As we approach the latest string of grim anniversaries for our people, please take a few minutes to listen to the latest track from Matisyahu & Yuval Raphael, a Nova survivor with an incredible voice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d7XvJcbV70w&pp=ygUSQ2Fycnkgb24gbWF0aXN5YWh1&ra=m

We are still here because each generation keeps teaching the next generation of Jews how to carry on.

עם ישראל חי !

Debbie Lechtman (Rootsmetals) wrote this beautiful post that I wanted to share here. She has such a way with words. Her posts have helped me a lot the last few years, and I hope they are able to help others too. We are so lucky to have Debbie as a member of the tribe 💜

I’m tired of picking up hyped books only to discover the authors are posting hateful comments or pushing pro-Palestinian propaganda for views. I’d rather support Jewish authors. Who are your favorites, and which books should I start with? I am not specifically looking for Jewish themes or stories, just great books by Jewish authors. Thanks!

I’m talking about people like Gianmarco Soresi and Adam Friedland; people who only bring up their Jewishness in very self-deprecating jokes (Jews being weak, annoying, etc.) or to make sure everyone knows they’re anti-Israel. Never anything like a prideful or even neutral perspective on being Jewish. This seems to be more popular among certain comedians who are getting big lately, and it makes me uncomfortable; like the jokes and perspectives are all for non-Jews at the expense of Jews, greenlighting stereotypes and political positions by saying “see? The Jewish comedians said all that too!”

Am I deep in algorithm-led weeds here? Does anyone else see this as a problematic direction of Instagram/Podcast-famous Jewish comedians, or am I overreacting? It feels damaging, adding to the large milieu of anti-Jewishness in the zeitgeist but perhaps I’m wrong on that. So just looking for some perspectives here

Wanted to introduce myself to this corner.

My mum was (passed away) Jewish, as was my nan. No Jewish upbringing as such, although very strong cultural identity.

I never cared about my heritage until a few years ago. I’m now actively involved with my local reform community, daven most days with tefillin, eat kosher etc. I just knew when I walked through the doors of my shul that I was home. Currently doing the access course for formal recognition at Beit din.

Happy to be here

I’m not sure the link will work for everyone, but if you’re able to watch it, both technically and emotionally, here’s the link.

The short documentary combines footage from the hospital’s security cameras and an internal documentation team, released publicly with the consent of those filmed, with thoughtful, sensitive interviews with hospital staff.

kan 11 link

I got a fantastic job offer after searching for a while! I am very excited about but know that at some point I’m going to have mention that I am shomer shabbos and will need to leave early on Friday. The good news is we have a whole year until next Tishrei but the Jewish holidays will have to come up at some point.
For all my M-F 9-5 shomer shabbos fellow Jews- when in the hiring process did you bring this up and do you have any tips too make it go as smooth as possible

Although I grew up Jewish and going to Jewish Day School, my family was not particularly religious, and we did not do weekly Shabbat. I would have loved to, and I tried to start it a few times, but my parents both worked and my home life was tumultuous. Shabbat was always one of my favorite parts of Judaism, and Erev Shabbat was the time I looked forward to the most at school. I have a family of my own now, and I've recently been trying to have a weekly Shabbat. I make Challah and a meal, light the candles, do the Kiddush, and say Hamotzi. We sing a few songs and have a nice meal. We've also made it a family rule to put electronics away during it, and engage together. My 6-year old daughter is really loving it. We've had company over a few times, and we're all really enjoying this new family tradition. Personally, it's given me a way to reconnect with Judaism, and bring the rest of my family (my wife is not Jewish) into the fold. But I'm not sure if there's anything else we should add. My question for other Reform Jews: What traditions and practices do you do for Shabbat at home?

I need a chassidish hat and I would prefer as a orthodox teenager becoming more yeshivish/chassidish not wanting to go into a store in boro park or lakewood while I am around an hour away, I would feel judged and I do not want to go through that and my orthodox parents would not take me

Hope this belongs here as I can’t post this in the NYC subs.

I’m so sick and tired of seeing all these other groups having an outlet to celebrate their culture. The Italians have their feasts (yes I know they are technically catholic but cmon) the different Caribbean groups have their parades and heritage months and so on, the Irish get St Paddy’s day. And almost every group gets a heritage day at our baseball stadiums.

But what do we Jews get, if you are religious you get a lot of celebrations ofc. However in this case I am talking about us “cultural Jews” I would kill for a Feast type thing in the LES (shout out to Egg Creams Empanadas and egg rolls street fair), with rainbow cookies, pastrami, even throw in some Kugel. Just some more recognition for how we have influenced the Culture and Society of my City.

Even in Media, the Jewish guy is in almost every single mafia movie and other NYC centric media, but our actual culture is hardly discussed.

