#welcoming a new jewish life

[pomegranateandhoney]

and in the midst of all of this, a blessing --

b'ezrat Hashem, my partner & i will be welcoming a child this summer.

#my personal journey #jewish joy #BS”D #בס״ד #welcoming a new jewish life #i will be posting pregnancy related content so if that isn't your thing #message me to ask for a tag

[freeleyenrashespeakstruth]

By Kitty Werthmann

“I am a witness to history.

“I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history.

If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching.

“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.

She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.

“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”

No so.

Hitler is welcomed to Austria

“In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs.

“My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.’

“We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living.

“Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back.

“Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

“We were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.

“After the election, German officials were appointed, and, like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

“Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been re- quired to give up for marriage.

“Then we lost religious education for kids

“Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had physical education.

“Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.”

And then things got worse.

“The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free.

“We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

“My mother was very unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination.

“I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing.

“Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.

“It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

“In 1939, the war started, and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and, if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death.

“Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

“Soon after this, the draft was implemented.

“It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,” remembers Kitty. “During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys.

“They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines.

“When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.

“Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

“When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers.

“You could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the government.

“The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

“Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna..

“After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything.

“When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full.

“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

“As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families.

“All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

“We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables.

“Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands.

“Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

“We had consumer protection, too

“We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the livestock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated.

“So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work.

“I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.

“I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months.

“They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

“As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

“Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law-abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

“No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.”

“This is my eyewitness account.

“It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. “Don’t let freedom slip away.

“After America, there is no place to go.”

Kitty Werthmann

[opencommunion]

since zionists want to act obtuse about why we're criticizing a superbowl ad, here's an explanation from before the ad even aired. it was openly designed to act as pro-genocide propaganda. fighting antisemitism is a worthy goal but that's not what's happening here:

"The New England Patriots’ 81-year-old owner, Robert Kraft, writes seven-digit checks to the right-wing Israeli lobbying machine AIPAC, but his personal, political, and financial ties to Israel run deeper than the occasional donation. The multibillionaire married his late wife, Myra, in Israel in 1963 when Kraft, then 22, was older than the nation itself. Together they set up numerous business, athletic, and charitable ties to Israel, a record of which is proudly proclaimed on the Kraft company website. In particular, the Kraft Group boasts of its 'Touchdown in Israel' program, where NFL players are given free, highly organized vacations to see 'the holy land' and come back to spread the word about 'the only democracy in the Middle East.' (Not every NFL player has chosen to take part.) Kraft also attends fundraisers for the Israel Defense Forces, currently—and in open view of the world—committing war crimes in Gaza."

Now, as Israel wages war against the civilians of Gaza—more than 25,000 Palestinian have been killed with at least 10,000 of them children—Kraft is again flexing his financial and political muscles in order to defend the indefensible. His Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) will be spending an estimated $7 million to buy a Super Bowl ad titled 'Stop Jewish Hate' that will be seen by well over 100 million people. Under Kraft’s direction, the ad’s goal is to create a propaganda campaign to counter the reports and images from Gaza that young people are consuming on social media. 

... The content of the Super Bowl ad is not yet known, but FCAS has afforded Kraft the opportunity to make the rounds on cable news saying things like, 'It’s horrible to me that a group like Hamas can be respected and people in the United States of America can be carrying flags or supporting them.'

This is Kraft enacting the mission of FCAS: fostering disinformation. He is far from subtle: A Palestinian flag becomes a 'Hamas flag,' and people like the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets of Washington, D.C., last month to call for a cease-fire and end the violence are expressions of the 'rise in antisemitism.' Without a sense of irony or the horrors happening on the ground in Gaza, Kraft says he is giving $100 million of his own money to FCAS, because 'hate leads to violence.'

Let’s be clear: What Kraft is doing politically and what he will be using the Super Bowl as a platform to do is dangerous. He appears to think any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic. For Kraft, it is Jews like myself, rabbis, and Holocaust survivors calling for a cease-fire and a Free Palestine that are part of the problem. Kraft seems to think that opposition to Israel, the IDF, and the AIPAC agenda is antisemitism.

... Right-wing Christian nationalists, with their belief in a Jewish state existing alongside their conviction that Jews are going to Hell, are welcome in Netanyahu’s Israel and Kraft’s coalition. Left-wing anti-Zionist Jews are not. The greatest foghorn of this evangelical right-wing 'love Israel, hate Jews' perspective is, of course, Donald Trump. Kraft, while speaking of being troubled by events like the Charlottesville Nazi march and the right-wing massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, counts Donald Trump as a close friend and even donated $1 million to his presidential inauguration.

No one who provides cover for the most powerful, public antisemite in the history of US politics should ever be taken seriously on how to best fight antisemitism. No one who funds AIPAC and the IDF and opposes a cease-fire amid the carnage should be allowed a commercial platform at the Super Bowl. But given that the big game is always an orgy of militarism, blind patriotism, and big budget commercials that lie through their teeth, perhaps that ad could not be more appropriate. We can do better than Kraft’s perspective on how to fight antisemitism. Morally, we don’t have a choice."

