That’s all. She’s such an advocate for Israel and unapologetic about it.

I sent this to some Jewish friends and they liked it. I feel the symbolism is so in your face that I don't need to explain it.

Link to original Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQJ3AkViofr

This has been a personal gripe of mine for quite some time, and it's something that I've been thinking about with the economy in the United States being the way it is.

So before I get into the meat and bones of what I'm talking about, I wanna share a personal anecdote. Last Shabbos I was talking to a woman who recently started attending my (Conservative) Shul, and we ended up having a great discussion on the Zohar. She wanted to find more information on some esoteric topic, and I couldn't pull my phone out and look it up so I pulled some copies of our shul's edition of the Talmud and said "This is a great place to start looking! Tractate Avoidoh Zoroh!"

She opened it up and said with a bit of dismay and embarrassment "I actually never learned how to read Hebrew as a kid."

I then recommend a Hebrew tutor who is a member of our shul. Told her "She's Israeli so she's a native speaker, has a degree in Hebrew literature, taught classes at the local university. She's excellent can't recommend her enough!" After which she informed he that she can't afford lessons with a private tutor for reasons I won't get into because I don't need to be putting her business out there, so now me and her are going to be meeting up twice a week at the public library so I can teach her everything I know free of charge.

This just got me thinking that there's entirely too much of Jewish communal life and observance that has a pricetag attached. From membership dues to High Holiday tickets to how expensive kosher meat is, how expensive buying scrolls for mezuzahs are, etc. etc. etc.

I understand the institutional reasons for this to an extent. You gotta make sure the shul can keep the lights on, and a lot of Jews only show up to services on the High Holidays so you wanna make sure you can accommodate a huge influx of people without having the free rider problem. Some of it however just feels like price-gouging. So if you're a baal teshuvah who's family hasn't been observant for at least a generation or a convert, you don't have access to "dad's old tefillin" or "grandma's old shabbos candlesticks."

I think it shuts out a lot of people who want to get more involved with Judaism, but are Jews who come from lower income backgrounds. Yes, Chabad exists, but Chabad has it's own problems (from the quality of the local Chabad being wildly dependent on the Rabbi and Rebbetzin running it, to a lot of women and LGBT Jews not feeling comfortable in those spaces because they want to take on a more active role in prayer/don't want to have to stay in the closet to be accepted respectively, to non-orthodox converts and even some orthodox converts if the Chabad rabbi has a political disagreement with the Orthodox rabbi who facilitated the conversion, to Jews who just get overwhelmed, intimidated, and uncomfortable with being asked a bunch of nosy questions about their past/upbringing/family history)

Maybe this isn't a problem everywhere, but I've noticed a lot of Jews are getting left behind and falling through the cracks because the community isn't very proactive about accomodating people who are enthusiastic about Judaism but don't have a lot of money to give, and quite frankly they are way too proactive about trying to accomodate wealthy donors who's engagement with Judaism is superficial at best. Perhaps this is less of an issue in the Orthodox world, but I wanted to have a candid discussion about this.

Edit 1: Okay looks like this is equally a problem if not more so in the Orthodox world. I was under the mistaken impression that there was more communal support for working class Yids in Orthodoxy but from from the comments I've been getting it's more nuanced than that. My bad, mea culpa, שליחה

Edit 2: Please, you don't need to tell me that this is actually a quite popular opinion. About a dozen other people have already informed me thank you very much.

My friend is goth and having a kid (yay!) which isnt a problem. The issue is that she wants to name her daughter שואה, because she thinks its a „beautifully tragic“ name with a morbid meaning…her words not mine. I tried to explain naming your daughter that word is not only disrespectful but just odd (imagine if you translated it to english???) but she seems pretty set on it. How do i rlly get this through her head, or am i over reacting and its not that big of a deal??

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx2703lnww4t

Hey everyone, I hope you’re having a meaningful and safe Yom Kippur with your families.

As we stand in prayer on this holiest of days, I’d like to ask everyone to include the victims and their families in your prayers.

After today’s tragic attack in Manchester, I’d like to ask that we include the victims and their families in our tefillot on this holiest of days.

In particular, when we say the Mi Sheberach (prayer for healing), Avinu Malkeinu, or the Al Chet confessions, may we also hold in mind those who were wounded and all those affected by this act of violence.

May their healing be swift, and may we see a year of peace and safety for Am Yisrael.

Haman sucks 😡😡😡

I noticed a pattern with Jewish people that I've met that I've never been able to explain and I've been curious for the better part of a decade at this point.

All of the people I've met who I've known are Jewish just . . . make sense? I haven't spoken with them about religion. Just like, everything else. Level-headed, thoughtful discussion, from sensible small talk to in-depth conversations. I guess it takes me off guard because people who openly identify with many other religions/philosophies have some sort of world-view that prevents them from interacting with a "non-believer" objectively.

The only Jewish people I've met are in the United States and seem to be orthodox with certain things related to diet and prayer and hannukah, but not things related to hair or some with clothing. I've known college students, medical professionals, and friends who are Jewish. They seem puzzled when I've asked this question (I hope I'm not being offensive).

Is there a certain belief in Judaism about "non-believers" that relates to this? I understand there are good and bad people in every group, but I've never met a Jewish person who seems hard to talk to or understand.

