#and that should be just as accepted as an atheist jew

[hindahoney]

So tired of the only respect given to Jews being about how we wrestle with our belief in God and it's starting to feel like "atheist jews can stay but if you're an observant jew you're oppressive and weird"

#it feels v culturally christian atheist #like theyre saying the only good jew is one who denounces judaism #no! im openly and proudly jewish and i believe in HaShem #and that should be just as accepted as an atheist jew #judaism #jumblr #jewish #frumblr

[germiyahu]

There's such an intricate interplay between antisemitism and islamophobia from the slacktivist left. For every reason they can think of to delegitimize the Jewish People's connection to Eretz Yisrael, it's propped up by some Noble Savage presumptions about Palestinians/Arabs/Muslims.

Since Jews in America are seen as a model minority, seen as having accessed whiteness and privilege, and "antisemitism" is at worst having to explain what Hanukah is to clueless Christians, the Left is confused as to exactly why Jews care about Jerusalem and the Land of Israel so much. Shouldn't they be above such petty and barbaric and outdated concerns such as a dusty old book from 2,000 years ago?

They should be more enlightened than that. They're all rich suburban secular Democrats. They're the leftist religion, according to bloggers on this very platform. There is no room for Judaism to be a religion, there's no acknowledgment of ancient customs, rituals, and the deep mysticism that's still alive and well in the Jewish community. There's no attempt to understand Jewish history and culture and why a group of people you think shares your vaguely atheistic vaguely liberal (and not in the Tankie sense) vaguely smug detached Western worldview... is more complex and unique than that.

Jews should be happy living in Diaspora because clearly the problem of antisemitism is fixed now, and never really was a problem in America. There must be something sinister behind a desire to reestablish a country by and for Jews. There must be something colonial, oppressive, European and White about it. Because why else would they do it? They have it good here. And no we won't acknowledge where Israelis primarily descend from because that requires us to do research and have a shred of nuance and integrity when it comes to Jews. No thanks!

A lot of the modern left is nonconsensually dragging Jews kicking and screaming from their own unique demographic toward the banal Norm. To themselves. But not totally. See they think they relate to Jews and vice versa, but not enough that when they think Jews should "know better," or haven't "learned their lesson," from the Holocaust, it engenders a deep seeded disgust and mistrust and rage that's not felt for actually privileged mainstream dominant society.

Conversely, the slacktivist Left sees Arabs as savages. Silly desert people who eat sand and worship a big black cube and cover every inch of their bodies for some reason. How quaint! When the Palestinian/Arab/Muslim cause explains that Jerusalem is important to them, the White Western Leftist nods sagely and says "Your culture is so valid queen," because they don't care. They just accept that Muslim society would be willing to fight over an ancient city proscribed as holy in dusty old tomes. Because that fits the narrative already surrounding Muslims.

They're seen as backwards, but the Left, reacting to their conservative parents and the Bush era, see "Muslims are backwards," and says not "No actually they're modern groups of people with practical geopolitical goals," but instead "Yeah and that makes them better than us!" Especially with this new crop of baby Leftists who think Islamo-Fascist "Feudalism" or whatever the best term would be, is aspirational or at least harmless... because it's not capitalism :)

So Muslims are infantilized and condescended to because the Western Leftist is still just as racist as their parents, but they feel guilty about their parents without considering their contribution to White Supremacy and the Post Bush surveillance state. And all the while Jews are reprimanded and held to an impossible standard because the Western Leftist, again, rejects their conservative parents' philosemitism, and decides that Jews Must be Punished when they step off the pedestal that Suffering the Shoah placed them on.

Jews should be above nationalism, Jews should know that demurely suffering pogroms and ethnic cleansing and genocide and general inequity and humiliation will earn them their divine reward in the end. Muslims should not be above nationalism, because they're not capable of being above it, and can't we throw them a bone, after all Obama was the worst president in history because of the Drone War and let's not mention George W Bush at all :0

Hot take, but I believe this is an essential underpinning of where the average disaffected White millennial/zoomer Leftist's head is at with regard to Israel and Palestine. They won't acknowledge it of course, but I can generally see through things like this.

#jumblr #israel #palestine #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #islamophobia

[nonegenderleftpain]

There are few things I hate more than "Jewish ally" anti-theists and atheists that spout complete bullshit about Judaism and our supposed beliefs as though they know better than we do what we believe. When we talk about cultural xtianity, this is the kind of shit we're talking about.

"You might not believe in hell but most Jews do, my ex-xtian interpretation of your holy texts is correct despite thousands of years of information on the subject, here's a video telling you that you're wrong." Spent several posts calling non-religious people "freethinkers," and continuously dodged the question regarding the harm eliminating religion would do to so many cultures. Not to mention going from "I think the world is better without religion" to "you have an anti-xtian bias that I don't like" as though there's not a reason for that.

Ex-xtian atheists - you need to address and unlearn your xtian belief that your way is the only right way. That you are objectively correct and everyone else is just ignorant. That you know better than the religious minorities you are addressing. People like this want an excuse to talk down to religious minorities under the guise of polite language, and if you don't want to be associated with them, you have to put in the work to not be like this. I say this as an ex-Catholic, and a former anti-theist - do better.

If you are making objective assertions about someone else's religion that you have not studied and cannot answer basic questions about, you're not being critical of religion, you're being an atheist supremacist. If you pull a "gods are more harmful than helpful" like this person but cannot tell me the impact of Kali or Sàngó on their respective cultures, you are not being critical, you're ignorant and self-absorbed. If you have not studied religion, you do not know what you are talking about, and if you are only accepting xtian interpretations of other religions as true, even as a basis for hatred of religion, you're just a xtian with a new wallpaper.