#zionism

[jewishconvertthings]

How to Immediately Ingratiate Yourself in [Most] Jewish Communities

(*caveat that I'm an American, liberal Jew, so my experiences are not universal despite being common)

So you've just started going to shul and you're worried about fitting in with the congregation. Or, perhaps, you're moving out of the community you converted in and are worried about finding your place in a new community. Maybe you're switching shuls. Whatever the reason, you're starting in a new community and want to be accepted right away. Here are some tips for becoming a rapidly accepted fixture in the community:

If your community has a weekday minyan, go to minyan. That will show you who the real machers are in the community: the ones who make services happen regularly and who aren't shy about calling or texting people to get butts in seats. If you're Jewish, you might be Jew #10, the perennial hero of daveners everywhere. If not, you're communicating to them that possibility in the future. (No one was more excited for me to finish conversion than the minyan regulars.)

Okay but what if I'm a woman (or not halachicly male person) attending a non-egalitarian community? If it's liberal orthodox community and/or has a partnership minyan, I'd still consider going. I attended morning minyan at my Modern Orthodox shul for months before I completed my conversion because it was less awkward than going to the Conservative minyan and having to clarify that no, they still couldn't count me yet. (And I really liked the people and the post-minyan drash the rabbi would give.) They were actually delighted to have me holding up the women's side of the mechitza and welcoming in the occasional women who would come for a yahrzeit.

Do you have rhythm and/or are possessed of decently good coordination? Learn the cup song! [Tutorial] People will be very excited albeit potentially confused if it comes out that you didn't grow up going to Jewish summer camp. (I'd just tell them you saw the song on the internet and thought it looked fun.)

Are you musically talented or a semi-competant guitar player? Many communities would love to involve you in the songful parts of the service if you let leadership know.

In general, pay attention to what your community is always begging for volunteers for, especially things you can do as a non-Jew or not-quite-yet-Jew if that's your situation, and sign up for one or two things you think you'd be good at. I would say it's better to pick one thing and focus your energy on being THAT guy rather than trying to do a little of everything (voice of experience here.) Real life examples I can think of: being a greeter, arranging set-up for events, helping out with food prep such as kiddush or post-minyan bagels, running groceries to homebound congregants, delivering mishloach manot if your community does that, childcare or assisting with children's activities if you like kids, etc.

Put a fair amount of energy into remembering people's names and faces, and try to work out early who is related to whom. Bonus points if you can file away information about their lives that they tell you during your conversations with them.

If you're asked to do honors by the gabbai, try to say yes to anything you know how to do and are qualified to do halachicly. If you're not Jewish, many liberal communities will still let you open the ark or take a multi-person aliyah with someone who is Jewish, or have you read some of the contemporary English language prayers. Bonus points for if you are able to learn and perform hagbah (especially if you're left-handed/able to hagbah when the sefer Torah is heavy on the left side.)

Honestly, if you're between the ages of 18 - 35, most communities will be thrilled you're there and tripping over themselves to get you to come back. In combination with the above? You're their new best friend. If you are older than that or still a minor, they will still be very happy to have another friendly and helpful face, even if it's just that you regularly attend minyan.

Good luck and here's to becoming a beloved fixture in your new community!

#jewish convert things #convert advice #converting to judaism #jumblr

[seaswallovvme]

I see you wanted some request... May i suggest Baldwin laying his head on reader's lap and sharing a romantic moment? Maybe reader reading some poetry for Balwin and some soft kissses in his gloved hand. Just if you want, of course.

Have a nice day ♡

Shallows

A/N: This is inspired by the song “Shallows” by Daughter just in case you wanna listen to it! Also the poem is a shortened version of “Anim Zemirot” which is a Jewish liturgical poem. I thought it fit nicely cause often the love we share with others brings us closer to God and sometimes God reflects in other people to bring out the best in us🤍

The stifling Jerusalem heat was something she would surely never get used to.

She was born in a place far from the holy land, raised in a land that was so far she doubted she’d ever see it again.

A land where snow would fall and cover the mountains and endless meadows in a thick coating of white.

Sometimes she missed her home which now seemed impossibly far away, and everything in her new home couldn’t have been more different.

The first few months she had cried a lot, she had been homesick to a point where she could hardly eat, unsure about her fate of being the new queen of the kingdom of heaven.

It was such a heavy weight that lasted upon her shoulders at such a young age.

It was burden that threatened to crush her whenever she would wake in the mornings and yet, when she thought the sun would never rise for her again, a single ray of light made its way into her heart.

Her husband had always been so gentle and patient with her, coaxing her out of her shell when she shut herself away, bringing a small tray of her favourite cakes and spiced tea into her room.

He was so gentle, so kind and fair and so different from what her mother had told her about the ways of men.

He was exactly what a king should be and there had been so many before him, older and more experienced too but their glory faded in comparison to Baldwin.

She had never minded that he was sick, a part of her hoping he would leave her alone to lament his fate and yet she found herself to be pleasantly surprised when he didn’t.

It had taken time for her to get used to his presence and the duties that came with being a queen but she would have been a fool to keep him on a distance forever.

She simply couldn’t.

Not when he would sit by the side of her bed when she refused to leave her chambers for the first week, not when he would never raise his voice or have any demands other than to at least try to give this new life a chance.

A hour of him sitting on the edge of her bed had soon turned into more.

Spending the evenings playing chess or visiting the gardens at sundown, talking of books from lands far away, myths and stories or battles that had been fought long ago.

She simply couldn’t keep this gentle and soft-spoken young man at arms length.

One night however he didn’t come to her chambers.

She waited for the sun to set but even then, no trace of him.

Perhaps he had grown tired of her stubbornness.

Perhaps he had grown tired of her self pity?

And how could he not?

His fate was much more agonising than hers, his existence was a matter of life and death every day, only alive and breathing by the grace of god.

