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This channel contains guided Jewish meditations for personal spiritual growth. The meditations are based on ancient Jewish wisdom but do not

Hey y’all’! I found this channel and it’s really cool! It’s guided meditations, focused on connections to G-d/the Divine in a Jewish way. There is no usage of actual prayers (as so far I can tell) and is all in English, nor is it messianic in any way.

I really enjoy guided meditations and maybe my fellow Jews here do too!

queermachmir

This is a booklet for the Jewish morning weekday prayers.

Shacharit Siddur

I created something! This is a Shacharit weekday siddur (with no minyan), trimmed down for ease of time. It features both original poetry and photography, and has transliterations for every part except the Amidah. It also has poetry, quotes, and meditations from other sources. This is completely free.

I took creative liberations with translation of liturgy, using pronouns to give a gender-expansive idea of G-d, for G-d uses all and no pronouns. Themes of liminality and the connection to transness and divinity was also a key feature to the poetry, and offering casual commentary on the topic of a section of liturgy.

I spent a lot of time on this (it’s all hand typed), and I really enjoyed doing it. I hope that someone will find it helpful in some way.

jewish-kulindadromeus

So You Want To Celebrate Shavuot

The Instructions in this post are for people who are Jewish (including those who are ancestrally so, but not raised Jewishly), converting to Judaism, seriously interested in Jewish conversion, or are Jewish-Adjacent (part of an interfaith family, etc.) It is NOT for gentiles who wish to “be closer to Jesus” or any similar reason uninvolved with genuine interest in becoming a part of the tribe or participating with loved ones, as this is a form of cultural appropriation.

Thank you for your understanding. Gentlies CAN, however, LEARN and REBLOG!

Past Posts: Fighting Antisemitism / Jewish Conversion / Branches of Judaism / Second Temple Judaism / Religious Fasting / Rosh Chodesh / Rosh Hashanah / Days of Awe / Yom Kippur / Sukkot / Sh’mini Atzeret & Simchat Torah / Chanukah / Tu B’Shevat / Purim / Pesach / Counting the Omer / Modern Holidays / Lag B’Omer

Learn what Shavuot IS!

Shavuot is the last of our Shalosh Regalim - the three pilgrimage festivals!

It is also the shortest - instead of being about a week as per Pesach and Sukkot, it’s just one (or two) days (this depends on whether or not you add an extra day to the holiday on the calendar; a major debate revolving around the importance of keeping to traditions we no longer have a real use for)

It is also the only one without a “set date” - instead, we determine the date of Shavuot based on the date of Pesach (ie, seven “complete weeks” after Pesach. This means for Rabbinic Jews that it falls on the 6th of Sivan, though this varies in other communities)

And also some other controversies you can read about in more detail in the Counting the Omer post

Shavuot has many names!

Shavuot, meaning literally, Weeks

So it’s often called the Feast of Weeks in English - Chag HaShavuot

It is also called the Festival of Reaping, or Chag HaKatsir

And the Festival of First Fruits, Chag HaBikkurim

This ties back into the fact that Shavuot is an Agricultural Festival, first and foremost!

Shavuot marks the end of the period of the Omer, in which days were counted between the start of the Barley Harvest and the start of the Wheat Harvest

Thus, the Day of First Fruits served as the official time to bring an offering of wheat to the Temple in Jerusalem; offerings of the other seven species of Israel (which are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates) were also accepted

These offerings were placed in neatly woven baskets, and sent off to Jerusalem in large carts!

This concludes the season of the Omer and, thus, the Season of Passover

So, if we started wandering the desert after we were freed from Egypt at Pesach, this is when we reached the mountain - and stopped wandering for a hot second. This is the end of the journey of the Omer - the journey towards Revelation

It also, as with all the Shalosh Regalim, a Historic Holiday

It has the additional name of the Season of the Giving of the Torah, and that is because Shavuot is now associated with when the People of Israel accepted the Torah on Mount Sinai

This was a Very Big Deal, as the Torah has guided the Jewish way of life (and the Jewish way of Arguing) for thousands and thousands of years

We were free with Pesach, but without the Torah we weren’t really a People yet

In short, if you want to think of this season as like the marriage between the Jewish People and Gd, then Passover is the Betrothal (Kiddushin) and Shavuot is the Marriage (Nissuin)

So on Shavuot, we celebrate the Torah, and our receiving of the Torah, and the commitment we make as Jews to honoring the Torah (aka, the covenant between Gd and the Jewish People)

This means we renew our Jewishness and our acceptance of Torah Every. Single. Year.

