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Anonymous asked:

If I'm not Jewish, would you mind if I added something onto the positivity post? It's about synagogues.

I would rather the positivity post remain for Jewish people* - thank you for asking! However, anyone can feel free to reblog it.

*I think one person in the notes asked about converts being able to add, to which I’d like to respond that the default on this blog is that converts are included and actively welcomed to contribute.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about compassion in Judaism, and being kind. In that light, I would like everyone to know that my current favorite Jewish supernatural headcanon is that, instead of driving vampires away with crosses or stakes through the heart, we say the Mourner’s Kaddish for them. I mean, that’s just so adorable. You see this threatening undead creature, and instead of yelling murder, you feel bad for them, and you mourn for them. Imagine being a vampire at the receiving end of that, having been chased away for years and years and told you’re a monster when you come across someone who sees you and your existence and accepts that you’re in a pretty bad place and offers help in the best way they can. I’m actually tearing up about this a little. If someone adds to this post I’ll love them forever.

vampires jumblr jewish things kaddish

I’m trying to keep this blog focused on positive Jewish things, because at least my dash is so clogged with antisemitism-related posts right now, and I just wanna spread some happiness, you know? On that note… Jewish positivity thread, anyone? A happy Jewish thing I recently saw was a local kosher establishment where the plastic cover on the mezuza on the door was half worn-away from all of the people going in, touching it, and kissing their fingers.

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learningftw

animatedamerican:

diaryofajewishconvert:

mytparty:

bighebrew:

Preservation Day has started, so I’m going to start by talking about why I can be trans and Jewish. Many people cite Dvarim when trying to invalidate trans identities. However, if a trans man is a man, and a trans woman is a woman, then “a woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor a man the garment of a woman,” means that every trans person who expresses their identity is fulfilling a mitzvah. Each of us is performing a holy act by revealing the light within our souls. Never forget this.

It feels important to note too, however, that preservation of life comes above everything else. So if a trans Jew feels their life would be put at too much risk if they came out, that is of higher priority.
Yes, expressing your trans identity is fulfilling a mitzvah, but you’re not doing anything wrong if you’re a trans Jew who needs to stay in the closet. You choose what is best for you.

Reblogging again for this important addition!

On the other hand, or actually on the other hand and the same hand simultaneously:  Preservation of life includes mental and emotional health.  Which can be affected by being closeted or by being out in a hostile environment, and only the individual can have any idea which is easier for them to survive.  And either way, if it’s for your survival, it automatically overrides the prohibition against wearing counter-gendered clothing.

(This is true, incidentally, whether or not you accept OP’s argument that it is not breaking that prohibition for a trans man to wear men’s clothing or for a trans woman to wear women’s clothing.  I am in no way qualified to make halachic decisions, but personally I like that argument a lot.)

And of course, because it has to be said: the supremacy of the mitzvah of preserving life also means that it is the responsibility of all Jewish people to make our communities less hostile to trans people, in whatever ways we can.  Because transphobia kills people, and whatever your halachic position on expressing trans identity may be, saving lives overrides it.

learningftw Source: bighebrew Strong Agree trans inclusive judaism = better judaism well that's true of like most things not like cruelty or whatevs but ya feel me jumblr

extremely relatable jewish thing:

that feeling when it’s right after a fast and you’ve gone to pick up food from the only local kosher place and you parked on the other side of the street, and the light turns green when you’re just far enough away that you have to jog to make it, and you’re trying to make a joke about stopping the traffic light from turning based on the verse, “שמש בגבעון דום וירח בעמק איילון,” (which is the verse wherein Yehoshua stops the passage of the sun) except you haven’t eaten anything all day and can’t find a suitable rhyme, yep, happens to all of us all the time, really relatable problem

at least the food was good nice to have something in ma belly taanit esther frumblr jumblr food cw fasting cw

laughlikesomethingbroken asked:

Why did Esther have multiple parties for the king instead of revealing Haman at the first one?

You know, I was wondering about that listening to megillah this year, since it never says anything explicitly about her methods. I do have a speculative answer, though.

If you look at the narrative, Esther is very hesitant about the plan to beg to stop the decree. She lives with the king; she knows what he’s like, how unreasonable he can be. When Mordechai tells her to go to the king about the decree he has made about the Jews, she responds with: but if I go appear before him and he hasn’t summoned me, he’ll put me to death. A valid fear, really, considering Achashverosh’s temperament and all the social rules in place. But she goes to the king anyway; “if I perish, I perish,” she says, and after fasting and so on, she appears before the king, and he feels favorably towards her, and doesn’t have her put to death (which is convenient for us: Thanks for Not Murdering Our Favorite Princess, Achashverosh!). (Also, disclaimer that there are probably other ~relationship~ things happening here, but I’ve actually never learned Esther much beyond pshat, so I’m sticking to what I know here.)

At this point, she’s already done something bold, and risky, and going against convention. Even though he claims he’ll be generous towards her request, again, he’s not exactly your #1 Trust Everything He Says person, you feel? So she makes a humble request, and one that she knows he’ll like: come join me for a wine party, with your best bro, Haman!

My guess is that after/during this party, she’s still hesitant. It’s still… I mean, imagine being in her place. What if Achashverosh doesn’t grant the request? What if revealing herself does lead to her death? Most importantly – well, she’s chosen to be the queen, and then a terrible antisemite becomes the king’s best bro, and they make a horrible decree against the Jews. What if that’s what G-d wants to happen, you know? Notably, when she asks Achashverosh for the second party to happen, during the first, she uses the word “king” two times (“if I find favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king…”); this is taken as an allusion not just to Achashverosh but to G-d, the king of kings.

And then — well, look at the events of the megillah:

  • Haman goes home, swollen with pride, which is quickly deflated by Mordechai refusing to bow to him, as usual. He devises a plan, building a gallows for Mordechai.
  • That same night, Achashverosh can’t sleep; reading through old records, he realizes he needs to honor Mordechai for saving his life (which happened earlier in the story).
  • Haman comes, just as the king has had that realization, into the court. The king asks him how to honor someone who should be honored, Haman assumes the king is referring to him, and is instead forced to give the grand honors he describes to Mordechai, publicly.
  • While Haman is recovering from the aftermath of that, the king’s guards immediately take him to the second party.

If Esther was hesitant before; well, if anything is a sign that she’s doing okay, having Haman lead her unclecousinhusbandfatherfigureJewishleader Mordechai through the streets of the capital, him wearing the clothes of the king on the king’s horse, him shouting “such will be done to a man who the king likes,” yeah, that’s a pretty good sign. With all that having happened, she can now go ahead and make the request of Achashverosh, and in the end she succeeds.

That’s just my reading, though. There could be other interpretations (or, um, actual commentary) that explains it, and there’s gotta be midrashim - if there’s any story with wild midrashim, it’s Esther - but this is what made most sense to me from the pshat. If anyone has followup questions, more to add - well, you know where to find me!

Happy Purim to everyone!

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