kind of hit me that we are officially at the point when Jews can be murdered in broad daylight in America and leftists don’t even pretend to care. not saying this as doom and gloom I’m just saying we are on our fucking own.
sometimes people forget that there are like. actual living breathing orthodox jews still around.
also weird when folks that otherwise are fairly knowledgeable straight up don’t know about modern orthodoxy. “wdym there are people that fully observe shabbat and also have hair dye and read ya fantasy and don’t look obvious chasidic??”
Today is @scribefindegil and I's first wedding anniversary, which is making me sappy about queerplatonic love, and also reminded me that I had at one point intended to post the seven short readings we chose to accompany each of the Sheva Brachot during our ceremony.
Tossing them all under a cut, along with the relevant translations of the blessings we decided to use, by Gray Myrseth (chosen from a list provided by my wonderful rabbi, and which we later found out were the same ones she used at her own wedding!)
The world is somehow an even scarier place than it was a year ago, but I am so grateful to have my partner and friends by my side and am feeling really fond recalling how many of us were gathered together to celebrate last March. I miss those of you who live a good distance away very much, and I hope you know how much joy it brought me & Scribe both to have you out here with us.
In any case. The tumblr mutuals to literal spouses pipeline is real and good and so is my love for my friends. <3
1 - Blessed are you, G-d, Gardener of the universe, who creates fruits of the vine.
Don’t Hesitate, Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
2 - Blessed are You, G-d, Artist of the universe, who shaped all of creation in the spirit of honor and glory.
The Nature of Middle Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien
“To speak of Quenya: Love, which Men might call “friendship” ... was represented by mel. This was primarily a motion or inclination of the fea, and therefore could occur between persons of the same sex or different sexes. Such persons were often called melotorni ‘love-brothers’ and meletheldi ‘love-sisters.’”
3 - Blessed are You, G-d, Parent of the universe, who creates human beings.
People-Shaped Universes, Nikita Gill
Someone once told me,
We are the universe expressing itself
as a human for a while.
It makes me think
of every person I meet
as their own little universe,
each with their own planets of thoughts
and solar systems of dreams
and galaxies of emotions in their bloodstreams.
People are so much bigger
on the inside than they seem
on the outside.
Imagine a whole world
of universes constantly
bumping into each other,
listening and learning
and sometimes,
just sometimes,
building a perishable forever together.
4 - Blessed are You, G-d, Parent of the universe, creating human beings in Your own image, establishing those human beings as the foundation of an everlasting stream of creation. Blessed are You, G-d, who creates human beings.
Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
5 - May all whose hearts were closed now feel openness and joy. May fields that were dry now be blessed with rain. May we gather in our loved ones who had previously been scattered. Blessed are You, G-d, who rejoices in resilience and togetherness.
All About Love, bell hooks
“Fear is the primary force upholding structures of domination. It promotes the desire for separation, the desire not to be known. When we are taught that safety lies always with sameness, then difference, of any kind, will appear as a threat. When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other."
6 - Bestow joy, oh joyful G-d, on these beloved companions, just as you bestowed joy on Your dear creations in the Garden of Eden. Blessed are You, G-d, who brings joy to those who join together in a covenant of love.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
“I feel the air is stuffy,” said the Dwarf. “This wood is lighter than Mirkwood, but it is musty and shabby.”
“It is old, very old,” said the Elf. “So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace.”
“I dare say you could,” snorted Gimli. “You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go.”
[and in a later chapter]
“This is more to my liking,” said the dwarf, stamping on the stones. “Ever my heart rises as we draw near the mountains. There is good rock here. This country has tough bones. I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike. Give me a year and a hundred of my kin and I would make this a place that armies would break upon like water.”
“I do not doubt it,” said Legolas. “But you are a dwarf, and dwarves are strange folk. I do not like this place, and I shall like it no more by the light of day. But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe.”
7 - Blessed are you, G-d, Breath of the universe, who created joy and gladness, companion and beloved, rejoicing, dancing and celebration, love, friendship, peace and solidarity. Oh G-d, let there soon be the sound of joy and happiness in all of our cities and all of our streets, the voices of those we join together in loving covenant, and the voice of beloved companions who exult from within the shelter of their love and community, and the voices of all who rejoice at tables overflowing with wonder. Blessed are you, G-d, who brings joy to those who love.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
Is it too much to ask anyone to prioritise Australian Jews right now? You've got non-Jewish Australians saying "this was an attack on all Australia". Fuck it was. It was an attack on Jews. Meanwhile, you've got non-Australian Jews (let's be real it's mostly Americans) saying "I'm scared a copycat attack might happen in my country!" You're scared? I'm scared! It already happened in my country!
