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#Jews and Judaism
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The world’s first printed book in Hebrew was Rashi’s commentary on the Bible, printed by Abraham ben Gart in Reggio di Calabria, Italy, in 1475.
Unfortunately, very little is known about the personal life of Abraham ben Garton. Most scholars believe he was born in Spain, and emigrated to Southern Italy's Calabria prior to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Many other Spanish Sephardim also emigrated to Calabria following the expulsion.
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The 1475 edition Abraham Garton created and employed, for the first time, a typeface based on a Sephardic semicursive hand. It was this same style of typeface that a few years later, when commentary and text were incorporated onto one page, would be used to distinguish Rabbinic commentary from the text proper. Ultimately, this typeface would be known as Rashi script.
View of the Interior of one of the chapels in the Cathedral of Reggio di Calabria—ancient Rhegium. This chapel focuses on the "giving of the law" to Moses. Note the prominent menorah.
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Follow us on Instagram, @calabria_mediterranea
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emotboyswag · 10 months
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Closet antisemites/racists love bringing up that the swastika is a Buddhist peace symbol (as if they give a shit about buddhism) like yeah it is but the skinhead white guy with a swastika tattoo isn't a Buddhist and the edgy teenagers who painted a swastika on a wall aren't Buddhists and you need to use the tiniest dash of critical thinking and common sense.
In a Buddhist temple its a peace symbol, scratched on some guys house its a hate symbol . And stop telling Jews they are being dramatic or chronically online for being upset/disturbed/scared or annoyed by swastikas!!
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I did a thing!
Or more accurately, a whole bunch of cool-ass, courageous Jewish organizers did a thing and I helped take photos!
IfNotNow Boston shut down BU Bridge for 2 hours - because that’s what you do when your Senator won’t meet with you!
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It was an incredibly powerful action. We sang, heard some moving speeches, blew the shofar, and said the Mourner’s Kaddish for the Israeli civilians killed and Palestinians murdered in the ongoing Nakba.
Btw calling anti-Zionist Jews “fake Jews” is fucking laughable. Like people are going to learn the Mourners Kaddish, cite Torah deep cuts and wear tefillin as an elaborate psy-op.
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rel312 · 1 year
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Just saw this on one of those “all religions are bad” posts cause of the judaism tag:
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And it makes me so mad cause like… Jews don’t even have a concept of hell. Like we literally don’t know what goes on in the afterlife and it’s all a bunch of theories and we admit that. We don’t say that someone will suffer for all eternity in the afterlife for being bad/not loving god, we just tell people that like… you should be a good person in this life because it’s the right thing to do, and then maybe you’ll get a reward in the afterlife, so it just pissed me off that Judaism was included in this cause it literally does not apply to us at all
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beep-cares · 4 months
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i LOVEEEE talking about judaism with converted jews its soo intriguing like please please tell me your specific reasons and how you connect with judaism even though you weren't born into it I love it I love it I love it!!! /srs
Converted jews I meet are always so sweet because more often than not their reasons are like "judaism allows me to be myself while still being allowed in a large group" and it makes me want to cry each time.
Converts I love you sm please never stop talking about your experiences with religion
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racheldi · 1 year
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jewishthings · 1 year
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From Emunah Affirmations on Instagram
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luanna801 · 6 months
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It's also like. Even if you think the murder of every single Jewish person on Israeli soil is justified, from the moment they're born onwards, this kind of rhetoric - and the utter lack of pushback against it - statistically and demonstrably leads to increased violence against diaspora Jews, too. And believe me, the people attacking aren't going to ask me politely first if I like Benjamin Netanyahu or if I support occupying the West Bank.
You let people get away with vilifying Jews and treating Jewish lives as worthless, and by the time a few people stop to half-heartedly say "But wait, not those Jews!", it's far too late.
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dragoneyes618 · 13 days
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Ever since October, I don't leave the house without my driver's license.
Even when I'm not driving anywhere. Even when I know I won't need it. Even when I'm just going around the block.
Why?
So that if I'm murdered while I'm out, my body will be identified immediately and my family will know right away what happened to me.
I live in the United States. I live in a town with a large Jewish population. I have been fortunate enough never to have been a target of antisemitism. I can't resist the urge to add "so far" at the end of that last sentence.
And yet I still feel this way.
