#high-holiday — Public Fediverse posts

🤤 :big_mood:

"Growing up as a #Jewish #foodie in the #Brooklyn area of #NewYorkCity, #babka has always had as much of a presence at my holiday table as brisket and bagels. But while those #babkas may have taken on different flavors, from chocolate to cinnamon and sometimes even apple, they were still always cake.

That makes sense, as babka is indeed a form of cake, but now things are going a bit awry just in time for the Jewish #HighHoliday of #RoshHashonah, and #icecream is joining the party. Babka ice cream, that is.

The Holy Babka! ice cream is a result of a collaboration between two New York City legends: The Brooklyn-born #AmpleHillsCreamery and legendary #Zabar's."

https://creators.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/holy-babka-just-in-time-for-the-jewish-holidays-ample-hills-has-partnered-with-zabars-to-create-a-babka-inspired-ice-cream-163058543.html

For some reason the tiny indignities often bother me more than the substantive ones. Can we just pray in peace in our little heavily fortified buildings while allayall just fuck right off?

"An employee of the #German- #Jewish organization #WerteInitiative ordered a #HighHoliday #prayer #book from a Jewish #bookstore in #Berlin, only to discover antisemitic writing inside it when he opened the book at home.

The markings included the words “#Hitler” and “#FreePalestine,” alongside an obscene drawing of a penis."

https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/syefhx58fl?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

420 in the Age of Legalization: What’s Left to Fight For?

Filed Under: The Hijacked Holiday

They told us legalization would fix everything. They said weed won. But if 4/20 is supposed to be a celebration, why does it feel like a clearance sale with a broken soul?

Weed is legal in 24 states. You can buy a THC seltzer at a wine bar, take a gummy before brunch, and scroll past influencer ads for infused lube. But somewhere in that glossy noise, we lost the signal.

4/20 used to mean something. It was subversive. It was code. It was the smell of protest drifting across a college lawn while a cop took notes from fifty feet away. Now it’s tie-dye font and a QR code for $10 off a strain named after cereal.

Where It Started: 4/20 Was Never About Convenience

Before the sidewalk signs and vape sponsorships, 4/20 was a whisper. A muttered code between heads. It came from the Waldos, high school kids who used “4:20” as their time to hunt for weed. The search didn’t matter. The ritual did.

It spread through Deadheads, zines, mixtapes, and underground heads. It meant more because it was never supposed to mean anything. It was unofficial. It was sacred. And most of all, it was ours.

Legal Now. But for whom?

The cannabis industry is projected to hit $40 billion in 2025. You can buy a branded bong in Times Square. You can invest in cannabis ETFs. But cops are still arresting people for the same flower being sold in corporate dispensaries with marble countertops.

In 2023, there were 227,000 cannabis-related arrests in the U.S. Most were for possession. The targets? Still overwhelmingly Black, Brown, and poor. And in states where weed is legal, former legacy growers are facing felonies while suits pitch “vertical integration” to investors over cocktails.

Social equity is the punchline now. In New York, lawsuits and red tape choke out licenses for the very communities these programs were created for. In California, paperwork is the product. While small growers fight to stay afloat, celebrities skip the line.

The New 4/20: Branded Freedom and Empty Promises

Modern 4/20 events look like trade expos with DJ booths. Celebration is fine. But this isn’t celebration. It’s a rebrand. A slick veneer covering an industry still chewing up the people who made it possible.

Dispensaries throw “freedom sales” while calling the cops on unlicensed vendors. Multi-state operators post MLK quotes to promote their pre-rolls. Influencers sell $60 eighths in zip codes where ounces used to run $80 flat.

This isn’t evolution. It’s absorption.

What’s Still Worth Fighting For?

Ask the ones who were here before legalization, and they’ll say it plain. We didn’t get here by voting politely and waiting in line. We got here because people took risks, ran from cops, shared seeds, and spoke up when silence was safer.

The Drug War didn’t end. It put on a polo and a name badge.

We still don’t have federal legalization. We don’t have mass expungement. We don’t have fair tax structures. We don’t have true access in red states. And we sure as hell don’t have justice for the ones who carried this culture before it was profitable.

So Why Still Celebrate?

Because lighting up with your crew still means something. Because honoring the ones who didn’t make it to see legalization matters. Because even if the corporations try to slap a barcode on it, the ritual survives.

If 4/20 is a mirror now, let it show the cracks. Let it reflect the ones locked out. Let it spark something that matters. Something worth building. Something worth fixing.

If it still feels like defiance, then it’s still worth showing up for.

HAPPY 420 EVERYONE! May your flame burn clean, your herb stay green, and your circle stay solid—may the smoke you share carry truth, peace, and rebellion wherever it drifts.

© 2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.

DIFFERENT TOKES

https://www.judaismunbound.com/podcast/episode-447-zvika-krieger

I really liked this episode of the #JudaismUnbound podcast for many reasons. Here are a few (sorry this will be a long ramble), along with some more general HH ( #HighHoliday ) thoughts:

1. It was refreshing to hear Dan & @lexaphus say what I increasingly feel --- a deep disconnect with the theology of much of the traditional Jewish High Holiday liturgy.

2. I never knew about the tradition of "side reading" (bringing other things, including even novels) with one to HH services, so as to be in the room with the community during many of the services, even while one is reading something else. --- Part of me thinks that is a wonderful idea, another part of me feels uneasy about it (but I can't explain why). I'm curious if others have thoughts about or experience with this practice.

3. I forgot who said this (the guest or the hosts), but someone mentioned that it was unfortunate that so many Jews only attend services at the HH's, because they are getting a really distorted view of the idea of "God" from these services, that doesn't reflect the more open conceptualizing of the divine that is more common in many liberal-leaning Jewish #Shabbat services. I strongly agree with this sentiment.

4. I am more strongly feeling that I want to rethink the HH's, but especially Yom Kippur. I won't try reviving the famous "Yom Kippur balls" of the early Jewish anarchists, but there is a part of me that wants to find a way to express some contrariness in a semi-respectful way in how observe YK this year.

5. I'm of course, thinking a lot about Israel/Palestine in the midst of all of this, the horrors of terrorism and war (especially with the one year anniversary of the Hamas attacks and the subsequent war), and the challenges of collective teshuvah (repentance) in the midst of ongoing collective tragedy. These complicated feelings are coloring much of my HH thoughts this year.

6. Thanks to the remodeling of our synagogue here in #OKC, our synagogue is have its services at Crossings-Mayfair (formerly the Mayfair Church of Christ). It is a wonderful welcoming thing for Crossings-Mayfair to do this (and is a conveniently perfect given the COC's long iconoclastic approach to church architecture --- no big crosses, stained glass windows, etc.) --- But there is another part of me that dreads being in a COC-oriented space due to my past not-so-great history in this tradition.

7. My favorite HH of recent years was at the height of the COVID pandemic. We had services early under a Sukkah (erected a month early that year). I know this didn't work for many (as the attendance numbers were much lower than at normal HH services) but I wish there was a local synagogue that offered as many services as possible outdoors. I would be there every week if there were, but I would especially love it during the HH's.

#YomKippur #HighHolidays #RoshHashanah #HumanisticJudaism #JewishAnarchism #Mazeldon #Judaism