Goy here. I'm not a Christian but I was watching a few videos about Catholicism because why not. The first two videos were mundane stuff about the church. But the third was about how, according to the presenter, Jews influenced Vatican II and were basically to blame for the new mass. I didn't watch it because I don't want the algorithm to suggest that kind of trash.

But I was surprised by it. I know anti-semitism is everywhere, and some are quite open about it. I never knew, though, that it could be so close to such ordinary, mundane videos. If that makes any sense. I get the feeling that the soil of a new pogrom is fertile, and it's just waiting for the sower.

Be safe out there.

We don’t know anything about the history of it. It has a hinged top, and a velvety lining inside. Discovered in the attic of the temple, but no records of any member with the name/family written on the top. Seems like someplace to put a ritual object, but what object?

Posting for a friend. We think this is a kiddish cup (uncertain of its age). Is anyone able to translate the Hebrew at the base of the cup?

She broke up with me bc I’m Jewish and I said that the state of Israel has a right to exist. It seems so dumb and I want her back so badly. It feels like I’m sitting shive, except no one is there to support me. But I can’t go back. She checked off everything on the 3D Test. This person that I’ve loved for months that I still love is just so disgusting. It makes me question myself very deeply. I dated an antisemtie. And now I’m the desperate one that wants to make her change it doesn’t make sense. She said „not all Jews“ the way a racist would say „not all blacks“. Any other bad experiences to offer up so that I’m not the only one wallowing in misery?

Just to get the backstory in briefly, I was raised by 2 Jewish parents, but very secular. All "American" holidays were celebrated, including Dec. 25 and Easter (Although Xmas is much more festive for them). We're estranged from all other family except for my mom's sister and her family -- my mom's sister converted to Catholicism and married a Catholic, and are raising their two girls as Catholics. They purposefully tell their girls that they aren't Jewish, and have tried to argue with me before. The whole family hates Orthodox Judaism and I am the pariah. I am a BT. My husband's family are Conservative Jews, we are Chabad.

We got married in November last year, and so a month later was going to be the Xmas celebrations when my whole family gets together. I told my husband I think we shouldn't go, but he insisted. He felt that it was more than important to connect with family, and that we will just say beforehand that we don't want to participate in Xmas. I knew that wouldn't work but whatever. We were a month out of our wedding, where my family ditched me alone for the 2 days leading up to the wedding event to party with treif at their hotel, including the day of my wedding, where I sat alone in the bridal suite with my best friend until they finally arrived right before the wedding started. So you can see why I was already wary about going back to my hometown for the holidays, lol.

Well, even though we had texted the groupchat a long time beforehand and asked specifically to not participate in gift-exchanges, and despite this already being a long battle I had fought with them for the last few years, they got us gifts. We thanked them and politely said we would wait until after the specifically X-mas gift exchange time to open them.

They FREAKED OUT. Screamed at us that "it's not Xmas, it's Hanukkah!" We said, Hanukkah was weeks ago. I thanked them for the gifts again and mentioned we would open them tomorrow. More screaming. My aunt started singing (with completely incorrect lyrics "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" and then the Catholics tried to explain to the Jews that Hanukkah was about opening gifts and being with family. I explained Hanukkah was about not assimilating to different religions. My dad screamed at my husband to "be a man," as if I were keeping him from opening gifts/celebrating. We stayed strong.

A day or so later, my aunt spent a great deal of time trying to get my husband to eat Skyline chili. It was then that I realized they thought I was eating Kosher but he wasn't. They thought I was forcing him to observe things that he didn't want to do. Later, my dad was incredulously asking my husband, "really? So you've never eaten pork?"

So I said, we are absolutely done with this. We are not going back for the holidays, they clearly can't handle it. We have already said quite a few times at this point that we will not be there for Xmas. This has resulted in a LOT of crying from my mom and some guilt-tripping from my dad and my aunt. But we are not going.

My husband said we will have a huge Chanukah party at our house and that we can invite them all to stay with us and attend, lol. My aunt's family lives about a 10-hour drive from my fam, who live about a 5-hour drive from us. They're using the whole "but it's the one time a year we are all together!" My husband and I have flown to my aunt's family, and have driven to see my family twice this year. NO ONE from my family has come to visit us! (Except for my brother, who flew from Mississippi back in the Spring!) They still think I'm bluffing about not coming this year, but it's about time there were some proud Jews.

