I keep having conversations that go like this:
CHRISTIAN: You're calling my faith antisemitic
ME: No, I'm not. I'm saying you can practice your faith without doing antisemitic things
CHRISTIAN: I literally can't though
ME: Well, okay, I guess your faith is antisemitic then.
CHRISTIANS: this verse in the old testament says X
JEWS: It doesn't say that
CHRISTIAN: maybe. Who knows?
JEWS: we do. That's not in the Hebrew
CHRISTIAN: no one knows what the original language means
JEWS: Yes we do. We can read it.
CHRISTIAN: It's lost forever
I'm hearing that people being unable to weather 8 weeks with no income means we need more financial literacy, so here you go:
Our system is designed to concentrate wealth and keep the majority of workers on the brink of bankruptcy.
There, you're literate now.
Gentiles read Ann Frank's Diary and think "wow, what an inspiring tale of staying positive during adversity, how moving." Jews read it and think "this is who they took away from us. This is who they wanted to destroy. This is who we lost."
Hot take:
Someone telling me that some Nazis were good people who were just going along because they were scared or desperate is telling me that they think of themself as a good person and they can imagine agreeing to kill me and my family if they were scared or desperate enough.
@realDonaldTrump
Biden swipes at Warren without mentioning her name, saying he's never had to question his ideology. (Warren was a Republican until her mid-40s).
The point of sharing her story is not how inspiring she was, it's how abhorrent her oppressors were. It's not that she's exceptional, it's that she was a normal teenage girl, a child like other children, and someone hated her enough to torture and murder her and millions like her
"Bernie Sanders - who went to Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah, and talks about how being Jewish is one of two major factors that have shaped him - is the most prominent politician who is religiously unaffiliated."
…. are Christians okay? Do your brains take in information?
Claiming that all organized religion is harmful when your reference point for 'organized religion' is Christianity is, in fact, a way of supporting Christian supremacy and supersessionism.
There are inspiring moments in her story, yes, and it's not wrong to appreciate them and try to capture then in ourselves. But it *is* wrong to isolate them from the larger context. It is wrong to hold up the nobility of suffering as an ideal.
Living in New York does not make you "basically Jewish"
Attending holiday parties with a friend does not mean you know a lot about Jewishness
Reading a couple books about the Holocaust does not give you any special insight into Jewish life
No gentile is "more Jewish" than any Jew
The suffering is a problem. We read her story to remember that the suffering was wrong, so wrong it's hard to fathom, and we must oppose the causes of that suffering in every way we can. Focusing on how noble the sufferer was undermines that opposition.
In the Judaic tradition, someone who has done wrong is required to work to make it right again. The person who has been wronged is under no obligation to forgive the one who wronged them. There is no burden on the victim.
Leave us out of this.
Christians will hold up a red and green cup that heavily implies 'Merry Christmas' without actually saying it as evidence of a war on their holiday. Meanwhile, this guy got in trouble at work for sharing his holiday treats and saying the word "Diwali" out loud.
Also - why are there so many "what if the Nazis had won" spec fic stories? I want to see some "what if the Nazis got shut the fuck down in 1929 and the Holocaust never happened" stories.
Gentiles will make fun of Hebrew names for being "weird" and "hard to pronounce" and then just walk around being named Thomas or Michael or Jacob or Abigail or Hannah or Aaron or Daniel or Simon or Sarah or Rachel or
me, googling adhd coping strategies: This is going to be so great! My life is about to change forever!
me, five minutes and six articles later:
DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I HAVE NEVER TRIED MAKING LISTS BEFORE WTF IF LISTS WORKED I WOULDN'T BE HERE
Okay guys, I've worked it out. People keep writing think pieces about how we have to balance public health concerns with economic concerns, so I did the math and I've determined the exact number of deaths that are acceptable in the pursuit of economic growth. It's zero.
Next week we have a holiday where we have to get so drunk we can't tell the difference between the protagonist and the antagonist. It's an obligation for husbands to sexually satisfy their wives. We sing *everything* (and it's beautiful).
