Some of my favorite Hassidic Purim pictures

hassidic music goes so unbelievably hard..

im getting tired of seeing the most insane nazi conspiracy shit about the chabad tunnels all over elons twitter because its such a funny thing in itself. people who dont live here dont fucking understand that the hassidic jews just do crazy shit all the time. and its not a conspiracy theory cause everyone knows it. look this is new york

Jewish Song of the Day #57: Guf Venshama

Comments:

The algorithm delivered this one to me the other day, and y'all, I burst into tears listening to it. (But like, in a cathartic way)

I don't think I can explain the kavana behind the song better than the artist, so here are his comments:

The Single, 'Guf Venshama’ is the theme song from the first EP album that will be released in a few weeks. The song 'Guf Venshama’ deals with the spiritual connection and the common denominator of every Jew, the recitation of "Shema Yisrael". The song was written and composed by Avi Ohayon, arranged by Matan Dror, and accompanied by a sensitive and moving music video produced by 'OlamMedia'. David Fadida oversees managing the production.

Ever since Simchat Torah, a profound sense of upheaval has gripped millions of Jews globally, leaving them with a feeling of groundlessness. In the footage, the boundless anguish in their eyes is evident, yet amidst it all, one constant remains—the anchoring island of sanity for every Jew in any circumstance, at all times, and particularly in recent months. It is the act of covering their eyes and uttering the words of Shema Yisrael, akin to saying, "Like a lost child, I came back to You."

The album 'Guf Venshama’ marks the initiation of an expansive project comprising a series of EP albums scheduled for release in the coming months. Within each album, Shwekey will showcase an array of musical styles, spanning Hassidic, Israeli, and English genres, featuring captivating duets with various singers. The underlying theme of the project is the promotion of unity across all segments of the Jewish people, a sentiment artistically echoed in the music. Each album will boast its unique artistic direction, contributing collectively to form a comprehensive and harmonious musical mosaic.

"The goal of 'Guf Venshama’ is to make sure that there is no Jewish child anywhere in the world who does not know how to say 'Shema Yisrael'," says Yaakov Shwekey. "With this idea we started this project, and the challenging times that the Jewish people are going through now only strengthened the importance of this message."

We should also denote that the lines between Jewish movements are often not as hard and fast as people think (they're thinking of Christian Churches) where I grew up the Synagogue was nominally reform, but because it was the ONLY Synagogue for at least 100 miles everyone went and there were a fair number of people who maybe would have been Orthodox if the option was open. I imagine there are lots of Mod-Orthodox Synagogues across America that are very much the same, the one center of Jewish life in the area so everyone is caught and the temple is maybe a little flexible (as ours was) in style and ritual to accommodate people. Also "Orthodox" covers a lot of ground from Modern Orthodox, while we do really like him very much the only Orthodox Jew I can think of to serve in Congress was Joe Lieberman, a moderate to Conservative Democrat, to Hassidic and Haredi, and idk the numbers but those deeply conservative Communities I think are outnumbered seriously by the Mod-Orthodox who by and large look and act like any average Americans on the street and according to polling are split about 50-50 Democrat-Republican (vs overwhelming Democratic majorities among Reform and Conservative Jews in America)

this!!!!!!

Nice try. 

But NOBODY was calling Yusif Pasha Al Khalidi a “#Palestinian” in 1877. 

Let me fill in some other blanks for you.

To be clear, the Ottoman Empire was #Turkish, not #Arab.

Also, while #Herzl built #Zionism into the political powerhouse it became and was a focused, determined, genius who cared about saving his people and doing the actual job of state-building and planning, he was most definitely not the first person to just come up with the idea of Zionism – not even close.

First, Zionism is baked into the #Jewish soul – there has been a yearning to return to #Zion since Emperor Hadrian brought 12 Roman army legions from #Egypt, #Britain, #Syria, and areas of #Judea to finally put down the three-year Bar Kokhba Revolt (the Third Jewish Revolt against the Romans) in 135 CE – after which Hadrian was so embarrassed by the early Jewish victories that he murdered more than 1 million Jews, he outlawed the practice of #Judaism on pain of death, and he renamed our homeland “Syria Palestina” after our ancient, long-extinct enemies – the Aegean “sea people” known as the Philistines.