This is connected to Jewish conversion

The rabbis say that Every Jewish Soul - including those of Converts - was present at Sinai

Which means that we are all equals within the covenant - every Jew is a Convert

So, Shavuot is not only the holiday of the Torah - it is also the holiday of the Converts!

So what are the big observances of Shavuot, if we don’t bring sacrifices of fruit to the Temple anymore?

Mainly, EATING the fruit, and -

In the theme of this being the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah -

Education!

And the Study of Torah

Since this is a major holiday, the proper greeting is Chag Shavuot Sameach - Happy Shavuot! - and the best way to open the holiday is by lighting Holiday candles - with the blessing “Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech haolam asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav vetzivanu l’hadlik ner Shel Yom Tov”

STUDY. YOUR. TORAH. STUDYYYYYY.

The most universal Shavuot custom is Studying Torah! Both specifically the Five Books of Moses (Genesis/Bereshit, Exodus/Shemot, Leviticus/Vayikra, Numbers/Bamidbar, and Deuteronomy/Devarim) and the entire Body of Jewish Learning, aka the “torah”

There are some more fancy ways to do this - specifically studying the Book of Ruth, for example, or going to a Tikkun Leil Shavuot - but honestly any Torah study is fair game

Studying the Torah - ie first five books of the Tanakh - is by far the most popular one. You can take the time to study the weekly parsha more in depth than usual, or study portions that you feel compelled to, or follow an online study regimen

Sefaria, as always, has excellent source sheets for Shavuot

I’ll get more into Tikkun Leil and Ruth later, but you can also study non-Tanakh related texts, especially the Pirkei Avot - a text on Jewish ethics that is traditionally studied on Shavuot

This text isn’t very long, so it is frequently studied in its entirety overnight on Shavuot (or in the weeks leading up to Shavuot - it is often incorporated into the Counting of the Omer!)

In truth, I encourage following your dreams here - study something you want to study! Just engage with words of Torah

Eat some Dairy!!!

Traditionally, Shavuot features at least one dairy meal (and many refrain from any meat all together)

The reasons for this are somewhat murky, but at least some accounts are because - like all the Shalosh Regalim (agricultural festivals) - this holiday is associated with the land of Israel, aka a land flowing with “Milk and Honey”

Except that honey is apparently date honey and that milk is Goat’s milk but here we are

Another idea is that because the Jewish people had just received the law on Shavuot, then they didn’t have proper meat dishes ready and kashered (made kosher), and went with dairy on that first night

Yet another idea is that the Torah Itself is like Milk and Honey (taken from the Song of Songs)

The Zohar also assigns each day of the year to one of the negative commandments of the Torah, and according to this system Shavuot *happens* to be the day of “don’t boil a kid in your mother’s milk” - aka, don’t mix meat and milk, aka, when you eat dairy eat it alone

Whatever the reason, there are a LOT of traditional Shavuot dairy foods!

MANY people eat cheesecake as desert!

Ice Cream is also a popular Shavuot treat!

As are Cheese Blintzes, a sort of savory pancake - a similar food, called an atayef, is the Syrian Jewish version

Cheese dumplings of a variety of kinds are also popular, such as kelsonnes, sambusak, and cheese kreplach

Iraqi Jews eat Kahees, a buttered and sugared dough

And Tunisian and Moroccan Jews eat a seven-layer dairy cake!