If you are advocating for anti-theism, you are advocating for the cultural genocide of hundreds of different cultures around the world. If you are advocating for anti-theism, you are inherently anti-Jew. And if you are talking over Jews when they correct you on your blatant misunderstanding of our culture, only to call us *liars* when we counter your misconceptions, or call out your cherry-picked sources for why you know better than we do, you're not just an asshole, you're an Antisemite.

I took this conversation in good faith, hoping that the ignorance was born from misunderstanding instead of malice. I should not have been so kind. And if you're going to come onto this post and whine and cry about "not all atheists," or "cultural xtianity isn't real," save us both the time and block me. I'm done entertaining atheists that will not acknowledge that y'all don't know better than the religious minorities you are insulting by assuming we're all just blind sheep being lied to by some hierarchy that doesn't exist outside of certain religions. My partner is an atheist. I was for a long time, and I chose to return to religion on my own. I'm still an atheist, but I am also very religious. I'm the "smart Jew" that ex-xtians love to talk about; enlightened and no longer clinging to the supernatural. And I'm telling you that you're a fucking asshole and I associate more with the most spiritual Orthodox Jew than I ever would with someone who thinks atheism makes you superior.

#atheism #atheist #anti theism #anti theist #jumblr #antisemitism #supercessionism #cultural christianity #cultural xtianity #antitheism #anti-theism #religion #religion is a lie #religion is bullshit #jewish stuff

[spacelazarwolf]

I thought that I noticed some hypocrisy and contradiction in your posts but I'm not sure so i would appreciate it if you can clarify things for me bc I don't want to assume the worst. I'm just confused

So basically I feel like you are overly harsh on Christians while being very permissive to (religious) Jews. You act like even progressive Christians are super problematic and not allowed to reblog your posts and wtv, but then you turn around and say that all religious Jews are valid and should be accepted, including conservative and orthodox branches (forgive my ignorance if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure those are the ones that are very conservative and bigoted). So basically what I'm trying to say is that you seem to put conservative Jews on a higher level than progressive Christians which doesn't make sense to me.

I understand that conservative Christian, progressive Christians and anyone raised Christian pretty much has antisemitism that they have to work through. (I'm an ex Christian goyim atheist and your blog has really made me reconstruct some things which im grateful for btw!) But at the same time, antisemitism is only one bad thing that you can be.

So like to summarize I feel like antisemitism from progressive Christians is enough to make you tell them to dni but other kinds of bigotry like homophobia, transphobia, sexism etc from conservative Jews doesn't stop you from saying their religious is totally fine and acceptable.

Again, this is not an accusation, but more of a question. (Even though I probably phrased it like an attack in sorry!) I don't really know if I analyzed the situation correctly and I would really just want to have a chill interaction with you instead of a heated argument. If you could please explain how exactly you view this issue i would very grateful but you are under no obligation! If you don't feel like explaining yourself to a complete stranger, you are free to just ignore this. Have a meaningful Yom Kippur!

(sorry for the rambling post lol)

i made the mistake of absentmindedly opening the tumblr app on my walk to synagogue and i did not think i could be surprised by gentile fuckery anymore but this has left me pretty speechless. the audacity to send this on yom kippur is. wow. i regret not locking my phone away for 25 hours because fucking YIKES. please come off anon so i can block you because i do not want you interacting with me or any of my content.

#ask avishai #jewish #jumblr

[apollos-olives]

Hi sorry Israeli Canadian anon from earlier. White gays are saying that Palestinians are homophobic??

(Admittedly, i am a white gay. I say that in the sense of "didn't realize ppl were doing this" and not in a distancing way to exempt myself from the shitty things us white gays do. I'm not perfect.)

Okay, putting aside how bullshit it is to label an entire ethnic group as being homophobic - do ppl think that Israel *isn't* homophobic?? Or transphobic for that matter? I actually happen to be trans and when I was changing my name and gender marker on my legal documents, I learned that I can't change my Israeli birth certificate bc to do so requires bottom surgery. Which I personally don't want or plan to get. To put that into perspective, canada (with all its bullshit facade of being such an ~accepting~ place) doesn't require that. Requiring bottom surgery to change gender marker is so fucking antiquated and transphobic.

Also, to be honest, even though I was born in Israel, I'm not super educated on all of the history. Part of that being because for so long I saw the discussion surrounding it being portrayed as oh so complicated. And then I realized that it really isn't. At its very core what it boils down to is: do you support genocide? If your answer is yes, then you support Israel. If your answer is no, then you support Palestine.

(Very much want to learn more about Palestinian history and Israeli occupation/apartheid. Do you have recommendations for articles/documentaries/etc on it?)

hi anon. and yeah. white gays, especially libs, constantly use the belief that all palestinians are homophobic (which also leads to islamophobic sentiments) and that people should not support palestine because of that. unfortunately that is a very overly used belief in arguments, especially in north america. the belief that palestine is homophobic and that israel is very open and supportive is due to pinkwashing, which can be explained very thoroughly on the website decolonizepalestine. this website also has TONS of information all about palestine, the occupation, and the various forms of questions people often ask, while also debunking a lot of myths and falsehoods that are produced from israeli propaganda. very good site to scroll through, and i'm sure many of your questions will be answered just by taking a read through it.

i'm not going to waste time and repeat what thousands of others have already said about pinkwashing, but i do want to mention that pinkwashing does play a huge role in the dehumanization of palestinians and also plays a role in how western propaganda continues to split oppressed minorities constantly, making them against each other rather than uplifting each other.