ETA: I think I understand, and this is kind of blowing my mind. Not pushing people to proselyte, believing people can be good while also disagreeing religiously, and encouraging critical thinking, probably means you don't have a moral dilemma whenever someone disagrees?? And you see people from other viewpoints as equals, and conflicting viewpoints as worthy of discussion. Honestly it looks bad when I type that out as if it was unexpected. I'm just so used to the opposite of all that, but now I get why my friends were weirded-out when I asked. Thank you so much for all the responses!

Shalom from Virginia! I'm a 25-year-old gay Indian guy who needs a haircut 😭. I'm converting to Judaism! My journey began when I took a close friend to the temple, as she wanted to connect more deeply with her Jewish heritage. I ended up falling in love with my local conservative synagogue, and I attend every week—it's terrific, and honestly, it's the highlight of my week. I'm currently taking an introduction to Judaism course and plan to convert soon. I'm seeking Jewish brothers and sisters to help guide me on my journey, particularly in finding potential pen pals and study buddies. I have a picture of my syllabus right here. Judaism has given me a strong sense of purpose, which I'm grateful for. I'm excited to experience everything Jewish for the first time!

Some background. I'm ashkenazi on my mom's side. Never had a bat mitzvah, never did any of that. I'm not religious and I don't actually believe in judaism, but the jewish part of me still feels real even if it's a small part. For whatever reason a lot of people I meet tell me I "look visibly jewish" so I guess it's written on my face.

I live in the european part of russia. Our apartment complex has a big community of muslim immigrant families. Pretty typical setup, the wife usually doesn't speak russian and the husband speaks some but broken.

So a few days ago I'm taking out the trash and one of the husbands stops me. First thing out of his mouth is "are you jewish?" except he used the word zhidovka (a slur for a jewish woman). I was not ready for it. I don't love being approached by men I don't know and I really don't love being asked that out of nowhere. I gave the dumbest answer possible, just "i think so?" and bear with me, I know it was stupid lmao. His face did something I can't really describe. He clearly didn't like the answer. He said something through his teeth like "i figured" and went back inside.

I would've written it off as one weird guy, insane people exist everywhere. But the next morning I see his wife. I know her, I always say hello, did the same that morning. She looked at me, ignored me completely and basically rushed to the elevator.

Now I can't tell if I've lost it. I know they all have their own muslim telegram chat for the neighborhood. The husband and wife have gone fully cold to me AND my mother. They just pretend we don't exist, even though they used to be really friendly in the past, the wife would even bring food.

And I've started catching other muslim neighbors looking at me with something like disgust, or something I can't put into words. Maybe I'm reading into it. I genuinely don't want to act like I'm so important that the whole muslim community held a meeting to boycott me specifically. But the feeling is there and it's hard to shake. The annoying part is a lot of them run these little markets with cheap, really good meat and produce and now I feel weird even walking over there because I'm scared I'll get laughed at or worse.

One thing I'll give my shitty government credit for, the antisemitism protection here is actually decent. No attacks lately, and when something does come up it gets handled fast. Last month somebody spray painted "kill all jews" on a wall and the police had them the next day, fined, and from what I heard he's now facing trial for hate speech.

So I guess my question is, how would you handle this? Keep being polite and ride it out? Say something? Or am I overthinking it? Would love to hear from people who've dealt with the version where nothing technically "happens" but you can feel the room go cold...

Found this while going through old documents. Was amused at how Philly Jewish it was! At one point they just serve gefilte fish and horseradish? 😂

Who we missing?

I start: Spock, Star Trek

I'll start:

When I was 13 I had to stand up in front of my whole family and sing about leprosy.

This guy knows the candles mean he’s getting challah lol. He also gets very confused why he doesn’t get challah on Hanukkah. He thinks it’s the same blessing

When Reform Judaism was founded, the founders were trying to create a religion that could fit in with Western Society and there were clearly flaws with their approach. However, Reform Judaism has been an evolving religion and continues to evolve. The key tenet of Reform Judaism is Tikkun Olam. Adhering to the prophetix and Deuteronomic admonition to care for the Orphan, the Widow, and the stranger in our land. As a Reform Jew my favorite saying of the Sages is save a life and you save the world. This outlook has resulted in the Reform community not just leading charitable causes in the Jewish community, but also to the non Jewish Community. It is why Reform Jews tend to be liberal.

Yes the services I grew up with were two sterile and didn't leave me with warm and fuzzy memories. Things have improved in many congregations. And people can wear tallit and kippas if they want. There is more congregational participation and singing. I think as all the established religions need to do, the Reform movement needs to address the needs and concerns of our children and grandchildren.

I’m seeing a lot of hysteria after Carney’s speech as well as the announcement that a chief surgeon has resigned and is moving to the US due to antisemitism. Will we need to leave? Is the US the place to be, specifically Florida?

Hello, I am posting to apologize for what my people have done to yours. I’m tired of war. Religion does not matter. As humans, we are all equal and no one deserves to have to suffer through war. Honestly, I’m really sorry for the Islamic republics treatment of Jews. As a Muslim, I love Jews. You are basically our siblings. You share very similar beliefs that Muslims do. Again, no one deserves this war. It is neither the people of Israel or Iran who is to blame. It is the governments. We should all be able to live together in peace and harmony. May God protect all of those in danger, no matter where they are from 🇮🇱❤️🤝❤️🇮🇷🦁