She felt like a fool to cause such an ordeal in front of the man who suffered each day, bearing his cross yet being so kind to her.

She was tossing at turning in her bed.

It was hot and the silken sheets that wrapped around her body so softly even felt too heavy at this point, too hot, too tight.

It was no use crying now, she decided chewing on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully while slowly climbing out of her bed.

The marble floor was pleasantly cold underneath her bare feet as she slipped through the darkened hallways of the palace, quiet as a cat, a burning candle in one hand a book in the other.

She knew the way to Baldwins chambers.

He had shown her on the first day she arrived, explaining she would be welcome at any time of day or night no matter the reasoning.

And this reasoning was very important, she was sure.

She would head inside and apologise.

She would apologise and ask if she could read to him the way he had read to her so often.

She would say how sorry she was for being so ignorant and selfish, how she was sure she would do her very best from now on to be a proper queen and wife.

However as soon as she knocked softly and slipped past the guards with an apologetic smile the words died in her throat.

His chambers were dimly lit by candles, a faint trace of sandal wood lingering in the air.

Here it was cooler than elsewhere in the palace, to help his weary lungs breathe.

He was laying in bed, on his back.

His hands were freshly bandaged, his face too now that he was not wearing a mask and she could smell the herbal ointments.

Quietly she stepped closer but still he noticed her, raising his head as his eyes widened and she was sure had never seen a man this worried in her life.

“I am so truly sorry I was not able to visit you my beautiful darling”

When he spoke she had to step even closer to hear his voice, so soft and quiet that it easily could have passed as a hushed wind.

“I have developed a fever, nothing grave yet my physicians refuse to let me leave my chambers” he explained, a sorrowful look on his face.

“I had sent for a servant to inform you about the situation..did no one tell you at all?”

In that moment all of her hesitance, fear and standoffish thoughts melted away and instead her heart soared with an unfamiliar feeling.

It had first started faintly in her stomach when he would offer her his arm in the gardens a while ago but this was a much more intense feeling.

So intense it almost hurt yet in such a strangely beautiful way and she could feel the tears stinging in her eyes.

“Please do not apologise..it is I who should tell you how sorry I am” her voice was a mere whisper, strained and she licked her lips to wet them before slowly climbing into his bed, so careful not to hurt him.

She looked up, facing the guards by the door.

“Please leave us”

She rarely ever addressed them but now she did, her timid voice so loud against the quiet of his chambers that it nearly startled her.

Baldwin seemed curious by the way she was behaving and even more so when she spoke again as soon as the guards had left and closed the heavy door behind them.

“I want to apologise” she started quietly but her voice got more sure the more she spoke.

“I want to apologise for having been so difficult when I know you are feeling much worse than I. I have never wanted to be a burden to you or make your days more difficult than they are already”

When she had first started talking she avoided his gaze but now she looked at him, truly, for the first time ever and despite the fact she could only see his eyes she knew underneath the bandages he was smiling.

“An angel sent from heaven could never be a burden to me” he whispered back, reaching out to place his bandages hand on hers so very softly.

Her vision became blurry with tears and yet she smiled, gently squeezing his hand back and oh how she thanked the almighty to have given her a husband as gentle and righteous as hers.

She slipped underneath the covers, nuzzling into him hoping he could forgive her but the way he held her close made her feel like there was nothing to forgive at all.

After a short while they had settled in comfortably and now it was her turn to return all the affection, love and care he had showered her with in the last few weeks.

His head was heavy, resting in her lap and his eyes were shut as she gently traced her fingers over his bandages face, every now and then raising his hand to her lips to kiss it.

A fever was always worse at night but she hoped her presence would bring him at least a small sense of comfort, even if it was the least she could do.

Her plan however seemed to work just fine, his breathing slower, less laboured and his limbs had relaxed, his free arm wrapped around her as if he were scared she would leave.

She wouldn’t, never again.

“Would you like me to read to you? I finished one of the books you gifted me and when I read one poem I was reminded of you” she admitted, somewhat glad the dimly lit room disguised the flushing cheeks that came with how she hated herself emotionally.

She wasn’t worried he would make fun of her though, he never had made her feel uncomfortable and now it was on her to make him feel just as safe.

His response was a faint nod and a whisper, his blue eyes opening and he looked at her with so much adoration that she could feel her heart ache once more

“Yes please..”

She was eager to comply, not wasting a second she straightened up a little, opening the book she had brought, flipping through the pages until she found what she had been looking for.

With care she tilted the book in a way for the torches on the walls to hit the paper in a way that would make it possible for her to read.

When she did, her voice was quiet and she made no pause, only rubbing his hand through the bandages.

The way he squeezed her hand back made her stomach flutter, sure that he could feel her touch.

“Melodies I weave, songs I sweetly sing;
longing for Your Presence, to You I yearn to cling.

In Your shelter would my soul delight to dwell,
to grasp Your mystery, captured by Your spell.

Thus I glorify You in speech as in song,
declaring with my love: to You do I belong.

The scope of your greatness and he marvel of Your strength
are reflected in Your actions all described at length.

Youth and force in battle, old age on judgment day;
like a seasoned warrior, with strength He clears the way.

He wears triumph as a helmet on His head,
His power and holiness have stood Him in good stead.

May my prayer rise to the Creator of the miracle of birth,
Master of beginnings whose might and justice fill the earth.

May You find sweet and pleasing my prayer and my songs;
my soul goes out in yearning, for You alone it longs.”

Silence stretched out near torturously when she had finished reading and neither of them said a word.

