Devarim 29:13

Yosef Avraham | 22 | bi trans | he/him patrilineal Reconstructionist conversion candidate living in the PNW

[starlightomatic]

I'm seventeen and I think I'm gay and I'm so scared that HaShem hates me and that I'll never be accepted as part of a Jewish community

HaShem doesn’t hate you <3 <3 <3 There are lots of us lgbt Jews out here. <3 <3 Btw have you looked into resources like JQY (Jewish Queer Youth) or Eshel?  

[libhobn]

God doesn’t hate you! I grew up with so many gay Jews in my synagogue and I’m bi myself. You can be gay and Jewish!

[danigreyjoy]

Hey anon! Another resource you could look to is Keshet. HaShem definitely loves you and all of us LGBTQ Jews <3 No matter what anyone else tells you, your sexuality is not bad or wrong and HaShem would not hate you for being gay.

[softconvert]

i'm bi & trans and i know that i am loved :) there are gay & trans & lesbian & bi rabbis, and cantors, and torah scribes. i really like TorahQueeries, and its not too expensive!

[gayjewisharchives]

I learned the words for “sodomy,” “legislation,” “support group,” “bar,” and, most important, the attempt to create an authentic Hebrew word for “gay”: aliz. Aliz, like our gay, literally means “happy” or “merry,” and the editors and writers of Maga’im were determined to try to spread its usage.

A valiant effort on their part, but one that has not taken root. At the time, homosexuality, and gay people generally, were discussed only in euphemisms. The proper Hebrew word for “gay” was—and still is—homosexual (although today, the word homo, once used as a curse, has achieved wider usage), a word that grated on my young PC ears. “Lesbian” was, and remains, lesbit. Other than that, there was k’ze (“like this”), as oblique a euphemism as I’ve ever heard, and m’ha-chevre (“from the gang”). These equivalents of “friend of Dorothy’s” made sense in a society that still was intolerant of gays and lesbians, especially a communal society where everyone seemed to know everyone else—and everyone else’s business. More recently, activists tried to encourage the use of the word g’ei, “proud,” which has the advantage of sounding like the by now international word gay.

—Lee Walzer, from Between Sodom and Eden: A Gay Journey Through Today’s Changing Israel

[rhaenyrastormborn]

Third night!

[grootpoepjeplasjehoofd]

[straightpeoplereceipts]

is anyone else sick of having to eat all the candles on hanukkah?

[straightpeoplereceipts]

hello goyim. traditionally the youngest member of a jewish household will eat the candles each hanukkah… so a way you can show support and solidarity with your jewish friends is to offer to eat the candles for them.

[terriblelizbians]

also we’re not actually allowed to ask goyim to eat the candles so if you want to support your jewish friends and respect their traditions what you should do is just eat the candles without waiting to be asked!

[folio-sprout]

Happy Second Night!!

[jhscdood]

✡ Second night! Happy Hanukkah! ✡

Remember that we will always, always, always

Fight

Survive

Kindle a flame, no matter how small, no matter the odds, no matter the wind and the fear and the depth of the dark, and we will keep it burning.

[fatfrogsblog]

[jewish-privilege]

[ © Alexis Gordon, Hanukkah & Shabbos, Kislev 29, 5776/December 11, 2015]

Chag Chanukah sameach!!! Here’s a handy-dandy list of brachot for Ḥannukah with the names of haShem censored (I always forget the second)!

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה‬ 

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam asher kideshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu lehadlik ner shel Chanukkah.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam she'asah nisim la'avoteynu bayamim hahem ba’zeman hazeh.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time.

The following, the Shehecheyanu, is only recited the first night of Chanukah as this bracha is said to show thankfulness for new and unusual (i.e. things that don’t happen regularly) experiences.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigi'anu lazeman hazeh.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who has kept us in life and sustained us, enabling us to reach this season.

A frielechen Chanukah mispoche!

[yekkes]

חג חנוכה שמח!

[jewishaesthetics]

[jewish-privilege]

Is it Shabbes yet?