Life’s been you know, how it usually goes, after graduating college, I find myself friendless as my friends moved away from my hometown. I still talk to one friend, but I can feel the distance between us and I’m sad that this friendship might fade away as well, but that’s just life.

To be honest, I’ve struggled immensely with severe mental health in college, I’m awkward, introverted, and anxious too. I tried pretty hard to get involved but everyone was pretty dang flaky. I’ve made friends at the end but eventually lost them. I’m now kinda depressed again, lonely, and feel like I’m going a bit crazy with my loneliness. It kinda drives you crazy when your friendships keep fading off over the years y’know…

But that’s not all. Don’t FORGET! I’m Jewish! It’s hard to scope for safe friends nowadays. I had to cut out a friend right after the 7th, because of the disgusting things she said about that day. Darn it, being a Jew is really hard. And being a minority in this city is not fun.

Anyways, yeah, that’s my cute lil’ rant about being a lonely Jew. Just needed to vent it out but advice is always appreciated ofc haha. I’m pretty sad and miserable and even though I’m an introvert, I crave wholesome friendship interactions where I don’t have to hide me being Jewish for my safety. I have 0 desire to pass any litmus tests to prove to people that I’m one of the “good Jews”. I’m very proud about my Jewish identity. It’s exhausting and lonely out here man. 🥲

A Magen David for remembering

This Magen David once belonged to a dear friend of mine, of blessed memory. She was old enough to have been my mother and, when my friend passed away some years ago, her daughter kindly gave this to me.

It's a very old piece of jewelry and the silver was badly tarnished.  I recently had the silver and tiny stones in it professionally cleaned by a jeweler, and now this star shines in remembrance of my friend – who also shined with honor and kindness throughout her lifetime. 

Tldr: Should I as a goy buy a kippah to wear to synagogue or should I just wear a hat?

Hey everyone, I had a question regarding buying a kippah as a goy. I have been involved in Jewish services and traditions but I when I participated in a service I wore a borrowed kippah. At the end of this week I’ll be visiting the local synagogue with class and we were obviously asked to bring a headcovering. Now, in preparation of this I was thinking of going to buy myself a kippah so that I don’t have to wear a hat, it feels more respectful and proper (though I know that’s not necessarily true). However, I’m afraid that maybe doing so is maybe performative? That’s the best word I can put to it. I was wondering what other people thought about this and what you guys would suggest I should do.

I don't speak Hebrew (except for a few words and phrases), and didn't go to synagogue until I was an adult. On Saturday mornings, the synagogue where I go, one or two of the men will walk down rows of seats after touching the Torah scroll during the Torah reading and greet everyone (on the men's side), and say what sounds like "baruch t'ya". I said it into Google Translate and " ברוך תהיה " came back, with the translation "be blessed". What I'm trying to find out is what do I say in response to this? I hear people respond but can't make it out. I know I could ask someone but I don't want people to know how newb I am. Not that it would matter to anyone, just saying.

My fiancé is Jewish by birth. He decided earlier this year to start actively practicing the faith. I was raised Eastern Orthodox Christian but I no longer practice any faith. I identify as agnostic at best, but lean towards atheism. However, I believed that it would be good for my fiancé to get involved with and embrace his Jewish heritage. I fully supported him going to services, meeting with the rabbi, going to the Torah study groups, and being involved with the celebrations.

My fiancé has struggles with mental health issues his entire life. The last several months have been particularly hard. About a week ago, he went to Torah study, and then visited with the rabbi and discussed some of the recent struggles. The next morning, he told me that the rabbi encouraged him to leave, create space between us, and get his own place.

I have three children, we don’t have any children together because he is unable to have kids (we tried for over a year), but my fiancé has been a father figure to my kids, as their biological dad is not in the picture after losing his parental rights. The rabbi knows that we have a family.

I don’t know what their conversation was, and after having him leave the day he informed me about talking to the rabbi, he has since had intense regret and wants to come home. I was very upset when I found out that he chose to act on the advice of the rabbi when he told me he was going to leave, especially because they have only met each other a handful of times. When talking yesterday, I told him maybe he should talk to the rabbi and ask him what he should do now. My fiancé informed me “The rabbi thinks I should marry a Jewish woman.”