Weirdly enough, yemenite Jews don’t eat dairy foods on Shavuot

And I, personally, am starting a new campaign: EAT CHEESE FONDU ON SHAVUOT YOU C O W A R D S

In all seriousness it *is* a dairy-heavy meal that tastes amazing and yes, you can do it with kosher cheese, it’s complicated but you can

Feel free to ask me for my Non-Kosher or Kosher recipes but the Kosher one is largely untested just a fair warning

The irony of a holiday revolving around dairy food in a group of people who are mainly lactose-intolerant is not lost on anyone. I, as a Lactose Tolerant Jew, shall howl with joy in a corner that all the traditional food is stuff I can eat (I’m a vegetarian)

Seriously I’m a huge cheese aficionado seek my guidance and wisdom I can and will lead you to the promised land (of cheese)

Follow your dreams! My plans this year are Fondu the first night and Cheese Ravioli in Alfredo sauce the second night. FOLLOW THE DREAMS. ALL OF THEM.

Man, we Jews are obsessed with eating Fruit

So like I go into the Seven Species a lot for Tu B’Shevat but since this is the holiday where we harvest them, I suggest eating them for Shavuot too

And they are traditional for the holiday!

So, once again, the Seven Species for Israel are Wheat, Barley, Dates, Figs, Pomegranates, Olives, and Grapes

Fruit in general are a great Shavuot food if you don’t want to overdo your lactose-eating pills, including things that are in season where you live!

Googling “Fruit in season now in [your home]” can work, especially if you use a major city

So right now in the Midwest (where I live, just as an example), Cherries Raspberries and Strawberries are just coming into season, and some types of vegetables are becoming a little less seasonal

It all depends on where you live, really, so this is just my advice for you to go out and find what is available in your area!

Just enjoy fruit and other produce in addition to your alarming quantities of dairy :D

Attend (or host) a Tikkun Leil Shavuot!

One of the biggest traditions surrounding Jewish study on Shavuot is to host or attend a Tikkun Leil Shavuot - ie, a studying of Jewish texts all night

Why a religiously-sanctioned all nighter? A few reasons have been given

Honestly the biggest reason is probably just “we need a ritual for Shavuot and this is the best idea we’ve got”

But, the official story is that because the Jews fell asleep the night before receiving the Torah, this is our way of proving to Gd that we are Ready and Willing and Eager to learn and receive the Torah

Also there’s a more mystical thought that at midnight heaven opens and receives the thoughts and studies of those who remain awake on this anniversary of Revelation, and that wishes are fulfilled - kind of like on Hoshanah Rabbah, if you remember that bit from my Sukkot post

There is a traditional Tikkun text, but honestly I’m having trouble finding it - this might be my closest bet but it also looks homegrown - basically the traditional text is a body of work with excerpts from all the books of the Tanakh and all the tractates of the Talmud, and some other Rabbinic works

Talmud study is also traditional during the Tikkun, in addition to studying the whole Tanach (especially Ruth and the Torah) and the Pirkei Avot

People usually list these study sessions online as events, or they’re held through synagogues!

Look into ones in your area - they’re especially common amongst more traditionally-minded movement but they can be found through any branch of Judaism

They sometimes go the whole night, other times just through midnight, and still yet other times until a late hour of the morning but not all the way till daybreak. Go for as long as you want, and what is healthy for you!

Also drink coffee. Delicious coffee with dairy creamer is Very Shavuot

Study the Book of Ruth!

The Book of Ruth is one of the Five Megillot - the Five Scrolls - a body of short works in the Tanach each lined up with a Jewish holiday

These scrolls are considered parallel to the Torah, which is also composed of five books

The Book of Ruth is associated with Shavuot because of the story within it!

In this book, Ruth marries one of the sons of Naomi, a Jewish woman

But then, Naomi’s sons die

Rather than leave and go back to her own people (like her sister-in-law does), Ruth vows to be Jewish with Naomi

She accepts the Torah onto herself, making her a Model for the Jewish Convert

She then goes back with Naomi to Israel, gets married to a distant relative of Naomi, and gives birth - to the ancestor of the future King David

Thus, Ruth is the perfect Shavuot text - it celebrates converts AND the acceptance of Torah

Also apparently David - Ruth’s descendant - died around Shavuot, which is another reason for it being read

It is also a Very Gay Book - I mean, for better or worse, wlw tend to identify with Ruth and Naomi (even if it’s a little creepy since Naomi is Ruth’s mother in law) - because they have a very romantic dialogue exchange

I choose to see this as a positive but I understand not doing so

And I mean, Shavuot usually is In or Near Pride Month, so… like… it makes sense

Plus it’s one of the few good examples of a Sapphic (ie, woman and woman) queer relationship in the Tanakh soooooOOOOOOO

Since this is such a short book of the Tanakh, it’s easy to read in the one night of Shavuot - and is inspiring for all Jews, but especially Converts

Go to service, and hear the Akdamut!