She felt embarrassed all of the sudden, awkward having read a poem filled with devotion and yearning such as this, both for him and for God but when she looked down into his face all of those feelings faded.

His eyes were open, glossy with adoration and a sheer layer of tears and she could have sworn she had never seen a sight this beautiful.

No matter the illness, no matter the bandages and physical fragility that seemed to drain him, none of that could take his beauty away.

His voice broke when he spoke and she was so taken aback it took her a moment to recognise his words were a quote from the poem she had read

“..declaring with my love: to You do I belong..this poem is about the Lord is it not?”

She smiled faintly, shutting the book as she placed it down on the small table next to the bed.

“It is..it reminded me of you. Of how brave and good you are and I cannot help but feel as if the Lord wanted us to cross paths. Your love turns me into a better person Baldwin. When I am with you I feel as close to him as I have ever felt before”

His hand squeezed hers just a little tighter and he took a deep breath before he continued

“Sometimes I cannot comprehend the Heavenly Father and his mysterious ways. I used to think my illness was a way for him to punish me, scorn me for my sins but how could I ever doubt his justness, his everlasting grace and love when he granted me the time I get to spend with you?”

#PLEASE be nice to me😭 #i’m sensitive #and this is my first piece of writing of him #I really hope you like it #baldwin iv #kingdom of heaven #king baldwin iv

[shivadh]

It's not really in the spirit of the lighthearted romance genre, but every so often I want to write a story in the Shivadhverse that's about one of the kings passing on to the next king the weird covert stuff you occasionally just have to do as a working politician. Canonically, though I haven't put it in the books anywhere, Fons-Askaz was a neutral ground where Meetings That Never Happened could take place during the cold war, but I also step very carefully around that kind of thing because "A Jewish politician secretly mediating a peace treaty" can spill over into "Secretly Jews run the world" very, very quickly.

But I was listening to a podcast about Nicolae Ceaușescu this morning and it was talking about how basically, he ransomed Romania's Jewish population for spending cash -- if Romanian Jews wanted to immigrate out of the country there was a visa fee, which Ceaușescu then took and used on shopping sprees outside of Romania, a cash-low socialist country at the time. There is a reason the podcast about him is called Behind The Bastards.

Most of the Jews leaving Romania were heading to Israel, which paid the fees to get them out. Still, I can't shake the idea of Jason introducing Michaelis to the more dangerous side of the job by taking him, around age 15 or 16, to a nighttime meeting at the country's one tiny airstrip (purportedly abandoned since WWII) to greet a small aircraft with a handful of undocumented Jewish-Romanian immigrants on board, to welcome them to Askazer-Shivadlakia and give them their new papers as citizens.

"We can't pay the fees, but we can get a few out at a time, illegally. Generally small aircraft flown by volunteer pilots. You asked about the budget line-item for keeping up the old airstrip, and this is why."

"How often do you do this?"

"A few times a year. Sometimes they're only passing through, but they still need papers. Most stay -- there are farmers in dairy country that take them in, until they can get on their feet."

"But you don't have to meet the plane yourself. You could sign the papers and have someone else deliver them, if you wanted."

"I could, but I want to meet them. I want them to know I'm here, that the man holding the highest office in the country cares about their safety. Someday you may have to pass this on to whoever follows you as king. It's important that you pass on the values, not just the actions. So we go and look them in the eye as we give them their new life."

On the one hand, the good thing is that Gregory was born after Ceaușescu fell from power, so this particular tradition doesn't have to be passed on. But I would imagine Askazer-Shivadlakia might still have need of a small covert immigration program of some kind, and sooner or later Gregory's going to have to take Joan with him and teach her that the king goes and looks his new citizens in the eye as he gives them their identity papers.

#random ideas #short stories #jason michaelis #michaelis ben jason

[beautiful-basque-country]

Hi!

Do you know if there's any Jewish history in EH? There are a lot of old (pre-Inquisition) Jewish buildings/art in Spain, Catalonia, and Portugal, but I'm not sure if there are EH. I'm just curious, since I've learned a lot about Jewish life in Spain before the Inquisition, but never about Jewish life in EH, if there even was any.

Thank you!

Kaixo and thanks for your message!

Of course there's Jewish history in EH! In Gipuzkoa there never was a big community, as well as in Araba, with the exception of Guardia. In Bizkaia, Balmaseda was the biggest center for Jews, but sadly they were forcibly expelled around 40 years prior to the expulsion from Castile. Jewish people flourished mainly in the southern side of Nafarroa in Muslim times: there were thriving Jewish communities in Lizarra, Tutera, Tafalla, even Iruña.

Luckily this didn't change after the Reconquista! Jewish people were mainly merchants and moneylenders - profession banned for Christians - and they would work with peasants and nobility alike. They were also wine makers, and this wine was very much appreciated not only in the kingdom of Navarre, but also in Aragón and Castile. Navarrese kings supported Jewish communities and welcomed any Jew from other region.

There's a tragic but moving story about this time. The Jewish community of Gasteiz was forced to leave, but they agreed to hand over their cemetery to the city on the condition of respect the ground and don't build on it. The promise was respected for 460 years until 1952, when Jewish representatives agreed with the town hall that the ground was available for any use. Nowadays, it's a park with this monument to Jewish people. The neighborhood is called Judimendi, "the mountain of Jewish people".

In fact, when the kingdom of Castile ordered the expulsion of Jews from Castile, most of them moved to the kingdom of Navarre. But after the conquest by Castile in 1512, Jews and Muslims were effectively expelled from their home. Most of them didn't go too far, just across the border, to Baiona.