The Jewish yearning to return is why, ever since then, #Jews have always faced #Jerusalem when we pray, Jews have always said “Next Year in Jerusalem” at the end of every Seder on Passover, Jewish grooms stepped on and broke a glass to signify the destruction of the Temple and to remind us, even in happy times, that we are a scattered people, and it is why we would recite the Psalm, “If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning.”

Also, waves of Jews from Europe frequently made Aliyah and moved back home to Eretz #Israel over the years. For example, in 1211, a group of 300 #French and #English rabbis made Aliyah back to Israel. And more Jews from both #England and #France followed them in 1260.

Nahmanides also made Aliyah in 1267, which then encouraged other Jews join him and together they built the Ramban Synagogue in Jerusalem.

More waves of Aliyah came from #Spain because of the Inquisition starting in 1492 – thousands settled largely in Tzfat (Safed), Tiberias, and Jerusalem.

The 1500s saw waves of additional Aliyah from France, #Germany, #Italy, and other European countries as well as North #Africa – these Jews mostly joined a flourishing Jewish community in Tzfat.

Then, on October 14, 1700, a group of 1,500 Jews from Europe, headed by Rabbi Judah Hasid, made Aliyah and settled in Jerusalem.

1764 saw another organized Aliyah, this time of Hassidic Jews who were led by disciples of Ba’al Shem Tov; and they were followed by more Hassidic Jews in the subsequent years and generations.

Then in 1808, the Perushim – Jewish disciples of Elijah, the Gaon of Vilna – organized an Aliyah and established a community in Jerusalem. Others followed them to Jerusalem, while still others moved to Tzfat, Tiberias, and Jaffa.

Then, in 1830, there was a significant wave of Aliyah of Jews from Germany as well as #Holland and #Hungary.

After the Ottomans retook Jerusalem from Muhammad Ali in 1840, Jewish Aliyah more than doubled in the next four decades since Jerusalem was seen as a safer place to live.

Finally, we get to the first writings of the early pioneers of modern political Zionism. Only neither of the two early Zionist pioneers were named “Theodor Herzl.” 

Modern political Zionism started with the writings of Sephardic Rabbi Judah ben Solomon Chai Alkalai  (LEFT) and Ashkenazic Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer (RIGHT) in 1843.

Then in 1852, Alkalai established the Society of the Settlement of Eretz Yisrael in #London, and in 1871 he established a branch of this Society in Jerusalem.

Kalischer’s influence, meanwhile, led Chayyim Lurie to form the Association for the Colonisation of Palestine in Frankfort in 1860, and Kalishcher helped found the Mikveh Israel agricultural school in Eretz Israel in 1870.

Then, still before Herzl, Leon Pinsker published Auto-Emancipation in Germany on January 1, 1882, in which he urged Jews to strive for independence in Eretz Israel.

Meanwhile, the “First Aliyah” of modern political Zionism began in 1882, at a time when fewer than 250,000 #Arabs were living in the Land. About 35,000 Jews moved to Eretz Israel between 1882 and 1903.

It was in 1890 (still pre-Herzl) that publicist Nathan Birnbaum coined the word “Zionism” to describe the Jewish return to Eretz Israel where they could become a “normal” people again and live in their own sovereign nation in the only place on Earth the Jews could call “home.”

Then, finally we get to Theodor Herzl and his famous book Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”) in 1896.

That should clear a few things up.

@CptAllenHistory

About your being reform question from a few days ago. Being raised a reform jew is knowing you're just as familiar with the religious aspects of judaism, and partaking happily in the holidays and celebrations and comiserations as any orher group of jews. Also knowing you're going to end up on the cattle car next time gentiles try. as any other jews, but knowing conservative and orthodox and hassid cultists are going to be smug about your judaism until then.

It's self hating antitheist jews (NOT reform, specifically this person) like you that call other Jews cultists who will work for the dogs 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also I literally see you harassing almost every jumblr blog here. Go to fucking therapy and stop drinking the goyich kool-aid that makes you hate yourself and your fellow Jew.