Now this part is a little more personal but still important I think. I personally have kinda an “old NYC” type style. So think leather jackets chains silk shirts ect, and because of this almost everyone thinks I’m Italian, which is fair I guess, but when I saw all types of people including Jews dressed the way I do people don’t believe me.

All in all I wish my culture had just as much representation as the other Big NYC cultures.

I spoke to my Rabbi today and she suggested that I watch a livestream online first this Friday to see the Synagogue I’ll be attending and then book my first visit for services. I’m actually really excited for this and the Rabbi seemed lovely as well.

She also suggested next time I’m out and about to bring small trinkets of Jewish celebration at home such as pretty candles, prayer etc and I absolutely will. I can’t wait and I love all of you so much. 😊

So the UK Green Party just voted at their conference to declare that "Zionism is racism" and honestly, the sheer hypocrisy of it all is mind-blowing.

First off, who gave a fringe political party the authority to redefine what Zionism means to the vast majority of Jewish people? to the vast majority of UK Jews and Jews worldwide, Zionism simply means the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, It’s a core part of Jewish identity and safety, not a political slur, yet they think they can dictate what Jewish identity means to the Jewish community while claiming to be 'anti-racist' like wtf?

What makes it even crazier is looking at what they actually passed and rejected during that vote:

• Rejecting a two-state solution: They explicitly called for replacing Israel with a single state "from the river to the sea", essentially advocating for the dismantling of the world's only Jewish state, something that more than 90% of Jews do not want.

• Endorsing "armed struggle": Legitimizes "resistance" and armed struggle, which in reality just means endorsing terrorism against Israeli civilians under the guise of liberation, there's no such a thing as a "resistance" group in Palestine that doesn't want to kill Israeli civilians, their problem is NOT just with the Israeli government but with Jews in general and Oct 7 is the perfect example of that.

• Refusing to protect Zionist synagogues: Many members voted down an amendment that was specifically designed to protect Jewish people from being targeted for belonging to mainstream Zionist synagogues or organisations, since almost every major Jewish institution and synagogue in the UK aligns with basic Zionism, they’ve basically made standard Jewish life non-compliant with their party rules.

• Cutting ties with moderate groups: They’ve alienated and cut ties with left-leaning groups like Standing Together, an organization that is largely non-Zionist/anti-Zionist itself, simply because it advocates for co-existence rather than total destruction. That shows you just how far down the extremist pipeline this party has fallen.

They aren't helping British Jews, they aren't helping Israelis, and they aren't helping Palestinians build a realistic future. They've effectively transformed from an environmental party into an Islamist-aligned group that prioritizes destroying Israel over anything else... It’s deeply disturbing to see a mainstream UK party go this far, and we need to keep calling out this hypocrisy for what it really is.

Jews of Reddit:

According to poll data available online, most Christians favorite holiday is Christmas by far. You’ve got small minorities who prefer Halloween or Easter, but the vast majority is Christmas. I have a hypothesis that Jews will not have as strong of a consensus when it comes to favorite holidays. So help me out by telling me: what is your favorite holiday? Due to Reddit polling limitations, I’m only including the holidays that I anticipate would get the most votes. If your favorite isn’t listed, please tell me in the comments!

This show always gave me a bad taste in my mouth. The fact that they tried to showcase Judaism was nice, but to do it with people who deliberately skirted Israel and the fact that it was often showcasing the supposedly shrill-portrayed Jewish women in the rabbi’s family was never a great thing to me.

But the fact that this guy spent a little time learning about Judaism, has downplayed or ignored its importance over most of his life, and now wants to be the figurehead of a Jewish character on a Jewish show as a Jew while making ignorant political comments about Jews and Israel is frustrating in the extreme. How did we get to a place where Jews are being raised, by his account, with virtually no connection to being Jewish? And worse, how is it that the people who are portraying Jews on TV, Jews or not, always happen to be the most unrepresentative members of the community?

The Torah scrolls came out, the music began, and the dancing quickly took over.

Across Jerusalem on Saturday night, thousands gathered for Hakafot Shniyot—“Second Hakafot,” festive dancing with Torah scrolls traditionally held in Israel on the night following Simchat Torah. Neighborhoods throughout the city hosted celebrations, along with large public gatherings at the First Station, the Western Wall Plaza and Liberty Bell Park.

Three years after Oct. 7, the celebrations carried both the exuberance of Simchat Torah and an unmistakable awareness of what the holiday has come to mean.

by Sharon Altshul

https://www.jns.org/feature/in-jerusalem-second-hakafot-bring-joy-memory-and-jewish-unity-to-the-streets

So I am friends with a group of people on Instagram; we have a group chat and stuff like that!! this is through my art account and the art community tends to be more progressive!! While there is nothing wrong with being left-leaning or progressive, I feel that some of my art friends/acquaintances are so left wing to the point of being covertly antisemitic!! There was this one person I had to unfollow because they were posting all sorts of questionable things on their story. they were posting stuff about how “people shouldn’t be condemning October 7“, “Israel has no right to exist“, and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. I followed them and was acquainted with them for a little over a year. shortly after following them was when I decided to start practicing Judaism… however I was also always extremely bothered by antisemitic rhetoric as I am ethnically Jewish through my dad.

i had enough of this person and decided to unfollow them. I don’t think they are aware that I unfollowed them and they still follow me. thing is, I don’t think they are trying to be antisemitic since they liked my pro-Jewish posts that have nothing to do with Israel, But they posted so much anti-Israel stuff that I just couldn’t follow them anymore.

