It's super weird that today the two news stories that keep popping up in my Reddit and Facebook feeds are two separate Variety articles. One about Mark Ruffalo getting support from Jewish friends and actors defending him after accusations of antisemitism. The other, Gal Gadot, the most famous Israeli actress expressing an unpopular opinion about the only hot button issue that rivals Israel/Gaza.

The timing is just odd.

Looks like John Galliano is out.

Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner! I’m trying to pull together a list of food traditions from different Jewish communities around the world. I know the main ones, like apple in honey, fish head, pomegranate seeds, carrots, and dates. Im looking for ones that are specific to a Jewish community from somewhere around the world. If you have one, please comment it below! And try to include where it’s from, the meaning behind it, and the recipe if possible. Thanks all! Shanah Tovah!

Title. I explained to her that no one else in my family is observant or passing on Judaism, so I feel a lot of pressure to assure that my children have full halachic status. I'm comfortable davening with those who have undergone non-orthodox giyur and count them for a minyan or for other religious purposes. However, if I'm going to have kids with someone I unfortunately need them to either be matrilineal by birth or to have gone before an orthodox beit din. Is this a problematic preference to have? I think she's angry at me for sharing it and I feel awful now. Just not sure how to navigate this topic moving torward while being authentic but not stepping on people's toes.

I went on a date with a girl I quite like the other day and she turned out to be Jewish! What a nice bonus, however she seems to be mildly anti Israel. I’m not at all observant and am an atheist but I still grew up very Jewish, have lots of family and friends in Israel etc. She didn’t seem at all like one of those hateful rabid “anti Zionists” and I’m just wondering if any of y’all have any advice about gently pushing back and trying to make her see reason about this. As I understand it she is estranged from her Jewish side of the family may be part of it. I don’t have any desire to shove my views down her throat or start an argument but it’s very clear when you come to my house that we love Israel (pics on the walls, kids Magen David artwork etc..) and the only experience I have discussing this stuff usually turns into a screaming match with my friendly local Jew hating protesters. Hope you all are well!

Hi, billboards from Jews.com are up in the NYC area and this article explains they are a missionary front. Their website straight-up is full of totally anti-Jewish ideas like you-know-who is your savior.

https://matzav.com/beware-missionary-group-launches-aggressive-new-york-jews-com-billboard-campaign-targeting-jews/

hi fam using a throwaway to keep my main about shitty reality shows and Tottenham (pls be kind, we're going through it over there rn💀) sorry for my English and the long rant but looking for some perspective -- also sorry it it's the wrong flair!

so my (israeli f30) job is sending me to minneapolis for about 3 months assignment and it's an amazing professional opportunity that I'm super grateful for, but I'm so nervous because my insta is literally covered with how things are for Jews in the usa right now... and minnesota I heard is really intense.

for background, I'm a third culture kid, my family lived outside Israel pretty much all my life (ironically, just returned to the country permanently about six months ago...), went to college in the states where there was a fairly sizeable Hillel/chabad. I have a name my parents chose so it can fit in the country I grew up in and across my heritage languages. I wear a Magen David my sis got me when I was a kid but I know when to tuck it in... I'm mistaken for wasian a lot randomly but my bf (who is fortunately able to come with!!) looks like a default Middle Eastern, he gets mistaken as Arab when we travel... I think his accent isn't very heavy or typical israeli in English but I could be wrong

We're pretty secular, he doesn't wear a kippah

I know I'm over worrying about him because love and also he hasn't been much in the US, but he's well traveled and he knows the deal and like I just want to do well by my job and for us to have a good time in Minnesota and see some more of the us. plus his job is letting him work remotely which we're so grateful.

idk guys Minnesota just looks so beautiful and I'm basic but like Costco...trader joes... the lakes and hallmark vibes wow

so here I am if there are any Minnesota Jews or Israelis who can tell us what the reality is like just what life is like for you and how you're feeling I'm so appreciate it 🫶