the belief that all palestinians are homophobic is. honestly. well. it's islamophobic. i'm queer, trans, muslim, and palestinian. i exist. queer palestinians exist everywhere. western and zionist propaganda makes people think that all palestinians are muslim, and therefore against queer people. this is simply not true, since palestinians are very VERY diverse. palestinians are christian, jewish, muslim, atheist, and whatever else as well. it's not a religious thing, it's an ethnic and racial thing. palestine simply has not had the time to unlearn homophobia or had the time to try to advocate for queer and women's rights because we are too busy trying not to die. we don't have time to fight for queer liberation because we're too busy fighting for our HUMAN liberation. we are trying to exist first, then we can worry about the discrimination against queers.

israel also claims to be a safe space for queers, but it is literally the opposite. it's just as discriminatory as other countries, and hurts queer jews, as well as blackmails queer palestinians into submission. like you said, israel does have transphobic regulations, like the whole "need bottom surgery in order to legally get a sex change" and other things like that.

i've been recommending this masterlist of palestinian resources for everyone, but please look through this if you want to learn more about the occupation in palestine. the website i mentioned earlier is very helpful as well.

inshallah we will see a free palestine in our lifetimes.

#palestine #free palestine

[askjumblr]

Hi! I'm a prospective convert and currently something of an atheist. Basically, I believe in the divine as a concept, and I believe that certain actions are in themselves holy (feeding the hungry, healing the sick, etc.), but I don't believe in the existence of a higher power. I haven't properly studied Torah yet, but I worry that I would not be able to study in a meaningful way since I would not literally believe in the Torah. I worry that this would make conversion functionally impossible.

I know that it's possible to be a Jewish atheist, but my understanding is that Jewish atheists are typically born Jews. I can't picture a rabbi taking on a conversion student who does not believe in God and is therefore unable to accept the Torah.

Being that I'm an atheist and expect to continue being an atheist, should I just give up on the idea of converting, or is there a meaningful way to convert without belief in a divine being? Any advice on navigating this? (If anyone has book recommendations, I'm prepared to do a lot of reading.)

OP does not mention what movement they intend to convert under. Please state your FOR and identify which movements you are discussing clearly 😊

#jumblr #ask jumblr #judaism #jewish conversion #jewish convert #conversion to judaism #conversion #atheist jew #belief in g-d #belief in hashem #agnostic jew

[jambeast]

Some sloppy thoughts

I’m sure it’s been said before but it’s funny how tricky it is for people to balance, like, a belief in/hatred of progressivism and a hatred of/proclaimed love for The West and White Culture, when the West, is, like, more progressive than the not-west.

SJW-types and alt-right types both trying to draw a link between Whiteness and, like, homophobia, when the white countries are the least homophobic ones. Like the west is the place where they *don’t* punish homosexuality with death. Why are the hell are the alt-right supporting it!? Like the alt-right types want to ‘defend western culture’ (which they define as conservatism (and also Being Better Than Everyone Else In Whatever Way)), and the far-left-types want to attack ‘western culture’ (which they also define as conservatism (but also Being Worse Than Everyone Else In whatever Way)). But the definition is wrong. Western culture is, like... about 50% Progressivism by volume. It’s gay marriage and gender studies degrees and blue hair and labour laws and feminism and all that good stuff as well. Those things are contained within white culture, what with all the white people in the culture being progressive like half the time. Of course, they’re conservative the other half of the time, but that is less than average. Statistically.

It -is- an understandable belief though, given the opposition. Like I get it - if you’re opposed to racism, and all the racists jack off about how great white culture is (as defined by the racists as ‘being racist (based!)’), then to take them down a peg, you tell them that thing they like (white culture) actually (accepting that definition) sucks. Especially when they’re pro-white racists! Fuck those guys! And the pro-white racists themselves being massively conservative and reactionary in every other way definitely colours that side of things. But the definition you’re accepting isn’t really super accurate. Just... statistically, it doesn’t track to the facts of the matter.

It’s like how far-right-types and far-left-types sometimes seem to both think that The Jews are subversive elements who work towards spreading homosexuality and communism to subvert America and destroy traditional family values, except the former think that’s bad and the latter think that’s based. And neither are particularly correct about the -facts- of the matter; they’re, like, statistically a bit more progressive than average, but not, like, by that much, and not more than atheists.), but they’re just... lead by the nose by the vibes of their ideology to the position necessary to fit with the shape of their feelings.

Or how people on the left are fawningly positive about Islam and are very careful to not bring up the Very Conservative parts of it (which can be understandable from an American perspective when American Muslims are on average more progressive than American Christians!), while the most die-hard xenophobes rallying against them argue their case with lurid descriptions of how incredibly Conservative they are, listing evidence against Muslims consisting entirely of things the die-hard xenophobes absolutely support.

Maybe they should listen to all the non-western far-right types and convert to Islam or move to Russia and start complaining about how the evil west are trying to contaminate the youth with drag queen story hours and transgender bathrooms or whatever. A stupid ideology that is at least more consistent than what they’re peddling now.

#hot #juicy #racism #white culture

[creature-wizard]

New Age, "Fear-Based Consciousness", Assimilation, & Genocide.

I can appreciate why the concepts of "fear-based consciousness" and "separation consciousness" are useful heuristics for some people, to a certain extent.

If you grew up in an environment permeated by xenophobia, where everything slightly different from your culture's norm was dismissed as demonic, perverted, subversive, or whathaveyou, recognizing that you should be suspicious of any sentiment like this is an important part of deprogramming yourself.

On the other hand, for people who don't really understand the history and dynamics of things like colonialism, it's incredibly easy to overuse this concept and apply it inappropriately; EG, to minority groups simply trying to resist forced assimilation. They don't really understand how it's cultural assimilation, and how cultural assimilation is genocide. They are often making the mistake of treating culture as modular; IE, they believe that people can simply unplug their old spiritual beliefs and plug in better, more "enlightened" beliefs.