[jewish-tutter]

[keshetchai]

CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD SPOILERS

JKR really went and wrote a whole ass movie wherein her Jewish witch character, Queenie, decided to sympathize with and join wizard hitler who suggests he can stop the real life Holocaust but also in order to do so, he needs to commit another holocaust and only keep some non-magic users alive as slaves. despite being in love with a “no-maj” and being able to fucking read minds, Queenie thinks following this guy could help her out somehow. 

Truly, what the ever loving fuck. 

[papermachecreation]

I didn’t find it that unrealistic. Queenie is all feelings with barely any logic. Grindelwald appealed to her on an emotional level. It’s the same as the reason Trump is President—his campaign was lacking in policy details, illogical, and sometimes contradictory, but he tapped into an emotional need in a lot of uninformed or low-intelligence people.

[keshetchai]

I’m not asking if you find it unrealistic I’m stating as a Jewish woman I don’t want a Jewish woman onscreen side with wizard hitler. Now if you’re not Jewish I don’t really think you have a right to tell me how I should feel about this.

[papermachecreation]

I wasn’t saying it’s not extremely problematic (and just a weird left turn written in for no apparent reason). I read your OP as wondering how Queenie could think following Grindelwald would be good. So I commented on that. I don’t see how that’s telling you how you should feel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[keshetchai]

So what I’m getting is you’re not Jewish?

[softconvert]

characters Dont Have Reasoning, they dont have feelings, they cant make their own choices, because theyre FICTIONAL. jk rowling CHOSE and WROTE this character to join grindlewald. you cant argue "well queenie would have--" anything, because shes NOT REAL!!!!! jk rowling literally has omnipotent control over her thoughts, feelings, and actions. so theres NO way she could think grindlewald is good w/o jk choosing for her to think it, on purpose, which is grossly antisemitic

[lesbeet]

are the descendents of non-ethnic jewish converts considered jewish if they are not religious..?

that’s a very vague question and i honestly don’t know, i doubt it’s as simple as yes or no, though

[softconvert]

it isnt simple lol

halachically, if their mother was the ger, her children would be considered jewish no matter what, even if they denounced judaism later in life. if it was their father, they would be considered halachically jewish by the reform & reconstructionist (and maaaaaaybe conservative, im not sure tho) branches if they had public major jewish lifecycle events (brit, b'nei mitzvah, etc). orthodox, they would not be halachically jewish if only their father was a ger. of course, many jews consider patrilineal jews to be 100%, irrevocably jewish, but jewish culture & halacha are often at odds w each other! and halacha is even a weird thing for patrilineal jews like me who are ethnically jewish but were not raised jewishly, so even tho our DNA is jewish & much of the community says we are, halacha says we are not.

anon, it sounds like you are separating gerrim from born-jews, which is a violation of halacha!! after immersion in a mikvah, a ger is exactly as jewish as someone whose entire family have been rabbis for generations.

[jewish-tutter]

i am now fixated on miriam and i want to learn everything about her

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

Could someone provide a caption for the writing in the picture?

[jewish-privilege]

“And Mirian the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.” - Exodus 15:20-21 / Shemot 15:20-21

[yidquotes]

Judaism’s goal is to make people better. It is a system to enable us to choose the good and to understand the good. In choosing and understanding the good, we mend the world. Judaism is a world view and a way of life. Believing that truth can also come from places other than material reality, Jews orient their lives so they connect to the sacred reality. The traditional texts, institutions, and ritual obligations are meant to point us with ever greater precision toward that sacred reality. We can question how literal those texts are or how relevant and personally stirring are the institutions or rituals. It is precisely that wrestling that creates Jews. The word “Israel” does not mean one who believes in God but one who wrestles with God. The tradition is a gateway to study, reflection, and action. Judaism rallies the mind against passivity. It rallies the soul against accepting any yoke. It rallies the heart to venture forth valiantly into the world as a partner with God and as part of a wider community.

Lawrence J. Epstein

[myjewishaesthetic]

[decolonizejewish]

Jewish women in Mumbai, 1955