#jewish also. but the whole point I was making in the first place is that her being jewish has nothing to do with her being a bully. its | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

germiyahu · 3 months

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I also don't like the assertion that Jews are trying to conflate "criticism of Israel with antisemitism/the Israeli state with Jewishness as a whole" because you... YOU... did that first and you do it more easily than you breathe.

You interrogate every complaint of antisemitism, just to make sure it's not actually whining about someone being mean to Israel. You investigate the person's social media history to make sure they're not a Zionist. You turn around and act so enlightened and wise when you say "Right because Netanyahu wants Jewish people to think criticism of Israel is antisemitic, and he wants Jewish people to think that they have to have ties to Israel and that Israel is the only place they'll feel safe, that plays right into his hands," like you're doing this for Jewish people's benefit. Like you're not one of the people making Jews feel unsafe.

The fact of the matter is that Israel is intrinsically Jewish. By design yes. But also for the fact that it's just logically true? Most Israelis are Jewish. Most Diaspora Jews have friends and family in Israel. It's not a function of flags or national anthems. It's a function of people. Saying "Well conflating Israel with the idea of Jewishness is antisemitic," changes nothing about that. It's words with no value. It's empty air. Because what have you done to advocate for Diaspora Jewry and make them feel like they're not subordinate to Israel? What have you done to assure them that your disdain for a country that most of them have personal familial and cultural ties to is not motivated by bigotry? What have you done to include them and center their safety when advocating against Israel's policies?

Yes, the more people are antisemitic and weird about Israel to Diaspora Jews' faces, the more of them will gravitate closer to Israel. But that's not the point. The point is that if your criticisms of Israel were normal, we wouldn't have a problem. 99% of Diaspora Jews would join you. But you tell them they're not allowed to defend Israel in any context and they're not allowed to defend themselves when your "criticism" of Israel harms them. You don't want to admit that these can overlap. You just want them to silently add a rubber stamp of approval of whatever you say or they can leave.

It's clear you don't see Jews as a marginalized group. This is not how Leftists treat marginalized groups. This is how they treat the oppressor group, the dominant group. Diaspora Jews are at best an ally to Palestinian liberation. Because you don't see them as different from Israelis, you see them as the group that benefits from the oppression of Palestinians, not as a group that has nothing to do with Palestine and is historically and contemporarily marginalized by Western society, the society you live in.

And yet for all you conflate Diaspora and Israeli Jews you clearly want to keep Israel and the Diaspora divided, isolated from each other. They can't show solidarity with one another because that's (((ZIONIST COLLUSION))) and confirmation of a media controlled conspiracy or something. You want Diaspora Jews under your thumb and you want Israeli Jews dead. You're not as subtle as you think you are.

#antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #israel #palestine

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statementlou · 26 days

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my post yesterday about why I don't really care if Louis Tomlinson supports starbucks shocked me by actually circulating and getting notes and obviously I like validation and appreciation.... but I feel kind of weird about my big contribution to the topic being something that might come off as discouraging attempts to help Palestine. Feeling powerless in the face of such injustice is horrible and scary and traumatizing and while there are certain things that I do not think make much difference (like boycotting irrelevant targets), that's NOT how I feel about the situation in general! We CAN make a difference and help the Palestinian people! It can feel impossible to fight against all that power and propaganda and military might- but it has been done successfully over and over, colonialism has been destroyed in one place after another a hundred times in the last century, apartheid regimes have fallen, occupations have ended, because over and over, always, even all the military might in the literal world is less powerful than a united front of the PEOPLE. As Ursula K LeGuin said, "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings", and as Louis Tomlinson said "The power and magic comes from the people, you guys. Don't undermine your role in all of this" and "get off the 'gram and into the streets"!

Under the cut are things you can do that I believe actually directly impact the Palestinian people and the Israeli government, including some easy ones, and the key to a successful movement is to have every type of contribution, to have NUMBERS. However- it is also necessary to have people willing to do the actual work of fighting injustice, not just changing their consumer habits or yelling at people online. I strongly encourage people to explore becoming physically involved in activist work, and not to see it as yet another tiring obligation but rather as a way to help yourself feel less overwhelmed and exhausted. Feeling powerless and defenseless is a trauma that follows us into every corner of our lives, but standing up and working for change can not only save lives, but is good for your own mental health as well, I promise.

I can't make you an exhaustive list of resources, only tell you some tactics that I believe are actually useful. I'm not an expert or whatever, but I have been actively involved in social justice advocacy, activism, and direct action for over 20 years and am drawing on that history of both things that worked and were great and things that were not from my personal experiences. Thank you to @captainrayzizuniverse for helping me (but she didn't see the post any stupid things said by mistake are entirely on me), and especially for pointing out a big (typical white person) slip up, which was to almost forget the very first item on this list: Listen to, support, and amplify Palestinian voices!!! The whole starbucks issue wouldn't even exist if people just went by this single important guideline and did the things Palestinians were asking for rather than making up other things to do instead. In life altogether, and speaking as a disabled person god does this come up a lot: if you want to help someone, start by asking them what they need and then do that even if it isn't what you think they should want. Don't fucking wing it!! Join local groups organizing for Palestine: the people united are powerful, but only if they are united and working in large groups! Join a group! This is hard because... how? who? And I can't answer that for everyone but I can tell you that in the US JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace) is doing a huge amount of very accessible recruiting, you can just join (you don't need to be Jewish) and get involved straightaway in the great actions they're putting on. PYM (Palestinian Youth Movement) is not open to everyone to join but you should definitely follow them on SM to keep up on actions and maybe find ways to support. If you're a student I bet there is some kind of group at your school?

Go to protests: protest works, period. The general politician rule of thumb is that anyone who bothers to actually go out and march represents 10-100 voters. When they look at the numbers (like- '500-1000 people protested the most recent bill you signed') they do this math and they worry. But also honestly if it's something you can manage- it's good for you. It helps. Even if you just go alone and don't talk to anyone, being in a crowd of hundreds of people feeling the same things you are, caring as much as you do, it helps. If you can, yell along to the chants as loud as you can. Get fired up and use that energy to keep going and not despair!

Call and write officials: if you live in the US or UK this is HUGE. What I said above about how they count people at protests as standing for more people who didn't bother but agree? Same with phone calls for sure, it REALLY pressures them. Many orgs make this really easy- I get emails all the time with links to send a letter in a single click or click to call and all you have to do is read the script, get on some lists I guess? But many sites also have this feature, JVP does for example

Support BDS: the Palestinian led BDS have been doing the work of isolating and chipping away at Israel for 19 years and like I said, the actions of the masses only work if we are united behind a few strategic targets rather than all over the place; they have made this possible. It's good to avoid buying from the companies they target; even better to work on the big divestment campaigns. For example, student groups pressuring the big universities to divest from BDS targets echo the successful University divestment efforts that helped end apartheid in South Africa.

Send money: money helps, immediately and concretely, and again if we are many, each person doesn't have to do a lot. Do what you can spare, it all adds up. This has been painful with Gaza for sure, with millions donating but aid being blocked. I don't have The Answer but here's a group I found that actually seems to be getting aid in, and here's a spread sheet of gofundmes- note that people who have foreign passports do not have to pay the horrible border crossing fees, so you may wish to focus on funding those who don't have that privilege. this could maybe be better and there was some other stuff I wanted to say about doing activism to tie up the "activism as self care" thing from above and also bringing it back around to talk about Louis more but I'm tired and I'm hungry right now and this is a lot already. So. Bye lol sorry. send me asks if any of that is something you care about or want to hear

#yes the first Louis quote is kind of just me being silly I know he was referring to live music... but also he SAID IT #and those words have power regardless of the context and I believe it is an ethos he believes in #and the second thing is literally something he posted from an actual protest. my guy!! 🥰#palestine #blah blah blah #starbucks discourse

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celluloidbroomcloset · 3 months

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Hi! I’m newish to the OFMD family (didn’t start watching until last year), I’m also newly back on tumblr after years of being away. Love your blog especially your text posts with your take on the show. I was hoping you could inform me why Taika gets so much hate. Sorry, I’m not on any other social media so I don’t stay very up to date.