Attending Shavuot service is pretty much the only “official” Shavuot thing to do, weirdly enough, since the other Shalosh Regalim have oodles and oodles of observances of all kinds

This service usually has the Book of Ruth read aloud, but also poems from Medieval writings, as well as the Hallel prayer of praise, Psalms of praise, and the memorial Yizkor service

In particular prominence is the Akdamut, a poem of praise written by Ashkenazi Jews around a thousand years ago and read every Shavuot - it is a 90 verse poem with multiple acrostics for the letters of the Aramaic/Hebrew alphabet

Not all synagogues have this service, so you have to look pretty thoroughly for it, but at least more traditionally minded shuls will have a morning Shavuot service including all these elements

In fact, many will stay up all night for the Tikkun Leil Shavuot, before immediately going to Shavuot morning service

Since you can only hear the Akdamut this one day a year at shul, it’s well worth a trip!

The Akdamut is an Ashkenazi custom only - being written by Ashkenazim - but Sephardim do sing a poem called the Azharot, which describes all six hundred and thirteen mitzvot (commandments) as set out by the Torah - with the positive mitzvot sung about the first day of Shavuot, and the negative mitzvot the second day

The poem Yatziv Pitgam is also recited in some synagogues on the second day of Shavuot

Basically just go to a shul and listen - there will be a lot to hear!

Enjoy the beginning of summer plants!

Shavuot coincides with the ending of spring, and the opening of summer!

Which means everything is becoming Extra Green - the grass is growing, the leaves are full, the pollen is finally calming the heck down -

Traditionally, it is said that Mount Sinai blossomed with greenery in anticipation of the giving of the Torah; and greenery figures heavily into the Shalosh Regalim in general, being agricultural festivals

As such, many Jewish people will decorate their homes - or the synagogue - with plants, flowers, and leafy branches, even canopies of flowers and plants in the style of a chuppah (remember, this is the second half of the wedding ceremony between the jewish people and Gd)

Some even would decorate trees, but since this is so similar to Xmas, that tradition has largely Died

So, while in general Jewish people don’t do a whole heck of a lot of holiday decorating, go wild! Fill your home with plants dude!

Spring is ending and summer is here! Bring that into your home!

You are not alone!

Judaism is ALWAYS and FOREVER about community!

Community events are everywhere for this holiday - look into all the local synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and more for ideas and places to go!

Reach out to friends in the area and come up with a plan yourselves!

Shavuot is a beautiful holiday with infinite potential - you just gotta go for it!

Never just listen to me

I am a potential future rabbi excitedly preparing for Alarming Amounts of Cheese

I have only my experiences and opinions to offer - and there are so many experiences out there!

Talk to everyone, hear what they have to say, and form your own opinions!

You won’t regret it, and you’ll be able to create your own version of Shavuot!

GOOD LUCK, and CHAG SHAVUOT SAMEACH! חג שבועות שמח!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buy the author a coffee: http://ko-fi.com/kulindadromeus

#shavuot #holidays #festivals

idkinsertfanreferencehere

Converting to Judaism and Transness

So as a yeshiva student, we learned a bit about how one is supposed to act towards converts/gerim, and those were, among others

1. Don’t ask what their name was before they converted

2. Don’t ask them about what their life was like before they converted, and don’t talk about it unless they bring it up

3. Don’t single them out/out them as converts

4. That converts have a Jewish soul and are drawn to Judaism by a sort of need, a homesickness, if you will

And I feel like this is also a really good way to look at/interact with trans ppl?

Any trans Jews (convert in-progress or no) have anything to say on this?

@jewishconvertthings ?

meirlev

https://daggadol.org/2012/08/08/ten-reasons-why-being-trans-is-like-being-a-ger-tzedek/

Ten reasons why being trans is like being a ger tzedek

AUGUST 8, 2012 / LEIAH MOSER (she has since been ordained as a rabbi by the reconstructionist movement!)

