Today is Yom Kippur

Shout out to all the queer Jews who have to explain this holiday to their queer friends.

Shout out to all the queer Jews who have friends that respond with laughter, or calling fasting child abuse, or asking why you even bother.

Shout out to all the queer Jews who feel conflicted over this holiday.

Shout out to all the queer Jews forced to participate (you deserve to make your own choices).

Shout out to all the queer Jews who are in traditional communities, and will read in tomorrow's torah reading that being queer is wrong

Shout out to all the queer Jews who feel the need to repent for their queerness (you are perfect the way you are).

Shout out to all the queer Jews who are tired of lying, and tired of repenting for lying.

Shout out to all the queer Jews who can only think of all the times and all the people they are lying to every time they read Al Chet (על חטא)

Shout out to all the queer Jews who think of how many less sins they'd commit if only they weren't queer.

Shout out to all the queer Jews who do not feel safe today.

Shout out to all the queer Jews who do not know if or when they will ever feel safe on Yom Kippur.

You are all accepted here. You deserve a voice. My DMs are open if you need someone to talk to. This holiday can be challenging, but you will make it through.

My Christian friend just tried to save me. He was picking apart the the Jewish religion from an evangelical perspective and I have never been more pissed off at someone I care about in my life.

ABOUT THIS BLOG/ABOUT ME

My name is Kadin or my Hebrew name ניצן (Nitzan), I use moon/it/he/grave/they/את/הוא pronouns, I am 20 years old, I am agender, pansexual, poly, and possibly on the aromantic spectrum. I converted to Judaism. I would like to keep an online diary about more studying I do. Feel free to ask questions!

BYF

Absolutely no discourse, bigotry or fakeclaiming is tolerated here; this is my space and I'm not here to debate, fight with anyone or intentionally piss anybody off, I'm not here to spend my time arguing with randos on the internet. Tone tags are not only preferred but highly encouraged, if not required most times! I can't believe I need to say this and disclaimers truly kill me on the inside but just because I reblog something from somebody or talk to something doesn't automatically mean I 100% agree with everything they say or do or their beliefs on every single opinion be fucking for real.

DNI

General DNI criteria, racists, -phobes, queerphobes, antisemites, ableists, sanists, anti well researched self dx, exclusionists, TERFS/SWERFS, ped*s/z**s/pro contact paraphiles and any variants, pro ed/sh, pro-israel, anti landback, anti mmiwg2s/mmip, anti black lives matter, anti stop aapi hate, if you don't support indigenous sovereignty and black liberation, abuse apologists, blank/ageless blogs, radqueer/transx identities (transage, trace, transabled, etc.), conservative/prolife/antivax/fascists/right wing/centrists/n*zis, gore, DDLG/CGL, anti sfw agere, anti sw/antikink, more TBA (likely extended).

Bringing frozen pizza in my bag to shul to bring to my sister afterwards hoping HaShem keeps it frozen for me

Closet antisemites/racists love bringing up that the swastika is a Buddhist peace symbol (as if they give a shit about buddhism) like yeah it is but the skinhead white guy with a swastika tattoo isn't a Buddhist and the edgy teenagers who painted a swastika on a wall aren't Buddhists and you need to use the tiniest dash of critical thinking and common sense.

In a Buddhist temple its a peace symbol, scratched on some guys house its a hate symbol . And stop telling Jews they are being dramatic or chronically online for being upset/disturbed/scared or annoyed by swastikas!!

hello. jew here

dont write jewish characters if u know next to nothing about us or our culture/religion pls. if u want to write a jewish character (or any character outside the scope of your personal knowledge, honestly), you MUST take the time to read about us and our beliefs, customs, etc. im not saying u have to be an expert on the torah or the tanakh or the talmud, but u need to do at least the bare minimum. and google isnt always reliable, if u have questions u should carefully analyze which websites u use. or have a jew beta your fic/writing!

im just tired of seeing “this character is jewish :) u can tell because they celebrate hanukkah” and that is it for the jewish characterization. like i get that u ppl know nothing abt judaism except for hanukkah but u HAVE to do better than that. because ur essentially tokenizing the character as ur Jewish Representation and it shows.

