due to a certain asshole spewing bullshit in spacelazarwolf's notes, I wanna emphasize something:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW HEBREW TO BE JEWISH

YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEARN HEBREW TO BE JEWISH

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WANT TO LEARN HEBREW TO BE JEWISH

the only thing you need to be Jewish is to be Jewish. a Jew is a Jew.

(this message does not include messianic jews)

Yo, shoutout to Jewish converts! Y'all are badass!

I would like to talk to Jewish converts for a second.

I wonder if you know how amazing you are? How amazing you are to me, specifically?

I was born into this. You chose us. You didn't have to. I don't know if I would have chosen this. I do identify strongly with my religion and culture. I love being Jewish. I am proud to be Jewish. But would I feel that way if I wasn't brought up to be Jewish? I don't know. It's a question I've had many times before.

If you are not born Jewish and decide that is who you want to be, you already probably know enough to know about the pervasiveness of antisemitism. You know how the world sees us. But you decided that mattered less to you than the love you had for us and your desire to be part of our family. You didn't have to do that. We specifically put roadblocks in the conversion process so you absolutely, 100% understand what you are getting yourself into, and no one would judge you if you changed your mind.

When we talk about conversion liturgically, we often talk about the story of Ruth, calling her "the first convert." She says to Naomi, "Your people will be my people." I always read that and believed that Ruth and Naomi were at least a little bit in love. How could you not be, with such a declaration?

That is how I feel about Jewish converts.

Where you die, I will die. And there shall I be buried.

I have a question regarding conversion. I was raised in an evangelical Christian family and was baptized at a young age but have since been separate from it for longer than I was a believer and want nothing to do with it. I have been interested in Judaism for several years now and it makes sense to me. It feels right to me. I have started to study the Torah and discuss it and spirituality in general with my Jewish friends, but I keep shying away from committing to conversion because I just feel like I'm doing something wrong. Like I have not earned the right to it and am being appropriative by even considering it. I feel a connection to it more than I ever did with Christianity, but I can't get over that feeling that I am a malicious poser trying to sneak into a space where I don't belong and am not wanted. I was just wondering if anyone with similar feelings had advice on how to resolve them.

It’s normal to feel like an imposter when you’re just at the beginning of this journey, friend. When starting a new job, it can feel so intimidating and almost alienating as you learn so much and meet new people, you add new struxture to your daily life. The truth is, you’re being called home; that connection is there. If this feels right, upon studying and engaging with Jewish spaces, then do not deny the pull! Follow what feels right to you, it’s completely in your hands. We hope it gets easier on you with time.

If anyone would like to chime in and offer words of advice, support and encouragement for Anon we’d appreciate that greatly!

I sat next to the protest today.

I wrote fan-fiction about two gay jewish dads raising children to the play list of the chant- "No peace on stolen land!" on an American college campus. It isn't a name brand one either, nor does it have any legitimate ties to Israel. The anger is just there- it has rotten these future doctors, nurses, teachers, and members of society.

I don't even know what to call their demonstration- it was a tizzy of a Jew hatred affair. At points, there were empathetic statements about Gazans and their suffering. Then outright support of Hamas and violent resistance against all colonizers. Then this bizarre fixation on antisemitism while explaining the globalists are behind everything.

"Antisemitism doesn't exist. Not in the modern day," A professor gloated over a microphone in front of the library. "It's a weaponized concept, that's prevents us from getting actual places- ignore anyone who tells you otherwise."

"How can we be antisemitic?" A pasty white girl wearing a red Jordanian keffiyeh gloats five minutes later. "Palestinians are the actual semites."

"there is only one solution!" The crowd of over 50 students and faculty cried, over and over.

"Been there, done that," I thought, then added a reference to a mezuza in the fourth paragraph.

Two other Jewish students passed where I was parked out, hunching and trying to be as innocuous as possible. We laughed together at my predicament, where I am willingly hearing this bullshit and feeling so amused by this.

"Am I crazy? For sitting here?" I asked them. My friends shook their heads.

"We did the same last week- it's an amazing experience, isn't it?”

We all cackled hysterically again. They left to study for finals. Two minutes later, I learned from the current speaker that “Zionism” is behind everything bad in this world.

Forty-five minutes in, a boy I recognized joined me on my lonely bench. He came from a very secular Jewish family and had joined Hillel recently to learn more about his culture. His first Seder was two nights ago.

He sat next to me, heavy like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. There was just this despondent look on his face. I couldn’t describe it anyone else, but just sheer hopelessness personified.

“They hate us. I can’t believe how much they hate us.” He said in greeting.

And for the first time all day, I had no snarky response or glib. All I could do was stare out into the crowd, and sigh.

In the books about Judaism I've been reading, there's a repeated emphasis on Jewish history being taught as something that happened not just in the past, but also to the people telling the stories in the present. The narrative is "it happened to us, to me" as opposed to "it happened to them."