But as Jessica Price has explained, this isn't how it works. And yes, even though Jessica was talking about this in the context of how culturally Christian atheists behave, it 100% applies to New Agers.

Additionally, the very concepts of "fear-based consciousness" and "separation consciousness" often become weaponized in belief systems that are in fact fear-based.

Assimilation is carried out under the belief that the Other is a threat because they are Other. Assimilation is seen as a means of making them less Other, and therefore, less of a threat. Such is why Indigenous children all over the world have been stolen from their families, violently forced to speak English, violently forced to adopt Christianity.

Now, I don't think the average New Ager wants this kind of thing to happen. But I think they also don't understand that violence is inevitable when a marginalized group isn't allowed to say no to adopting the dominant culture's beliefs and customs. People who don't follow New Age beliefs are often demonized and dehumanized. And make no mistake, there are significant numbers of New Agers who believe that whoever they deem to be "regressive" or "reptilian" need to be executed. (And I'd be amiss if I didn't point out that many of them believe that Jews are especially likely to be reptilian aliens.)

This is all too reminiscent of regular old Christianity, which often promises unconditional love if you convert - but if you don't convert, you are seen as a threat to this allegedly all-loving religion and the benefits it supposedly gives, and must therefore be neutralized so you can't threaten its dominance. When people perceive their belief system as all-loving, they cannot fathom how anyone would want to resist it unless they were all-hating.

In New Age beliefs, the opposite of "separation consciousness" is "unity consciousness." To them, having everyone in "unity consciousness" is ideal. Unity consciousness is described as realizing that we are all one, but in practice it also means accepting New Age cosmology and metaphysics. It doesn't mean acknowledging that we're all inhabitants of the same planet and that our existences are ultimately interconnected and impact each other in ways most of us aren't aware of. (That, in fact, is something that New Agers are often in stark denial of, what with their belief in the Law of Attraction, which tends to deny the reality of things like systemic oppression and economic inequality.)

The notion of "unity consciousness" sounds good if you accept the premise that the root of conflict and oppression is the perception of difference. If you assume this, then it makes sense that conflict can be averted if people share the same spiritual beliefs.

One problem is that "unity consciousness," in all of its forms, can itself be used to justify and enable oppression. Oppressors can tell the oppressed that they shouldn't resist being exploited because they're all one, and the oppressed as just hurting themselves every time they try to resist. They can accuse the oppressed of engaging in "separation consciousness"

And of course, the philosophy behind "unity consciousness" overlooks the problem that it's not the perception of difference that causes conflict so much as the fear of difference. The concept of unity consciousness is therefore itself rooted in unexamined and uninterrogated fear.

It also overlooks the problem where oppression often happens as a consequence of certain people feeling entitled to a certain level of ease and comfort in their lives. Living the high life, so to speak, requires one to exploit the resources and labor of others. Differences are often used as justification for this. They could be real (EG, phenotypic differences such as skin color) or fabricated (such as the alleged mental inferiority of POC). And New Age fabricates many, many differences between people, whether claiming that some people are more spiritually evolved than others, or claiming that some people are actually evil aliens.

The notion that are more spiritually evolved than others is in fact used to justify exploitation, by effectively claiming that the more spiritually evolved you are, the more wealth and abundance will just naturally flow to you. If you're stuck working three low-wage jobs, it's because you haven't evolved enough yet and you aren't using the Law of Attraction right. The level of ease and comfort that relatively affluent New Agers live at is considered to be the fruit of spiritual enlightenment, rather than the fruit of labor exploitation under unjust systems.

So, while concepts such as "fear-based consciousness" and "separation consciousness" can provide people with useful frameworks under very specific circumstances, they absolutely fail when people refuse to take systemic harm into account - which unfortunately, the kind of people who are taught these terms are also taught to do.

Demonizing the outgroup (especially when said outgroup is marginalized) is bad. Resisting oppression and assimilation is not.

#new age #new agers #unity consciousness #fear based consciousness #separation consciousness #religion #spirituality #racism #antisemitism #colonialism #cultural assimilation #genocide #law of attraction

[mayybirds]

I love that Ethan is Jewish in your fic. I like that it adds some depth to his character and is especially poignant in zombie-ish settings I think. I was wondering your opinion on non-jewish writers making characters Jewish in fics? Especially in settings that could be especially upsetting for a practicing Jew. Im Jewish but I feel like I barely qualify as both my parents are Jewish atheists and I'm kind of disconnected from my faith so I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to include such hcs in my fics. Also I was wondering, what do you think about Jewish!Karl Heisenberg?

Oh, thank you! Making Ethan Jewish was initially an impulse decision, but one I felt very strongly about once it was in my drafts. I'm glad it resonates. <3 I do think putting a Jewish character in a zombie setting is such an unexplored area, and if I'm brave enough I definitely want to eventually push on what Ethan's (loose) sense of Jewish faith would make of realizing he's a mold!boy, given Jewish laws around body modification and funeral proceedings...

I personally have no problem with non-Jewish writers writing Jewish characters, though a couple things worth noting here--I fall into the old(?) camp of thinking that generally a mixed/diverse cast more representative of the real world in any story, so long as it is done with respect and good intent (and an open ear to feedback), is for the better, rather than the new (Twitter inspired?) mind that one can only ever write from their own worldview successfully (There's layers and layers of nuance here concerning that debate and what stories one "can" write and where one might be overstepping boundaries, but that's not your question really so I'll not jump into my whole spiel there).