again, im not saying ‘dont write that hanukkah scene’, or ‘dont try writing jews at all’.

what i AM saying is that u need to actually do ur part in understanding judaism a little bit more before u decide to write a jewish character. if ur not willing to do the research or ask the questions, dont bother writing us into ur stories.

theres this specific brand of judaism thats """all-accepting""" (of women, lgbt ppl, mentaly ill/disabled ppl, etc) and 'fight with gd behind a dennys' and uwu cute and scrunkly and non-threatening that was bred in captivity by secular americans thats somehow treated as the "real", widespread version of judaism by people on social media and its so so funny and annoying at the same time. and often coexists in gentiles alongside antisemitic beliefs, talking points and ideas. anyways. it drives me insane.

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

Credit to sefiracreative ✨️

To the Reform Jewish community:

I think I have some misconceptions about the reform community. I think I'm wrong about how I perceive reform Jews and their level of observance, and I want to be educated.

The things I'm going to say are going to be pretty harsh, but I promise I say them so you can understand where I'm coming from, my experience with the Reform movement, and that I want to learn because I see some problems with my thinking. My background and experiences are primarily with the conservative movement, modern orthodox, and Chabad. It's no secret that within these communities, reform Jews get a pretty bad reputation (I want to stress: Not everyone in these movements says/believes these things, but it's common to hear) To the more right-wing side of Judaism, reform Jews are seen as assimilated Jews, "Jewish only in the name" I've heard. I'm told about how reform Jews widely don't keep kosher, often don't have mezuzot, don't pray, don't lay tefillin, don't keep shabbat except making a dinner every now and then. I'm told, and given the impression, that reform Jews have a loose relationship with their Judaism and misunderstand our core texts which leads to misunderstandings and demonization of Jews who do (ie "Orthodox Women are oppressed").

I don't have very much experience with Reform Judaism (which is likely where my ignorance comes from), and I understand that there are Reform Jews who may keep kosher, or may keep Shabbat, but I think my misunderstanding of what makes someone reform is their level of observance. To me, if I encountered a Jew who grew up Orthodox but now no longer kept kosher, kept shabbat, threw out the tzitzit and doesn't lay teffilin, I'd say he's no longer orthodox and he's reform.

Is this where my misunderstanding is coming from? Is it the shul you go to? I just can't imagine seeing a man with tzitzit in a Reform shul. Are you taught that there are observances you no longer need to keep?

I have a pretty decent-sized Reform following, so I've heard from you about how it's offensive and painful when people assume a lack of observance, and that that's not what it means to be reform. I want to be educated, and I want to listen. At the same time, I can't ignore the instances I was in a reform-dominated space and they told me themselves "Oh yeah reform Jews don't keep kosher, it's not important," or about how they work on Shabbat, and then I notice they don't know Hamotzi or the Birkat.

I see the divide between movements and it feels like we can't reach across the aisle to understand each other. Ring-wing Jews are mad at left-wing Jews for not maintaining important traditions, but mainly they are mad at reform rabbis because they see the loss of tradition as the fault of the community leader, that the community would choose to uphold more traditions if they were educated on it, which is the responsibility of the rabbi. Reform jews are mad at right-wing Jews because, let's be honest, right-wing Jews are constantly talking trash and have a belief that they are "better" Jews for being more observant. But I think reform Jews don't really understand some practices, or they aren't taught about them right, because a large portion of dialogue I've had with reform Jews has been me having to field accusations and speak for the movement about how right-wing Jews aren't all sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. and neither are the practices. So I think this also plays a large part in why Reform Jews have a problem with Jews from other movements, because they believe we're closed-minded.

I think these hard conversations need to be had so that we can come away understanding each other. I want Judaism to move past the need for movements, which I think we are, because part of me believes they do more harm than good and people never feel like they quite "fit" certain movements. I just hope that these conversations can be had in good faith.