Hi all! I am a non-Jewish ally and a new college freshman. I already knew that, especially at a liberal arts school, it was overwhelmingly likely that most of my peers would be swept up in the recent rise of virulent antisemitic, but I hadn’t encountered it personally until tonight. My roommate is currently sick and went to sleep early, so I left our dorm for the lounge to finish my homework. While I was in there, the people around me started ranting about Israel (pretty much all the stuff you’d expect, “evil colonizers,” “genocide” etc). I was very uncomfortable with this and picked up my stuff and moved to the opposite side of the room. This probably sent some kind of message but they weren’t deterred and kept going for a few minutes while I tried very hard to ignore them and just focus on my work. I felt bad for not speaking up as I want to be the best ally I can and I know a part of that is confronting antisemitism even when it is uncomfortable. My logic was I don’t think that my speaking up in this moment would have convinced them of anything, and considering that I have to share a small building with these people for the next nine months, I wanted to err on the safe side of not making myself a target socially. However, I could be totally wrong about this- it was kind of selfish and really my spur-of-the-moment decision where I was just trying to get homework done so I could go to my room and sleep, not get entangled in a very complex geopolitical debate. But I also know that at least one of my hallmates is Jewish (she was in her room at the time of the incident- if she had also been here, I probably would have said something so she could feel more safe, and checked in with her after). I am not naive enough to assume things like this won’t happen again, and I know my own fear and discomfort is probably nothing compared to that of someone who is regularly and directly affected by the antisemitism we’ve seen in the past few years. So what is the best course of action I should take in the future to push back against my peers’ antisemitism and ensure my Jewish hallmate and classmates can feel at least somewhat protected? Is it worth taking the plunge and refuting it directly, even though I am pretty sure it won’t change anyone’s mind? Am I wrong about that? Sorry for so many questions, I am really at a loss for how bad it has gotten and how prevalent, but I’m sure it’s much worse for y’all.

London family went to Paris with the family for the first time in ages this bank holiday. Must say was a bit concerned given all the anti-Semitic rhetoric coming out of France but was very pleasantly surprised. There was apparently a Palestinian march when we were there but the only march we saw had people waving Stars of David and Persian flags.

Spent a lot of time in the Jewish areas - no negative graffiti, lots of very visible Jews going about their daily lives and lots of tourists happily eating in the Jewish delis and falafel bars. Stars of David on sale in loads of places, lots of religious shops, was a pleasure to see.

I’m sure they’re clearly around but didn’t see one Palestinian flag or keffiyah in my four days - and we walked around the whole centre of Paris.

Not claiming that my visit is representative but it definitely felt different to quite a few parts of Western Europe.

I live in Argentina. I met a tourist from Israel, Jewish like me, on Shabbat. We connected in a beautiful way. Despite the cultural and language differences (we spoke a weird mix of Spanish and English), we were able to have deep conversations, laugh a lot, and really enjoy each other's company.
On Saturday night, we went out for drinks (along with a friend of his who I really liked—I’d totally be friends with him) and I had an amazing time. Afterwards, just the two of us walked around the city talking until 5 in the morning
He tried to kiss me and I turned him down because I don't want to get hurt. For me, a kiss means something; for him, it's just a way of showing affection (like a hug). We are never going to see or talk to each other again, but I don't think I'll be able to forget everything that happened. It's really hard for someone in the community here to feel this way about someone. In my city, there's no one my age (everyone makes Aliyah or moves somewhere else). I don't know how to feel, I just keep thinking about what a beautiful experience it was.

I would appreciate some advice from the community:
I'd love to hear your (respectful) insights on the cultural aspect. Dating and affection are handled one way here in Argentina, and seem to be very different in Israel.
How do you healthily process the grief of letting go of a beautiful connection that was doomed from the start?
How do I move on from this experience in a healthy way when I feel so isolated locally?

I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a regional subreddit for Boston and Massachusetts Jews. What do you think?

I came up with a bunch of punny names and wanted to get input/discussion. Here are some explanations and some that didn’t make the cut:

Polled names

r/Amssachusetts ('Am "people/nation" + Massachusetts)
r/BostAm (Boston + 'Am "people/nation")
r/Hubrew (Hub of the Universe + Hebrew)
[r/Kvelltics](r/Kvelltics) (kvell "rejoice" + Boston Celtics)
r/Massajewsetts (Massachusetts + Jew)
r/617mitzvot (617 area code + 613 mitzvot "commandments")

Some name ideas that didn’t fit into the poll:

r/KosherCommonwealth (kosher + commonwealth of massachusetts)
r/Massashevet or r/Masshevet (Massachusetts + shevet שֵׁבֶט "tribe").
r/Masschazoles (Massholes + chazer "pig/glutton")
r/Masscholent (Masshole + cholent "sabbath stew")
r/Masshugana (Massachusetts + meshugana "crazy") or r/Masshugas (Massachusetts + meshugas "craziness")
r/matzachusetts (matzah + Massachusetts)
r/Mazelchusetts (mazel + Massachusetts)
r/Minutemensches or r/Minutemenschen (minutemen + mensch "person of integrity")
r/Mishpachusetts (Mishpacha "family" + Massachusetts. Is it pronounced “ch” or “ch” - discuss.)
r/MOTsachusetts (Member of Tribe + Massachusetts)
r/Schmoston ("Boston-Schmoston")
r/Schmassachusetts ("Massachusetts-Schmassachusetts")
r/TheChosenHub (The chosen people + The hub of the universe)