The second thing worth noting, though, as it pertains better to your question and your information on your personal situation... depending on who you ask, I'm not Jewish either, lol! To be clear, I identify as Jewish both religiously & culturally, have Jewish ancestry, and consider myself a practicing Jew--but I'm only ancestrally Jewish through my father. My mother was not born Jewish nor ever converted. Depending on who you ask, I'm not Jewish haha. I see myself as Jewish, as I was raised in no other faith, and according to many reform Jews--the sect I belong to--that's good enough. If you asked many other Jews, though, (hell, if you asked some of my own orthodox ancestors), they'd likely tell you "no!!!".

Rule number one, with Jewish people, in my experience? None of us agree on almost anything lol. Jewish faith is splintered into vastly different sects and practices, these days, and what's acceptable and true to me as a reform Jew likely lines up very little with what's acceptable and true to most Orthodox or Conservative Jews. I guess I say all this for two-fold reasons: One, to not cast any illusions about my Jewishness in order to better appear a "jewish authority," but also to stress that... there's no single good answer for a "jewish authority," because Judaism isn't a singular uniform religion. As the child of non-practicing Jews, you likely already know a lot of this, but it feels worth stressing! To me, if you asked, I'd say you're Jewish if you feel you're Jewish, which entitles you to explore and write about your view of Judaism/Jewish identity however you please--in fics or otherwise.

And for people who aren't Jewish at all, I think it's just worth noting--there's no interpretation of Jewishness that would please all Jewish people lol. I'm sure my interpretation of a Jewish!Ethan would be wildly offensive to some other Jewish people. So much as I say, "write in good faith and listen thoughtfully to feedback," no one should ever be shocked if they're praised by some Jewish people and criticized by others. Like all religious and cultural/ethnic minorities, Jewish people are not a monolithic opinion... we're arguably more splintered than many minorities lmao.

But yes, tldr, my personal opinion? I think you individually have every right to write Jewish character hcs into your fics, just as I think anyone can as long as they do so with respect, restraint, and forethought (&, as a Jew, "barely qualifying" or not, I'd say you personally have more wiggle room than goyim to just...do as you like with your writing about Jewish-ness... when one is basing their fiction off any personal experience, arguments about 'validity' become ridiculous. It's valid if it's true to your experiences and feelings, even if they're not universal! Nothing is universal!). That said--take my opinion with a grain of salt, because I have no more right to give you a "Jewish stamp of approval" than anyone else!

(And on your last note, I'm actually a huge fan of the idea of a Jewish!Karl. My current draft notes for his chapters currently imply his mother was Jewish, but I'm undecided on whether I'll explicitly leave that in. In my heart, though, yes, he's matrilineally Jewish. I think it brings an additional element to his backstory of basically being abducted into a religious cult and stripped of his own identity as a child particularly... poignant... because boy did Christians do this to some Jewish kids, historically!)

#for the christians abducting jewish kids thing just see Edgardo Mortara for starters haha... #but yeah there's my thoughts nonnie! #boy I sure hope I haven't opened a pit trap with this answer #dear stray readers: this is a resident evil blog and as much as I'm happy to discuss Judaism I am not a theology blog #so no one get in my ask box with Opinions about my Opinions about Judaism please god #asks #anonymous #Through the Valley to Life

[hindahoney]

I didn’t want to prematurely judge this whole “adoption” thing too harshly without knowing much about it (even though it definitely seemed… suspect) but reading this page/brochure from their organization's website led me to feel a whole load of concern.

Of course, I think there needs to be room in the Jewish community for people’s identities to not be policed (especially Jews of Colour, patrilineal Jews, queer and trans Jews, atheist/secular Jews, Jews that go through recognized formal conversion that is not orthodox).

However, that doesn’t mean that we should stop ANY and ALL gatekeeping. It stops being a closed practice that way. It’s deeply troubling that even though they do have a “formal adoption process” available, it is simply a “formality” and not actually required. It’s offensive to the Jews who put the actual work in to convert and it makes the community less safe for everyone.

And if the only Jews who recognize you as Jewish are this small subset of the community, are you really joining the tribe (which we have been considered since our ethnogenesis thousands of years ago)? Or are you simply putting on a label because you really want to be a part of our community and want to feel connected to a culture because the one you left was unsatisfying or traumatic, but you don’t truly recognize, respect, and appreciate the actual history and needs of the community at large? A very vulnerable one, at that?

I don’t have an issue with Jews being secular humanists and finding ways to practice Judaism in ways that are meaningful because “religious” stuff can make some (real) Jews feel uncomfortable but they are still connected culturally. I totally get that. It’s the whole “anyone can be a Jew if they say so!” thing that is just absolutely wrong.

Exactly. If we stop policing our own community, we won't have a community. When we see something like this, we need to shut it down and not accept it as legitimate. I have heard the argument "Well Jewish people need to stop telling others what their identity is, if someone wants to be Jewish let them be Jewish." Which, okay sure. But in order to be Jewish you need to convert properly. If it's important enough to you, you'll do it the right way. The reason we have this process in the first place is that this exact thing kept happening, where people would claim to be Jews and infiltrate our communities, except they were often actually Christians wanting to convert us. We have this formal process to sus out the people who don't take it seriously and just see being Jewish as another token identity.

If you are a goy who feels like they believe in the Torah and G-d but doesn't know if they want to convert, just be Noahide.

[lostthenfoundmyself]

IFAQs

(aka Infrequently Asked Questions)

(aka questions that no one has asked me that I wanted to answer)

Why does this blog exist?

Because I realized that I saw posts on Tumblr about Jewish things that I didn’t want to reblog on my main blog, but really wanted to reblog. I also had things that I wanted to discuss that didn’t really fit on a fandom blog.

Why don’t you just post this on your main blog?

Because I’m exhausted. I’m having enough problems in real life—I wanted to use a sideblog that I can selectively interact with. Also, my main blog is a fandom blog.

