#goynif

[goynif]

Hello, I'm a Jewish follower. I have been a follower of you guys for a while. I was just kinda curious why you guys haven't posted much in a while?

Hi, Anya here.  Since goynif has a significant following and has been very visible, I feel like this question deserves an answer.  It’s not a pleasant one, but it is an honest one.  I pull no punches.  

The reasons for goynif’s inactivity are complicated, but it ultimately boils down to the fact that there aren’t really enough people as moderators who are active and invested in the account, so it’s mostly fallen to me, and has largely fallwn to me for years.  I’m chronically ill and have been having significant health crises since the autumn, and my choices right now are either continue to pass my PhD classes and do freelance work so that I can continue to put a roof over my family’s heads, or focus on activism work for free like goynif.  This is the problem of much social justice work: it asks marginalised people to donate their time and energy for free in order to educate privileged people, and in that donation, marginalised people lose time and energy they could put towards earning necessary money to stay afloat.  As a disabled person, that problem multiplies tenfold.  Not only do I lose time and energy to goynif, to dealing with submissions, dealing with hate mail, doing research and finding materials for the blog, that is also time and energy that will cost me a fair bit in recovery, as fatigue and pain complicate anything I do.  Thus far, I’ve focused on my degree and paying work, for what I hope are obvious reasons -- I can’t do anything if I can’t pay rent and the internet bill.  Beyond that, my condition is degenerative.  There is nothing I can do to stop it.  So I have to ration my time and energy carefully.  When offered the chance to do either self-care or emotionally draining activism work, I admit I choose self-care over the effort goynif requires.  That’s on me, and while my choices have not been good for goynif, they are what I need to do for myself.

That being said: if there are Jews interested in stepping up and actively moderating this blog, who are willing to do the research, make posts, deal with submissions, look for content, etc, I would be incredibly happy to have the help.  Running this blog is emotionally exhausting, especially around Jewish holidays and whenever conflicts between Israel and Palestine intensify, or whenever another goyische celebrity sports a Hebrew tattoo or gets into Kabbalah.  We have in the past received a large amount of hate mail, and that also takes time and energy to deal with, beyond it being often disturbing.  I have been doing it largely by myself for years.  Calls for other moderators have seen some new volunteers, but the activity level remains low for whatever reason, and I’m unable to pass the hat to someone else.  Consequently, submissions have also dropped off, and the lion’s share of what’s in our inbox is either hate mail or people shouting about how awful we are that we think the use of Jewish ritual objects and Jewish identity by goyim for their own ends is inappropriate.  

The bottom line is that this blog is a lot of work.  It requires a commitment of time and energy to keep up a regular posting schedule, one I’m unable to make, especially not as a volunteer.  If anyone wants to put in the time and labour, I’m happy to have them on board.  If someone wants to pay for goynif to keep running, I’d be delighted to have that, too.  But until that time, until there’s either more help or money to allow me to priority goynif over my paying graduate work and freelancing, this blog will update sporadically at best, whenever I have the time and energy to do so.

[goynif]

I had some hair covering pictures up and used 'tichel' as a tag because I didn't know what else to call it. I am sorry for offending you. The pictures have been removed. My apologies. Thank you for the education this blog provides.

Thank you very much.

It's perfectly alright to cover your hair, it's when you are not Jewish and call it "tichel," or not Muslim and call it "hijab", that it becomes appropriative.

I'm very glad for this message, thank you!

[goynif]

Hey, I am a practicing Jew. What do you think about non-married women who cover their hair in a tichel style? Should they call it a tichel? I know there isn't really a halachic precedent, but is it ok? I would normally ask the rabbi/gabbai/rosh yeshiva but I wanted a female opinion. Thanks in advance!

There is actually plenty of cultural precedent for unmarried women covering their hair, though it is not strictly speaking a halakhic necessity, and it has “fallen out of fashion" in the past 100 years or so, especially in Europe. I actually know Jewish women who cover their hair, and they are unmarried as well!