I was completely blindsided by this. I initially thought that he was told to leave because of the struggles happening at home as a direct result of his mental health. There has been a lot of arguing. When my family and friends asked me initially if it was because I’m not Jewish, I was confident in telling them that I didn’t believe that was the reason.

I’m not sure what I’m asking here. I guess, is this normal? Is it typical that a rabbi would tell someone to leave their family and find a Jewish woman? I grew up Utah, and the LDS emphatically encourage their members to marry within their faith, but even the interfaith LDS relationships I have had in the past, their leaders have never told my partner they should leave and find someone of their own faith to be with. I am no stranger to being the outsider in religious communities, but never have I experienced anything like this.

I just found out that you have to say a bracaha when putting on tzizis I have been wearing it for over a year and didn’t say a blessing once. I thought you just put it on and go on with your day. Does that mean every time I wore the tzizis it didn’t count ? What is the blessing

In chapter one of The Notebook: A History of a Thinking on Paper, the author states "This innovative format [...] proved useful [...] with the spread of Christianity, which - unlike earlier religions - came with its own holy book."

(Stuff I removed is just about the size, shape, and name of the type of book. Empathasis is mine.)

How little fact checking did this book get if such a basic falsehood gets in? Thankfully it's chapter one so I haven't spent much time on it.

Sometimes I have thoughts especially about things like the situation in Israel right now and don't understand why G-D would let His chosen people be kidnapped and killed. I just want to know if I am doing something wrong by questioning parts of my faith.

Is there any hat that it would be completely normal for an American guy to wear in random public places besides a baseball cap? I have been wearing alternately a kippah or a baseball cap depending on how I feel and where I'm going. I'm slightly sick of baseball caps and look like an asshole in a fedora type hat and can't come up with anything else. I suspect the answer might just be wear a baseball cap, but I wanted to check if anyone else had a bright idea.

Are there any unique Jekke customs or traditions for the Bris Milah? Are there any significant ways in which a Jekke Bris ceremony might differ from other Ashkenazi Bris ceremonies? Thank you all!

I know I am not religiously Jewish but would I be considered ETHNICALLY Jewish? Also how would religious Jews see me. Thnx

Hi! For context, I was raised as a United Pentecostal Christian and after learning that I had some Jewish ancestry, I became really interested in studying about Jewish history and traditions. I also never felt like i fit in well with the church I attended at home and had struggled to find a “home church” over the last 2 years in my college town. I visited a hebrew roots church and I loved the traditions, but it still left me with a lot of questions. I went down the Rabbi Tovia Singer rabbit hole and now i feel like my whole life is a mess😭. Something in me feels so strongly to keep pushing and work towards an orthodox conversion. I’ve began keeping kosher and shabbat, dressing more modestly, and i’m trying to teach myself hebrew so I can read the Torah in the original language-and I am loving every second of this. However, I still have SO many questions and so many fears (hell, disappointing Gd, disappointing my family) and I feel so alone. I live in the south, there’s no synagogues here, i’ve never even met a practicing Jew. I feel so connected to Judaism in this strange way, but i’m so alone in my journey. Does anyone have any advice or would be willing to help answer some questions?

I’m very short and they are too long for me. I half tuck them in. I have a ceramic blade - finally found one and want to cut them….but can I?! I’ve seen some moms cut their toddlers tzitzit but not sure if an adult can cut them.

What do you guys believe the Tree of Life is?

Specifically interested in the years between 1492 (Jewish expulsion from Spain) and the emancipations of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I’m really curious to know what conversion to Judaism looked like for people during such an oppressive time, as well as what motivations people had for doing so. I’ve read here and there online that there were such conversions but can’t find any sources.

I know that Jew and Judaism come from Judah; and before the establishment of Israel the people were called Hebrews (which means “wanderers”?), but is there an endonym that isn’t tied to a specific tribe, but encompasses all of the people?

(Just a thought that came to me, nothing serious.)

I am hosting the second night of RH for the first time in my life for a few friends. I want to make it meaningful and fun. Can anyone recommend:

• a creative way to do simanim aside from just apples and honey? I have seen various versions in cookbooks I own with variations between Ashkenaz and Sephardic customs. For reference, I am Ashkenaz.

• A fun and not too serious bit of inspiration we can share with everyone - a bit of Torah perhaps? We're all mid30s.