Plain, descriptive names are also possible:

r/JewishBoston (there’s already a popular site with this name, so I wouldn’t want to infringe/confuse)
r/BostonJewish or r/BostonJews
r/MassJews or r/MassachusettsJews
r/JewishMass or r/JewishMassachusetts

Rejected names:

A pun on “TheMassPike” but changing a letter in “Pike”
r/MAzel (MA + mazel "luck"; banned community and I wasn't able to claim it)

I have claimed as many of the subreddits as possible to prevent malicious use.

And if you are interested in being a mod, and are experienced - let me know.

Nothing creates Zionists quite as efficiently as people who insist Zionism is illegitimate or unnecessary and then spend their time demonstrating exactly why it exists.

I speak Russian as my first language. When I mention that in Canada, the reaction is usually warm - a smile, "Privet," maybe a friendly comment about Russia or Russian culture. Nobody demands that I explain Putin, apologize for the invasion of Ukraine, or answer for cities being destroyed by the Russian army. And this is despite the fact that pro-Putin sentiment is hardly rare in parts of the Russian-speaking diaspora here. Spend any time in Russian-Canadian Facebook groups and you will see plenty of people openly supporting him and repeating Kremlin propaganda. Then, at some point, I mention that I'm actually from Israel - and suddenly it gets awkward.

And that's exactly the point: nobody treats a Russian-speaking person as responsible for Putin, even though many Russian Canadians do support him.

The same principle works perfectly well with everyone else. Iran's regime has slaughtered thousands of protesters, brutally represses women and imprisons dissidents, yet nobody treats a Persian restaurant in Canada as the Revolutionary Guard. There are conservative Muslim communities here where women face serious religious and family pressure over clothing, marriage and gender roles, but nobody sane concludes that every Muslim Canadian should answer for Sharia law, Iran, Saudi Arabia or the Taliban. A Chinese Canadian is not Xi Jinping, an Iranian Canadian is not Khamenei, and a Russian Canadian is not Putin.

Then we get to Jews, and suddenly this very simple principle becomes incredibly difficult to understand.

A synagogue becomes "Israel." A Jewish school becomes the IDF. A kosher restaurant becomes a place to express rage about Gaza. A Canadian Jew with absolutely no influence over Israeli policy is suddenly expected to explain Netanyahu, settlements, the IDF and whatever happened in the Middle East that morning.

Apparently collective responsibility is racist and disgusting when applied to everyone else, but when applied to Jews it somehow becomes "activism."

And somehow "anti-Zionist" rhetoric so often comes packaged with the same old antisemitic clichés - "Steins," "Bergs," Jewish money, influence, secret networks and dual loyalty. Epstein gets dragged into everything, while Einstein somehow never does. At some point, it becomes very hard to pretend this is only about Zionism.

And this is where the claim that all of this is merely "anti-Zionism" becomes rather funny. If you genuinely believe Jews do not need a Jewish state, then logically you should be encouraging Israeli Jews to leave Israel and come live safely in Canada. Your message should be: "Come here. You don't need your own state. We'll prove it."

Instead, some of the loudest people fighting Zionism are helping create an atmosphere in which Jews feel increasingly alienated in the very countries that are supposedly meant to prove Zionism unnecessary.

In my case, Israel is not some distant country I suddenly discovered because Canada made me uncomfortable. I am from Israel. It is my country. What Canada has managed to do is remind me very clearly why having that country matters.

So congratulations. If your goal was to convince Jews that Zionism is illegitimate or unnecessary, treating Canadian Jews as extensions of the Israeli government is a spectacularly stupid strategy.

You may be creating more Zionists than Israel ever could.

Online non-Jewish, Native American friend who knew several holocaust survivors who are now deceased. Wants to know what prayer (presumably a Jewish prayer) to say for them. What should I tell her?

I wanted to share something that happened recently because I'm still rather taken aback by it, and I'm interested in how other Jews would respond.

There is a woman in a group I'm in who isn't a friend of mine; she's a friend of a non-Jewish acquaintance. The group was created to support a family who were victims of a heinous crime and who have also been subjected to some truly vile defamation. It isn't a political discussion group, and there had been no conversation about the issues she suddenly introduced.