Cheers!

Thank you!

Ah, the whole Taika thing is a bit complicated and there are folks who have a better grasp on everything than I do, so I do invite anyone to link/comment if I misstate here. Generally the current hate surrounding him seems to be based in:

A letter he signed, along with about 300 other celebrities, back at the start of current conflict in Palestine, thanking Biden/urging him to encourage the release of hostages. The wording of the letter was not great in places, but it was mostly "hostages shouldn't be hostages and everyone should be safe." This has been taken to mean that Taika's a Zionist. There is no hard proof of this that I am aware of. The letter itself is not Zionist and came at a time when everyone was calling for the release of hostages. His name doesn't appear on the first page.

A podcast appearance (I think Marc Maron's WTF? podcast) where he talked about the fact that no one can be aware of every issue happening in the world and that people tend to focus on the things that are closest to them. This was taken to be an excuse about him signing that letter, but the conversation was in the context of a discussion of Jojo Rabbit, and he mentions the fact that a lot of people are unaware of ongoing Maori political issues, which others have pointed is where his public political energy seems to reside.

The hate around him has been going on for longer than this—I saw people try to argue that he was a fascist for making Jojo Rabbit, and I've seen people railing against him for things as banal as his opinion about Casablanca, as well as his personal life and relationships.

My personal sense is that he's an intelligent man who talks a lot and does not have a celebrity filter, so he will often say things in the course of a conversation or interview that is basically him voicing thoughts out loud as they come. This is not great for someone in the public eye, and it's also not a crime or an indication of a massive moral failing. Most of the reactions to his statements have both taken those statements out of context and are wildly disproportionate to what is actually said. The accusations of Zionism and the scrutiny of everything he does and says raises very clearly the undercurrents of antisemitism and racism into...overcurrents.

Tl;dr: the hate around him is because he's a very successful Indigenous, Jewish filmmaker who talks a lot, makes jokes a lot, and is a human being.

#reply #ofmd #taika waititi

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amyisraelchaiforever · 3 months

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If you don’t mind, would you explain what exactly it means to be a Zionist, or what Zionism is?

Also, looking at posts here and on news sites I see such pradoxical views, one saying to not support Palestine is to support genocide and the other saying to not support Israel is to be antisemitic. I wonder, and I am going around asking people on different sides of the war, do you believe it is possible to support both the lives of Palestinian people and the lives of Jewish people?

Feel free to ignore this ask or to point out any ignorance on my part. I hope you have some peace in your day/night.

Of course! Thank you for being so kind with your questions! 💙 Sorry that it's a bit "all over the place." There's a LOT to cover, and I'll leave a bunch of links to learn about more details.

To start of, Zionism is (by the google-search definition):

a movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. It was established as a political organization in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.

So basically, being a zionist is supporting zionism or the creation & protection of Israel.

Most Jews are Zionists (sources say between 85-95%) of Jews. Something I want to clarify:

Being a zionist, or supporting Israel, does not mean that we support all decisions of Israeli government, especially not Netanyahu. In fact, most Israelis and Jews don't actually like Netanyahu (which I'll be calling Bibi for short). This doesn't mean we don't want Israel to cease to exist. There's multiple sides to even one side in the main argument.

Now I'm going to tackle your harder points:

First of all, I don't support the "Free Palestine" movement for multiple reasons, but get this straight: It's not because I hate the people, it's because the leaders of it are people I don't agree with.

I definitely don't want you to think I think all people in Gaza/'Palestinians' should die. I do NOT think that. But first of all, let me talk about the whole issue of "not supporting Palestine is to support genocide".

It's not genocide, simple as that.

here's the definition of genocide:

the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.

In my opinion, you should replace "killing" with "murdering", but you get the gist.

Israel attacking the Gaza Strip right now is not in order to kill the civilians there, it's to retrieve the hostages (hostages, not prisoners of war) and end HAMAS (a globally-recognized terrorist organization. I'll link some pictures of their website at the end), so they can't launch another deathly attack on Israel or Jews as a whole (not to mention HAMAS's other problems with LGBTQ+ and such).

Therefore, not genocide. I do not want the people in Gaza dead, but I do not support Palestine as they want it- Israel gone and a new country. Does that mean I support genocide? That's your own decision to make.

Something I want to briefly touch upon is historical inaccuracy & numbers before we move on to "not supporting Israel is antisemitic".

Like I said, HAMAS is a terrorist organization. Here's a few examples of a website used to show their propaganda & agendas.

This is even from a while back (1-2 weeks)! It's messed up, especially if you take time to read the Stages.

Also, I do not believe that all Palestinians and Palestine-supporters support Hamas, like not every Israeli and Jew support every decision of the Israeli Government. But still, people idolize HAMAS and that is a problem.

People say, "end the 75 (or 76) year occupation!!!!11!!!!!1!!!!" I won't get into history, but the Gaza Strip was ruled by Egypt until 1967 (then it was captured by Israel during a war) and Israel completely left it 2005-6. Can't be 75 or 76 years if you haven't been there for so long.

That was just something I wanted to mention. Now, lets move onto "not supporting Israel is antisemitic."

This changes from person to person, I'll admit. A goy (or non-jewish person) can't decide what is or isn't antisemitic, and a jew cannot really do the same to another jew. Saying that Israel shouldn't exist? Yes, it's antisemitic. Israel (Judea, Eretz Yisrael, etc) is the Jews' land, birthright- we are the indigenous people (whoo boy, I could go on a whole other rant here if you want me to.)

Mostly, I'd say it isn't antisemitic. Some people might disagree. I found a good guide on critizing Israel here - it'll be linked in the end if you want to check it out.

IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION: yes, it is possible! i value both israeli and Jews AND palestinians lives (this is not when they tell me to kms, of course)

sorry it took me so long to answer this :')

Here are some of the links I recommend:

@freegazafromhamas Quick information, easy to digest (and a very kind person); probably most in support of a palestinian state

@fuck-hamas-go-israel has been running this blog for over 10 years, I believe. Important picture & video evidence and information.

@elder-millennial-of-zion Again, important information.

@shretl this user is especially good for information! They're very educated & I've learned a lot. Honestly, just looking through their posts is educational...

I've also preblogged many things in general on my blog!

other pictures:

Online Sources: (this section is taken from @shretl's post) * https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/865383 - Hebrew article, Title means "Sad ending to a magnificent history: Only 4 Jews left in Iraq".

What was the Farhud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhud

History of the Jewish community in Baghdad https://cojs.org/the_jewish_community_in_baghdad_in_the_eighteenth_century-_zvi_yehuda-_nehardea-_babylonian_jewry_heritage_center-_2003/

What are Pogroms?https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/pogroms?gclid=Cj0KCQiAkeSsBhDUARIsAK3tiedM7DuwIaSQX-kRxvXTgCDxN6-zqeo_DNNFgyanSYGyGOhwu_0vfrkaAg6REALw_wcB

The last Jew of Peki'in, Margalit Zinati https://aish.com/the-last-jew-of-pekiin/

Arab riots of 1930s- https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/ben_zvi_30 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-1936-arab-riots

Israel's history from ancient times & timeline : https://www.travelingisrael.com/timeline-land-israel/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=iiUIWnU-Ofk

Second Temple era - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple_period

Forced conversion of Jews across history- https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18mvnct.7?seq=4

If something is wrong, please correct me!

#am yisrael chai #i/p #i/p conflict

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xclowniex · 4 months

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I think that the current trope that is going around of "Jews steal food (recipes)" is absoltely bonkers.