Why being trans is an awful lot like being a convert to Judaism:

“I feel like this is what I’ve always been, even if I’ve only discovered it now.” Many people who convert to Judaism do so out of a sense that they were born with a Jewish soul and that only now are they finally coming home. Being trans is also all about that uncomfortable separation between your truest soul and the outward circumstances of your birth.

Enculturation: Needing to work your butt off to pick up the incredibly basic social and cultural cues of your new peer group, things that seem to “come naturally” to most because of how thoroughly they’ve been socialized from an early age. That nagging sense of regret for your “lost” childhood. Feeling secretly jealous of people who were “born that way” because of how easy they make it look.

It’s really impolite to ask: Once someone has gone through the conversion process, they are considered totally Jewish in all respects and it is a mitzvah not to refer to their “convert” status unless they bring it up for some reason. It should really be the same way with trans folk.

Body modification as a way of bringing your outward form into harmony with your identity: Brit Milah, ’nuff said.

Your parents’ utter shock and disbelief when you come out to them.

The difficulty of getting people who’ve known you a long time to recognize and accept your new identity: Whether it’s going by a different set of pronouns or getting it through peoples’ heads that you just don’t celebrate Christmas or eat pork chops any more, it’s always an uphill struggle.

The weird looks you get from your friends when you take such unabashed delight in things they tend to see as a hassle. “I just don’t understand why anyone would enjoyshaving their legs!” “What do you mean you had funkashering your kitchen!?”

Designated Ambassador Status. As a convert to Judaism, chances are you’re the only Jew your old friends or family know, and it is therefore your job to speak for all Jews, everywhere. As a trans person, chances are you’re the only trans person your old friends or family know, and it is therefore your job to speak for all trans folk, everywhere. Oi.

The lack of comprehension from a lot of people who assumed the only way to have an identity is to have it assigned to you at birth. “I didn’t even know it was possible to convert to Judaism, I thought you had to be born into it!”

The immense and indescribable sense of relief you feel when you realize you are finally home and at peace with yourself.

#lgbt #conversion #leiah moser

zanopticon

A story that the Jews tell each other is that when the slaves were fleeing Egypt they came to the edge of the Red Sea and thought: well, fuck, this is it. Water in front of them and enemies behind. They had escaped, sure, but all this meant was that they were going to die free instead of in chains. A meaningful distinction in an abstract sense, but the Jews are a practical people, and mostly what they were concerned with in that moment was: they would be equally dead either way.

A man stepped out from the group. He stepped into the water. He said: mi chamocha ba’eilim adonai? Who is like you Adonai, among the gods who are worshipped? He sang that verse over and over again. He sang it as he waded into the sea. He gave his body over to his faith as he walked. There was nowhere to go but forward. If he was going to die, he figured, and be equally dead either way, he was not going to die in slavery and he was not going to die at the hands of the Egyptians, either. He was going to die walking and singing, believing, trying to find progress in the chaos, in the waves.

In the story, the water laps first at his feet, then his knees, his thighs, his ribs, his neck, finally flowing into his mouth as he sings and sings and sings. The words get choked, mispronounced: the hard cha of mi chamocha becomes mi kamoka, strangled but still certain.

In the story, this man is why the people get their miracle, the waters parting to let them cross through on dry land. It is an act of divine intervention, but it only comes because someone is willing to put his life on the line to make it happen. I keep thinking about him this week, that apocryphal man and how it is a story we make sure to keep telling each other: when there is water in front of you and enemies behind, you do not wait for your god, or a sign. You trust in something larger than yourself and open your mouth to sing about it. You put your feet on the ground and walk forward.

awanderinggnome

His name was Nahshon ben Aminadav. Descended directly from Judah, he fathered a line of kings. We tell his story to remind ourselves that God does not act in isolation. Humans are not just participants in holy work - we are vital to its success.

#torah #exodus #nahshon ben aminadav

aberrantceramics

Hamsa of Many Eyes

#hamsa #art

jewish-kulindadromeus

What's the difference between Christianity and Judaism?