Why are you qualified to talk about _insert thing here_?

This blog exists so I can share my own personal experiences, reblog others’ experiences, and express my opinions. When expressing my opinions, I do my best to back them up with research and sources. When sharing my experiences, I don’t claim to have any sort of qualification other than…actually experiencing that thing. I don’t speak for anyone except myself.

Are you…

…Jewish? Ethnically, I am Jewish but was not raised with a huge connection to my Jewish heritage. I celebrated a few holidays with my mom’s parents and read kids’ books, but that was mostly it. In college, I have begun learning more about Jewish culture through Hillel, Chabad, and the Internet. I am certainly no expert, but I enjoy learning and have my own experiences to share. Religiously, I’m somewhere between agnostic and atheist.

…a Zionist? By the definition I use, yes. I don’t know what definition you’ve heard, so here’s a clarification of what I mean:

I believe that there should be a Jewish state somewhere in the region where Israel is located. I also believe that there should be a Palestinian state. I see calls for the dissolution of Israel as overly optimistic at best and antisemitic at worst. While I accept that ideally, everyone in the world would live together in peace and harmony, this is not a feasible short-term goal. No one-state solution under any kind of government would be fair or safe for the inhabitants of the region, and Jews deserve the right to self-determination just like other ethnic groups. Israel exists—I see that as a good thing, but even if you don’t, just getting rid of an entire country is…not gonna work.

…Israeli? No. I live in the United States.

…able to speak Hebrew/Yiddish/insert language here? I can only speak English and (very iffy) French. I know a few Yiddish words from my mom, but I can’t read Hebrew or actually speak Yiddish. You are welcome to interact with this blog in whatever language makes you most comfortable, but I will probably be plugging it into Google Translate if it is not English or French.

…sane/okay/alive? No, definitely not, and barely. Will update if “definitely not” changes. Will not update if “barely” changes, because I’m the only person with access to this blog.

#jumblr #jewish

[remastered-feedback]

There’s something I’ve been wanting to get off of my chest and I haven’t been able to think of a proper place to do so, and this seems as good as any:

It is indescribably exhausting living as a Jew in a society that doesn’t really know how to handle any religion that isn’t a denomination of Christianity.

Sometimes it’s the fact that I’m required to take Christmas, Easter, et al. off from work even though I don’t celebrate them, while if I want to take the holidays off that I actually celebrate, I have to burn vacation days. Let me work on the holidays I don’t celebrate and take off the ones I do!

Sometimes it’s the way that Jews and Judaism are taken and used as a shield to deflect criticism in the name of “Judeo Christian values” that often have very little to do with any mainstream interpretations of Judaism and the overwhelming majority of Jews disagree with, yet are accepted in popular consciousness as “A thing Jews agree with” because Judaism is treated in a lot of mainstream culture as “A funny version of Christianity that stops at the old testament.”

On that note, sometimes it’s the way that people act as if they have a thorough understanding of Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture just by reading the old testament, which, putting aside alterations and differences between the Tanakh and the old testament, ignores literal millennia of scholarship and growth and traditions and evolution.

Sometimes it’s the way that conversations about what is and isn’t antisemitic often seem to end with Jewish voices spoken over and ignored by people who are more concerned with making sure it doesn’t apply to them than they are with the well-being of the Jewish community, a behavior that should be as gauche as a white person talking over people of color about racism or a cishet person talking over queer people about homophobia and transphobia, but is accepted an infuriating amount of the time. External voices do not get to define a minority community’s experiences of marginalization for them.

Sometimes it’s the way that popular conception of religion as a whole basically boils down to “Different flavors of Christianity” and all of its tendencies and baggages and stances are foisted onto religions that a lot of those things straight-up do not apply to. I’m looking at you ex-Christian Atheists, the number of people who have renounced their faith but are still very clearly looking at the world through a Christian lens is amazing.

Sometimes it’s the way that Jewish traditions and history are appropriated and used in ways that show no respect for Jews or Judaism. Please stop with the Easter Seders. They’re far from the only instance of Christianity appropriating elements of Judaism, but they’re easily the most obvious. They’re not cute, they’re not appreciated, they’re rarely done with any actual understanding of how a real Seder works, and frankly they show a real lack of historical understanding given the Passover meal that was observed by Jews of Jesus’ era bore little resemblance to the modern Seder.

Sometimes it’s the way that a disturbing number of Christians treat us like living relics, talking to our face as if we’re some proto-Christian time capsule from a long-lost era. Interest is cool and appreciated! Talking about me like I’m a museum piece is not appreciated! Assuming that I’m just a 1.0 Christian who’s a quick conversation about Jesus away from converting and getting that 2.0 update is very not appreciated!

And I can go on and on and on and fucking on about this for ages, because it is a literally daily thing. It’s fucking exhausting. And I’m sure other non-Christian groups have some very similar experiences.

[unbidden-yidden]

Hello! Did you by chance see the article on Hey Alma that came out today (9/29) by about being anexvangelical Jewish convert and also an Atheist? People seem to be very angry about it, and see the person's actions as appropriative based on the way she talks about her reasons for conversion, but I (a Jew by birth myself) am genuinely having a hard time seeing the problem--to my eye it seems that if born-Jews can be Atheists, there is no reason a convert cannot do so as well, and still be genuinely a Jew and feel called to other parts of Jewish experience. I think some of the rage is that she came from an evangelical tradition that was appropriative, and part of her call to Judaism was that she wanted a faith community and went to Judaism because it felt familiar, comfortable. A lot of people seem to feel like if you're not converting out of spiritual desire, then why do it, and see her need for community and rootedness as better served elsewhere. But it seems to me like she's come as a genuine participant, learner, and seeker, if not of god exactly, and that all the rest is between her and her Rabbi. But people are REALLY mad about this, and if there is something I'm missing, i want to understand what it is. You often have really interesting and nuanced takes about these sorts of things (conversion, appropriation, the intersect of ex-christian-experiencing those things), so I'm just very curious to hear what you make of it, if you're willing to share.