And if I feel this way, imagine what it must be like for other Jews.
Am I being paranoid?
I'm afraid that I'm not.
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A GOP fundraising event in New Hampshire was interrupted Friday evening after two protesters ran onto the stage and yelled "Jews against DeSantis" while Governor Ron DeSantis spoke at the podium.
The Amos Tuck Dinner, hosted by the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, featured DeSantis as the headline speaker.
The nonprofit behind the action, IfNotNow, said in a press release sent to Insider that the protest was meant to bring attention to the Governor's policies as well as his upcoming planned trip to Israel. The country is responsible for "increased violence towards Palestinians," the group said.
IfNotNow describes itself as "a movement of American Jews organizing our community to end US support for Israel's apartheid system."
In a video posted to Twitter, two people with signs reading "Ron DeSantis: Loves Israel, Hates Jews" briefly make it on stage before immediately being grabbed by security and escorted away from the Governor.
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In the video, DeSantis can be seen brushing off the encounter and questioning why the protesters spent money on tickets for the event, which started at $150 per person.
"You've gotta have a little spice in the speech. You got to have a little fun," DeSantis said, as the pair were directed away from the governor.
Jewish rights groups have long called out DeSantis for his failure to immediately condemn neo-Nazis who showed up at a 2022 rally, his promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories about billionaire George Soros, and his association with politician Doug Mastriano.
DeSantis has also previously dubbed himself the most "pro-Israel Governor in America."
A representative for DeSantis and the New Hampshire Republican Party did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A representative for IfNotNow did not immediately respond to questions sent by Insider. When reached by phone, the DoubleTree by Hilton in Manchester, where the event was hosted, declined to comment.
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akonoadham · 9 months
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missbananarose · 1 year
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In Goncharov (1973), Sofia Ambrosini’s backstory is that she was an orphan and raised by nuns. Her prosthetic leg is a result of Italian economic riots after World War Two. Why was her family not around, and why were nuns her guardians? The answer has to do with World War Two. Sofia was born into a French Jewish family and given to Italian nuns for protection from the Nazis.
Named after a town in Italy, the Assisi Network was an Italian secret organization that kept Jewish people safe. 26 monasteries and convents were used as hiding places. The Nazis took power after 1943, once Mussolini was arrested. Just after the power shift, Sofia’s family sent her to live with the Poor Clares in the Monastero di San Quirico in Assisi. The Poor Clares were an order of nuns that cared for women and children. Secret grottos under the convent served as hiding places for refugees. Sofia became very good at staying quiet and being stealthy. On June 16, 1944, Assisi was liberated. The Germans in Italy surrendered to the Allies on May 2 1945. By September 1945, Sofia felt safe enough to travel back to Naples. Her family had moved there from France in 1930. When she arrived, her family was missing. She returned to Assisi and the Poor Clare nuns. As an adult, by the time of the film, she has begun to live in Naples again. She still keeps an eye out for her family, and has possibly found Mario, her long-lost brother.
Sofia was Romani-coded in the novella. It’s probable that the Assisi Network would have been similarly helpful. I believe that she was Jewish-coded in the 1973 film.
During one scene, Sofia lights a candelabra with three candles and two peacock motifs on a Friday evening. The candelabra looks like this photo. This isn’t her introduction scene, but it is in the first half of the film. Sofia sits in the kitchen of her house, in front on the table. She lights the candles at 4:26 pm, as shown on the small clock beside the candelabra. She waves a hand over her eyes. These shots depict Sofia lighting candles for Shabbat, the weekly day of rest in Judaism. It starts Friday evening and ends Saturday evening. Shabbat candles have to be lit about 20 minutes before sunset. Generally, two candles are lit, but more are possible. Sofia lights the middle candle first, the shamansh, or “helper” in Hebrew. She uses the shamansh to light the left and right candles afterwards. Sofia has her dinner. Later on, red light from the sunset is shown over the white candles. The red and white colors foreshadow the red blood over Katya’s white dress later on. The end of the day is also part of the passage of time. It’s not explicitly stated that it is Shabbat, but it is clear that it is Friday. Sofia knows what the candles mean.
The two peacocks on the candelabra relate to the theme of pairs within the film. Goncharov and Katya are meant to be a couple, but form their own separate relationships. Andrey and Goncharov are caught up in their romantic tension. Katya and Sofia have a friendship that starts to become romantic.