Baiona welcomed Basque, Spanish and Portuguese Jews, gathering a very important community that led to call the town the little Jerusalem at one time. There's a much modern legacy there than south the border, for example, there's still a functioning synagogue.

After the French revolution, Jews were reocgnised the same rights and duties than any other French, so they kept their businesses and in Baiona, many of them devoted themselves to chocolate - still one of the best in Europe, I must add.

But during WW2 and nazi occupation, maaaany of these Jewish people were captured and led to extermination camps. The community didn't die, though, and they welcomed a new wave of Jewish refugees in the 60s due to the French-Algerian war.

René Cassin, one of the fathers of the Declaration of Human Rights, was a Jew from Baiona, btw.

Nowadays in Euskadi there are just around 300 Jews, while in Iparralde this figure is bigger but not super high (just around ~3,000 in the whole Aquitaine).

#euskal herria #basque country #pays basque #pais vasco #euskadi #jewish history #jews #history #sefarad

[beta-lactam-allergic]

So another new experience in Aotearoa. I went to a small Shabbat service for the first time (for anyone who hasn't read my previous posts, I'm not Jewish, but I decided to learn a bit more about Jewish culture).

I told the others there that I wasn't Jewish & was just trying to learn. They were really welcoming & really nice & let me try their gefilte fish & challah bread. Turns out that both gefilte fish & challah bread tastes really, really nice. To be polite I also drank the wine, first alcoholic drink I have ever touched in 30 years of life. Turns out that I don't like the taste the wine.

So thankful to them for letting me, an outsider take part. It was an educational & actually enjoyable experience.

#jumblr #goy learns jewish stuff #i am a goy #shabbat #gefilte fish #challah bread #aotearoa

[the1975attheirverybest]

Palestine Readings And Resources

The following is a list of resources that includes books, articles, websites, and nonprofits to help you get educated and/or involved in action pertaining to the Palestinian genocide. I originally compiled this list for personal purposes, to use in my own local communities. Since it's been an unbelievably grim and never-ending shit-show on the blog for the past 5 weeks, I now feel compelled to make this list public on here in the hopes that it might benefit someone.

Please be aware:

This post is NOT an invitation for you to treat me as your token Palestinian friend, personal educator, or woke police taskforce. Grow your own moral spine.

This list was originally compiled shortly after October 7. It has, as of the writing of this post, been 163 days. A LOT has happened since. Therefore, this list is not exhaustive.

New ways to get educated and involve have since materialized, and, indeed, new ones materialize everyday. Do your own due diligence and decide what shape your engagement is going to take.

I am using my own specific expertise and skill sets as a scholar and educator of Literature and Philosophy to populate this list. Therefore, naturally, a lot of what you will find on here is geared towards educating and raising awareness about the historical, socio-political, philosophical and cultural underpinnings of this genocide and how its reflected in art.

If you are looking for more practical resources, find activist spaces in your local communities.

This List Contains

Non-fiction books about Palestine

Fiction novels by palestinian authors

educational web resources

Documentary

organizations to donate to

BOOKS

A. non-fiction

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine (written by a Palestinian-American literary critic and critical theorist)

Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine (written by a a Palestinian scholar and historian)

A Land With A People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism (anthology)

Ghassan Kanafani, On Zionist Literature (written by a Palestinian novelist and political activist)

Noura Erakat, Justice For Some: Law and the question of Palestine (written by a Palestinian-American activist and legal scholar)

B. Fiction and Poetry

Susan Abulhawa, Against The Loveless World

Etaf Rum, Evil Eye

Mahmood Darwish, A River Dies Of Thirst

Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

WEB RESOURCES

Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network

BuildPalestine

If you are a teacher looking to educate about Palestine,

DOCUMENTARY

Gaza’s Fight For Freedom (2019) Directed By Abby Martin

ORGANIZATIONS TO DONATE TO

The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)

The Palestinian American Medical Association

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Jewish Orgs (specifically helpful for anti-zionist jewish conversations and advocacy)

Jewish Voice For Peace:

We envision a world where all people — from the U.S. to Palestine — live in freedom, justice, equality, and dignity.Like generations of Jewish leftists before us, we fight for the liberation of all people. We believe that through organizing, we can and will dismantle the institutions and structures that sustain injustice and grow something new, joyful, beautiful, and life-sustaining in their place...more here.

2. Jews For Justice For Palestine. Click here.

#palestine #gaza #gaza resources #free palestine #books #education

[devilofthepit]

and while i'm at it here's a buffy theory reading list

Slayage: The International Journal of Buffy+

Articles:

"Buffy and the 'New Girl Order': Defining Feminism and Femininity" by Elana Levine

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: An Introduction" by Rhonda V. Wilcox

"Power Girl/Girl Power: The Female Action Hero Goes to High School (A Review of the Television Show Buffy the Vampire Slayer)" by Jacqueline Reid-Walsh with Krista Walsh

"'Hot Chicks with Superpowers': The Contested Feminism of Joss Whedon" by Lauren Schultz

"Female Heterosexual Sadism: The Final Feminist Taboo in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series" by Carol Siegel (for the life of me i can't remember where i found this and when i emailed the author she wouldn't send it to me lol)

"Kinky Vampires and Action Heroines" by Jeffrey A. Brown

“‘Solving Problems with Sharp Objects’: Female Empowerment, Sex and Violence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” by Gwyn Symonds