Me, in a previous ask: it is impossible to list all the differences between Judaism and Christianity

You: list the ways

Me: hoo boy here we go

In all honesty there isn’t any way I can list all the ways so I call on other people to help out - especially other converts such as from Christianity to Judaism who are best equipped to give a nuanced explanation of both

But

Both Christianity and modern Rabbinical Judaism (as well as the other sects of Judaism such as Karaite Judaism) stem from a proto-Judaism that existed during the time of the Roman Empire.

This proto-Judaism was very, very, very different from modern Judaism. It all centered around the temple and temple sacrifice, though the Torah and the writings of the Prophets were also very important at the time. It was practiced by the Jewish people, who were defined by their shared ancestry or by converting to Judaism, which did exist at the time (and actually Judaism used to proselytize, ie seek converts, prior to the common era). But they prayed differently, they celebrated the holidays differently, they put different importance on the Jewish holidays, I cannot stress enough how much modern forms of prayer didn’t exist, and their relationship to Jewish law was honestly a subject of constant debate.

There was a huge debate between three major schools of Jewish people. The Sadducees believed that the only thing passed down directly from HaShem (literally The Name, aka G-d) was the written Torah. They thought that the debates and discussions over the Torah - because trust me, it is not at all obvious what it means - were just that, discussion. Important discussion, but not divinely ordained.

The Pharisees believed, on the other hand, that these debates and discussions of the Torah were directly given on Mt. Sinai, called the Oral Torah. They believed they were just as binding as the written Torah. These proto-rabbis were constantly fighting with the Sadducees over, essentially, the future of Judaism.

Then there were the Essenes, a group of spiritual Jewish people who essentially thought all of this was nonsense and thought that Judaism needed to become more dedicated to asceticism. They believed in giving up all their money for the poor, daily baptism, mysticism, eschatology (ie, what happens when the world ends/when you die), and messianism. Many were celibate.

To be fair, Messianism was a big deal for most Jewish people during the time of the Second Temple. It’s kind of easy to hope for a Messiah when you’re being oppressed and overruled by really cruel people ie the Romans. The Jewish Messiah was considered at the time to be a future man descended from Solomon, ie, the Solomic line from King David, who would restore Israel and bring an era of peace, you know, immediately, and restore Israel’s political sovereignty.

Christians were from none of these groups mentioned above. Whether or not Jesus actually existed is a debate I’m not interested in getting into here (I’m aware of the non-Christian references to Jesus in historical texts and I also have arguments against their validity but, again, Jesus definitely could have existed and that’s not really the point of this essay). They believed that this figure was the messiah, and they shared many beliefs with the Essenes. However, due to various Hellenistic influences on early Christian thinkers, they split away from the concept of the Jewish Messiah. Instead of believing that Jesus was descended from Solomon (which, according to records of his parentage via Joseph and Mary in the Gospels, he wasn’t anyway), they thought that he was descended from God, and that he had died for everyone’s “sins” to save them for the coming messianic age. You will note that he died and no messianic age actually happened - another requirement at the time for the Jewish messiah, and that he didn’t free Israel.

However, for their early history, proto-Christians were just a small sect of proto-Jews, trying to live within Jewish culture and most early Christians were Jewish people. This began to change with the emergence of Pauline Christianity, which I will call full Christianity rather than proto. Paul is often called the “original antisemite,” and for good reason. He advocated a separation of proto-Christianity from Judaism - that they did not have to follow the laws of the Torah, did not have to be circumcised, and non-Jews were absolutely allowed to be Christians. This was important for early Christianity because it allowed for the spread of the religion greater than it would have if it had remained a Jewish sect. This is the point at which proto-Judaism and Christianity are no longer in the same religious grouping.

The time Christians emerged was a time of great turmoil for Jewish people. The Romans were very much cracking down on anything that was a threat to their authority in the region (Jesus, if he existed, being a notable example of that - the Romans killed Jesus, not the Jews, because he was a threat to their Authority). A rebellion by Jewish people unaffiliated with the early version of Christianity against the Romans lead to a destruction of the second temple, and another expulsion of Jewish people from the Palestine region (remember, one had already happened during the conquest of the Babylonians, leading to the destruction of the first temple). This lead to the importance of what defined Judaism as a religion being a topic of discussion, because they had to define it in a world without Temple observance.