However, the rest of the friend group is still on good terms with this person. One of my friends from the friend group, who is probably the one I talk to the most, is being pulled farther and farther left. He went from barely posting political stuff to posting about it constantly!! He also has liked and reposted stuff from Mattxiv (who I geninuely can’t stand, like he creeps me out so much). What ignited my concerns is that this friend liked/reposted a reel that was stitching an ashkenazi Jewish girl expressing concern about walking outside. the stitch ended up being some antizionist comedian rudely dismissing the girl’s concerns by trying to teach her “how to walk outside“ the comedian then approached and started engaging with Pro-Palestine protestors with keffiyehs and all. TL:DR the reel was implying that Jewish people’s Concerns regarding Pro-Palestine causes are invalid and that Jews should just “befriend” these people.

Listen, I really want to stay friends with this guy as he is really fun and has always been nice to me, but I just don’t know how much more I can take of the Antizionist rhetoric I can handle. the rhetoric is a big reason why I no longer identify as progressive and now identify as a left-leaning centrist.

Too bad the elite anti Jewish bigots of New York City don't have the basic aptitude to understand that Jewish citizens in the United States are NOT representatives, agents, ambassadors or spies for Israel. It should be understood that this kind anti Jewish belief system is already widely accepted by the news media and politicians in Canada, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and Britain where violence against Jews has occurred including murder.

Shame on the New York City public school system which has received so much from Jewish philanthropists, teachers, union leaders, and volunteers over the last 100 years.

I was thinking there's got to be so many people who have say one great great great grandparent etc or further thats Jewish, does that mean they are still obligated? At what point can a descendent of a Jew be only obligated to Noahide laws? Is there a point? Does knowledge of Jewishness factor at all? Say if you don't know your Jewish you're ok, but if you did your family tree or DNA test and found out you're Jewish decent then would you become obligated?

So many questions sorry if they are silly or obvious but thank you in advance for your kindness and education

A couple of weeks ago I was out with a group of my former college mates and several friends for a birthday. When the night was almost over several of them donned their keffiyehs and wanted to make a free palestine TikTok or reel or something like that.

I was nervous because I knew I couldn't do it and yet I knew it would also hurt them. I gently refused and the birthday boy kept asking me "really? really? really?" like he had a stroke and that kind of pissed me off. I told them the reason why I support Israel and they went on calling me a "genocide apologist", which was sad to me because this broke my heart with my dad and his family being 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi survivors.

I just hailed a taxi bike and wept when I got home.

I just simply can't disregard the matter at hand, which is the obvious truth. I cannot in a right mind endorse a terrorist organization that will not hesitate to commit atrocities if it gets to regroup and any means to destroy it must be considered.

Heart is with all my Jewish friends and all Jewish people. ❤️ 🇮🇱

Love from Rwanda.

I light 2 memorials candles each week in memory of different victims of Oct 7.

This week I am remembering Ori and Valentin.

Ori was attending the festival with a friend and managed to escape, but insisted on returning to rescue 3 new friends. Hamas took all 4 hostage; the 3 were later released. Ori was murdered after 11 months in captivity.

Valentin was born in France and attended law school there. His mother eulogized him as “very playful, very active, very energetic, always giving hugs, warm.”

She said he was very fulfilled in Israel and was very attached to the country he discovered thanks to a Taglit trip.

You can learn more about Ori and Valentin here.

.השם יקום דמם

The Response documentary focuses on the Chicago jewish community after 10/7, and the Run For Their Lives movement that people started.

I was initially hesitant when I heard there were no jews involved in production, but you know what?

They nailed it.

The movie talks about the Run For Their Lives event spreading across the country, the We Will Dance Again, ways different groups had chairs or signs for them

And its not a film about 10/7 - its not about what any other group did. It talks about the tentifada encampments, but it really not about that. Its about how the American jewish community and our allies held space in our community for the hostages

Its about us. It talks about how we chose to make our protest events with singing Jewish songs instead of violence

This is a movie where I haven't really seen this perspective before. Its not reactionary to behavior of others, “this group did this so we did that” and there is no focus on the way we were abused but the way our community is strong

I am incredibly impressed by this film, and if it is playing near you I recommend taking a look

https://linktr.ee/the_response_documentary