Like don't get me wrong, food can be colonized. Like do y'all remember that viral recipe that went around last year where a white women called Oi Kimchi "spicy pickled cucumbers" and that she invented it when it was actually invented in Korea before her grandparents were even a thought?

That is an example of food colonization/stealing recipes.

What is not food colonization or stealing recipes is jews consuming food that is also eaten in palestine.

There are 3 foods which I hear this about the most. Falafel, Shashuka and Donar Kebabs. The thing is, none of those dishes are uniquely Palestinian.

Most theories place Falafel as originating in Egypt. Donor Kebabs comes from Bursa (modern day city in Turkye) under Ottoman rule Shashuka comes from Tusnia.

None of those countries are Palestine.

Below are two less common foods that Israeli chefs get accused of stealing recipes from Palestine for making or using.

Hummus - First recorded in Syria Sumac - Native to Iran but used in the middle east and northern africa.

If other arab countries can cook food and use ingrediants from other arab countries, why are Israeli's and Jews not allowed to?

Southern Levant was occupied by Jewish nations from 1047 BC until 587 BC. No one singular Jewish nation occipied the whole of Southern Levant for the entirety of that as at one point there were multiple Jewish nations in Southern Levant. However for that time period, either one or more Jewish nations occupied the land. Do you expect that jews never used the native flora and fauna in their cooking?

Another thing is that arab jews exist. They have brought their cusine to Israel as well. Are Iranian Jews who are ethnically Iranian from Iran stealing recipes from Iran?

If Palestinians can lay claim to those foods being Palestinian cusine instead of the countries of their respective origins, why can't Israel?

The matter of the fact is, by anti-zionists defitions of stealing food/recipes, most arab countries have stolen food from other countries. Most countries across the globe have done that.

The idea that Israel is the only country in the middle east which steals food and recipes, is antisemetic. Either all countries in Levant can lay claim to recipes orignates in the Levant region, or only the countries where food originated from can lay claim. There cannot be an execption for only jews.

Claiming that jews cannot make certain food was a tactic used in our oppression. Thats how bagels exist. In Poland, for a period of time jews were not allowed to bake raw bread as it was seen as appropriating Christianity and Jews baking bread was unholy. Bagels were boiled first and then baked to get around that.

It is bonkers that we are starting to see old antisemetic tactics starting to resurface and become popularized

Ps: If you want to make a recipe that originated in Palestine, I reccomend Musakhan as it is very delicious. Recipe from a Palestinian cook here

#antisemitism #am yisrael chai #jumblr

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writeforfandoms · 1 year

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Fall Into Me 1

Find the series masterlist

Hello and welcome to my newest fic! Title is from a song, as always.

Yes this is my excuse to do a poly relationship, shhh. It's fine. It'll be fun.

Warnings: Swearing, hot guys, there will be shifting POVs in further chapters. The OC here is Jewish and that does become a focal point later on. If that bothers you, turn around now.

Word count: 2.6k

The little bell over the door nearly made Rose hit her head on the display case. “Welcome!” she called, carefully backing up a bit before she straightened, smile already in place. “What can I get for you?”

Briefly, she was very grateful that she already had her smile on, because wow. Two guys stood on the other side of the counter, both very handsome. Both were tall and built, although one had a short mohawk while the other had dark skin and black hair kept short.

“Morning,” Mohawk answered, and, oh, he had a wonderful accent. That was going to be distracting. “Don’t suppose you have tea?”

“What kind?” Rose brushed her hands off on her apron, already moving over to her tea stash.

“Breakfast, or Earl Grey?”

“I have both, and milk of all kinds.” She smiled, glancing quickly between the two.

“I’d like Earl Grey, please.” This time the black-haired one spoke, soft voiced and also with a lovely accent.

“And I’ll take the breakfast.”

“Coming right up. Together or separate?”

“Together.” Mohawk stepped forward, physically blocking his friend from getting to the register as he held out a card. “And one of those chocolate chip cookies.”

“Those are fresh this morning,” Rose agreed, totaling up the purchase and then running the card. “Would either of you like milk? The sugar is out already.”

“Please.” Mohawk took his card back as she handed it over.

“Give me just a moment.” Rose got the cookie first, putting it into a little baggie and handing it over before she got started on the tea. “How’d you happen to find this place?” she asked over her shoulder as she timed the tea.

“We just took over the office upstairs,” the black-haired one said. “The rest of the team is up there, and we went exploring.”

“Ah, so you took over that space.” Rose nodded. “Lovely. I’ve been hoping someone would move in for months. It’s a lovely space, if I recall correctly.”

“It’s nice,” Mohawk agreed. “You been here long, then?”

“A couple years.” Rose shrugged, taking both teas over to the counter. “Here you are. Sugar is at the end, and the milk is–” she ducked under the counter briefly to grab it “--right here! Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“Nah, thanks, love.” The black-haired one winked at her, taking his tea to add sugar to it.

“I’m sure we’ll be back,” Mohawk agreed, pouring in milk before securing the lid on his tea.

Rose nodded, putting the milk away and watching them go. Well, if that’s how pretty at least two of the new people upstairs were, then she was in for a real treat. Especially if they did come back.

It wasn’t until closing time that she found the five dollar tip one of the two of them had left her. Smiling, she shook her head. Too sweet of them.

It was only two days later that she saw them again. The black-haired one came in first, though there was someone else with him this time. This man was also big and broad, but he had mutton chops. It was a bold look, but Rose thought he did it well.

“Good morning!” she chirped, standing up straight again. “What can I get for you today?”

“Gaz mentioned you make a good cuppa,” Muttonchops said, striding up to the counter.

“Gaz?” Rose lifted her eyebrows, curious.

“That’d be me.” The black-haired one stepped to the side to hold out a hand to her.

“I’m Rose.” She took his hand, shaking firmly. “Nice to officially meet you.”

“John Price.” Muttonchops took her hand next, his handshake firm and professional.

“Would you like the whole selection or do you know what type you’d like?” Rose glanced between the two men so they knew they were both included.

“Earl Grey for me again,” Gaz piped up.

“Same.” John smiled a little, watching her work.

“Milk for either of you?” Rose asked as she got out the tea and the cups.

“No thanks.” John shifted his gaze to the display case of cookies, looking them over. They all looked good, and they were all huge.

Rose set the two cups down in front of them. “Anything else I can get you two?” She smiled pleasantly at them.

“That’ll do.” John held out a twenty. “Keep the change.”

“Oh! Thank you.” Rose blushed a little. “Enjoy your tea!” She watched the two as they left, Gaz leaning in close to John and nudging him with an elbow. Then she shook her head, counting out the change to add to the tip jar.

The lunch rush started a little early that day, several people from other offices coming down to get coffee or tea and a cookie on their break. Rose kept her smile through all of them, even the one demanding middle management lady from the accounting office upstairs. She both loved and hated the lunch rush - it was always busy, since she rarely had help, and she often ended up juggling half a dozen things at once. But it passed quickly, and left her with some good tips, so it wasn’t all bad.

It was just a lot.

There was still a bit of a line, but Rose took a moment to pull her hair up off her neck, securing the curls in a messy bun. That would have to do for now.

Then she spotted Gaz and Mohawk, and someone new with them. (Idly, she wondered how many of them were in that office they’d taken over. She’d find out eventually.) This one was even taller than the other two, wearing all black including a neck gaiter pulled up all the way over his nose. Icy blue eyes held hers for a moment before Rose blinked and looked back at the espresso machine.

“Welcome back,” she greeted when they reached the front of the line, shooting them a quick smile as she poured chocolate syrup into a drink. “What can I get for you all today?”

“I need a mocha,” Gaz admitted, turning a rather pleading look on her.

Rose laughed softly. “Want any extra shots of espresso in that?”

“Nah. Not yet.”

“And for you two?” She glanced at Mohawk and new guy before she finished the drink in her hand, securing the lid and handing it straight to the man waiting for it.