You don't mean "religions".
Apparently most ADHD medications carry the risk of making anxiety considerably worse, and given that ADHD and anxiety have a high rate of co-morbidity I would like to register a complaint with the manager.
I think often when I say that other religions don't necessarily work like Christianity, Christians and Christian atheists think I want them to learn how my religion works. What I actually want is almost the opposite - I want them to accept that they don't know, and don't have to.
Making anti-Semitic (or racist, or sexist, or whatever) jokes "ironically" is a recruitment tactic. It achieves nothing, except normalizing bigotry and desensitizing the empathetic impulses of the privileged demographic. The goal is always to wear down opposition to oppression.
There's a story in the Talmud about a man who's wife dies, leaving him with an infant to care for. The man is poor and can't afford to feed the baby, so he prays for a miracle. God answers, and he grows breasts so he can nurse the baby. God is cool with all kinds of bodies.
There is no "Judeo-Christian" calendar. Jews and Christians literally use different calendars. In our calendar it's the month of Kislev right now and we're coming up on a minor holiday celebrating a military victory. Our holiest time was months ago, and we prayed remotely.
Our churches must reopen. We need to pray at this time of the year. It is the holiest time in the Judeo-Christian calendar.
If we can have Walmart, Cotsco, liquor stores, strip clubs and supermarkets we can have churches.
People are going to die because Christian nationalists seized control of the court system for the express purpose of imposing Christian theology on the law, so my usually slim tolerance for Christian 'progressives' playing hashtag-not-all and No True Christian is gone.
So, I see "fear God" is trending, and Christians are citing Ecclesiastes.
The word used in Ecclesiastes is ירא. The connotation to it is awe, or reverence. Fear, not like you want to run away, but like you're struck to the bone by the amazingness of what you're experiencing.
Jews are 2% of the US population, and only 0.6% of the Texas population. There are three synagogues in the Fort Worth area. There are over 1,200 churches.
It is never a fucking coincidence when Jews are targeted.
Patrilineal Jews are Jews
Secular or Atheist Jews are Jews
Jews who were not born Jewish are Jews
Anti-Zionist Jews are Jews
Jews of color are Jews
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal Jews are all Jews.
Christians are not Jews.
@msherry100
@TheRaDR
I appreciate the empathy, but honestly, the tragedy is not in the utilitarian loss of people who might have been exceptional or have achieved exceptional things. The tragedy is in the massive loss of normal, unexceptional people who were each unique, important and loved.
Housing: $1500 / mo
Transportation: $800 / mo
Childcare: $400 / mo
Healthcare: $1500 / mo
Student loans: $400 / mo
Groceries: $400 / mo
Eating out: $200 / mo
Someone who's good at math please tell me which of these things I shouldn't be paying because it's just too costly.
If you are a member of a majority culture, you should know that when you say to a minority culture member "Why are you creating artificial divisions? Can't we all just be human beings?", what we hear is "Why can't you just give up YOUR culture and assimilate into MY culture?"
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, a story I heard once about a Jewish man, recalling being shushed in synagogue as a child. An elderly woman sitting nearby turned to the adult shushing him and said "Don't you dare! I thought I would never hear children making noise in shul again."
In our shul, for as long as we are the rabbis, kids are welcome. I tell parents the only time I want quiet is during the kaddish. Otherwise, if your kid comes up on the bima, they'll be turning pages for me or we'll pick them up (if a toddler/crawler) and sing with them.
This is not heartwarming or sweet. This cop forced a child to talk to a scary stranger. She forced a family to stop their day and cater to her feelings. She proved that the cops can stop you anywhere, anytime, for no reason at all. ACAB, including and especially this cop.
