#jews — Public Fediverse posts

When Jews were expelled from the Iberian peninsula in the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire sent ships to bring them into their empire in the Eastern Mediterranean.

That is how Thessaloniki in Greece grew its large Sephardic Jewish community, until World War II.

#FactOfTheDay #Jews #Greece

"...it is actually a very big deal when the richest person on Earth, who also owns one of the most influential communications platforms on Earth, starts publicly dabbling in ideas about #Jews, bloodlines, DNA, appearance, and racial authenticity. (You remember the people who did that back in the 1930s and 1940s, right?)."

https://zeteo.com/p/will-republicans-be-asked-to-disavow-musk-antisemitism

#ElonMusk #antisemitism

"...it is actually a very big deal when the richest person on Earth, who also owns one of the most influential communications platforms on Earth, starts publicly dabbling in ideas about #Jews, bloodlines, DNA, appearance, and racial authenticity. (You remember the people who did that back in the 1930s and 1940s, right?)."

https://zeteo.com/p/will-republicans-be-asked-to-disavow-musk-antisemitism

#ElonMusk #antisemitism

"...it is actually a very big deal when the richest person on Earth, who also owns one of the most influential communications platforms on Earth, starts publicly dabbling in ideas about #Jews, bloodlines, DNA, appearance, and racial authenticity. (You remember the people who did that back in the 1930s and 1940s, right?)."

https://zeteo.com/p/will-republicans-be-asked-to-disavow-musk-antisemitism

#ElonMusk #antisemitism

"...it is actually a very big deal when the richest person on Earth, who also owns one of the most influential communications platforms on Earth, starts publicly dabbling in ideas about #Jews, bloodlines, DNA, appearance, and racial authenticity. (You remember the people who did that back in the 1930s and 1940s, right?)."

https://zeteo.com/p/will-republicans-be-asked-to-disavow-musk-antisemitism

#ElonMusk #antisemitism

[T]he first data from #Jewish respondents is “particularly alarming,” and suggested the numbers could be higher as many Jewish #civilservants are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish at the workplace.

“The data that we are seeing today points to really high levels of #discrimination amongst those Jewish employees that feel comfortable in self-identifying. A lot of folks still hide their identity because they’re afraid,” Wilczynski explained.

Since the #Oct7, 2023 #Hamas attacks, #antisemitism in #Canada has reached levels without precedent in the available data. #StatisticsCanada’s police-reported #hatecrime figures, released in July, show that #hatecrimes targeting #Jews jumped 82 percent in 2023, to 959 from 527 the year before. The count has since eased slightly—943 in 2024 and 788 in 2025—but Jews, who make up roughly 1 percent of the population, were the target of 70.7 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes and 16.7 percent of the 4,708 hate crimes..."

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/01/harassment-and-discrimination-of-jewish-government-employees-twice-as-high-as-civil-servant-average/

[T]he first data from #Jewish respondents is “particularly alarming,” and suggested the numbers could be higher as many Jewish #civilservants are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish at the workplace.

“The data that we are seeing today points to really high levels of #discrimination amongst those Jewish employees that feel comfortable in self-identifying. A lot of folks still hide their identity because they’re afraid,” Wilczynski explained.

Since the #Oct7, 2023 #Hamas attacks, #antisemitism in #Canada has reached levels without precedent in the available data. #StatisticsCanada’s police-reported #hatecrime figures, released in July, show that #hatecrimes targeting #Jews jumped 82 percent in 2023, to 959 from 527 the year before. The count has since eased slightly—943 in 2024 and 788 in 2025—but Jews, who make up roughly 1 percent of the population, were the target of 70.7 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes and 16.7 percent of the 4,708 hate crimes..."

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/01/harassment-and-discrimination-of-jewish-government-employees-twice-as-high-as-civil-servant-average/

[T]he first data from #Jewish respondents is “particularly alarming,” and suggested the numbers could be higher as many Jewish #civilservants are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish at the workplace.

“The data that we are seeing today points to really high levels of #discrimination amongst those Jewish employees that feel comfortable in self-identifying. A lot of folks still hide their identity because they’re afraid,” Wilczynski explained.

Since the #Oct7, 2023 #Hamas attacks, #antisemitism in #Canada has reached levels without precedent in the available data. #StatisticsCanada’s police-reported #hatecrime figures, released in July, show that #hatecrimes targeting #Jews jumped 82 percent in 2023, to 959 from 527 the year before. The count has since eased slightly—943 in 2024 and 788 in 2025—but Jews, who make up roughly 1 percent of the population, were the target of 70.7 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes and 16.7 percent of the 4,708 hate crimes..."

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/01/harassment-and-discrimination-of-jewish-government-employees-twice-as-high-as-civil-servant-average/

[T]he first data from #Jewish respondents is “particularly alarming,” and suggested the numbers could be higher as many Jewish #civilservants are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish at the workplace.

“The data that we are seeing today points to really high levels of #discrimination amongst those Jewish employees that feel comfortable in self-identifying. A lot of folks still hide their identity because they’re afraid,” Wilczynski explained.

Since the #Oct7, 2023 #Hamas attacks, #antisemitism in #Canada has reached levels without precedent in the available data. #StatisticsCanada’s police-reported #hatecrime figures, released in July, show that #hatecrimes targeting #Jews jumped 82 percent in 2023, to 959 from 527 the year before. The count has since eased slightly—943 in 2024 and 788 in 2025—but Jews, who make up roughly 1 percent of the population, were the target of 70.7 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes and 16.7 percent of the 4,708 hate crimes..."