“Breakfast tea again,” Mohawk said. “For both of us.” He jerked his thumb at the new guy.

“Milk again?”

“You know it.” He winked at her, enjoying the light blush on her cheeks.

“Got it, coming right up.” Rose turned to get the tea down as well as three cups. “Will you be paying together or separately today?”

“Separate.”

One more nod and she turned to the register, ringing them up quickly. It wasn’t hard, after all.

“Gaz, your mocha will be ready in a moment,” she said, putting his cup under the espresso. “You two, your tea will be a minute longer.”

“No rush.” Mohawk eyed her curiously. “I’m Soap, by the way.”

Rose couldn’t help the little laugh that bubbled out of her. “Soap?”

“Old nickname.” He grinned, totally unembarrassed. “This big lump is Ghost.”

“Soap and Ghost.” Rose finished off the mocha with a smiley face and handed it over to Gaz. “Well, nice to meet you both. Always happy to meet the new neighbors.” She turned and grabbed their teas, setting them carefully on the counter. “Enjoy!”

“Thanks, bonnie.” Soap’s grin widened when her blush flared to life again, and she was quick to start on the next drinks for people.

“If you get us kicked out because of your flirting–” Gaz started in a mutter as the three took their drinks back upstairs.

“Oh, I’m not.” Soap’s grin turned decidedly smug. “She wasn’t displeased.”

Ghost just huffed and walked ahead of them, knowing quite well where this was going: squabbling.

Rose finally got a chance to take her afternoon break, shaking her hair out so the dark curls fell past her shoulders. Cracking her neck, she sighed and redid the bun, tighter this time. The curse of having curls - they were unruly.

Once again, she debated the merits of hiring someone else to help during the lunch rush. Maybe tonight she’d have the time to actually crunch the numbers.

But she also did still have to do the ordering and inventory, and she had to make the Friday cookies.

Well. Maybe she wouldn’t crunch the numbers tonight.

The soft clearing of a throat jolted her from her musings, and she jumped a little.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in!”

“Not a problem,” John assured her, hands tucked in his pockets. “Any chance I could get another tea?”

“Of course,” Rose was quick to assure him. “Earl grey, no milk, right?”

His eyes crinkled with his smile. “You remember everyone’s orders?”

“Not everyone,” Rose said, turning to start on his tea. “But I do try to remember for the people in the building. Especially when they order the same thing every day. Jerry from the accounting firm has been getting the same thing every day since I opened.”

John chuckled, low and rumbly. “S’pose that makes your life easier.”

“Certainly helps when it comes time to reorder,” Rose quipped, pouring the hot water over the tea. “I’m open until 6 if you need another top up later.” She set the cup in front of him.

“What do I owe you?”

Rose waved him off. “You don’t, it’s fine. That one’s on me.”

John hesitated a moment, holding her gaze, before he relaxed a little and smiled. “Well, thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Rose smiled and waved him out before looking back at the machines. Might as well take the downtime to clean them and make sure all was well.

She closed up at 6 but spent an extra hour in the back updating inventory levels and deciding what type of cookie she’d bake the next morning.

In some ways, it was easier for her to work late. Less time spent in her cold matchbox apartment.

Friday mornings were very hit or miss. Sometimes they’d be busy, sometimes people would opt to work from home and they would be quieter.

This morning, however, found Rose busy from 7 straight until 9. She had finally just paused for her morning break (and a coffee) when the door opened again.

“What have I been smelling all morning?” Soap asked as he walked right up to the display case. “And how many can I buy?”

Rose laughed, watching Gaz and Ghost walk in after Soap, more calmly. “My Friday cookies,” she said, nodding. “I made peanut butter blossoms and red velvet chocolate chip this morning.”

Soap groaned softly, practically devouring the cookies with his eyes. “How many of each?”

“Oh, I made a couple dozen,” Rose answered, blinking at him. “How many do you want?”

“All of them.”

Ghost smacked the back of his head lightly, muttering something about being a glutton.

“We could get a box to bring back upstairs,” Gaz suggested, edging forward and also eyeing the cookies.

“Do I need to box them separately?” Rose started digging around under the counter. She always kept a handful of pastry boxes on hand, just in case.

“Nah, nobody’s allergic.” Ghost grinned. “So, six of each?”

Rose blinked once but nodded. “If you like, sure. I have plenty.” She started putting the cookies in the box.

“Maybe now you’ll stop mumbling about cookies,” Ghost grumbled at Soap.

Soap just rubbed his hands together. “Or I’ll come back for more.”

“You can’t have cookies for lunch.” Gaz looked a little uncertain, though.

“Aye? Watch me.”

Rose chuckled. “Any drinks to go with these cookies?”

“No thanks, love.” Gaz paid for the cookies while Soap took the box and hugged it to his chest. “Thanks.”

“Enjoy.” Rose watched them go, amused, and restocked the display case.

Carmen came in at 11 to help with the Friday lunch rush, waving briefly before disappearing into the back to put her things down.

“How is school?” Rose asked when Carmen rejoined her, tying an apron into place.

“Okay. Coming up on midterms.” Carmen cracked her knuckles, peering in the display case. “Are those red velvet?”

“Yup. You can have one.” Rose smiled as Carmen immediately dove on a cookie. Poor kid was always hungry. “And let me know about midterms, if you need any extra time off.”

“Will do.” Carmen saluted her with the remains of her cookie.

The lunch rush was more manageable with Carmen around, leaving Rose to focus on the register.

The last people in the lunch rush were John and someone new. The new man had nicely combed brown hair and darker skin. Paired with an easy smile, he was gorgeous.

“Rose, this is Alejandro, he also works in our office.”

“Nice to meet you, Alejandro.” Rose took his hand, giving him a quick once over. Apparently that entire office was just full of sexy men. That was a problem. (And also very much was not a problem.)

“Likewise.”

“So, what am I getting you two today?”

“Tea,” John said with a little shrug.

Rose chuckled. “The usual?”

The flash of his grin was bright for the moment he let it loose. “You’re learning.”

Rose marked down his order and set the cup aside before looking to Alejandro.

“Just a coffee with hazelnut.”

“Want me to leave room for cream?”

Alejandro paused and then nodded.

“You got it.” Rose marked that down too. “Have those up for you in a moment.”

“New regulars?” Carmen asked as she took the cup for Alejandro, working on his coffee while Rose started on the tea.

“They took the office space upstairs.” Rose smiled. “So you’ll probably be seeing more of them.”

“Hm.” Carmen set the coffee down and started cleaning now that the rush had died down.

“And your tea.” Rose handed it to John with a smile.

“Thank you.” John took his tea, his fingers brushing hers.

And then the two men left, walking close together and speaking quietly. Rose shook herself and grabbed the tip jar to empty it in the back.

“You good if I take a quick break?” Carmen asked, fingers tapping against her thighs.

“Sure,” Rose agreed, despite the fact that this was not normal. Usually Rose took her break after the lunch rush, then Carmen. But it wasn’t a big deal.

Carmen nodded with a quick, muttered “thanks” and vanished.

Leaving Rose to man the counter, almost idly cleaning while she did. Too much time had never been a good thing, as far as Rose was concerned. That way lay madness and overanalyzing.

But at least today she had some good things to think about. Like how much she already liked the new office upstairs. Even though she didn’t yet know what it was they did.

She’d find out, sooner or later. Probably sooner, based on how often they were coming down for drinks and cookies.

Once Carmen got back from her break, Rose sat in the back to crunch some numbers and take care of some other things. Carmen took care of the closing chores, and the two walked out together before separating to head home.

Rose couldn’t help but look forward to next week, just a bit. She was eager to learn more about these new regulars.