This beautiful Black girl was walking through a park with her mom when a patrol car pulled up. Fearful, she immediately put her hands up and cried. Turns out the officer just wanted to greet her. It’s so heartbreaking how traumatized our babies are 😢💔
#BlackLivesMatter
Assuming you went to college at 18, the average annual cost of a 4-year college was $5,010 dollars, and the average annual salary was $11,779. In 2016 the average annual cost for college was $45,370 and the average annual salary was $38,869. You do the math.
There is no better way to remember the Holocaust than to laugh and sing and dance and breathe and love and shout out our existence in to the world. They tried to kill us. We are still alive. Trying to shut down Jewish and Roma and gay and disabled joy is a denial of our aliveness
It's important to remember that while Hitler may have been a terrible person, he was also a terrible politician and an utterly incompetent military leader.
So, everyone knows how for the last several years, when we compare the Trump administration to Nazi Germany we're talking about late 20's early Nazism, not the full blown early 40's holocaust, right?
The Denaturalization Law passed on July 14th, 1933.
@ginjjaninja
There's a reason "Nazi falls in love with Jewish person and then they find common ground and it all works out" is a favorite genre for white gentiles. Those with power love to imagine that the oppressed would love them if they made the most minimal of reconciliatory gestures.
As a Jew, I know that the God I have faith in is counting on me to care for my fellow human beings, neighbor and stranger exactly alike. My God is relying on me to take responsibility for pursuing justice and prioritizing human lives.
As a Christian, I know that ultimately my hope comes from God, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that as individuals, and as a nation, we will turn to Him.
We're on day three of adamant resistance to the idea that Christmas decorations and/or celebrations in public school classrooms are a problem, so -
A thought experiment thread. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. Limber up your imagination.
Is your teen texting about Hanukkah?
LMAO: Light Menorahs All Over
OMG: Original Macabee Gang
ROFL: Reuse Oil For Latkes
BFF: Bring Fried Food
STFU: Sufganiot Time, Fry 'em Up!
SMH: Shamash = Menorah Helper
AITA: Antiochus Is The Asshole
For all the goyish Jew Deciders, a guide to what does and doesn't make someone a Fake Jew:
❌having tattoos
❌being anti-Zionist
❌being Zionist
❌eating treyf
❌not "looking Jewish"
❌being patrilineal
❌being a "convert"
❌disagreeing w/another Jew
✅Being Christian
I don't trust anyone that can't look at a sentence from the Bible and say
What is the textual context?
What is the historical context?
Who benefited from writing this down, and who suffered?
How does this relate to being compassionate? Seeking justice? Repairing the world?
Sanders: I'm Jewish. I'm very proud to be Jewish. Jewishness informs my ideals and politics, it's a vital part of who I am. I am excited about maybe being the first Jewish president
A Surprising Number of People: Is he Jewish though??? Why doesn't he ever talk about it?????
A thing I love about Judaism is that keeping certain mitzvot that have no purpose other than that we made a covenant with God to keep them, while also not believing that God actually exists is a perfectly reasonable position to hold.
Possible Hot Take:
There isn't actually a separation between Judaism-the-religion and Jewish-the-ethnicity. Referring to them as separate things is reinforcing Christian-centric understandings of what religion is and reducing Judaism in order fit it into a Christian-shaped mold
I am begging people to abandon the myth that Nazis were meticulous record keepers. The Nazi government was a massive, disastrously inefficient bureaucracy that loved promoting incompetent sycophants. Just because they generated a lot of paper doesn't mean they kept good records.
Alright, I know "it's not even a major holiday" is a key rherorical tactic for resisting Christmas creep, but the fact is I freaking love Hannukah and I'm excited.
Antitheists love to talk about the "three big monotheistic religions", so this is just a reminder that one of those "big three" is actually tiny, and is only ever called out by name because it's the special target of the biggest one.
My Jewish community has room for queer Jews, poly Jews, patrilineal Jews, anti-zionist Jews, interfaith Jews, Jews of color, Jews from all streams and backgrounds. My Jewishness is bigger than my politics. But my Jewish community has no room for harassers and bullies and bigots.