None of us knew that this woman held these views until, completely out of the blue, she started posting in the group about the Bondi Hanukkah massacre. She essentially blamed the massacre and the antisemitism surrounding it on Israel's conduct in the war against Hamas. She called the massacre a "false flag", referred to it as a "post-op", apparently insinuating that Israel was behind it, and called survivors "crisis actors".

This wasn't a discussion she was responding to. Her posts were completely unrelated to the purpose of the group and were simply dropped into a space that exists to support a family affected by a horrific crime.

I challenged her and shared a number of links to numerous articles addressing some of the claims she was making, including material explaining why the allegation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is not supported by the evidence. Rather than reading or engaging with them, she immediately responded that she wasn't going to argue with "a Zionist".

My response was: "And I'm not going to keep arguing with an antisemite!"

What disturbed me almost as much as her comments was the reaction of the rest of the group. Only two people challenged and criticised what she was saying and supported me. Most people seemed to prefer simply letting it pass.

The woman who created the group, whom I had regarded as a friend, said that she comes from a military family and is accustomed to people having different beliefs. I told her that disagreement over beliefs is one thing; antisemitism is something entirely different. I pointed out that I can disagree with my own mother and siblings about all sorts of things without that meaning I should tolerate antisemitism.

She then told me that the woman who had made the comments had said she wouldn't talk about the issues in future.

That response left me feeling quite let down. "She won't talk about it anymore" isn't really an answer to what had happened. The problem wasn't simply that two people had differing political opinions. Someone had introduced an antisemitic conspiracy theory about a massacre of Jews into a group supporting victims of a horrific crime, suggested the massacre was an Israeli "post-op", and called survivors "crisis actors".

And, honestly, this has made me back away from the group. I don't feel that the others really understand just how offensive and disturbing this woman's behaviour was. I'm not expecting everyone to share my political views, but I had hoped that people would recognise that there is a very significant difference between political disagreement and antisemitism.

October 7 and the Bondi Hanukkah massacre have both been moments when people have shown their true colours. Some people responded to the murder and suffering of Jews with horror and compassion; others responded by finding ways to blame Jews, Israel or the victims themselves, or by denying what happened altogether. Those responses have been deeply revealing, and frankly, they aren't pretty.

I think that is part of what has shaken me about this. It's not simply that one woman said some horrible things. It's that her comments made me realise that I may have had people in my life whose attitudes towards Jews and antisemitism I hadn't recognised.

I'm wondering if other Jews here have had similar experiences with friends or acquaintances; moments when someone said or did something that suddenly made you realise that a person you'd known, perhaps for quite some time, was actually antisemitic. Have October 7 or the Bondi Hanukkah massacre similarly revealed antisemitism in people you hadn't realised held those views?

The far-left and far-right disagree on many things. But just as they converge on Jew-hatred, they converge here, too: The individual, as the basic unit of moral value, is something to manage, subordinate or discard in favor of something bigger, whether it is the proletariat, the ummah or the nation. Jews keep ending up as the friction point in all three versions, because Judaism is the origin of the claim of individual dignity that each collectivist project must erase to make its case.

Antisemitism is not merely a byproduct of these movements; it is their essence, the tell, the recurring symptom of a counterrevolutionary project. This project aims to drag societies back from the dignity of the individual toward the primacy of the collective, regardless of what the collective worships today: king, class or caliphate.

None of this is an argument against community, family or peoplehood. Judaism is intensely communal. It is a covenant made with a people, not a scattering of atomized individuals. But like the American constitutional order it helped inspire, Judaism was built to hold two things at once: real obligation to nation and world, and inviolable respect for the dignity of each person within it.

That balance, neither collectivism nor pure individualism, is the Jewish inheritance.

by Micha Danzig

https://www.jns.org/opinion/micha-danzig/how-judaism-invented-individual-rights

Hi! My family and I live in an area with very few Jewish families. I’m scheduled to go into my children’s respective classrooms (2nd grade and K) to read a story about Rosh Hashanah. In past years, I’ve read Sammy Spiders First Rosh Hashanah, but wanted to see if anyone had other recommendations of stories that explain the holiday well to non-Jewish children (especially for my 2nd grader). I’m hoping to find a book with a nice story, that emphasizes the themes of Rosh Hashanah: reflection, round challah, apples and honey, etc. Thanks in advance for the recommendations!

I’m just starting off to say that I was always an atheist and so was my family. My parents were raised Catholic and had some religious trauma so they became atheist and decided that they didn’t want to push religion onto us, though we do celebrate common Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter).