"The Epistemological Stakes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Television Criticism and Marketing Demands" by Amelie Hastie

Haven't read these so take them with a grain of salt but they look promising:

"From Beneath You, It Foreshadows: Why Buffy’s First Season Matters" by David Kociemba

"Buffy the Post-Anarchist Vampire Slayer" by Lewis Call

"(Un)safe Sex: Romancing the Vampire" by Karen Backstein

"Welcome to the Hellmouth: Paradoxical Spaces in Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

"Bibliographic Good vs. Evil in Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by GraceAnne A. DeCandido

"The Clothes Make the Fan: Fashion and Online Fandom When Buffy the Vampire Slayer Goes to eBay" by Josh Stenger

"'Hey, Respect the Narrative Flow Much?': Problematic Storytelling in Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by Richard S. Albright

"Dead, White, Male: Irishness in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel" by Gerardine Meaney

"'That Was Nifty': Willow Rosenberg Saves the World in Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by Matthew Pateman (this looks at Buffy from a Jewish studies perspective which i haven't seen much!!!)

Books:

Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan by Lorna Jowett

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale edited by James B. South

The Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media by Dawn Heinecken (not exclusively focused on Buffy but the chapter on Buffy is very good)

I hope to keep updating this as I remember/find more!!

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #horror

[the-catboy-minyan]

•._~°• WELCOME •°~_.•

Shalom, come in, enjoy your stay, and please kiss the Meow-zuzah on your way in~

✨ Quick Introduction: ✨

you can call me Noam, I'm a queer Mizrahi/Ashkenazi Jew who was born and raised in Israel🇮🇱.

my pronouns are whatever the fuck you want to use for me ✨

my agab is a mystery oooo~ (stop assuming I'm afab lmao, you think you're hurting me by assuming I have tits? I love tits)

I'm not a historian and I have no obligation to educate you. I'm a guy with a blog, that's it. I don't make "educational" posts, only reblog posts I agree with and am confident enough in their validity. I'm not uneducated, but I'm not good at teaching. go harass someone else's inbox.

I'm a (former) activist for Palestinian rights in real life, I stopped being an activist for Pikuach Nefesh reasons, but my beliefs haven't changed. I still believe in Palestinian rights and a two state solution.

btw blogging is not activism lmao.

✡️ Am Yisrael Chai ✡️

🟦 Stop Jewish Hate 🟦

🎗️ Bring Them Home Now 🎗️

השמאלני המסריח שהזהירו אתכם ממנו

דיזינגוף מחזיקים את המשכורת שלי בשבי 🥺

זין על ביבי, זין על חמאס, זין על צהל, סמוטריץ' ובן גביר תזדיינו (ביחד (love wins))

❗Regarding Zionism:❗

I talked about my interpretations and beliefs of Zionism multiple times and they're very complicated, but tldr I'm a non-zionist, I agree with some points of liberal(?) zionism and I'm very much anti Netanyahu and anti Likud.

DNI lists are literally useless but like DNI if your first instinct when seeing a potentially zionist Jew is to send death threats, or if your first response to seeing a potentially pro palestinian Jew is to send death threats, please and thank you :)

disclaimer for the millionth time: this is an anonymous vent blog. it's not a news source and it's not activism. if I make a claim without an attached source it's based on personal experience or my memory, so take it with a grain of salt. don't come to me for a history lesson. please correct me if I'm wrong, but do so politely.

#pinned post #catboys your jumblr

[eretzyisrael]

Good News From Israel

In the 4th Feb 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Kibbutz Be’eri re-opened its printing press 3 days after the Hamas attack.

Thanks to Israeli tech, a totally paralyzed woman is “virtually” cured.

The first Arab Israeli delegation to visit Auschwitz.

Lab-cultivated coffee cuts water used in production by 98%.

An Israeli startup delivers the world’s first fully electronic truck.

Israelis win international gold medals in ice hockey and fencing.

An embassy for indigenous people is to open in Jerusalem.

Read More: Good News From Israel

Israel’s resilience in the wake of the Oct 7 onslaught has astounded many of its overseas supporters and opponents alike. Israel is making an astonishing comeback, as this week’s positive newsletter highlights.   On the Jewish New Year for trees, JNF-USA volunteers planted thousands of trees at the site of the devastated NOVA music festival. Israel’s largest printing press resumed operation 3 days after Hamas overran the kibbutz. The IDF brought back a tractor stolen by Hamas on Oct 7 from Gaza to its kibbutz owners. Wounded IDF soldiers are being brought back to health thanks to heroic rescues, surgeons using hi-tech medical technology, and empathic volunteers providing rehabilitation, respite, and emotional support.   Aside from the war, Israeli medical technology brought back the ability to communicate to a paralyzed Israeli woman. And an Israeli startup won an international award for regrowing human bone tissue. Meanwhile, two initiatives are restoring trust between Israeli Jews and Arabs.   Israelis are helping the USA bring its aging power grid back to life; and an Israeli startup is recycling waste into fashion products. Israel’s economy is certainly coming back, and a new Resilience fund is helping war-impacted startups make a comeback. Meanwhile El Al is increasing its flights to bring back tourists and to encourage international business.   The warm winter and welcome rains have brought back color into Jerusalem’s streets; Israel’s ice hockey team came back from being banned from a tournament, to winning all its 5 games; and Israel just celebrated the 20th anniversary of its greatest ecological comeback – the rehabilitation of the Hula Valley.   Finally, "they will all come to Jerusalem" – as the world gradually recognizes that the Jewish People have come back to their ancestral homeland, the Indigenous peoples of the world have opened an embassy in Jerusalem. The photo is of the Netanya offices of Elbit Systems, which has helped Israel make a fighting comeback.