Two equally likely possibilities:
1) Trump is actually in much worse shape than reported which is why he's taking the medications for severe cases
2) Trump is not doing too bad, but is demanding medications that could actually harm him, and no one will say no to him.
GOP, 2018: He moved the embassy to Jerusalem, no President has ever been so good for the Jews!
Jews, 2018: This is terrible, actually, and he's not doing it for us, he's doing it for the Evangelicals.
GOP, 2018: That's ridiculous, you must be Self Hating Jews(tm)
Trump, 2020:
“And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the Evangelicals. You know, it’s amazing with that: the Evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people.”
CHRISTIANS: Anyone who doesn't do good things, as I personally define them, isn't a real Christian
ME: No, stop it, that's not how this works
ATHEIST: Any religion that doesn't function and look like Christianity isn't a real religion
ME: [endless screaming]
In conclusion:
"My problem isn't with Christianity, it's with organized religion" tells me that your problem definitely IS with Christianity, and also that you have bought into Christian propaganda about it's own position as the epitome of religious expression.
Edgy Atheists love to jump into the mentions of Jews discussing Christian hegemony and how it harms us to tell us God isn't real. As if we're shocked by that. As if we'd never considered it. As if there weren't VOLUMES of theological and philosophical inquiry on the matter.
Everyone loves to hate on Ashkenazi food, but we'll see who's laughing when the grocery stores are down to chicken livers, giblets, carp, and calves feet.
JEWS: The preservation of human life is the ultimate good. Protecting life is always the top priority
ALSO JEWS: Every Friday night we hand matches to four year olds and hope for the best
I'm so freaking tired of reading about all the ways we could lose an election while winning the popular vote by 7 or 9 or 11 points. I'm exhausted by the constant stress of trying to game out how to win an election against a massively unpopular goon. This shouldn't be difficult.
The thing about surveys studying religion asking respondents to self-identify how religious they are, or how important religion is to them, is that the Christian normativity of the surrounding questions skews the results. Context matters. A lot.
therapist: Christians aren't real, they can't hurt you
me: But... but they are real. A significant amount of Western history is Christians doing things that hurt me. They're doing hurtful things right now.
therapist: oh, haha, no, those aren't really Christians, those are fakes
There was an incident in which some of my relatives very likely died where all the Jews in a particular town were forced into the Synagogue, which was then lit on fire. So I'm not super sympathetic to the notion that being told you have to go to church on Zoom is persecution.
Any time a tweet of mine talking about Christian hegemony gets some traction, someone tells me that there are some forms of Christianity that don't fit my generalization.
And ok, I'm sure that's true. Also I don't care. I'm writing about the Christianity that owns half the world.
Maybe ADHD is an adaptive trait that's useful for surviving in quasi-nomadic and early agricultural societies, but is extremely poorly suited to late stage capitalism.
Step 1 to understanding Judaism:
The rabbis don't all agree with each other. Also, the Jews don't always agree with the rabbis, and we've been known to argue with God (and win).
If you think agreement is required, your looking at the wrong religion
@chasemcarter
@jvplive
I've been trying to understand 'Judaism' for a while now, so i've spent time listening to various rabbis. None of them seem to agree on anything, in fact, some of them seem homophobic and hostile. So from this perspective, Judaism seems all about weapons, war and patriarchy.
And for those who don’t know who Adam Schiff is, he is not just a radical liberal, he is someone who has been hand-picked and supported by George Soros.
To save time:
If you think I'm calling your faith antisemitic, you're probably right, I probably am. If you can understand that it's possible to eliminate antisemitic *practices* without abandoning your whole religion, then we're probably already cool with each other.
@StephanFrost
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is real, and it is brutal. By age 12, kids with ADHD receive, on average, 20,000 more negative messages about themselves than other kids. Just be mindful of it, and make sure to give more positive messages than feels natural to balance it out.