#cod fanfic #fall into me #poly vibes

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ziskeyt · 9 months

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Christie Pits

Today is the 90th anniversary of the Christie Pits Riot. The largest race riot in Canada. Christie Pits is a park in Toronto, Ontario. It's pretty large, and these days is a very active park in the summer and a place for sledding and ice skating in the winter. On this day in 1933 the tensions between the Jews who lived in the neighbourhood around the Christie Pits park and the white Canadians who wished to ally with the nazis, who made up what they called Swasitka Clubs, came to a head during a baseball game. The Jews were joined in the fight by their immigrant neighbours, primarily Italians, who also had come head to head with the white nazis before. These hate-filled Canadians wished to restrict Jews from jobs, education, going to the beaches, owning property, and really, given their alignment with the nazis and proudly waving the swastika flag, we can be pretty sure they wanted us dead as well.

The Toronto Star paper noted that there were ten thousand people who ended up joining the fight.

This is the only photo that exists:

(ID in alt) Christie Pits resulted in one of the first prohibitions against hate speech with the Mayor of the time saying that he would prosecute any future displays of the swastika. If you'd like to read more, Jamie Michaels, who wrote the graphic novel Christie Pits published an article today about the riots:

There was an event today in the park to commemorate the anniversary. As well as a few in May and June, Jewish and Italian heritage months respectively. While I don't know the best way to commemorate a fight like this, remembering that it happened, and why it happened is incredibly important. We're in a time that is very reminiscent to what people were dealing with then; from money seemingly meaning less while everything costs more, to the wealthy flaunting their great discrepancy from the majority, to people walking off work to strike for better conditions. Times of turmoil are times when people will often turn to trying to find a reason for their uncertainty, and as history has taught us, this often leads people to explaining their misfortune by finding a scapegoat -- and that scapegoat is usually Jews. In today's world, there are those who are virulently antisemitic with their whole chests, and those people are easy to point to and say they are what they are. But, we're also in a time where there is a lot of coded antisemitism around, from age-old conspiracy theories, to various racist tropes finding rebirths in memes and "jokes", to character types and appropriation of Jewish culture to make something seem exotic and mystical. You as an individual have the responsibility to educate yourself about racist dogwhistles and coding so you don't go around parroting things you don't believe, and eventually find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of white supremacist rhetoric. They say those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, but doom makes it sound like something that people aren't able to do anything about it. Learn history. Learn what hatred has looked like in the past and morphed into today. Learn history. You are not doomed and you are not helpless. You too can take part in stopping rising fascism by learning what it looks and sounds like. You have a responsibility to yourself and to the future to learn about where we came from to get to where we are today.

#antisemitism #history of antisemitism #christie pits riot #toronto history #canadian history #today in history #jumblr

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jewishvitya · 5 months

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A lot of things I hear and have a resistance to, I find hard to untangle and figure out. Is this Israeli propaganda I haven't unpacked yet, or is it that these people are applying a lens that doesn't fit the situation?

For example, the idea that Israeli music is appropriated when it sounds Middle Eastern, is it correct or is it because 60% of Israeli Jews are Mizrahi, coming from Arab countries, have a long history of making music like this? What did we appropriate and what did we bring with us? I don't know how to look into that, I don't understand music enough. Same with food, what's appropriated and what did people just bring with them? A lot of us never left the Middle East. So I don't know. I have no idea how to check which is which. I can point to the erasure of Palestinian culture as lending itself to appropriation, because it's real and it's insidious, but the rest I personally don't know how to pick apart.

But there's also something I hear more and more about how Israelis changed our names into Hebrew names to sound more indigenous. On one side of my family, the original name was Levi because of the tribe of Levi. It was changed to hide that we're Jewish and avoid violence in diaspora. Are people changing names because they finally feel free to have visibly Jewish names, or is it some attempt to obscure a history in diaspora? This isn't music, this is something I can look at a bit more easily.

I'm sure for many of us the freedom to go back to our roots is valuable. It's true that a lot of us had Hebrew names we used among ourselves, and "localized" names (not sure what else to call it) we used in official documentation etc. I'm named after my great great grandmother's Hebrew name that she had while living in France, and she never moved to Israel. I'm sure she would have loved the safety of using her name officially. So, of course, many people jumped on this opportunity. You give them the ability to register with a new name, and they use the name they had in the safety of their own community.

A Jewish person changing their name to Hebrew is often shedding a false identity they were forced to adopt.

But at the same time.

When Jewish refugees were brought here in early immigration waves, their names were changed often not by their choice. Leadership had a whole thing about imposing Hebrew names on people. I remember a story from history class, I don't remember which aliyah it was about, but we were told about people standing there and someone being like "All of you - your name is this. And this bunch - your name is that." There was a joke stereotype about Ethiopian Israelis having names that start with the letter alef because that's the first letter of the alphabet and their names were picked from an alphabetized list.

When my family members came to Israel, they kept their non-Hebrew surname, but they were given a list of Hebrew names to choose from. I think this was recently enough the they would have been able to say no to it, though. So they took their Hebrew names willingly.

I don't know if it's accurate to say the intention was to sound more indigenous. Because, at the time that this was mostly happening, the zionist movement was proudly colonialist. They separated between us and the Palestinians, placing the Palestinians as the indigenous population, as a way of placing us above them.

I think it was an attempt to homogenize Israeli society. To make it into something cohesive. Part of the melting pot. Another thing that was happening at the same time was all kinds of abuses to try to strip Jewish immigrants and refugees from their cultural and religious practices. Zionism had a very complicated and toxic relationship with Judaism, especially in those days. It had a goal of founding a state with Western enlightenment values, but for Jewish people. It relied on Judaism as an ethnicity for the definition of an in-group, and hated Judaism as a religion.

But about the names. I don't think it's to fake indigeniety. I think in some cases it's a genuine return to our own language now that we're comfortable, and in other cases, forced assimilation.

#riki babbles

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trisockatops · 1 year

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Okay I lied, one more post about the blatant antisemitism that isn't getting as much as attention as the creator's cissexism.

Thread from Unsidhe, Artist&Vtuber|Illust/Live2D OPEN on Twitter:

cw: antisemitism 1 of the 'goblin artifacts' you can find in That Wizard Game is literally just a shofar, a Jewish musical instrument, described as being 'used to annoy witches and wizards'. In it's description is the year 1612, which was when the Fettmilch uprising took place.

This uprising was followed by an outright massacre of Jewish people. If you STILL think it's just "a coincidence based on unfortunate folklore about goblins" and not literally an antisemitism propaganda simulator, fucking BLOCK ME. I want nothing to do with you.

People are trying to tell me "but it's not a shofar because it's painted" like, you're grasping at straws for excuses at this point.

Learning that they wrote 'stuffed with gorgonzola to silence it' about the horn, and finding out that gorgonzola specifically is not a kosher cheese... when they could have just written 'stuffed with cheese' for the Haha Funney Points really says a lot someone had to think.

/end thread

Thread from Yonah Gerber on twitter:

For those saying Hogwarts Legacy isn’t antisemitic, the game devs made it canon that goblins use shofar

“Generally annoy witches & wizards” literally the text in the game is that Jewish practices are just an annoyance like what the fuck

To address the dumbassery in my responses: assume good intentions must be earned. If this was the first time a Rowling property has been antisemitic, that's a woopsie. But it's not.

Here's the facts as they exist: - The object is a war horn - The artifact in the game is located at a place named after a pig & stuffed with dairy products to stop its music - The year of its most famous use is also the year major antisemitic pogroms happened in Germany

If ONE of these things were true, but Rowling & the franchise otherwise hadn't made any major missteps, that's when we give the benefit of the doubt. But I'm not willing to give said benefit when considering all the in-game context AND ALSO prior antisemitism in the franchise.

At a certain point, "benefit of the doubt" becomes "any plausible deniability is sufficient to ignore all context to the contrary" & to me, & to many Jewish folks, we are way past that point.