Sofia could maintain some Jewish customs, but not all of them. She could light Shabbat candles, but not keep strict kosher. If she’s Jewish, the fruit stand scene maintains religious themes with apples and figs. Genesis is part of the Torah (for Judaism) and the Old Testament (for Christianity).
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It’s Yom HaShoah, a day in which we remember the 6 million Jewish men, women, and children who were murdered during the Holocaust not even eighty years ago.
Every single one of those who were ruthlessly killed had a future. Had a family. Had friends. Had a name. Had a story.
For them, we remember. For them, we say and we mean “never again.”
The Holocaust didn’t start with guns, cattle cars, and gas chambers. It started with laws. With hate. With broken glass. With turning a blind eye.
To remember them, to mean “never again” we have to truly stop hate and antisemitism as it rises and reveals itself. It’s not enough to say that the Holocaust was a tragedy. It’s not enough to say that it should never happen again.
You, we, everyone has to make sure it never happens again. By actually standing up against injustice. Speaking out against hate. Realizing that antisemitism isn’t just something that happened when an SS officer pushed someone into a mass grave, but a very living and dangerous brand of hatred that occurs each and every day for Jewish people, men, women, and children.
I have been honored to meet with Holocaust survivors and hear their stories. I have grown up learning about my people. I have grown up strong in the face of antisemitism. I have known the weight of remembering the 6 million people murdered for no reason other than hate. There is no difference between any of them and me, I was just born about 60 years later. As a child I would sit in my closet and imagine what it was like in a concentration camp. I would imagine how everyone felt. What they must have heard, seen, said. It’s for them, and for me, and for us that I stand up against antisemitism when I encounter it. We have seen what happens when we let it go unchecked.
It never starts with guns drawn and barbed wire. It starts small. It grows. It grows. It grows. I refuse to let it grow when I have a voice. When every ounce of my blood is Jewish. When every cell of my body is Jewish. When every bit of my soul is Jewish. I refuse to forget. I refuse to let hate win. I refuse to let anything like the Holocaust happen again.
Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba b’alma di-v’ra chirutei, v’yamlich malchutei b’chayeichon uvyomeichon uvchayei d’chol beit yisrael, ba’agala uvizman kariv, v’im’ru: “amen.” Y’hei sh’mei raba m’varach l’alam ul’almei almaya. Yitbarach v’yishtabach, v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnaseh, v’yithadar v’yit’aleh v’yit’halal sh’mei d’kud’sha, b’rich hu, l’eila min-kol-birchata v’shirata, tushb’chata v’nechemata da’amiran b’alma, v’im’ru: “amen.” Y’hei shlama raba min-sh’maya v’chayim aleinu v’al-kol-yisrael, v’im’ru: “amen.” Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol-yisrael, v’imru: “amen.”
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rel312 · 1 year
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Had 3 ideas and couldn’t choose which one was funniest so you get all three
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Traveling 3,000 miles to meet the Messiah
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The year was 1970, and the post-Woodstock hippie movement swept America. Searching for meaning in his life, a young hippie named Mitch Glaser, along with a friend, dropped out of college in Connecticut and hitchhiked across the country to San Francisco.
Their journey was about more than just a change of venue. Mitch, only 17 years old at the time, sought answers he wasn’t finding in his Jewish roots.
Growing up in a traditional Jewish home in New York City, he regularly attended synagogue and observed traditional holidays like Yom Kippur and Passover. Mitch was proud of his heritage, but something was missing.
He was entrenched in religion, but never felt connected to God. Questions surfaced like, “What is the meaning of life?” So the scraggly bearded youth headed west, bringing only what he could carry on his back, in hopes of finding answers.
In California, Mitch and a few other friends built a houseboat, living for free by “borrowing” utilities from their neighbors, and delved into the hippie lifestyle. Meanwhile, Mitch still strongly identified himself as a Jew. Today, about 5 million Jews live in the United States. Less than 20 percent regularly attend synagogue.
Eventually, a building inspector condemned the houseboat. Shortly after, a Jewish friend named Joan visited. After spending time with some Christians, Joan had come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and couldn’t wait to share her discovery.