#3D printer #Arabs #Auschwitz #Christian #coffee #Druze #El Al #Gaza #good news #Hamas #hockey #IDF #Israel #Jerusalem #Jewish #JNF #kibbutz #Qatar #renewable energy #tomatoes

[softdedue]

I remember as a boy asking my father about the conflict in Israel and my father—who is a world expert on international relations, who has literally written the textbook on these sorts of genocides, who never shies away from a discussion—told me: we don’t talk about that. It’s complicated. Being a child, I listened.

I went away to college, to a good Jewish school, trying to reconnect to my roots. I asked my Rabbi: what is so complicated about the conflict in Israel? And he said, we don’t talk about that, it is too complicated. Not being a scholar of such things, I listened.

I asked my friend, a political sciences major who was studying to one day become a rabbi themself: why is it that no one will speak about Israel? And they said, it is complicated. You are German; would you like it if everyone who walked up to you asked you your opinion on Hitler? And I thought, that is no answer at all.

And then I moved to Tigard, and I met Muna, who would become a mother to me in many ways. “Habibi,” she would say. “Can you come download this new app for me? My daughter wants to play some new game.” And we went from working together to caring for each other, and I met her family—few enough of them blood, but built together out of the shared experience of coming here to this hostile country that did not like their scarves and their prayer and their accents. My Arabic is poor, and heavily accented, but the fact that I knew any at all—and wanted to learn more from her, and was willing to listen—was enough to get her to welcome me in, and we had known each other for less than a year when she began to tell me stories of home.

My Muna was born in Jerusalem, and she immigrated here when her daughter was only five years old, trying to escape the constant bombs. Every single day of the Israeli occupation she was afraid for her life, and her family’s lives, and they were the lucky ones: they got out, and they came here, and she and her husband had been able to find work and support their family in spite of all the prejudice they faced. Many of their loved ones were not so lucky. She couldn’t tell me how many people she knew who had died, and that was before the current conflict.

I knew then that it had never truly been “complicated”. The plight of my people is complicated, yes, and it always has been, but that has never—and will never—give any of us the right to displace other innocent people from their homes in the name of claiming some sort of god-ordained holy land. “God said we could have it” has never been a rightful claim for anyone. Jewish people across the world have been blinded and misled by Israeli propaganda, as have others of all religions, but it truly is just that: propaganda.

I stand with justice. I stand with freedom. I stand with Palestine.

#free Palestine #palestine #this is okay to reblog if you want! #politics

[copperbadge]

I'm very much a mix-and-match kind of guy so I've been acquiring the various objects necessary for a Jewish life in fits and starts. A lot of it is vintage or thrift rather than new or, uh, what some would call appropriate. (My havdalah box is a small decorative kitchen canister from the 1960s that I've filled with dried spices and herbs from my garden.)

I'd just been using a mug for Kiddush, but last time I was at Randolph Street Market the Judaica Guy was there and he had two gorgeous cups. This one didn't have a price; the other one was $95 because it was silver, and also it wasn't nearly as nice as this one. After I picked this one up to check for a price he asked if I was looking for a Kiddush cup and I said "They're gorgeous but out of my budget" and he said "Well, the silver-plate one is only twenty" and so now I have a proper Kiddush cup!

[ID: A photograph of a small silver-plated cup, used for welcoming Shabbat, sitting on my kitchen table; it has a motif of grapes and grape leaves deeply engraved into the outer bowl of the cup, and a base with little decorative filigrees around the rim.]

#judaica #kiddush #shabbat

[beardedmrbean]

Wait wait wait, people said Jewish people should go back to Poland?

Wasn’t there a certain camp that basically the only one that you think of when talking about the Holocaust due to the arm numbering?

Oh right

AUSCHWITZ, YOU WANT JEWISH PEOPLE GO BACK TO THE CENTERPIECE OF THE FUCKING HOLOCAUST?!

In 6th grade, I read The Devil's Arithmetic, and before the girl went back to the past. One of Jewish elders said it was miracle one of family members was born in America

Yes despite our rampant antisemitism (though now it cause by pro Palestine people now) several Jewish people would prefer living in America vs in the old world

AAAAAH, A FUCKING 2012 UBISOFT GAME SHOULD’NT GIVE ME A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF COLONIAL AND 20 CENTURY IMMIGRATION TO THE NEW WORLD THAN COLLEGES

Ugh, but anyways, the game pointed out a lot of persecuted people in the old world were FLEEING to the Americas for a better life and the hell it was

Theory of mine, I think the creation of modern Israel as part of the aftermath of the Holocaust is left out in our education system not to piss off arab nations who fund it.

(Probably Arabs love leaving out that a lot of Nazis went to their countries to escape persecution as well)

For about nine years this fall, I was called a Nazi apologist for preferring an evil space wizard.

Yet as I type, I for some reason understand the plight of descendants of Holocaust survivors more despite working at a Amazon warehouse and have a HS diploma only

What the fuck is going on?

Wait wait wait, people said Jewish people should go back to Poland? AUSCHWITZ, YOU WANT JEWISH PEOPLE GO BACK TO THE CENTERPIECE OF THE FUCKING HOLOCAUST?!