New-to-me (horror) movies seen in 2023: The Vigil (2019)

@goryhorroor ’s challenge: Horror that takes place in one location

Yaakov is a formerly Orthodox Jew, but you can never fully leave your religion and culture behind. He attends a discussion group with other ex-Hassids, he speaks Hebrew and Yiddish with old-school Ashkenazi vowels, he remembers the Mourner's Kaddish word for word, and he carries the psychological scars of a violent anti-semitic attack. When he is offered a job as a shomer, wherein he will watch over a shroud-covered body the night before a funeral, he reluctantly agrees and takes along some emergency pills.

It's not going to go well.

The deceased was a Holocaust survivor who was followed by a mazzik, a demon, all the way to America. It's still here, making his body writhe and sending Yakov phone calls that aren't what they seem. The only explanations he can get come from a widow with dementia and a video from a dead man, and the only weapon he has is the wherewithal to say the shema when he is in danger. At least in the last respect, I've been there.

Dave Davis as Yaakov has beautifully mournful eyes, which convey the perfect mix of sorrow and fear and even a little hope. The real star of the film, however, is dead before the start. We see a brief video clip of the late Rubin Litvak, and eventually a flashback of the beginning of his possession, but his trauma, history and love hang heavy over everything.

As they say, "you don't have to be Jewish" to enjoy The Vigil. For the duration of the film, though, at least imagine you are. Imagine the community and its loss, falling back on things you no longer believe in just to survive- and then in a mostly happy ending, still not being up for going to services right now. Just think about it, because Yaakov certainly is.

I saw this on a post with over 50k notes and honestly, this kind of thing pisses me off. Yiddish is just as much of a real language as English or any other language you can think of. It isn't just a few funny English words like the ones you probably know (shlep, shmuck, nosh, etc). The long dramatic Yiddish insults that get passed around every few years on listicle websites aren't things anyone actually says. Yiddish isn't any better suited for endearment or complaining than literally every other language in existence.

Do you know why so few Jews speak Yiddish today? Before the Holocaust there were 11 million Yiddish speakers worldwide, but after the Holocaust and the assimilation that followed there are now less than a million worldwide. Seeing Yiddish be further reduced to just silly complaining words is kind of heartbreaking to me.

Despite the decline in speakers, Yiddish is nowhere near dead! It's still spoken in Hassidic communities, and more and more secular Jews and non-Jews alike are learning it. You don't have to go through the effort of learning a whole new language, but just respecting it as a language with a rich culture and history is already a step to save it from being forgotten.

2022 in antisemitic hate crimes. 

Jan. 2nd: a 26 year-old Hasid was chased and beaten in Williamsburg. He required several staples in his head.

Jan. 14: in front of a Haredi Orthodox shul in Midwood, a white woman wearing Uggs and an orange hoodie spat on an 8 year-old Jewish boy and made anti-Semitic remarks. The woman allegedly yelled — at a 2, 7, and 8 year-old child playing outside of a synagogue, mind you: “Hitler should have killed you all.” “I’ll kill you and know where you live.”

Jan 22: On Shabbat in Crown Heights around 1 AM, a Hasidic man told the NYPD that he was approached and punched in the face. It's being investigated as a hate crime.

Feb. 4: On Shabbat in Bedstuy, a man ran up to two Hasidic men and punched one of them in the head.

Another assault involving a Jewish victim was also reported that same night

Feb. 11: At least one religious Jew was attacked on Shabbat evening in Flatbush by a person in a hoodie. NYPD are investigating as a hate crime. "Video shows the attacker trying to intimidate the victim, then slapping him in the face, knocking off his yarmulke."

April 1: A group of assailants repeatedly punched and kicked a Hasidic man in Williamsburg. a blurry video appears to show the group striking the victim and shoving him against the side of the truck, where he collapsed, and the beating continued.

April 2: Three teens armed with a crowbar, a knife and a machete allegedly threatened six boys, ranging in age from 12 to 16, on the Upper West Side.

May 6: Two men punched and kicked a rabbi in Crown Heights while making anti-Semitic remarks.

May 10: A man in a hoodie ran up to and punched a Jewish man walking in Flatbush. The man allegedly said, "Free Palestine."

