#general category topic

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

I would like to get you started on the word ”phylactery” because english is not my first language nor am i jewish and the first and only time i ever heard the word was in dnd so i’d like to know more if you’re willing? No worries if not

Verdict: Jew-ish/It’s Complicated

In essence, yes.  “Phylactery” is the English translation (via Greek) for the Hebrew word Tefillin (the leather arm-and-head amulets worn during morning prayers). So yes, “Phylactery,” as a word, is Jewish in origin.  But it’s not our word, anymore than any other translated term.

However, there is also massive amounts of deeply-baked-in antisemitism within the D&D canon (the total appropriation of golems, for example), so it’s one of those things that makes me, as a Jewish D&D player, extremely uncomfortable.  I mean... an evil spellcaster’s soul-jar basically being, from the original versions of the game, “a small sealed box with arcane writing on the inside” and using the name for a Jewish prayer item that just so happens to be a small sealed box with Hebrew text on the inside?  That’s hellaciously antisemitic, at least in my opinion.  

Of course, ask three Jews and get six opinions, so your mileage may vary; some people shrug and just say “It’s also an old-timey word for generic amulet”.  And honestly, a lot of us are more offended by the treatment of golems by D&D, because a being that was originally created in folklore by those of us wanting a protector against those who would harm us... is now a “generic fantasy monster”. 

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Is The Thing Jewish? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods?

Yeah, it’s verified canon.

Rating: You know it, bub

Hell yeah, Ben Grimm a.k.a. the Thing is actually Jewish

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Hey, I've noticed a theme within some Jewish prayer and stuff where alphabetical order crops up in multiple, and I'm wondering if alphabetical order has some kind of Jewish significance? And if so, why? I find it a neat feature of prayer when it's alphabetical, but I'd like to know why it's there.

Rating: Acrostics are Jewish

A substantial amount of Jewish liturgy does indeed follow alphabetical order! There are two main reasons for this: the practical and the theological.

Practical: Acrostic structure aids in memorization in pre-printing press society. Many of these prayers were originally composed as part of an oral tradition, and even after we got used to writing things down, producing books was quite expensive. When you can't count on the whole congregation having the words in front of them, it really helps to remember what comes next when there's a clear order to it.

Theologically: Using the whole alphabet symbolizes a sense of completion or scope when struggling to describe the Ultimately Indescribable (i.e., God.) We know that there simply aren't ever going to enough words to praise God, so we symbolically include all the words by at least including something for every letter from aleph to tav.

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

the word halleluyah?

I need your help settling a disagreement

RATING: YES??? OF COURSE IT IS???

It's Hebrew and means "praise God," using one of the Hebrew names for God and observant Jews will often say "Hallelukah" instead because of that. (Which does lead to interesting discussions of the Leonard Cohen song, which for the record is also Jewish).

What else would it be?????

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Is there a particular significance in Judaism to the number 18 or multiples of it? I work at a financial institution and recently worked on a deposit of a large number of checks a girl had received for her bat mitzvah. (Nothing problematic about the checks themselves, there's just some extra review that goes in when it's money gifted to a minor, and especially a whole mittful of paper checks all at once.) I noticed a lot of the check amounts were multiples of 18 - 54, 72, 108, 252, etc. So I wondered, is that a number that's significant in relation to b'nei mitzvah? I couldn't find anything by googling, but online search engines seem to be weird when numbers are involved.

Rating: Jewish

Short answer: Yes, 18 and its multiples are considered good luck in Jewish culture!

Longer answer: Gematria is the ancient practice of assigning numerical values to letters, and has been used for millennia by Jews for all kinds of counting, including calendars, Biblical chapters and verses, and so forth. This also means that any given Hebrew word has a numerical value, and much has been made mystically of connections between words that have the same value as other words, and what that might mean. 18 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word "חַי" which means "life" and is considered a particularly lucky amount for monetary gifts, implicitly wishing the receiver a long life.

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Are time loops Jewish? There is a post that's they're closer to Jewish understanding of life than the rapture and apocalypse of christianity. I think that's a bit much. what about you?

RATING: JEW-ISH

We certainly do use a wheel of time as our calendar, and have a thing with cycles. Mod Shoshana’s Rebbetzen refers to our conception of time as a spiral–it goes round in circles, but is going somewhere (the Messianic Age) rather than just repeating identically. And there are certainly days when being Jewish feels like being trapped in a time loop. (Antisemites need to get new material. Be more like Marjorie Taylor Green (I can’t believe I just said that). At least the space laser thing was new and interesting.)

But I don’t know that they’re more Jewish than they are any other non-Christian way of looking at time. Does that answer your question?

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

are hamsas a jewish thing? i see them all over jewish sites and in synagogues but i also see gentiles using/wearing them???

Short answer: Yes, hamsas are a Jewish thing, but they're not exclusively Jewish.

An open palm as a symbol is seen throughout the Middle East, and it is given many names and meanings. There is no consensus as to the origin of the symbol, but considering hand prints are seen even in paleolithic art all across the world, it wouldn't be that hard to see how a hand could become such an important symbol.

In Judaism, hands are often featured in artwork as the two hands of the Kohanim during the Priestly Blessing and as references to God's mighty hand when freeing the Jews from Egypt. Hamsas have been used as Jewish amulets since at least the Middle Ages, and there's evidence of hand symbology being used even earlier. The belief in Ayin Hara (The Evil Eye), which is often tied to Hamsas, is also a very old Jewish belief. It, too, is not an exclusively Jewish belief, but rather a belief common among Middle Eastern and Meditteranean cultures.

Not all Jews use the Hamsa as a symbol, and indeed many frown on it, seeing it as a superstition that is best not touched. However, it has been used for a long time by Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews, as well as more Kabbalistic Ashkenazi Jews.

Because of its appearence in both Jewish and Muslim cultures, the hamsa has become a symbol of Judeo-Islamic unity by some people. In 2009, the Hamsa Flag was envisioned as the flag of a united Israeli-Palestinian state.

In conclusion,

RATING: JEWISH (BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY)

Further reading about Hamsas, Amulets, and the Evil Eye:

Sagiv, Gadi. “Dazzling Blue: Color Symbolism, Kabbalistic Myth, and the Evil Eye in Judaism.” Numen, vol. 64, no. 2/3, 2017, pp. 183–208. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44505334.

SABAR, SHALOM. “From Sacred Symbol to Key Ring: The Ḥamsa in Jewish and Israeli Societies.” Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity, edited by SIMON J. BRONNER, Liverpool University Press, 2010, pp. 140–62. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1rmjz2.8. 

Hamsa (Aish.com)

Amulets and Talismans (YIVO encyclopedia)

The Hamsa In Jewish Thought and Practice (Times of Israel)

Hamsa Flag (Ayin Press)

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

is sephiroth from final fantasy vii jewish?

Rating: Not Jewish

As per my spouse who has actually played the game: Anime is just really into quasi-kabbalist symbolism and visuals but there's nothing actually Jewish about the character. it's an alternate universe, and they don't even have fantasy-Jews.

Thanks for the help, @ximen.