Hogwarts Legacy is not the first time the Harry Potter franchise has been accused of antisemitism. If the franchise & its creators wanted to avoid further accusations, they could've done some basic historical research to make sure these alleged coincidences were not included.

Once you have harmed a marginalized demographic, it's on your as a creator to prevent *further harm*. If you're using an IP that another creator once used to harm others, then I'm sorry, you do have the responsibility to undue that harm where you can in your own work.

EVEN IF these are coincidences, had the development team made a point to avoid antisemitic caricatures & educated themselves on that history, this wouldn't have happened. They chose not to care. And that's not much better, really.

Obviously I don't know what the team at Avalanche thinks or believes & frankly that's not my business. What matters to me is the end product & that end product either is purposefully antisemitic or was made by folks who don't care if they're accidentally antisemitic.

However you twist this, there's a tremendous lack of care going on here, & a choice to perpetuate cruelty that didn't need to happen.

Don't yell at folks in my mentions who genuinely don't understand the layers of context here. This is a great education opportunity. Block the obvious trolls, I sure am, but some folks have only seen a piece of the whole, & education is the best solution to ignorance.

Deleting my last tweet because I saw the point on Mastodon, but I can no longer find the post. I don't want to share what I can't currently verify.

To add, though: - The shofar is located at the Hog's Head (aka pig) Inn - The music of the shofar is prevented because a wedge of gorgonzola was used to stop the music, & while many cheeses are kosher, that one is not Take from that what you will.

/end thread

Thread from moby dickgirl on Twitter:

// CW: antisemitism; discussion of Islamophobia Concerning Gorgonzola (expanding on a comment in Yonah's thread) N.B. Once again, I am speaking as a gentile

It's a really common trope in right-wing propagandistic fiction for the "heroes" to desecrate the graves of religious enemies by putting profane items in them. The example I'm most familiar with is endless post-9/11 masturbation about putting pig products in Muslims' graves

I understand that there's a prohibition, deriving from a law given by Moses at Sinai, on seething a kid in its mother's milk, and that this is generally interpreted pretty broadly as meaning having meat and dairy in the same meal, or otherwise combining them, is unkosher

Some cheeses are kosher. Traditionally, Gorgonzola is not. This is because the production of Gorgonzola requires the use of a complex of enzymes called rennet. Using animal-derived rennet to make cheese is unkosher because of the prohibition mentioned above.

Now, this doesn't always apply to Gorgonzola today; you can get Gorgonzola made with non-animal-derived rennet which I understand may be kosher. However, this was unequivocally not the case in 1612. Gorgonzola made then would have been made with animal-derived rennet.

It's also been noted that the year of that goblin rebellion is 1612, the first year of the antisemitic purge called the Fettmilch Rising in Frankfurt. Both the real Fettmilch Rising and the fictional rebellions may have been based partly on allegations of financial misconduct.

There is, however, a shorter path. A distinctive quality of Gorgonzola — unique to it as far as I can tell — is that it's made with unskimmed milk, that is, milk with the milkfat still in it. The German word for "milkfat" is "Milchfett" — "Fettmilch" with the syllables reversed.

(I've heard that "Fettmilch" is literally a dialect German word for "unskimmed milk," which would make the link even more direct, but I don't have a sufficiently comprehensive German–English dictionary on hand to confirm this. German speakers are welcome to chime in.)

/end thread

Not to mention that the basic plot of the game is suppressing the rebellion of a canonically oppressed race that has always been an antisemitic caricature (hooked nose, beady eyes, hoard money, apparently control the wealth, manipulative, sneaky, greedy). We didn't need to look far to find the antisemitism, and yet here it is, ratcheted up times ten.

#hogwarts legacy #jk rowling #harry potter #hp goblins #antisemitic #antisemitism #oh fuck just lemme piss off the hoards of radfems still clinging to life here #oh and by the by #the supposed trans-inslucisivity comes in the form of a trans woman named Sir Ryan #islamophobia #THE GAME IS A FUCKING PRO NAZI PLOT #nazis #nazism #long post

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doberbutts · 6 months

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not the prev anon but re: "Israel has a right to exist" not being a Zionist statement and saying otherwise us antisemitic. - that's a bad faith reading because we're not talking about Israelis, we're talking about the state of Israel. The settler colonial state Israel doesn't have a right to exist. That doesn't mean that people have to leave, it just means that Palestinians need to have a say in how to use their land again and expelled families need to be able to return to where their homes once were. That in itself is not an antisemitic point of view unless you conflate the state of Israel with Jewish people, against the wishes of antizionist Jews everywhere.

I wish I could say it was a bad faith reading but I have unfortunately literally seen people uncritically posting that Israel as a state should be dissolved and as part of it all Israelis should be sent back where they came from because they're all settlers and not a single one of them can consider themselves indigenous to the land. I'm not making that up. I'm not reading ill intent into anything. It's not a strawman. I've genuinely seen people saying this.

That's ethnic cleansing too. And anyone protesting this gets called a Zionist and a colonizer and a settler- often by Americans who are not indigenous and are living stolen land themselves. Though, recently, I even saw an indigenous person saying exactly this, and like... did you see the asks I was sent immediately after saying "I don't like that people are saying go back where you came from" because that anon absolutely did directly state that they are of the opinion that as part of the dissolution of the Israeli state and land back, Israelis should be expelled from the area en mass whether they want to leave or not.

So there are, absolutely, people conflating the two. And people are calling for genocide to answer for genocide.

Also, as said before, it becomes very difficult to say who the land "belongs to" (idk this might be the Native in me but land does not belong to anyone, how self-centered to think that the Earth can be divided into pieces by humans who have been here only a short time compared to its whole lifespan, but w/e that's a point for a different day) when both Arabic Israelis and Arabic Palestinians are indigenous to the land. Do they not get a say? They also trace their roots to that area. They are indigenous too- so how can giving "their land" to the other indigenous group be considered "land back"?

It's not like in the US, where most of the colonial efforts are being driven by people who never originated here in the first place. It's way more complicated than that.

Do I think "the state of Israel" has the right to exist? Personally I think that the entire area needs a serious policy re-write and constitution put in place to equalize rights between Israelis and Palestinians and ensure that it stays equal, a ceasefire needs to happen, the genocide of the Palestinians needs to stop, and a peaceful solution with both Israelis and Palestinians living together in harmony needs to be reached. People need to be able to move back into their homes, people need to be able to be free of displacement and constant fear, and without relying on segregation because we all know how "separate but equal" turns out. Would that dissolve the state of Israel? I mean, as it currently stands, probably by definition yes.

Do I think "Israel" itself has the right to exist? The word "Israel" has existed since about 13th century BC. The word "Palestine" has existed since about 5th century BC. Those are the earliest known mentions of these names and not even within those borders (Israel's document was found in Egypt, Palestine's in Greece) so who knows how long the area itself was calling itself one thing or the other or who the scholars of the time talked to to get that name in the first place. The exact borders of these have shifted since then and exactly who controls those borders have largely traded hands back and forth for literal millennia, which is why I'm saying it's way more complicated than that and that both of these people have a claim to the land that stretches back thousands of years. I think it's a little haughty of me to say that something that's existed for the past roughly 3000 years doesn't have the right to exist.

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useless-catalanfacts · 6 months

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Hello! Centuries after Jewish people were expelled from Portugal and Spain, Portugal allowed them to return, but I don't know if Spain did the same. I read your post about Jews in Catalonia, and was wondering if some came back and if there is still a Jewish comunity there today? :o

Yes, the same happened, but they are still few in number.

Some Jewish people returned to Iberia in the 20th century. It might come as a surprise to many, but it was during the proto-fascist dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and during the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco when more Jewish people moved to Spain.

Philosephardism became popular in the early 1900s. That's when the first campaigns to bring Sephardi people close to Spain started, many of them led by the politician Ángel Pulido Fernández.