July 13: 3 men assault a Jewish father in front of his 5 year old child

Aug. 9: A 44 year-old Jewish woman at a subway station on the Upper East Side "was choked by an unidentified male suspect, who made antisemitic remarks to her while she waited on the subway platform of the No. 6 train at around 11:20 a.m." according to NYPD.

Aug. 20: Two ultra-Orthodox men were chased down the street in Williamsburg, and at least one was sprayed with a fire extinguisher (which contains major skin and eye irritants)

Aug. 22: A 27-year-old Hasid was slapped by a stranger on Lynch St. near Marcy Ave in Williamsburg at about 4:30 p.m., per NYPD.

Aug. 22: Two teenage boys and a teen girl harassed and then chased a 13-year-old Jewish boy off of a Staten Island bus, took the boy's yarmulke from of his head, and fled.

Sep. 13: A 58 year-old man in Far Rockaway was allegedly punched in the face by a man hurling antisemitic epithets. NYPD has arrested a 34 year-old suspect, per Hamodia.

Sep. 17: Female suspect verbally assaults a Hassidic man before slapping the hat (and Kippah) off his head

Oct. 23: A suspect on a bike road up behind an 18 year old Jewish man and knocked him down

Oct. 24: Three students standing outside their Yeshivah on Avenue L & East 18th Street, were pelted by eggs. The perpetrators screamed “Free Palestine" and forced the students to say it as well.

Nov. 3: an elderly Jewish man walking on Kingston Ave had water and garbage thrown at him.

Nov. 8: Three men fired a gel-based pellet gun at a Hasidic woman and her son. They have been charged with assault as a hate crime, assault, aggravated harassment, and criminal possession of a weapon.

Nov. 9: A group of 4 assaulted a Jewish man in Brooklyn, knocking off his streimel

Dec. 5: A father and his 7 year-old son were shot with a BB gun outside of a Staten Island kosher grocery store

I want to be clear that A) this is ONLY! inside of New York City B) is only assaults and not any other kind of hate crimes like harassment or threats or property crimes and finally C) this is one reporter's informal attempt to track this problem, she admits she thinks she missed some crimes, so this list should not be seen as an authoritative list.

anti-zionism is not antisemitic, but that does not preclude anti-zionists being antisemitic

do not allow yourself to be sucked into antisemitic conspiracy theories about the purposes/intent behind the synagogue tunnels. while there are systemic issues within judaic institutions, the hassidic community included, do not allow the injustice of a secular government that bears the star of david to push you into assumptions and stereotypes. even a little research will tell you that the tunnels are about building expansion.

on this note, let us remind ourselves that zionism is rooted in antisemitism. beyond tenants in jewish scriptures, zionism requires the antisemitic belief that jews are not/cannot be loyal to any state/people other than israel and fellow jews. this notion pre-dates the creation of the colonial state of israel. the idea that jews are inherently untrustworthy and traitors has been played up time and time again, most notably pre-WWII to justify laws and policies limiting jewish freedoms and citizenship. for anyone familiar with french history, you will know the role this sentiment played in the Dreyfus Affair, which changed all of europe's relationship with/view of its jewish populations.

the zionist project will soon be used against jews outside of israel. regardless of how the war ends, israel has embedded itself in the world's perception of jewish identity, in one way or another. do not be surprised when politicians and media outlets begin questioning jewish loyalties in the aftermath of the genocide, particularly if western governments are able to hide their participation in the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. if this is reframed as a jewish aggression or an aggression committed solely by israel as Biden and Trudeau and Macron and whoever bravely pleaded with Netanyahu to limit civilian casualties, then imagine how much easier it will be to pose jews as a domestic threat.

If you’re unfamiliar with the John Shaft of the novels as opposed to the films, a good place to start would be "Shaft Among the Jews," which is typical of the inventiveness and occasional far out elements of the novels. A sequel to the original Shaft novel by Tidyman, detective John Shaft is hired by Hassidic Jews to investigate diamond smuggling in New York's diamond district, including a lost Hebrew secret of making synthetic diamonds that is also sought by agents of Mossad. Shaft’s relationship with the young Cara Herzel, who he is determined to protect, is one of a few platonic friendships that John Shaft has with women in the novel series. 