There's been a spike of channer/Nazi activity on Twitter lately. For gentiles who would like to do some active allyship, here is something you can do:
Search "talmudist" on Twitter. You'll find a bunch of truly gross antisemitism. Report/block/repeat. Help deplatform this trash.
If you can't practice your religion without harassing other people to stop practicing their religion, then your religion is fundamentally incompatible with the whole concept of religious freedom.
CHRISTIAN: The Old Testament says [thing that is definitely not in there]
JEWS: You're wrong, it's our book and we know, and it's called the Tanakh
CHRISTIAN: Pride is a sin you know
Christian people. You're talking about Christian people. The idea of eternal punishment waiting for you after you die is not universal to all religions, it's particular to one religion.
Dear non-Jews:
If you make an assertion about something Jewish and a whole lot of Jews tell you you're wrong, it's okay to just admit being wrong. There's a couple thousand years of antisemitic propaganda out there, there's no shame in having picked up some misinformation.
Y'ALL: Haha, this scientific discovery disproves something from the Bible, Religious People will all be so upset!
JEWS: Oh man, this means our texts needs to be revisited and we get to do some new interpretation! Quick, to the library, Shavuot is going to be LIT this year!
There's a crucial difference between saying "all religions are corrupt and oppressive" and saying "no religion is immune from being corrupted and used to oppress."
There are no "Judeo-Christian" holidays
*Christian* holidays are endorsed by the government as federal paid holidays
*Jewish* holidays get deducted out of our PTO benefits, and our co-workers think they're being funny while they otherize us for wanting to observe our traditions
@fangirlsmash
I’d argue that’s not our decision. Judeo Christian “holidays” are endorsed by the government by giving us paid time off work. That doesn’t mean I’m observing the events that Christians do at those times.
It is a law of freaking nature that whenever a Jewish holiday event is scheduled, every single non-Jewish event possible will be scheduled to conflict with it.
Dear The Christians-
Many of you have "a Jewish friend" who is fine with it, whatever it is, and I need you to know that many of us coddle your feelings even when we are *not* fine with it because we don't feel safe and/or comfortable telling you to your face what we really think
The only religion that Millenials are leaving and not coming back to is Christianity. Affiliation with minority religions are all steady or growing a bit.
@MaraWilson
I say this as a Christian, I feel like Christmas itself isn't just for us. Sure we as religious folk celebrate for those elements, but growing up I always felt Christmas was a much bigger holiday, an every culture holiday. That we all celebrate good will & the commercialization.
We asked you to stop pushing Christmas on people who don't celebrate it, not to continue pushing it on us under a weak euphemism. This is your thing you put on yourselves to dodge actually respecting other cultures, and now you're complaining about it.
Being told that you have done something racist or antisemitic or misogynist, or that your reaction to something is influenced by a racist, antisemitic, misogynist culture is not a bad thing. It's not a judgement on *you* and your moral standing. It's constructive criticism. Grow.
A subtle message of Encanto that I really appreciate it is that it sucks to be told that your disability is actually a gift.
Pepa's "superpower" is literally that she has anxiety. She can't control the weather - it controls her. But she still gets blamed for the storms
It presupposes that Christianity is the template for religion, and that all religions are alternate versions of Christianity. It ascribes particularly Christian ideals and values to being typical of organized religion in general, supporting the idea of Christian universalism
We won the presidency, the house, and the Senate. And today an armed mob, at the urging of the sitting President, attempted an insurrection to override the election.
Stop talking about "coming together". Stop talking about "reconciliation".
Start talking about consequences.
That pronoun is "hu":
הוא
It's the same pronoun used to refer to the rivers that flow through Gan Eden in Gen. 2, to refer to "the woman you put beside me" in Gen. 3:12, to refer to "your husband" in Gen. 3:16. God chose a pronoun that can literally mean 'it', 'she' or 'he'.
God revealed His preferred pronouns in scripture and the left is like "let's call they mama goddess." Amazing the One who created us all is the only One the left won't let pick His own gender.