The first campaign was in 1904, but it was more about creating shared organizations with Sephardis in Northern Africa and not so much migration yet. In 1910, the King of Spain Alfonso XIII founded the Spanish-Hebrew Union (Unión Hispano-Hebrea), which saw 4000 people sign up as members in the Moroccan protectorate (remember that at this time Morocco was a protectorate of Spain). This Union created schools for Sephardi children in Morocco and the Balkans to teach them Spanish.

The moment where many Jewish people migrated to Spain, creating a significant Jewish community for the first time since the Middle Ages, was during the First World War (Spain was neutral in WW1, so it was a safe area compared to most of Europe). Barcelona was one of the places that received the most Jewish immigration in this period: about 1,000 people, most of them coming from Austria-Hungary and some from France.

More continued to migrate to Spain during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923-1930), because in 1924 the dictatorship made a law that all Sephardi people could get the Spanish nationality. According to the Comunitat Israelita de Barcelona (the association of Jewish people of Barcelona), in 1936 there were already 5,000 Jewish people, more than half of them newly arrived from Poland and Germany, and others having arrived from Austria, Hungary and Romania.

As expected, the immigration continued during the Second World War, escaping the Holocaust (even though Spain gave support to the Nazis and sent some legions to fight against Russia on Germany's side, it was mostly neutral in WW2 because the Spanish Civil War had just ended, leaving the country in extreme poverty and destruction). The regime said that they were only allowing the Jewish people to cross Spain on their way to somewhere else and that they didn't want them to stay, but after all they weren't really checking on each person, so some stayed.

Even with this situation, make no mistake: Jewish people were not well seen during the dictatorships. It was mandatory to be Catholic, and everything bad in the world was attributed either to the "separatist reds" (national minorities, independentists, communists, anarchists, anticlericals, atheists) or to a "Judeo-Masonic conspiracy" (Jewish people and Freemasons), thought to be working together to destroy Spain and the Christendom. This wasn't just a matter of the early years, no: it was a constant reasoning during the whole dictatorship in the schools, media, speeches, everything. Even in Franco's very last public appearance (October 1st 1975, celebrating his 39th anniversary since he was "appointed" as dictator, when the last week there had been demonstrations in different places around Europe against the death sentence that the regime had condemned some political dissidents to), he blamed the eternal communist, Freemason, Jewish international conspiracy for those demonstrations.

Despite their antisemitism, after the Second World War the fascist dictatorship of Spain also used the fact that they were "helping" Jewish people as a propaganda point to get the sympathy of Western countries, as a way to show that they had sided with Hitler and Mussolini because of a common hatred of communism but not because they hate Jewish people. This way, the dictatorship hoped to be accepted as a normal country, join the UN, with no sanctions. And it worked, mostly because the USA was promoting fascist countries as a way to counter communism.

In the late 1940s, the dictatorship allowed private individual worship to any religion (you could pray to whoever in your private home), even though everyone still had to take part in the Catholic rites in public. In 1949, Franco officially recognised the Barcelona Israelite Community, who opened a synagogue in Barcelona in the year 1954. This was the first synagogue in all the state of Spain since the Jewish people were expelled or forced to convert in 1492.

In the 1950s, the biggest Jewish immigration wave to Spain arrives from Northern Africa, and in the 1960s from South America. In 1968, the Vatican and Spain symbolically revoked the 1492 decree of expulsion. After the end of the dictatorship (1977), there is freedom of religion in Spain.

Nowadays, there is a small but existing Jewish community resulting of these waves of immigration throughout the 20th century. They are only a few thousands, so it doesn't show up in any religion statistics, but they are there.

Percentage of the Spanish population that identifies with each religion. Data from Observatorio del Pluralismo Religioso de España.

#ask #història #religió #jueus catalans #religions #history #20th century history #jewish #spain #european history #history of religion #franquismo #ww1 #ww2

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vaspider · 1 year

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Tbh, everyone I see trying to come up with alternative words for Culturally Christian keeps reminding me of when white people got really upset about the term White Privilege. Maybe the term SHOULD make people uncomfortable. Maybe we shouldn't have to take the complaints of others about a term we created to describe our experiences as more important than our needs. As well-meaning as some folks have been, it's been so frustrating to feel like that aspect isn't being seen. We created this term to discuss our oppression and others keep coming to us about their feelings about it, their discomfort. We didn't get rid of the term White Privilege just because it upset a bunch of white people. Why do we have to get rid of the term Culturally Christian because it upsets people it describes?

I'm trying to be compassionate too but it's hard for me to be when it feels like most of the criticisms of the term have been in bad faith and that the criticism is centered around OTHER people's feelings rather than our need to describe our oppression. Idk it doesn't feel fair I guess.

I didn't really expect you of all people to react like this to me having a compassionate conversation with someone who isn't Christian, wasn't raised Christian, and was abused by Christians for not being a Christian, about that person not wanting to be labeled as being inextricably tainted by a religion that abused them for their whole life. That's not something I expected from you. Maybe you missed that part of the conversation, or maybe you read a good faith conversation as if it was in bad faith, idk, but this seems rather unkind for you.

I understand your frustration. I also think it that if I'm actually dedicated to tikkun olam, if someone also being hurt in this situation respectfully talks with me about how I'm hurting them with splash damage from these discussions, I really should hear them out. And if, in the course of that discussion, we talk through how to not only be more accurate with what we're talking about but how to be less hurtful to other victims of Evangelical Christianity, I think that's pretty good, actually.

The person you're talking about isn't Christian and never was, so your analogy doesn't really hold. That person didn't hold any particular privilege and was never part of the dominant group in the first place. Like... that's the whole point. They're also a survivor of religious violence. You assigning privilege to that person which they never received is part of the problem we were addressing in the first place.

Plus, like, isn't the desired outcome that people who are carrying ideas and mindsets which come from Christian hegemony work on shedding those ideas and mindsets? Labeling people - especially people who aren't Christian and doubly especially those who never were - rather than ideas means those people are labeled regardless of what ideas they hold. That seems counterproductive to me, and, again, hurtful to fellow victims to label them with an identity they don't hold. It's like someone calling a bi person a Spicy Straight because they don't look queer enough or whatever - they're assigning an identity that someone else doesn't have because it makes it easier for them to speak their pain, and ignoring the damage that does.

The best part of the conversation is that by the end of it, someone pointed out that there's already an academic term -- Christian hegemony -- which has been in use for a really long time, well before "cultural Xianity" came into use. It looks like it goes back at least 50 years. So because I was patient and compassionate with someone else who was victimized like I was victimized, I got to learn something which will make it easier to communicate in the future, since that term is widely established and it's easy to point to PDFs that define it, or articles with Jewish educators explaining it.*

Sounds like a win to me - I get to avoid accidentally hurting others who were hurt like I was hurt, I learned something, and now I have a better, clearer term and can speak more clearly.

I'm sorry it frustrates you. I don't think your analogy works, though, and I'm happy with using "Christian hegemony" to describe ideas and not labeling people. I certainly wouldn't like it if someone insisted on calling me Christian, because I'm not, so forcing that label on others who also are not Christian seems hypocritical and unkind. Someone can hold ideas they learned from Christian hegemony without being Christian, and saying it that way doesn't hurt me, so it's no great burden to me to use a more established, more accurate, less hurtful means of addressing my own hurt.

* I don't agree 100% with everything in these links, please don't send me asks or reblog this with nitpicks of the links, I'm not interested bc that's not the point of including them.

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perfectlyvalid49 · 7 months

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Sometimes I feel like this blog is more Judaism focused than I really want it to be. Like, I am Jewish, but that’s only one aspect of my personality. I’m also interested in politics and linguistics and nerdy pop culture stuff and a whole bunch of other things. And I want this blog to have space for all of that.