Hi! Thank you for your kind words and confidence in my ability to unpack this... situation.

I assume this is the article you mean?

I think part of the problem here is not that you can't be atheistic or non-theistic as a ger - plenty of valid Reconstructionist gerim fit that description - and rather that this article was framed in a deliberately provocative presentation and tone. It's on Hey Alma so that's not promising.

There aren't comments on the article itself, so I checked Twitter and there's like, one or two comments defending her in a sea of criticism, much of it unnecessarily cruel. That said, I think the article I linked has been edited. This is what the article says as I read it now:

And this is a screencap I saw on Twitter:

The first one is fine (if somewhat confusing as to what her point is); the second one is big yikes. 😬

If this was changed, then it's very possible that other edits were made as well. Even just this one change from the original shows that the original piece very much has a "not like other girls" vibe to it that I don't appreciate.

All that said, Judaism is an orthopraxic religion, so I'm a lot more interested in what an atheist convert does and how she acts than I am in dissecting her exact beliefs beyond just "does she pass the sniff test?"

At the end of the day, she either had a valid conversion or not. If not, then she's not Jewish and Hey Alma should retract the piece and issue an apology. If she did have a valid conversion through an accepted Jewish movement, then the issue of whether she should have been converted or not lies solely with her conversion rabbi and beit din. They are the ones who act as gatekeepers for the community and it is their professional responsibility to decide if someone's motives are correct and if their behavior backs up their stated goals and motives. If they think a conversion is a bad idea, it is their job to work with the person to explain why it's not a good fit and to gauge sincerity if their reasons shift.

And look, there's a lot worse reasons to convert than a sense of belonging to the Jewish people and a search for community. There are people who try to convert solely to be able to speak about their anti-Zionism "as a Jew" rather than as a plain old vanilla gentile. There are also people who try to convert because they think it will bring them closer to Jesus and/or allow them to "connect to The Holy Land." There are people who try to convert because they think it will make them richer or give them better networking connections. There are people who grudgingly convert rather than break up with their Jewish fiance. There are people who try to convert because they think it will make them more interesting. There are people who try to convert so they can be "Jewitches" and deflect accusations of appropriation in their pagan practice.

There are bad reasons to convert, but I don't think this quite crosses that line.

I don't love it, and I don't like her original language about other gerim. Admittedly I am very much a theist and hope that everyone finds the right path for connecting to the Divine, whether that's from an overtly theistic perspective or through a deep appreciation for the vastness of the universe and our part in it. (There's also a conversation to be had about whether the strict binary of theist/atheist is even remotely coherent, but that's for another post.) But it's not up to me. It was up to her rabbi and beit din, who I trust exercised their professional judgment in making that determination.

So yeah, if someone feels like a member of the Tribe and takes the right steps to formally join, including commiting to living a life of Torah and mitzvot, even in the absence of a belief in G-d, then who am I to judge? A rabbi and beit din found this person worth converting, and absent other indications of intentional malice or deceit, she's a Jew and people need to chill out.

When did we start holding by Beit Shammai rather than Beit Hillel?

[nosouphere]

Leftist Jewish American counterpoint:

You have no stakes in this, and also, mostly just nod along in agreement to, "Free Palestine", right? Because thats one of the many generally agreed upon rules of being progressive? We generally condemn colonialism, oppression, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, etc.)

So really quick information:

Hamas is funded by Hezbollah, an islamofascist terrorist group much like Al Qaeda, in Lebanom, funded largely by Iran, and other dogmatic, alt right, conservative sharia-law led factions. These people hate you, you liberal, queer, atheist, feminist infidels) These people are dangerous, radical, antiwestern extremists and literally starving and victimizing the Palestinians to use as their puppet martyrs, hijacking humanitarian aid and donations to them from Israel, the US, UN and NATO, while actively trying to create violent conflict in order to promote their narrative that Israel is actually the great colonialist oppressor ruining their lives. They literally don't give a fuck about the Palestinians and radicalize them with false narratives and blatant lies and propaganda to get their support and garner sympathy and concern from the western world, when their true, unapologetically blatant, factually spoken objective is to eliminate every last Jewish person from the face of existence.

There is a reason they were invading Israeli houses and shouting for "Jews" rather than "Israelis'" to come out from hiding to kidnap, kill and rape innocent women, children and elderly. They are literally Nazis. But you've bought into their narrative, and it's so easy to hate Jews, isnt it? so here we are. (You dont hate Jews, and condemn antisemitism though, right?)

What many of you think of as your "antizionism" is actually straight up antisemitism remarketed for your simple, surface consumption! BECAUSE, you dont care enough, it doesn't effect you.

So you're not actually well informed on the complex geopolitical history of the land over the past 2500 years.

Of course we all condemn colonialism, segregation and bigotry, but thats the history of humanity. We are in general, tribalistic at core, and only naturally altruistic to our own kind. We, as progressives do our best to overcome that base human instinct for the betterment of humanity.

Personally?