I love Judaism more than I could EVER have the words for it. I stood in my synagogue and I was surrounded by friends, old and young. I saw my favorite person there. Saw people who haven't been to shul in a while. I got to meet new people. I got to sing V'shamru with everyone. I got to hear us laugh and giggle as we messed up the clapping beat. And my Rabbi stayed a little too long on the "Vah" sound so that we all of us laughed together. I love it. I love to see how much the community works together and wants our temple to last.

My Rabbi talked about the Torah portion and the up coming High Holidays. She talked about how we have to take the time to change and to get become a better person. This is our duty as humans. To quote something, she said, "We have obligations to other people, as they have obligations to us." We get better for ourselves and others around us. It's something we take on. To make the world a better place. I had a conversation with someone from shul at pride, and she said, "I think that's our job as Jews, to make this world a better place than it was when we were brought into it" And I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about that.

I am so early into my journey, but I have never felt so certain about something in my life than when I knew I was queer. This is my family. This is my community. Where I meant to be. I looked around as the toddlers ran around. At my new friends. At all, the recurring faces. At some new ones. At the people who I've started love with all my heart. At the faces of the future and so much past, we are bringing with us.

I nearly cried as I realized that is where I want to be. This is where I choose my life. My new Star of David charm, I just got that night, in my pocket, but not a new love in my soul. Just one that was confirmed.

We will forever be in Egypt because there is still so much to do. We have to join hands and march together. This is my home and my family. These are the people I want to be with as I march on to make this world a better place, and I make myself better, too. I am obligated to them. As they are obligated to me. This is something I am willing to carry and I want to carry. I will be hand in hand with ones I love as my soul guides me down this journey.

today i taught the first graders about passover and i decided that, if the kids finished their matzah covers early they could have free drawing time because passover is the holiday where we celebrate our freedom!

one of the kids really likes the smelly markers and i don't know how she got it cause I didn't put it out but she had a mint one and she decided it was her favourite so she drew a mint leaf with it.

when her mom picked her up, she looked at the matzah cover and then the mint leaf and then looked at me and asked "am i missing something?" so i explained that I gave the kids free drawing time because "passover is about freedom!" and her mom said "oh! well... Mi Chamocha." i love her i love my job

The CCAR Worship and Practices Committee felt that bet mitzvah best reflected our determinants of inclusivity, honoring Hebrew, and using familiar or existing language.

Importantly, we do not intend for this term to replace “bar mitzvah” and “bat mitzvah” but rather to be an additional, inclusive option for families and youths. While “bet mitzvah” will be our default general term in CCAR materials, we hope that each student will be encouraged to choose the term that’s most meaningful to them.

This probably isn’t kosher but boy, we made do. My menorah is still packed away somewhere so Happy Chanukah anyways!!

Literally how are we supposed to have discussions about Judaism being sanitized/whitewashed in online and leftists spaces if you only know how to use it as an opportunity to shit on Reform Jews and converts. It’s so exhausting. Please get your head out of your ass. Like can we have any fucking discussion about Reform Judaism without a bunch of you openly implying that it’s less Jewish/inherently more secular/assimilationist/basically culturally christian.

Tbh the majority of people online who mischaracterize Judaism in that way aren’t even Jewish, they’re goyim who see themselves as “allies” who still haven’t deconstructed their bias. And the Jewish people who do end up (usually unknowingly!) leaning into that characterization are often not even Reform; a lot of the time they’re entirely secular and don’t identify with any major branch of Judiasm to begin with! And that’s part of the reason it’s easier for them to misrepresent Judiasm, specifically bc they aren’t as informed about their own culture.

While it’s important to stress that Judaism is so much more complex than American Reform traditions and that Judaism is by no means inherently liberal or progressive, it actually costs zero dollars not to throw a third of all American Jews under the bus because of that. You literally don’t have to do that. Half the time you all criticize Reform practices it’s shit you literally just made up and that isn’t even true. Fucking hell

Ok just hear me out:

Omega’s Bat Mitzvah

Drama going down in the tik tok orthodox jewish swiftie community