In the end, with the battle between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, Pharisees mostly won. The body of writings that we call the Talmud today was beginning to emerge and be expounded on, and it gave Jewish people in this time of political turmoil a way to define their Jewishness and what it meant to practice Judaism (what it meant to be a Jew, of course, remained defined by ethnicity and/or conversion to the religion). A lot of this Rabbinic Judaism (because it was taught by Rabbis, the philosophical descendants of the Pharisees - which you will note is a concept that existed long after Jesus) was defined and developed in direct antithesis to Christian thought at the time. The Messiah was thought to come after the world had already been perfected through the process of tikkun olam - “The son of David will come only in a generation that is either altogether righteous or altogether wicked. In a generation that is altogether righteous - as it is written, “They people also shall be righteous, they shall inherit the land forever” or altogether wicked - as it is written “and he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor” (Tractate Sanhedrin). Eventually the former - in a time when all were righteous - became the prevailing belief.

Rabbinic Judaism really didn’t concern itself with the afterlife, primarily because early Christianity did. It also was quickly forming into a religion of orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy. This meant that it mattered a lot more what people did than what they believed. What made you a practitioner of Judaism (because, and I cannot stress this enough, being Jewish has always been defined in terms of ethnicity and a non-practicing/atheist Jew is still Jewish and was before rabbinic times) was whether or not you followed Halachah (Jewish law through the Torah and Talmud), not really what you believed about the afterlife or theological questions (though you really had to believe that Gd was One, Indivisible and Single). So much of Rabbinic Judaism was defined, as such, to exclude Christianity from its definition. Modern forms of prayer and holiday observance began to develop due to the absence of Temple worship.

(The Sadducees lost the argument. A similar group, the Karaites, emerged with similar views as them, but weren’t direct descendants).

Meanwhile, because Christianity had spread to so many people, they had to try and come up with a unified body of belief. Christianity wasn’t defined based on a shared peoplehood as Judaism had been, and everyone had very very different and kind of wildly varied beliefs about the nature of God, Jesus, the Afterlife, the end of the World, et cetera et cetera et cetera. So they began to define themselves by shared belief, or orthodoxy. A lot of these beliefs were in direct contrast to Judaism - the law of the Torah wasn’t binding, God was divisible in that God had Three People in One, everyone had to repent and believe in Jesus to be accepted into heaven, et cetera et cetera.

Then hundreds of years passed in which Christians became not only the majority religion but the religion in power, continued to collect believers (because it was used by the power institutions to better enforce their rule) through adoption of local pagan custom into their own holidays, Judaism became more insular and concerned with the discussion of Jewish law, Christians began to persecute the Jews because they saw them as a threat to their legitimacy, Jewish people became even more insular to protect themselves, etc.

Christians also didn’t let, for most of history, everyone read the Bible - it was a privilege for the elite who were able to read Latin and Greek, and these elite (mostly priests and monks) did not question the text. Being a good Christian meant behaving morally as the Church taught you via Mass, and believing what the Church leaders dictated. Meanwhile, Jewish people taught literacy as much as they could and emphasized study of religious texts as a method of achieving holiness, creating an atmosphere where literally everyone debated the meaning of these texts (apart from women but let’s not get into sexism in religion here today, that’s a whole other issue). There was of course a hierarchy at play - plenty of people were “amaratzim,” or those who couldn’t study Torah, and they were at the bottom of the traditional social hierarchy, with rabbis at the top. Still, it was highly encouraged by Jewish culture to participate in Torah study and it was emphasized that study and debate over texts was a form of worship, unlike in Christianity where this culture wasn’t present - debate took place, but to a much lesser extent and contradicting the central church was forbidden. And, again, there was a major emphasis on keeping Jewish law properly, rather than what you believed.