Fuck Netanyahu, fuck Israel's conservative government, their violence, their rampant human rights violations, their tacit avoidance of peace accords. the majority of Israelis, who also regularly demonstrate and join in rallies to Free Palestine, have nothing but criticism for their fundie leaders and want peace and integration with their Palestinian neighbors desperately. I agree, FREE PALESTINE. Give them their own state and tear down the walls and fences and tightly policed borders, allow them and help them to build self supportive infrastructure, let them into their common shared religious sites without apartheid like segregated territories preventing this. The vast majority of Palestinians are not the enemy. MOST WANT PEACE. Progressive Israelis are not the oppressor colonists, as youve been spoonfed by the vocal corrupt in charge of these terrorist organizations to believe. Most Askenazi settlers fled pogroms from Eastern European countries to the only safe haven that would accept them in. There are also many Sephardic Jews who are indigenous to Israel and lived peacefully for centuries alongside Palestinian neighbors.

Why does this have any affect on you, western progressives?

People are dying and suffering. They may not be in your country, but you can at least have some compassion for that fact.

Also this will effect the global economy, which, guess what? Will very much hurt you, and gas prices, and groceries and imports and taxes.

Before you form opinions on this very complicated subject, you should probably study the last 2500 years of the geopolitical history of the middle east, it might help.

Also, if you don't actually care because it doesn't have any bearing on you or your life, then why do you have any opinions on any global, international events? It's just a very odd take and raised a flag or two about your true biases.

#israel

[rescatada]

How did you go from Christianity to Judaism to Christianity again?

I’m in a similar situation, where my family has always been religious Baptists but I never liked the Baptist ‘church’ even from a very young age. The way the pastors acted and behaved always threw me off and it just seemed like their sermons were more about non-Christian things than about the Bible, Jesus or Christianity. It was always so boring too and just lacked… everything. Then I went through a very hard anti-Christian phase in freshman year of high-school where I was convinced Christianity is evil because of racism and Catholicism. I quickly went back from that once I learned more about Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity in particular and the history, traditions and theology really interested me.

But this didn’t last that long because I also became really interested in Islam and Judaism. At the time I would deny it but my interest in these two religions was more so due to me just trying to separate myself from my family (they’re abusive) and also because I was just really desperate for community (which was the main push towards Judaism for me, the thought of belonging to a close knit ‘tribe’ was really appealing) but after a while I just had to be real with myself and accept the fact that despite attempting to research both religions I didn’t actually believe in the theology and in most cases wouldn’t even care to research it that much, because I was just so focused on learning about traditions/holidays/the culture just so I could blend in, where as with Orthodox Christianity I was genuinely believing in the theology and would spend hours researching it and the theological meaning behind certain traditions, and it never felt like I was just convincing myself to believe it, but I genuinely agreed with the theology deep down. Sorry this got long but I’ve been having a crisis of faith for so long aksksks it’s like subconsciously I know I’m a Christian but I refuse to believe it and when I seen you were a former Jew I felt like you kind understand

It’s hard to explain. I grew up baptist and hated it so I was an atheist for like 9 years. I was introduced to Judaism by some ex friends and an ex bf, the culture and theology drew me in. I’m personally a fan of open ended understandings of theology, so sometimes Christianity feels way too suffocating for me. I like the debate and often academic approach taken to biblical literature. What pushed me away was all the performative leftists and the racism. What drew me to Christianity was the Virgin Mary honestly, Mary Magdalene, the Saints, and the fact that I’m Latina so catholic Christianity is deeply ingrained into my culture. I loved the veneration of Mary, high church structure (I was conservadox when I was practicing Judaism), and how beautiful Christian art and buildings are because I believe that anything that has to do with the divine should be beautiful because God and all of His creation is beautiful.

I eventually decided sticking to my culture was more important to me than sticking to the faith I chose later in life. I rambled but I hope my answer helps even a little bit.

#anon

[womenfrommars]

My female muslin friend recently ditched our whole group of friends after 17 years of friendship, calling us bitches and whores once we suggested we could help her avoid an arranged marriage that she clearly doesn't agree with. What's interesting is how poorly she has spoken of norwegian society after being raised here, calling us all degenerate and evil, glorifying her parent's arab roots. Like... Why even stay here if you don't want to be part of the society, if you hate it? Just leave.

I follow a Turkish-German YouTuber named Ridvan Ayedemir (?) and he was raised in Germany. He is ex muslim now but he has explained how he felt growing up in German society. He eventually came to the conclusion he preferred German culture to Turkish culture because it had more freedom and equality. But it was a hard pill to swallow because this entails admitting some major flaws of your own culture. He also did a video on how muslims regard white people. On the one hand they glorify white people but also suffer from an inferiority complex. It's not easy growing up in a society your family is not fully integrated in and it sounds like the family of your friend is quite conservative if not plain fundamentalist if they are forcing a marriage upon her. The thing is, she won't accept help from white people if she feels senstive about this being a cultural issue (which technically it isn't because historically European cultures also had forced marriage but you get what I'm saying). Even if she were to go to the authorities, those police officers would likewise be also white. Some muslims think any criticism of Islamic culture coming from whites is automatically racism. I don't know if your friend can leave but I hope she can and will. But some also get radicalised easily through mosques or the Internet. During the Corona crisis a girl I used to go to school with ended up believing Corona was manufactured by China specifically with the purpose of destroying the Islamic world. Some muslims are radicalised early in life but some grow up fairly liberal and then fall off the deep end in their adult years. The YouTuber I mentioned grew up fairly liberal but then started to devout himself to the religion of Islam more and more which entails following rules more strictly etc. A lot of muslims also learn in Quran schools that Western society is evil and morally corrupt and that every muslim should eventually emigrate to a Shariah law country. They may also teach muslims to not befriend Christians, Jews, or atheists (basically anyone not muslim) because we are morally corrupt and ally with each other against Islam. A lot of muslims heavily push their friends to convert for this reason (cognitive dissonance means they like their friends but they are supposed to be evil but can be salvaged once converted). Regardless I hope your friend wakes up one day and sees she fell for recruitment tactics from a semi cult-like social structure