So when I spent a ton of time late last week fighting with an antisemite, I told myself that when I was done with him (or as it turns out, when he was done with me), I’d take a break from posting about Jewish issues for a bit. Just like, a week where I’m just reblogging stuff that makes me laugh or an interesting language fact or something like that. Y’know, happy stuff.

He blocked me Friday, and on Saturday, Hamas attacked. And I’ve got a big mouth, so I can’t not say anything. Maybe when this is all resolved I can post happy stuff, but for right now, I need a place to talk, even though I’m struggling with what to say.

I guess the first thing I should say is that I feel terrible about what’s happening. Because what’s happened so far is bad, and what will happen next is even worse. Israel will take its vengeance; innocent Palestinians will die. The friends and families of the victims on both sides will be radicalized and the violence will continue. I hate it and it’s stupid and I wish there was an easy way to stop it and I know that there isn’t.

And I want to say that I support the Palestinian people. The way that Israel treats the Palestinians in Gaza is inhumane – it shouldn’t be allowed! But Israel treats them that way because before they did, you couldn’t get on a bus in Israel without worrying about being blown up. That shouldn’t be allowed either! Everything is complicated. Both sides are full of people who just want to live in peace who are being screwed over by a minority who won’t be happy until the other side is gone. Both sides have valid points, both sides have done terrible things. Anyone who is telling you that it isn’t complicated is either woefully uneducated about the history of the conflict, thinks one side does not deserve fundamental human rights, or both.

And after saying all that, I guess that I should make it clear that I’m still a Zionist – I believe that the Jewish people have the right to a self-determined state, and I think that Israel is probably the best place for it (I did not say a good place, I just don’t think there’s a better one. The best of a bunch of bad options is still the best). Having said that I’m a Zionist, I still hate what Israel’s government is doing and has been doing. Netanyahu is a monster. You can disagree with a country’s government and still think it has a right to exisit.

If you think that all Zionists are evil (and you’re still reading this), then tell me a better solution. Where should Jews go to be safe from governmental persecution? Or should they be denied that? If so, why?

And that’s the other thing I want to talk about. Every Jew I know is watching this with feelings of grief and horror, and the response from the left seems to be some variation on, “Israeli civilians deserved this,” “go back to where you came from,” or “terrorism is OK, actually, as long as it’s against a colonizer state (but not the one I live in).” And it’s soul-crushing. It is possible to be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic, but it seems like right now people aren’t even trying. The only good Jew is a dead Jew, and now that there are a bunch of dead Jews, everyone is celebrating.

I keep thinking about this video that I watched at school when I was a kid about the conflict. It was probably the mid 90s and the video showed Arab and Israeli kids playing together with a voice over from an interview with one of their moms. And I remember her saying that the kids playing together was good because then they would be friends, and when they got older they wouldn’t want to fight each other because they would remember that they were friends. I know now that it was probably a propaganda video, but that’s still what I want. I want leadership for Gaza that isn’t a terrorist organization, I want leadership for Israel that isn’t a far right authoritarian nightmare, I want Palestinians to not be locked behind a wall, I want Israelis who don’t have drills for when the rockets come. I want everyone – EVERYONE – to be able to live a life in peace and I want two little boys with different backgrounds and religions that both include a history in Israel to be able to play in a field by a river and be friends.

And if you don’t want that? Fuck you.

#israel #antisemitism #long post #i'm having feelings #thanks for letting me ramble #probably a lot more reblogs on this topic are incoming

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judaicsheyd · 10 months

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Hi there, I first wanted to thank you because I've been trying to find Jewish information on Lilith for years and it's been really hard - though I might just be bad at looking. My shul growing up never really mentioned her much so I didn't know where to even start.

I was wondering about the Jewish feminist reclaimings of Lilith that you've mentioned a few times. Sadly I haven't been able to find them myself (again probably bad at looking) but I was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction?

The pioneer of all of this is Dr. Judith Plaskow, known as the "first Jewish feminist theologian" (she got her doctorate at Yale, go her!). Plaskow is a wonderful example of someone all for tikkun olam, and stresses the importance of Jewish women's understanding of climate change and support of movements like BLM. She's also a lesbian! **When I have time I will reblog this with sources for the first part of your question.

Her original work reclaiming Lilith appeared in "Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook", in an essay titled "The Coming of Lilith", published 1992.

This essay later made a reappearance in her 2005 book "The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics", which is an important overall read in understanding her reclamation of Lilith as a whole.

The aforementioned works, however, are far from her most significant or influential, which is often said to be her book "Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective".

She has many other really cool works you should check out, as listed: — Her essay in the anthology "Twice Blessed: On Being Lesbian or Gay and Jewish". — "Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology" — "Sex, Sin, and Grace"

You should take a look at the Jewish feminist magazine inspired by her, called "Lilith".

The Jewish Women's Archive (which is a super cool source) also has a lesson plan ("Lilith Evolved: Writing Midrash") that revolves around Plaskow's look at Lilith and is a great place to start when it comes to understanding not only Lilith reclaimed, but also women's voices in Judaism as a whole. Plaskow has also authored some articles on the JWA website, and the site itself is one of the best places to learn about her.

I hope this helps! Also, these sources are for Jews ONLY. Goyim can interact respectfully and non-appropriatively. Don't make me turn off reblogs.

#askcarver #carverop #references #לילית #judaism #jewish #jumblr #demonology #midrash #feminism #jewish learning #jewish feminism #jewish women #judith plaskow

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mariacallous · 5 months

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President Joe Biden on Monday touted his “unshakeable” support for “the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel and its right to exist,” but he also offered a stark warning about the volatility of public opinion.

“We’ll continue to provide military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas, but we have to be careful – they have to be careful,” Biden told those gathered for a Hanukkah reception at the White House Monday night. “The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight, we can’t let that happen.”

The comments from Biden come as an emergency aid package that would provide funding for Israel and Ukraine remains mired in Congress and lawmakers face pressure to act amid a new wave of antisemitism in the US as the Israel-Hamas war enters a third month.

The reception, hosted by the president, celebrated the fifth night of Hanukkah and, according to the White House, featured some 800 guests, including Holocaust survivors, lawmakers and various Jewish leaders.

“I also recognize you’re hurting from the silence, and the fear, and for your safety, because of a surge in antisemitism in the United States of America and around the world — it’s sickening,” Biden told the audience.

He added, “You know, we see it, across our communities, and schools, and colleges, and social media — they surface painful scars, from millennia of hate to genocide of the Jewish people.”

Reported hate crimes and bias incidents against Jews, Muslims and Arabs have continued to surge since October 7, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The ADL said it recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents in the two months following Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel, including reports of physical assault, vandalism and “anti-Israel rallies that included classically antisemitic, anti-Zionist and/or terror-supportive rhetoric.” That is up from 465 such incidents during the same two-month period in 2022.

CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, said it has seen a similar spike in bias incidents during the first month of the war with 2,171 requests for help and reports made to its national headquarters and chapters across the country since October 7.

At the event, Biden called “upon all Americans to make clear there is no place for hate in America – against Jews, Muslims or anybody else.”

Biden was joined on stage by second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who has made combatting antisemitism a focus as the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president. Last week, Emhoff condemned rising antisemitism at the National Menorah lighting ceremony.

The president in his remarks pointed to his support for Israel, while acknowledging differences between himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He recounted how as a young lawmaker he told the Israeli leader, “I love you, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say.” “It’s about the same today,” he said Monday.

Biden highlighted the work his administration has done to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, saying he “personally spent countless hours” working with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts on both fronts.

“There’s a whole range of things going on now that are really very, very difficult,” Biden said. “We’ve gotten more than 100 hostages out and we’re not going to stop till we get every one of them home.”

Seven American men and one woman remain unaccounted for since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to the White House. Four Americans — a 4-year-old girl and three women — have been released so far.

The United States, Biden also said, “will continue to lead the world in humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinian civilians, to emphasize to our friends, our Israeli friends, we need to protect civilian life.”

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