Before WWII there were 3.3 million Jews living in Poland, after the dust settled there was 380,000. Nearly 90% of the Jews in Poland died as a result of WWII, and some of them weren't welcome back home after they'd been freed from the camps, all kinds of reasons for that but it's not like Poland was terribly welcoming.

Communism thing to deal with too, behind the iron curtain wasn't super safe for Jewish folks either. Double bad given the Antisemitism baked directly into communism.

In 6th grade, I read The Devil's Arithmetic, and before the girl went back to the past. One of Jewish elders said it was miracle one of family members was born in America Yes despite our rampant antisemitism (though now it cause by pro Palestine people now) several Jewish people would prefer living in America vs in the old world

We've done better here in the US than lots of places on that, or I'd thought we had till all this started up, did get a preview of what was in store a few years back after Israel kicked some squatters out of a home that had been purchased while the place was a province of the Ottoman Empire.

AAAAAH, A FUCKING 2012 UBISOFT GAME SHOULD’NT GIVE ME A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF COLONIAL AND 20 CENTURY IMMIGRATION TO THE NEW WORLD THAN COLLEGES

They have to break down complicated things into simple easy to understand bits of knowledge, it's handy and a good jumping off point since it's not overly complicated usually.

Ugh, but anyways, the game pointed out a lot of persecuted people in the old world were FLEEING to the Americas for a better life and the hell it was

That was one of the reasons several of the colonies and settlements happened starting at the begining

Theory of mine, I think the creation of modern Israel as part of the aftermath of the Holocaust is left out in our education system not to piss off arab nations who fund it.

there wasn't a lot about it when I was in school and the anti Israel sentiment hadn't gotten anywhere near where it is now then, but there might be something to that.

Also only so much time to teach, so that gets in the way too.

For about nine years this fall, I was called a Nazi apologist for preferring an evil space wizard. Yet as I type, I for some reason understand the plight of descendants of Holocaust survivors more despite working at a Amazon warehouse and have a HS diploma only

We did the whole thing with Louis Armstrong and the family that kinda took him in and taught him a bunch of different Jewish Lithuanian songs, made enough of a impact on him that he wore a Star of David on a necklace his whole life.

'Met these nice white people and it confused me that they were treated the same way black people were by their fellow white people'

You'd think there would be some kind of solidarity there from the two groups, and there was for a good long while here.

What the fuck is going on?

That would be this for lots of people

Chuggin that flavor aid

#zoomer huey anon

[gay-jewish-bucky]

The Rogers-Barnes Seder Plate: Finding Yourself in Tradition and Forging New Ones

The plate itself is lovingly hand painted by Steve under the careful guidance of his Jewish husband, Bucky.

The Traditional Seder Plate

Karpas – Greens (often parsley) In Tradition: When dipped in salt water, is symbolic of the tears shed by the Israelites while enslaved in Egypt. For S+B: Also represents regrowth and putting down new roots as we embrace the second chance we've been given at life.

Marror and Charzet – Bitter Herbs (often horse radish & lettuce) In Tradition: Symbolic of the bitterness of Egyptian slavery. For S+B: Also represents the bitterness of the ableism and antisemitism we have faced.

Charoset – Mortar (a mix of apple, nuts, spices & wine) In Tradition: Symbolizes the mortar used by Israelite slaves to build Egyptian structures. For S+B: Also represents the sweetness of us building a life together.

Zeroa – Shank Bone In Tradition: Symbolic of the sacrifice made on the eve of the exodus from Egypt. For S+B: Also represents the sacrifices we have made to survive and to do what is right.

Matzot In Tradition: Symbolic of the bread eaten by the Israelites after leaving Egypt, unleavened because their bread had no time to rise. S+B: Also represents us living through the Great Depression and learning to make the best of what we have.

Zeroa – Shank Bone In Tradition: Symbolic of the sacrifice made on the eve of the exodus from Egypt. For S+B: Also represents the sacrifices we have made to survive and to do what is right.

Beitzahv – Roasted Egg In Tradition: Symbolic of Passover sacrifices made at the Temple. For S+B: Also represents the symbolic end of our old lives in the 20th century and our rebirths into the 21st century.

New Traditions

The Orange – LGBTQ+ Jews The bitter seeds, which are spit out, represent denouncing the bitterness of homophobia, while the sweet and abundant Juice represents the fruitfulness for all Jews when queer Jews are embraced and welcomed as contributing and active members of Jewish life.

Artichoke – Interfaith Families The petals of the artichoke represent the diversity and beauty of the Jewish people, the thistles represent the traditional hesitance towards intermarriage.

When the thistles are softened, we find the heart of the artichoke, this represents us opening our hearts and embracing interfaith families within the Jewish community.

The Star Fruit – Bucky's Personal Exodus The unique shape of the fruit's flesh represents the star on the titanium prosthetic that replaced his flesh arm.

The juice of the star fruit is both sweet and tart. The tartness symbolizes the decades he spent in bondage, the struggle of healing from physical and mental trauma.

The sweetness symbolizes the miracle of his survival, the love that liberated him from HYDRA, the power of reclaiming control of his own mind, the beauty and joy of recovery, his innocence for the crimes of his captors, as well as symbolizing the home he has built with the man who whose love brought him back to himself.

#Jewish Holiday Writings - Pesach #marvel #mcu #stevebucky #stucky #jewish!bucky #jewish!bucky barnes #jewish bucky #jewish bucky barnes #steve rogers #steven grant rogers #bucky barnes #james bucky barnes #bucky #james buchanan barnes #shoah mention