Chasids fix everything (or at least will give you different earworms):

[shadowweaver06]

Leaving this with no further comments.

[baroque-hashem]

Love and Knishes (1956) by Sara Kasdan

[cursedtrekedits]

happy holidays from the s’chn t’gais!

[she-who-run]

*squealing*

[tekhelet]

Chanukah candle blessings from Mishkan T’Filah.

[ofskfe]

Visit Original Link

Music from the Jewish People of Uganda

“African-Jewish music in which the rhythms and harmonies of Africa blend with Jewish celebration and traditional Hebrew prayer… rooted in local Ugandan music and infused with rich choral singing. This singular community of African people living committed Jewish lives has survived persecution and isolation and asserts, ‘We have been saved by our music.’” 

[hymnsofheresy]

when christian artists change the line in hallelujah from “maybe there’s a God above” to “I know that there’s a God above” >:c

[covington-shenanigans]

#idk why i’m so unreasonably angry#maybe cuz it’s my fav line

it’s also because Leonard COHEN (!) was Jewish and this is a quintessentially Jewish line, and changing it to that level of Annoying Certainty is stripping it of its Jewish meaning and imbuing it with that particularly American smug evangelical Christian attitude that makes me tired, so very tired

[hymnsofheresy]

THAT IS EXACTLY WHY

[hachama]

I don’t think I’ve heard any cover artist sing my favorite verses You say I took the name in vain I don’t even know the name But if I did, well really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light In every word It doesn’t matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah I did my best, it wasn’t much I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you And even though It all went wrong I’ll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

[hymnsofheresy]

um woah

[cutecreative]

I will always hit the reblog button so hard for Hallelujah but ESPECIALLY mentions of the elusive final verses which are just about my favorite lyrics ever. Why do people always omit the best part of the song??

[fromchaostocosmos]

In Yiddish

In Hebrew

[fromchaostocosmos]

In Ladino

[stoneandbloodandwater]

Yeah, I wonder why the verses that reference specific Jewish mystical and chassidic concepts that aren’t readily understood by American “I love Jews, you know, Jesus was Jewish!” Christians never get any airtime. Funny that.

You say I took the name in vain I don’t even know the name But if I did, well really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light In every word It doesn’t matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah

These are specifically about Chassidic Jewish theories of the holy language, how each letter and combination of letters in Hebrew contains the essence of the divine spark and if used correctly, can unlock or uncover the divine spark in the mundane material word. And of course, there are secret names of God which, when spoken by any ordinary human would kill them, but if you are worthy and holy and righteous can be used to perform miracles or even to behold the glory of God face-to-face. The words themselves have power. Orthodox Jews often won’t even pronounce the word “hallelujah” in it’s entirety in conversation, because the “yah” sound at the end is a True Name of God (there are hundreds, supposedly) and thus too holy to say outside of prayer.

None of this is to mention how David’s sin in sleeping with Batshevah (the subject of much of the song, with a brief deviation to Shimshon and Delilah) is considered the turning point in the Tanach that ultimately dooms the Davidic line at the cosmological level and thus dooms Jewish sovereignty and independence altogether. From a Christian perspective this led to Jesus, the King of Kings, and that’s all very well and good for them, but for the Jews, the Davidic line never returned and is the central tragedy of the total arc of the Torah. Like, our Bible doesn’t have a happy ending? And that’s what this song is about? There’s no Grace - you just have to sit with the sin and its consequence.

Of course, Cohen is referencing all of this ironically, and personalizing these very high-level religious concepts. Like the point of this song is that Cohen, the songwriter, is identifying with David, the psalmist, and identifying his own sins with David’s. The ache that you hear in this song is that the two thousand year exile that resulted from one wrong night of passion and Cohen feels that the pain he has caused to his lover is of equally monumental infamy. Basically, in a certain light, the whole of Psalms is a vain effort for David to atone for his sin and I think Cohen was writing this song in wonderment that David could eternally praise the God who would not forgive him and would force him and his people into exile. But he ultimately gets how you have to surrender to the inexorable force of God in the face of your own inadequacies and how to surrender is to worship and to worship is to praise - hence, Hallelujah. You can either do the right thing and worship God from the start, or you can fuck up, be punished, and thus be forced to beg for His forgiveness. It’s the terrible inevitability of praise that’s driving him mad.

Like honestly, I identify with this song so strongly as an off-the-derech Jew, I sometimes wonder what Christians can possibly hear in this song, as it speaks so specifically to the sadomasochistic relationship that a lapsed Jew has with their God. It’s such a different song from a Christian theological perspective it’s almost unrecognizable, man. This song continues to be a wonder of postmodern Jewish theology and sexuality from start to finish. Don’t let anyone give you any “Judeo-Christian” narishkeit. This is a Jewish song.

(Sorry about the wild tangent it’s just 2AM and I love this song so dang much, you guys.)

[hymnsofheresy]

holy shit. woah.

[dduane]

This.

[dispatchrabbi]

That last bit from @stoneandbloodandwater, that’s a great articulation of the well of feeling, memory, storytelling, and culture packed into one of the most Jewish songs ever to get real famous. The song is both surrender and defiance, and that those are actually a single path together, not two opposite choices.

[jewishnursey]

[wetwareproblem]

A small addition: This song is such a deeply resonant Jewish touchstone that every synagogue I have ever attended uses its melody in services from time to time.

It is so important, so powerful, so spiritually resonant that we use it in prayer.

[prismatic-bell]

If memory serves me, the cover we most often hear came about specifically because Jeff Buckley was like “man, this song is badass but I don’t know that I can do its concepts justice” and Leonard Cohen was like “you need different verses? Here, I wrote over eighty of the fuckers, pick what you want to use” and so Buckley put together verses that spoke to him as a non-Jew about sexuality and this idea of a failed relationship.

Which wouldn’t be an issue if Christians didn’t then take his adaptation (done, I emphasize again, with Cohen’s blessing) and rewrite it in ways THAT DO NOT COME FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSES.

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Yes, this.

[phoukanamedpookie]

Considering how passionately erotic many of the lyrics are (and this is deeply aligned with Jewish tradition), I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at this being turned into some tepid meditation about faith.

[she-who-run]

A 3 year old I know heard the song "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen this weekend. How do I know?

Because he spent the entirety of our walk hollering "holleyuya" over and over again, in a tune vaguely reminiscent of the chorus, and really enjoyed himself.

Didn't even hint at any of the verses, never actually stopped between "holleyuya"s, but he had the spirit.

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

Y’ALL!!!! IT’S HERE!!!!

The Trans Halakha Project seeks to curate existing and developing resources that have been created for trans Jews, by trans Jews and engage trans & non-binary people in the creation of specific rituals and blessings. This work is expressed below in Tefillat Trans: Blessings and Rituals for Trans Lives.

Tefillat Trans - SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

[charlesoberonn]

Husband = בעל/Ba'al, with a ע

Onion = בצל/Batzal, with a צ

[charlesoberonn]

[she-who-run]

SCHOOL'S OUT!

Dude the ONLY people who look forward to the end of the school year more than kids are the teachers.

PARTY TIME!