I am a work in progress.

trying to get my life in order so that one day I can convert. gay & trans (he/him). not a minor.

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

[prorochestvo]

Mikveh accessories for the bride: - sandals, late 19th-early 20th century, wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, fabric with gold threads - a dressing towel for a mikvah, late 19th-early 20th century, Turkey - bucket for a bath, Morocco, 20th century

(source)

[sitcomlesbian]

me, reading a quote abt judaism: i love this, it means so much to me, nothing has ever spoken so deeply to me and my specific values

me, reading another quote abt judaism: i love this, it means so much to me, nothing has ever spoken so deeply to me and my specific values

me, reading another quote abt judaism: i love this, it means s

[ritavonbees]

Untitled Gelt Game

[neverwhere]

It’s a beautiful day in Jerusalem and you are leading the Maccabean revolt

[bisexualbaker]

[Image description follows]

Tweet by m 💫 ( @yeoldetownroade ): With a stroke of her pencil, my 6 year old has once and for all settled the Chanukah/Hanukkah/Chanuke/etc spelling debate.

A very happy Honk to you all. ✡🕎💞

[Attached is a photo of a creased piece of printer paper, on which is penciled, in slightly uncoordinated handwriting, "I wish you a Happy Honk".]

[thegorgonist]

Chag Sameach! Happy first day of Hanukah.

[ofskfe]

Iranian Jewish woman praying during Hanukkah, the festival of lights, at Abrishami synagogue in downtown Tehran.  

[brucebocchi]

[discourse-detritivore]

how do they think ther. how do they think theres mo.. how would they make more.. how do they think they make m. how would there still. where do they think new j. where do they think new je

[burymewithmydice]

Hanukkah Sameach, to all my Jewish followers!

[tzipporahssong]

Do you know of a good site to purchase e-books (not PDF) of texts for the prospective convert? Like "Choosing a Jewish Life" and "Essential Judaism" (and any other recs you have, please repeat then!). Shipping to my country is prohibitive, and shipping times with COVID are unfortunate.

Excellent question! So I don’t usually b u y e-books per se, I usually frequent libby and go through my local library, but I don’t know how accessible that is abroad.

That said, z-lib.org is a FANTASTIC resource for both pdf and epub files of books. I have found a BUNCH of Jewish books which I have saved to my computer, as well as pretty much every other topic. Downloads are free, but limited to only a few a day unless you make a free account. I haven’t had any trouble with the website itself before. 

As far as recs go, I’ll list some under the cut. lmk if this helps <3

The Jewish Home Rabbi David Syme

Hillel: If not Now, When Joseph Telushkin

The Sabbath Abraham Joshua Heschel

A Short History of the Jewish People Raymond Scheindlin

The Wisdom of Maimonides Edward Hoffman

To Life! Harold Kushner (anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows this is a favorite of mine)

[citizen-zero]

me, a gentile, completely engrossed in a very long thread in which several Jewish tumblr users draw on the tenets, laws, and philosophies of Judaism to support their claims in a debate about whether it would be okay for a dragon to light a candle with its own fiery breath on the sabbath

[a-method-in-it]

As a fellow goy I very badly want to read this thread

[citizen-zero]

here u go

[a-method-in-it]

I love it

[prismatic-bell]

A thread like this was one of the things that made me realize I wanted to be Jewish. The idea that you could have a serious religious debate over a very silly hypothetical question, and that doing so would be considered neither blasphemous nor irrelevant but a way to strengthen one’s own religious knowledge, was AMAZING to me.

[penrosesun]

Me and one of my close undergrad friends used to come up with a couple of questions approximately this silly for our rabbi every single Shabbat. We apparently won the record for “stupidest question this rabbi had ever been asked” and this actually afforded us some level of bragging rights on campus. Judaism is just… like that.

[penrosesun]

(If anyone’s curious, the question was: “Rabbi, if I got hold of a time machine and traveled back in time so that there were two of me, could I count myself twice in a minyan? And if so, is there anything stopping me from traveling back in time ten times and counting only myself in a minyan?”)

[jabberwockypie]

Okay, but did your rabbi have an answer? I want to know now, too.

[penrosesun]

The answer, unfortunately, was no – you absolutely cannot count yourself multiple times in a minyan, even if you do use time travel to create multiple instances of yourself.

[jabberwockypie]

Thank you! If the situation ever arises, that will be useful information!

[capvenus]

it kinda feels like the only thing we're meant to be doing this year is internal healing and letting things go. there is so much pain this year so let's not feel bad if we don't do anything 'productive'. just being alive is enough

[yedidnefesh]

Something I don't think we much talk about but I wonder if we should is a specific convert experience. Converts, especially those coming from a xian upbringing, often have to do teshuva for the antisemitism they benefitted from and/or participated in. Granted, child converts and those raised as "Jewish" in some way shape or form may not have this experience, I feel like it's a fairly common thing for a convert to go through that I've yet to see anyone really address.

The warped sense of judaism I learned as a youngster in a fundamentalist church is one that has actively harmed Jewish people. My experiences with antisemitism as a goy were fundamentally different than my experiences with it as a conversion student and are different than my experiences with it now as a ger, as a Jew post-mikvah. They're also fundamentally different than the harmful sentiments internalized by born Jews disconnected from their ethnicity/religion/community.

It's a strange thing to struggle with. I'd liken it to unknowingly queer folks who participated in transphobia and homophobia, but the essentialist argument that they were always queer and never truly benefitted from that bigotry comes into play in a way that it doesn't for conversion to Judaism.

I'd like to hear from other people about their experiences with this type of thing.

[smallredb0y]

“prospective jewish convert at a Zoom Shabbat service” - david salazar a.

[progressivejudaism]

Resources | Wrestling with Torah

Have you checked out Wrestling with Torah’s resource page lately?  Book suggestions, online Jewish Learning options, and more!

I need your help!  What resources do you think are missing?  How can we build this resource to make it as helpful as possible?

[barbrajoan]

She’s the wonder of wonders, no man can deny So why would he change her? She’s loving, she’s tender She’s woman So am I.

[idkinsertfanreferencehere]

To conversion students who are feeling overwhelmed

Just remember, Rabbi Akiva was 40 years old before he learned the aleph-bet, only to go on to become one of the most influential, important rabbanim in history. You’re not too old or too late to come home, my friend. You’re never too late to come home.

[lisasyl-deactivated20190922]

that one person who always catches you doing something stupid

[joshpeck]

God