“She preached heavily to us about the end times,” Mitch says. “I thought she was absolutely nuts.”
It was as if Joan were turning her back on her roots.
“I said, ‘Of course I’m not a Christian. I’m Jewish,’” he remembers.
As a Jew, Mitch’s attitudes toward Christianity were largely shaped by his grandparents’ history in Europe. To them, Christianity was a foreign and hostile religion responsible for horrific events like the Holocaust and the Crusades.
“I was raised to believe Jesus was not only not Jewish, but anti-Jewish,” he said.
Yet Mitch’s friends were drawn by Joan’s personal experience. She made Jesus sound hip – after all, He was a revolutionary. So they decided to visit her Christian friends in Oregon to hear more. Mitch tagged along suspiciously.
“Mitch probably thought we were involved in something dangerous,” Joan remembers.
That night at dinner with the group of Christians, Mitch had an encounter with God. While the owner of the house prayed, Mitch sat with his eyes open. It was strange to him; the man talked out loud to God, as if he knew Him. Mitch could sense a strong presence in the room. He knew it was God.
From then on, Mitch was determined to know this God. So he began reading the Old Testament, something few Jews do outside of the synagogue. He yearned to connect with God like Abraham and Moses did.
At one point, Mitch approached some young, ultra-Orthodox rabbis for help. The spiritual leaders disdained his questions.
“I tried giving traditional Judaism a chance to talk me out of accepting Jesus,” he says. “Instead, by cutting me off, it made me think they were trying to hide something.”
A little while later, Mitch took a job as a counselor at an ecology camp in the Redwood Forest. As he approached a phone booth one night, the moon illuminated something on the ledge where a phone book should have been. It was a copy of the New Testament, which Mitch began reading regularly.
Through his reading he discovered that Jesus was actually Jewish. He celebrated Passover. He fit the descriptions in the Old Testament prophecies. And although Christ’s claims were beginning to make sense to Mitch, believing in Jesus felt like an act of betrayal of his heritage and family. While hiking in the forest one evening, Mitch wrestled with God.
“You don’t understand,” Mitch prayed. “You don’t have a Jewish mother.”
But Jesus did have a Jewish mother, he realized. God understood, and could help him in his new faith. From then on, Mitch’s beliefs solidified. Today he serves as president for Chosen People Ministries, an international Christian outreach to Jewish people.
Jews doubt that Jesus was the Messiah because He wasn’t a military leader, like their tradition expected. Yet Scripture is clear. More than 300 Old Testament references prophesying details about the Messiah were all fulfilled by Jesus.
For a Jewish person to develop faith in Jesus, they need to see Christ as the completion of their roots, says Mitch, not a step away from those roots. Believing in Jesus doesn’t mean you stop being Jewish. In fact, it completes the tradition.
“The irony is that people say you cannot believe in Jesus and be Jewish,” says Joan, who moved to Israel 21 years ago to reconnect with her Jewish heritage. “We have found pertinence to Jewish festivals that we never found before.”
Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah are called Messianic Jews, or Jewish believers. But terminology can sometimes mislead. “I don’t like labels,” says Joan. “But know two things about me: I am a Jew, and I believe in Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel.”
It was enough for a searching hippie to understand 30 years ago. He found meaning in the Messiah and still serves Him today.
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beep-cares · 4 months
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Chanukah Sameach! Tonight my family lit 9 menorahs (because 8 nights plus one more for shamas) We started with two and added a menorah each night. Last year we did one added each night also, but started with one and ended with eight.
These 9 designs were:
A whale
A dog
A long wooden line with a raised part at the end for the shamas
A triangular piece of wood with the shamas in the corner
A simple silver painted menorah
A white thick menorah
A plain metal menorah with a detachable shamas piece for easy lighting
A menorah with a treble clef and eighth note design
And a Menorah of a Jewish town (We think its of Ancient Jerusalem but we got it a long time ago and cannot find anything about it other than a stock photo simply labeled menorah)
Everytime we celebrate hannukah we must think of how each and every jew has overcome struggles, has faced challenges goyim cant even understand. No matter their ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, nationality, or their specifics of judiasm (converted, reform, conservative, orthodox, etc) they are a jew, and all jews share that. We must keep our compassion for all, as the Torah, our Communities, and History has taught us to. Stay strong, and remember how much we have overcome.
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