#judaism asks

[hyperpotamianarch]

This is admittedly a bit of an odd question but: to your knowledge, do chevrusas in yeshivot or kollelim ever have clandestine gay relationships? I feel like in an all-male environment such things would happen at least sometimes but I ultimately don't know much about the social dynamics thereof (am a woman).

To my knowledge? No. And to be honest, I'm not entirely sure this question can be odd. We're on tumblr, which (as another asker pointed out) is the queer website, or at least a website with lots of queer people. There are a number of posts around here that likely talk about a possible homoerotic side to Chavruta dynamics - I have a coupleof mutuals who I think I've seen talk about it in the past.

Here's the thing, really: I'm as oblivious as people get, never managed to keep a chavruta for long, and would not notice clandestine gay overtones if they were happening right in front of me. Yes, people sometimes refer to a chavruta in terms of marriage - that is, unless it's an age gap chavruta, then it's often likened to parents and children, though it's a bit more complex. People in my Shi‘ur used to joke about some Chavrutas that they were married, or cheated on each other, or divorced, but as far as I know it was entirely jokes.

And another point: for thirteen and a half years, I studied in boys-only schools - from elementary all the way to highschool and the Yeshivah. My first mixed framework was the IDF, which is a different story. Admittedly, 12 of those years weren't at boarding schools, which might be relevant for my next bit. Also, keep my stated obliviousness in mind: As far as I know, I never encountered people who experimented in that direction at any point. Now, to be fair, I do think there were rumors of someone in my Shi‘ur being gay- but even if so, I have zero idea which one, my memory is fuzzy and what I actually heard was something I didn't really pay attention to and wasn't said to me. Basically, I vaguely know there's possibly a gay safe space in the Gush Yeshivah - though it's nothing official, the institute itself isn't really pro LGBTQ. Yes, it's likely one of the queerest Yeshivahs in a way, but that's not because all the rabbis are open and accepting. It's more complicated than I know.

The short of it would probably be: not that I know of, but if there were cases I definitely wasn't privy to them because I'm very oblivious and not too interested in the romantic relationships of the people around me. Personally I also don't think that a separate education system for boys and girls and/or a boys only/girls only boarding school is bound to result in gay relationships. I have been told it is, and my experience is honestly very likely to not be shared by many people, but... IDK.

[hyperpotamianarch]

What's your favourite Jewish headcanon in fantasy / alt history / genres close enough? What do you wish you saw more of in fanfiction? (Full disclosure this may inspire some headcanons for my very slow project of writing explicitly Jewish canon compliant fanfiction.)

Ooo. So, this is hard.

You see, I don't headcanon characters as Jewish. I would almost say I don't have headcanons, but that's not exactly true, I probably don't think much about them. I also didn't really read alt history novels that much, which I kind of think I should remedy, but we'll see about that.

I suppose you could count my Jewsade concept to be a Jewish headcanon. If we ignore all the fanfic-y points there, the essential headcanon is that Lyra didn't meet Jews because the Magisterium oppressed them so hard they're not around any of the parts Lyra goes to. Also possibly in hiding around of Europe, or maybe not around there at all. Not really very fun. Another possibility is my view if the people of Canticle from the Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson as the most Jewish in the Cosmere - I already wrote a little about that, maybe I'll elaborate later.

I've seen the occasional headcanoned as Jewish character. I don't usually see it, not really - possibly because of just how much my Judaism define my life. It's imbued in my daily schedule, in most any aspect of my life. And that's something that just doesn't exist in most characters I see. Because they need to be there for plot points and stuff, and religious practice in the way I'm used to will get in the way of that. I feel like most Jewish representation and headcanons tend to go in the direction of secular, Reform, maybe conservative Jews. Nearly always Ashkenazi, but I'm ashkenazi as well so that's not why it's hard for me to see myself there. It's because none of them is Orthodox. And the one time I saw a fantasy book with an Orthodox Jew, the back cover summary explicitly said it was about him leaving the community for interspecies romance or something like that. I suppose that the Golem and the Jinni exists - but there as well, the Jewish characters are not very close to their traditions. And I think Chava can be included in that.

That would be getting into what I would like to see more in fanfics, and it's also, quite possibly, the part I'm least sure about. Because I know I want something different, I know I want to see someone more similar to me there, but I'm not sure I know in which ways. I mean, maybe a modern Orthodox practicing Jew who isn't in the process of detaching from their community? But then again, maybe it's also the Israeli angle I'm lacking, in which case I should stick to Yehudit Kagan and Charashta for that? But I think I've seen plenty of fellow Orthodox Jews say it that it's just as important: there aren't enough Orthodox practicing Jews in media or in fanfiction. It's possibly due to the prominence of Reform Judaism in America, or because it would just be inconvenient for a character to be that Jewish. But it's something desperately needed - and I do want to help fix it, even if I don't really know how.

So, yeah. That's what I'm looking for. A Jewish character whose Judaism includes three prayers a day, keeping fully Kosher, who are Orthodox in practice and not in the process of leaving it. And if I see a character that is almost that but not enough, I might be able to point out what more is missing.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Do you like ראש חודש שבת more or less than other שבתות?

Hm. Interesting question. My outlook is this: in essence, there's barely any difference. The major differences are with the Hallel, added Torah reading, different Haftarah and Mussaf. (And Ya‘ale v(e)Yavo, but that's barely anything.) So, the prayer is longer - but I'm not sure I care about that. The Haftarah, however... Well, there are only so many tines you can hear "השמיים כסאי", and the weekly Haftarah is more interesting. So there's that.

This week, however, it doesn't matter! Either way we're reading the second Haftarah of Sh(e)loshet haShavu‘ot! So it's fine either way, because it has nothing to do with the Parashah anyway.