So I was hesitant on making this post but I've talked to a couple people that just didn't understand how I can be religious (Jewish) and a shifter at the same time, so I thought I'd tell you guys what I told them! Along with religion being kind of a topic here, at least it is in that confessions blog.
I advise you to stop viewing my religion through a Christian lens or whatever religion you believe in (like assuming we believe in Hell) because Judaism is a different religion just like any other. I thought I would just clarify everything! Consider this an educational post.
Now most of you don't really know what Judaism is, and that's not your fault. It's very underrepresented, and schools don't really teach that to you. We don't focus on the metaphysical, but that doesn't mean we don't believe in it, we're just more nonchalant about it. We believe that it's a possibility that the multiverse exists, but that's not our main focus. We focus on our life HERE (but ofc this doesn't apply to me because I DO believe in the metaphysical, hence why I am a shifter). In Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), it talks about different realms and layers of reality, which is the closest thing we have about a multiverse or different realities, but there's no mention of reality shifting.
No, we don't believe in Hell, or at least it's not like Christianity's version of it. Like I said, Judaism doesn't focus on the metaphysical, and this includes the afterlife. Even Heaven is barely mentioned in the Torah. Our version of "Hell" (it's not even called that) isn't like Christanity's at all. It's not eternal damnation, no one's suffering, and there's no Devil. We call it Gehinnom or Gehenna. It's a spiritual realm for purification for souls (both good and bad). A common metaphor for this is like dirty clothes being washed. This is a lot less scary than eternal damnation. As for what counts as a bad soul, that would be doing things that are morally wrong. For me, I break some of the dietary rules, like I eat shrimp and meat with dairy. That doesn't make me a "bad" soul, and it certainly doesn't make me any less Jewish. So it's about morals, not following every single rule. As long as we do mitzvot (doing good deeds), that's all that matters.
The Talmud is about Jewish people and rabbis debating and arguing about the Torah, Jewish law, even arguing with God, etc. and this is encouraged, not seen as disrespectful or anything. So I don't see anything wrong or contradictory with me being both Jewish and a shifter.
I believe that God gave me the ability to shift realities because He knew that this life would be tough, and if things got really bad, or if we just wanna leave, we are free to do so. I believe in the multiverse theory, and that God created my DRs. And no, I don't believe that I am God, that's just not true, so please do not push that on me as that makes me very uncomfortable. I am a human being, and there's nothing wrong with saying that. If you do believe that you or "we" are God, please do not interact with or follow me, I'll just block you. Nothing personal.
Also hehe, I believe that God is feminine, even though She is beyond gender. It makes the most sense to me. And yeah sometimes I do say He/Him out of habit because everybody else does and it's kinda hard for me to break it. If I'm paying attention, I refer to Her as She/Her, but I'll also use They/Them as well, though I will mostly use the other pronouns I mentioned. Fun fact: in Kabbalah, God has both masculine and feminine aspects.
I saw a confession that was like "I'm scared of religious people being in the shifting community because of how they view LGBTQ+ and women" and I just wanna say that religious LGBTQ+ people exist. Religious women exist. Religious feminists exist. And I'm living proof of all of those things, I'm a proud Bisexual Jewish feminist woman. Not every religious person agrees with the misogynistic, homophobic and other bigoted things that are said in their respective holy books. We are not a monolith and we never will be. Please stop thinking in black and white because that's not how life works, everything is nuanced. Thinking ALL religious people are bigoted is wrong and unfair. Generalizing is dangerous, I thought this was common knowledge already. And this is not an attack at the anon who posted that confession, I just wanted to explain.
If your s/o or family member or friend is Jewish in your DR (I don't mind if you're Jewish in your DR), please do your research on Jewish culture and holidays. Google is free.
If you live in a country that is predominantly Christian, you probably already know that the society in your country is Christian-centered. And I'm going to be talking about the US specifically because I was born and raised here. For a country that prides itself on diversity, it sure does treat Christianity as the default, which is sad because we have a huge Jewish population here. By the way, before anyone gets defensive, I'm NOT hating on Christianity or Christians, I'm just saying the truth.
Growing up, I never felt represented because everytime December rolled around, it's always Christmas this and Christmas that, and Hanukkah always gets ignored, and that hurts. It made me want to abandon Judaism and be Christian instead, because I wanted to "fit in". I've always had problems with wanting to fit in, and religion was the icing on the cake. And now I'm starting to feel the same way here on Shiftblr, because of all the talks on religion and some people questioning religious shifters. It's okay to ask questions but some of the questions and statements I've seen are so rude and backhanded. “Why are you a shifter then? that doesn't make sense” “religion and shifting don't mix”, “but your religion says xyz”, etc... You have to remember that you don't need to be atheist to believe in shifting, and religious shifters are living proof of that. Believing that religion and shifting don't go together is your opinion, not an objective fact. Your belief of how shifting works is your opinion. We all have our own opinions and religious shifters are not obligated to agree with you. Religion is personal to every religious person and we don't believe everything that is written in our holy books. Just like how shifting is personal to everyone and we don't believe in everything that people say about it. Religion and belief in shifting can co-exist at the same time.
Now this is just a personal thing of mine, but I personally don't like when non-Jewish people call us "Jews" because it's been used in a derogatory way in the past and it makes me uncomfortable. I would appreciate it if you called us Jewish PEOPLE. Add the "people", just like how you would say Black people. It just humanizes us and that's very important considering what we've been through in the past. It's not difficult.
Friendly reminder that religious shifters like myself absolutely do belong in this community, and while you may think it's contradictory or nonsensical, it doesn't really matter what you think because it makes sense to us, and we don't owe you an explanation (I'm only explaining because I want to lol that's why I'm making this post) All we ask is for you to treat us with love and respect just like how you would with everybody else!!
If you have any questions, please let me know. Do keep in mind tho that I don't know everything lol I'm not a rabbi, I'll just tell you what I know. :)