During the “Renaissance” (a concept I don’t actually think exists but let’s not touch on that) and Enlightenment eras, more deep philosophical questions emerged and, once again, Judaism and Christianity came to different conclusions. Given that Christianity had long been a proponent of the triple-omni God - ie omniscient (knows everything), omnipotent (all powerful), and omnibeneveleant (infinitely good/kind) - it was faced with no choice in many movements but to deny the presence of human free will. It also had long been Christian doctrine that humans had original sin, ie, everyone was sinful until baptized in the name of Jesus. Jews, on the other hand, believed in free will, bc the Jewish god concept had never been triple omni - it’s been a lot of things, but not that (and it’s changed a lot over the years; every Jew has their own Gd-concept and almost all of them are entirely different from those present in the Rabbinic age or Biblical times, etc.) - and that ethical behavior was only possible because of free will. Also, free will was the source of human evil, not original sin, which was not a concept that Judaism accepted.

Theological and philosophical debates have raged on, and Jewish people have become more a part of the wider culture, but ultimately the differences between the two religions stem to their history of separation and being defined in opposition to one another. The bare bones differences, however, can be defined as follows:

Christianity believes that the Messiah has come in the form of Jesus. Judaism believes that Jesus was not the Messiah because he did not fulfill the requirements set in the Torah and Prophetic writings of the Messiah.

Judaism is a religion of Orthopraxy, ie, you practice Judaism because of what you do (again, being Jewish is defined by ethnicity or being a convert which automatically makes you ethnically Jewish but let’s not get into THAT, practicing Judaism is defined by actions). Christianity is a religion of Orthodoxy, ie, you are a Christian because of what you believe (and it is not an ethnoreligion).

Judaism has a long tradition of egalitarian debate of religious texts and emphasizing study and debate as a form of worship. Christianity prior to the protestant reformation does not have this tradition, and rather has a tradition of the elites guarding these texts and religious doctrine, as well as a tradition of taking religious texts more or less literally rather than looking for them for allegorical meaning as in Judaism (though modern Christianity has separated from strict literality more or less, depending on the denomination).

Judaism does not believe you need to be a Jew to receive reward from HaShem, and indeed, has been a very closed off religion because of oppression from the dominant cultures Jews have lived among. Christianity originally believed you must be Christian, ie accept Jesus as your savior, to go to Heaven/receive reward from God, and even though many denominations have moved away from this today, there is still a general undercurrent that you should be Christian.

I would, once again, love for more input. Love. But this is what I’ve got.

Pomegranate henna

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsSUx-YHZ1X/

regularlesbian

SAMPLE TEXT

#modesty

ofblessedmemory

Jewish Etiquette: Visiting a Shiva House

Do not ring the doorbell when visiting a family sitting shiva. Mourners should not be prompted to act as hosts. The door will likely be unlocked. Just walk in. If the door is locked; knock lightly, or consider that they may not be open to visitors at that time.

If there are a lot of visitors, try not to stay too long. The shiva home should not become crowded, nor should it be treated as a social function.

Upon entering the shiva home, it’s sometimes customary to take your shoes off (not every community does this,) and keep your voice low and soft. Simply sit with the mourners, and let them set the tone.

Avoid asking how they’re doing. You already know the answer, and they shouldn’t be made to feel the need to pretend they’re okay.

Do not bring flowers; symbols of life are an affront to both the mourning and the deceased. Instead, bring gifts of kosher food. They don’t have to be homemade; store-bought is fine. Also do not bring wine or other types of alcohol; mourners are not to drink during shiva. (Gifts are Ashkenazic; Among Sephardim, visitors do not usually bring gifts.)

Donate (if you can) to a charity or cause the deceased cared about. If you’re unsure of what that might be, ask the family. They may already have a donation fund set up.

Plant a tree in honor of the deceased. There are many websites where you can have a memorial tree planted in almost any location in the world, and they often also send a notification card or email to the family.

#shiva #minhag #death #mourning #etiquette

ofskfe

Portrait of a Jewish woman holding a prayer book, Lazar Krestin (1868-1938).

#art

I went to my college's Hillel yesterday for Shabbat, and we talked about Vayetzei. So when the Rabbi was introducing the student who would give the D'var Torah, he said:

"Hey everyone this is Jacob and he's going to tell us about a man named, well, Jacob."

😆😆😆

#shabbat #hillel #college #vayetzei #parashah #personal

ok wow i did not expect Kaplan to mention communism on PAGE FIVE of his book explaining Reconstructionism

#mordecai kaplan #judaism without supernaturalism #readings #lol #personal