i know new york being the ancestral homeland of jews is a joke but as a jew from europe it literally feels that way. like i cannot imagine like a whole street written in hebrew. like i want to go there just to see that. i dont think jews inthe united states are aware of how good they have it

i do want to note that america is also a settler colonial state and its only because of specific american aims of the settler project and material realities of the economy and the physical land they were trying to settler that theyve had this “melting pot” ideology where jews were incorporated similarly to italian and irish immigrants, instead of continuing to have deeply ingrained religious and cultural antisemitism like europe. there were in some periods of us history more restrictions on jewish immigration and some institutional barriers for jews, especially before and during ww2, but never to the same degree as europe. although american jews were rarely (if ever, i dont know any examples but there could be some) violent genocidal settlers like the anglos and generally migrated later, we were still settlers searching for economic interests provided by american expansion on native land. that being said were here now and have the status of any other american settler (meaning people who arent indigenous or descended from enslaved people brought here against their will) most indigenous theorists and activists maintain that they want sovereignty, reparations, companies to stop destroying native land, etc, not every american settler to leave. i really believe that the united states also must fall, but i dont think this makes us like not belonging, at least any more than the other settlers.

i just want to say this to explain that my love for new york and the east coast us is complex. objectively the multicultural and cosmopolitan aspects of nyc that make it unique are products of american imperialism– for example nyc is the most linguistically diverse city in the world! over 600 languages are spoken here, including languages that arent spoken anywhere else anymore, but think about why that is. and the flourishing of jewish communities and culture in parts of the us was a product of specific historic processes and policies, and we like any other descendants of settler-immigrants have to grapple with that. i think its possible to oppose and fight against american imperialism and settler colonialism and still deeply appreciate the contradictory aspects of culture in america. (which lbr all the dynamic and interesting and worth preserving things about american culture were not created by anglos, but by outsiders and oppressed people) anyways this is all just to say im really not coming at it from a nationalist perspective but a diaspora perspective but yeah, new york is such a jewish city its genuinely incredible. this is why i especially despise tri state area zionists... youre ignoring that you live in the greatest place in the world for jews. literally the most jewish city in the world. like theres a moving company called schleppers here, yiddish words are part of everyones dialect, you can get the best jewish food everywhere from delis that are like 100 years old, we literally have a truck called the mitzvah tank that chabad drives around and asks people on the street if theyre jewish. the only romaniote synagogue in the western hemisphere is here and they have a greek jewish festival every year (which unfortunately is always covered in israeli flags -_-) the whole foods by one of my work sites had a sign up for yom kippur catering because the neighborhood is so jewish.

jewish culture and history and jews in general are just part of the fabric of life in new york. also whatever street youre talking about was probably written in yiddish since thats what most of the hassidic jews speak here! nyc has the largest concentration of yiddish speakers, which isnt surprising, and its the 8th most spoken language in nyc. theres also a big and still growing bukharian community here too. if you ever can, i really recommend visiting new york. theres so much jewish culture and history here. a lot of american jews live much more isolated, so i cant speak for them, but for many parts of the north east i feel that were lucky. antisemitism exists here but idk ive grown up in pretty jewish areas and never really experienced it. europe sounds legitimately shitty. also... fun fact, netanyahu went to high school in the suburbs outside of philly

^my photos in the lower east side, and heres some photography of hassidic williamsburg too

also williamsburg

I do believe the local Hassidic community were rude to that anon, but it was probably a reasonable and measured response to their absolute inability not to harass random jewish people. Honestly, some fucking people are unbelievable.

i mean homophobia is never reasonable, but i highly doubt it was some horrific hate crime to the point where the mere sight of a kippah sends them into a panic attack. also considering they wouldn’t even come off of anon i just really doubt the authenticity of their claims. they’re just using their own personal bad experience with individual jews to perpetuate antisemitism.

https://x.com/realstewpeters/status/1773510951733469597?s=12&t=UQMZQ6oLkb0Fn3TRjZtcUw

WHY ASHKENAZI / HASSIDIC JEWS TORTURE CHICKENS… ???

WHO IS TO SAY THEY DON’T DO THE SAME TO ▶️▶️▶️‼️C‼️H‼️I‼️L‼️D‼️R‼️E‼️N‼️

☹️☹️☹️