I’ve been interested in Judaism for a while, not sure if I actually want to convert or if I just want to learn about Jewish culture, probably the latter, at least until I get a little older and am on my own. I feel like I could tell them, but I have a chronic fear of judgement due to emotional abuse as a child and therefore am too scared to tell them, especially because they generally have a negative view on religion as a whole.

Where can I start? What texts can I read that are free online? What is some general information I should know? I know about the three main types of Judaism, I feel like reformed Judaism is most enticing to me, as I feel like using the Torah as an ethical guide rather than a law is something I would look for in a religion, and learning about this and how people operate using it, rather than the strict laws that many religions push would be interesting to learn about.

Sorry if you found any of this offensive, I am just trying to learn and hoping to gain some knowledge as someone who was never religious and never knew anyone Jewish.

My SO and I are looking into moving to Oregon next year. The weather is what we want and it's way more progressive than our current state, which is very important to us. I've tried to do research on my own but I'm struggling to find any quality info on what it looks like on a day to day basis or for holidays.

Currently I live somewhere with a decent enough sized community. A K-12 day school, half a dozen synagogues, an Eruv in one of the wealthy neighborhoods, and a very nice JCC. While I'm comfortable moving somewhere with less community, I'm hesitant based on the little information I've found online. I grew up in a tiny town with 2 synagogues. Many years without a rabbi or even enough for a minyan, and now I've been spoiled.

I'm currently a member with a small synagogue that I love. The people are like family and I truly feel at home. It's progressive enough without losing out on the focus of prayer, torah study, and Jewish laws that you find in other more progessive synagogues. I'm worried that regardless of where I go, there'll be nothing like this one. My SO is also wanting to pursue conversion and I worry that it'll be difficult if we do that where there's not a lot of us.

Suggestions of other places are welcome but I really want to focus near Bend. I have a really close friend that lives there and the goal is to live near her again.

I was reading posts in one of the Marvel subreddits (mistake already I know) and there was a post about how the MCU should get rid of Magneto’s origin story as a Holocaust survivor because the Holocaust was too long ago. I’m not sure why people are so concerned about the accuracy of timelines in a franchise with literal superheroes but I digress.

Some people in the comments said the Holocaust survivor origin doesn’t work anymore because that would make Magneto at least 90 years old. Personally, I don’t see that being a problem— just say he ages slowly because of his mutant powers.

Anyway, there were even some commentators saying they should make Magneto Palestinian since “Gaza is the Holocaust of our time.”

Comments like these just made me think how offensive and inappropriate it would be to erase any other character’s heritage where said heritage is important to their character. Magneto being a holocaust survivor is like within the top 3 most important parts of his character.

The MCU infamously erased the heritage of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Sabra. The worst is probably Sabra where they completely erased her being Israeli which makes me think— why even use that character at all if you’re going to get rid of what makes her.. well her?? At least Marvel acknowledged Moon Knight being jewish for like a second. (Edit: I forgot about Ben Grimm and misremembered Sabra was still Israeli in the movie but was very watered down)

It reminds me of why I never liked how the tv show Big Mouth replaced Jenny Slate as the voice of Missy. Missy has a Jewish mother and a black father so having Jenny Slate as her voice actor isn’t completely strange since Slate is Jewish. But they replaced Slate with Ayo Edebiri, a black non Jewish actress. They effectively chose Missy’s black identity over her Jewish identity. Why couldn’t they find an actress that was both black and Jewish?

Ok so point is, why is being Jewish seen as not as important in a character’s identity?

Hi everyone, I hope to get some reassurance or some thoughts on this.

I’m ethnically Jewish, although my family isn’t practicing and I don’t generally go around telling people about my Jewish roots. A few people know, but as far as I’m aware, nobody in my neighbourhood does. I’ve become really interested in my Jewish background and Judaism in general, and it’s something I feel increasingly connected to.

Today, though, we found an anti-Israel sticker stuck on our front door.

At first my fiancé said I probably shouldn’t worry about it and that it was most likely random. But then he started walking up and down our street to see if other houses had one. We ended up taking a walk around the whole block, and ours was the only house we could find with this sticker.

We live basically in the city centre of a fairly large city in Western Europe, so it just felt… weird. There are lots of houses and apartments around us, and I genuinely don’t know how anyone here would even know that I have Jewish roots.

Obviously, I don’t know that it had anything to do with me being Jewish. It could have been completely random, and I really don’t want to make a bigger deal out of something when I have no idea what the intention was. At the same time, realizing that ours seemed to be the only door targeted made me feel a bit scared and confused.

I mostly just wanted to share this somewhere with people who might understand why it left me feeling unsettled.