So go ahead, wear a wrap, a hat, and call it whatever (non-appropriative term) you want! Though the term “tichel" is usually referred to the wraps of women who are married, so you might end up confusing some people.

[goynif]

(I'm a non Jew) but I wanted to know, is it true that Jews aren't supposed to go back to their land that they were promised until the Messiah comes? Am I wrong? Also, are what Zionist settlers doing by throwing out Palestinians from their homes and harassing them, is that wrong? I am not a anti-Jew, I'm just trying to get the right facts.

This blog is about cultural appropriation, not Israel-Palestine.

That being said, there is nowhere in the Torah that says that Jews are not allowed to return back to their homeland until the Messiah comes. In fact, the Messiah isn’t mentioned in the Torah at all. The texts concerning the latter days appear only in the later books of the Prophets.

But the Torah DOES say that it is a mitzvah, an incumbent, for Jews to live in the Holy Land.

Some Jews believe that the forced expulsion by conquering empires was a sign from G-d that we are not supposed to return until the Messiah, but other Jews disagree. Both bring religious scripture as a source. Both are perfectly valid interpretations for a Jew to believe.

And as for the illegal, immoral actions of settlers, of course it’s wrong. It’s anti-Torah, in fact. However, you should know that not all these settlers are Zionist. Some are religious anti-Zionists, and some are Zionist. They are all doing horrible things when they harass Palestinians, though. If this confuses you, I suggest you read this post.

[goynif]

do you mind if I ask you anther tattoo question? I'm the same anon from before (& I'm Jewish) and I have wanted a tattoo of the mi sheberach for a long time. It was always my favorite part of services growing up and I think was really one of the things that gave me a wholistic sense of safety and security in my Judaism. Would it be inappropriate to get it tattooed?

It wouldn't be appropriation, if that's what you're asking, because you are Jewish, and this is part of your culture.

However, according to traditional halakha, tattoos are forbidden, and ones with the name of G-d especially so. I don't know if that aspect holds any meaning for you, but be that as it may, if you are Jewish, getting a Hebrew tattoo of any sort, including prayers, is not cultural appropriation.

[goynif]

I was raised on Observant Judaism (I prayed but we never went to Synagogue, we only celebrated a few major holidays) and I recently found out I'm probably not even considered actually Jewish (I knew little about the culture for a long time) because its my father who's Jewish, my mother is a Pagan. :/ This has all lead me to having a bit of an identity crisis, (I grew up surrounded by antisemitsm and end up being very proud of it after awhile.) What would you think?

You are still ethnically Jewish at least in part, which means you are subject not only to anti-Semitism, but have every right to partake in the culture as well. This is still your heritage. And more than that, you were raised on it! There is nothing appropriative about any of that, period.

It is true that according to halakha, you would not be considered Jewish, and if you wanted to remain in Orthodox circles (note that not every branch of Judaism functions in this way), you might want to consider conversion to "make it official." But you have every right to identity as Jewish and partake in the culture, no question!

[goynif]

Is 'goy' a word for all people who not Jewish, or just for Christians? Thank you in advance. :)

Goy and goyim are terms that mean "not Jewish" and refer to anyone who isn't a Jew ethnically or religiously. It is not limited to just Christians.

[goynif]

Hi I don't know if my previous question went through, but could yoou update the mods list? Or at least make a post where all the mods introduce themselves because i've noticed a bunch of people tagging asks and posts and they aren't in the 'about us' page... thanks

Seems most of us don’t know how to mod things. We’ll get right on it.

Edit: guys, who posted this? We like to give new mods time to settle in before we make them introduce themselves, so this response is pretty rude. We also have at least one mod who specifically requested not to be listed, and I like to respect people if they don’t want to introduce themselves / leave their anonymity. As to anon, Anya's added herself to the page, so all our mods who want to be publicly known, are now added.