This is something I've also noticed a lot in Native communities. They massacred us, they took our children, they banned our traditions, they forced us off our lands. There's no distancing ourselves from our ancestors, from the Native people of the past; their suffering is ours, their grief and pain and fear live in us.

I think this is a vitally important part of how certain groups interact with history; when your people are constant victims of extreme hate, of prejudice, of violence, you cannot afford to distance yourself from the past. The moment you do, you forget and you relax and you aren't prepared when that violence rears its head again. Because it will. If our history has taught us anything, it's that periods of quiet and "peace" (in the loosest sense of the word) for our people are the exception, they're temporary, and we need to remember that to survive.

as someone who was born into Judaism, I always love hearing the stories of Jewish converts. They're always so passionate about their Judaism and it makes me smile inside and out. it takes so much heart and love for our culture to undertake such a long and challenging journey and see it through to its completion. it's truly beautiful.

any Jewish converts reading this, I hope this brings you a smile. and if you have a story to share about your journey home to the Tribe, I'd love to hear it.

someone in a jewish converts group on fb shared this today and it made me snort-laugh

We all need to take a break from social media with everything going on atm, stay safe everyone✨️

Credit to sefiracreative ✨️

I'm so tired and sad. Everywhere I look I see Jewish people feeling lonely and isolated because they lost so many friends and they feel like they can't find anyone who actually cares and understands them. I wish I could just be everyone's friend.

If you're Jewish, or converting, and you need a friend, don't hesitate to DM me or get in contact in some way. I know it's not much, and I know most people won't even see this, but idk it's a start. Don't be shy, I won't judge you. Please reach out if you want to or need to

Every Jewish person is ethically jewish weather they are born from the waters of a womb or the waters of a mikvah

Anti-Zionist Jews! Use this post to find mutuals, friends, comrades!

I know a lot of us have been alienated from, or unfortunately lost our communities either within families, temples or online, so I hope we can find one another and make friends!

— Leave a comment or reblog with a bit about yourself! Let’s create a community!

— Those converting/looking into converting, use this space to! Find someone to share your journey with!

— Goyim and everyone else please just reblog <3

Community is at the core of our being, let’s carry oneanother ❤️

I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but tonight I was reminded by a class of a thing that I think may be helpful for some folks.

Because converting is *so* permanent and irreversible, and one should take it at least as seriously as entering a marriage (with the understanding that there is no divorce, only alienation), I think it's honestly a good idea to wait until you've had a major fight with your Judaism before you complete your conversion.

It's the same principle as wanting to wait until you've been sick with the flu together or had a major life setback or are lost at 2 a.m. on a road trip with your fiance before you actually get married. In that case, you want to know (1) what does this scenario bring out in them? (2) what does this scenario bring out in you? (3) how do those things interact with each other? and, most importantly: (4) how do you resolve it together?

With Judaism, it's easy to fall in love with Torah. It's easy to fall in love with an idealized version of your community. With the rituals and the liturgy and the music and the ruach.

It's harder to learn a point of halacha that hurts deeply and to be forced to reconcile what you know in your bones is right with the reality of the words of Torah and its interpretation by the rabbis. It's harder to meet your congregation in love and tochecha when they have fallen short of their vision and failed you in important ways. It's harder to force yourself to engage in mitzvot that you don't see the point in or that are boring or repetitious or do not spark joy.

And until you know how you will react when (not if) that happens, until you know how you will resolve it - or if you will even want to - you aren't ready to commit to something you can't just take off.

Sometimes it sucks to be a Jew. Sometimes Torah is more yoke than honey. Sometimes you're just not feeling it. And that's okay! That doesn't make you an imposter or a bad Jew; it makes you human. But you still need to address it, because that day will come.

I love being Jewish with all my heart, but there are parts of Torah that are like a knife in my soul. For me, the way I resolve it, is that those things in particular are the shards my neshama was sent to liberate the sparks from. We live in a broken, unredeemed world, and sometimes you should feel that, acutely. That is part of being a Jew, that you are sensitized to the world and its suffering. But it should still, in the end, lift you up. It should not break you, and you should not have to cut off major pieces of yourself to fit the role. Hitting that wall and feeling that pain before you immerse in the mikvah can really open your eyes to what kind of Jew you want to be - or if you actually want to carry this burden as well as taste its sweetness.

I’m still nearly crying laughing from this interaction that happened yesterday.

I wore my Magen David in French lecture. It is 8:30 in the morning. I sat down next to this random girl that I’d never really seen before.

She looks at me for 0.7 seconds before starting to avidly sketch palestenian flags on her notes for the next hour and a half. Like pages and pages of the symbol, glancing at me the entire time.

Whoaaa, you really showed me up. I’m deeply offended and don’t know what to do with myself ! Help! I’m meeeeelting! The supposed Zionism in me is burning!!

Like I have no opinions on that flag. No grudge or resentment. But what makes someone go angry bird attack mode when seeing a symbol that’s Jewish adjacent?