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/01/harassment-and-discrimination-of-jewish-government-employees-twice-as-high-as-civil-servant-average/

[T]he first data from #Jewish respondents is “particularly alarming,” and suggested the numbers could be higher as many Jewish #civilservants are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish at the workplace.

“The data that we are seeing today points to really high levels of #discrimination amongst those Jewish employees that feel comfortable in self-identifying. A lot of folks still hide their identity because they’re afraid,” Wilczynski explained.

Since the #Oct7, 2023 #Hamas attacks, #antisemitism in #Canada has reached levels without precedent in the available data. #StatisticsCanada’s police-reported #hatecrime figures, released in July, show that #hatecrimes targeting #Jews jumped 82 percent in 2023, to 959 from 527 the year before. The count has since eased slightly—943 in 2024 and 788 in 2025—but Jews, who make up roughly 1 percent of the population, were the target of 70.7 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes and 16.7 percent of the 4,708 hate crimes..."

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/01/harassment-and-discrimination-of-jewish-government-employees-twice-as-high-as-civil-servant-average/

"In 2019, #DavidSorkin described his #book #Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries as an effort to “re-direct the focus of modern Jewish #history.” “Jewish emancipation” refers in this case to the #Jews’ acquiring rights of #citizenship, and more generally #civilrights, in the countries where they had lived for centuries as resident strangers. By his own admission, #Sorkin wrote about that process of change “from the side of the state.” His new book, The Emancipationists: Nineteenth-Century Jews’ Campaign for Citizenship, is his effort to complement his prior work with “the other side of that history, the Jews’ political mobilization.”

The #Yale #historian’s primary interest is the period from the late 18th century to the eve of World War I, a time during which #European nations, and to a lesser degree the #UnitedStates and North #Africa, addressed and reformed the status of Jews in their midst."

https://momentmag.com/jagged-line-to-citizenship/

"In 2019, #DavidSorkin described his #book #Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries as an effort to “re-direct the focus of modern Jewish #history.” “Jewish emancipation” refers in this case to the #Jews’ acquiring rights of #citizenship, and more generally #civilrights, in the countries where they had lived for centuries as resident strangers. By his own admission, #Sorkin wrote about that process of change “from the side of the state.” His new book, The Emancipationists: Nineteenth-Century Jews’ Campaign for Citizenship, is his effort to complement his prior work with “the other side of that history, the Jews’ political mobilization.”

The #Yale #historian’s primary interest is the period from the late 18th century to the eve of World War I, a time during which #European nations, and to a lesser degree the #UnitedStates and North #Africa, addressed and reformed the status of Jews in their midst."

https://momentmag.com/jagged-line-to-citizenship/

"In 2019, #DavidSorkin described his #book #Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries as an effort to “re-direct the focus of modern Jewish #history.” “Jewish emancipation” refers in this case to the #Jews’ acquiring rights of #citizenship, and more generally #civilrights, in the countries where they had lived for centuries as resident strangers. By his own admission, #Sorkin wrote about that process of change “from the side of the state.” His new book, The Emancipationists: Nineteenth-Century Jews’ Campaign for Citizenship, is his effort to complement his prior work with “the other side of that history, the Jews’ political mobilization.”

The #Yale #historian’s primary interest is the period from the late 18th century to the eve of World War I, a time during which #European nations, and to a lesser degree the #UnitedStates and North #Africa, addressed and reformed the status of Jews in their midst."

https://momentmag.com/jagged-line-to-citizenship/

"In 2019, #DavidSorkin described his #book #Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries as an effort to “re-direct the focus of modern Jewish #history.” “Jewish emancipation” refers in this case to the #Jews’ acquiring rights of #citizenship, and more generally #civilrights, in the countries where they had lived for centuries as resident strangers. By his own admission, #Sorkin wrote about that process of change “from the side of the state.” His new book, The Emancipationists: Nineteenth-Century Jews’ Campaign for Citizenship, is his effort to complement his prior work with “the other side of that history, the Jews’ political mobilization.”

The #Yale #historian’s primary interest is the period from the late 18th century to the eve of World War I, a time during which #European nations, and to a lesser degree the #UnitedStates and North #Africa, addressed and reformed the status of Jews in their midst."

https://momentmag.com/jagged-line-to-citizenship/

"In 2019, #DavidSorkin described his #book #Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries as an effort to “re-direct the focus of modern Jewish #history.” “Jewish emancipation” refers in this case to the #Jews’ acquiring rights of #citizenship, and more generally #civilrights, in the countries where they had lived for centuries as resident strangers. By his own admission, #Sorkin wrote about that process of change “from the side of the state.” His new book, The Emancipationists: Nineteenth-Century Jews’ Campaign for Citizenship, is his effort to complement his prior work with “the other side of that history, the Jews’ political mobilization.”

The #Yale #historian’s primary interest is the period from the late 18th century to the eve of World War I, a time during which #European nations, and to a lesser degree the #UnitedStates and North #Africa, addressed and reformed the status of Jews in their midst."

https://momentmag.com/jagged-line-to-citizenship/

@nora #gofundme
#Holocaust #Jews #Socialists #Disabled #Homosexuals #Roma #Gaza #Bosnia #Rohingya #Genocide #Sudan #Rwanda #Nigeria
#MutualAid #Gaza #PalestineSolidarity

#Gaza #Palestine #Syria #iran #Genocide #geopolitics
@palestine @lebanon @Yemen #SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism #tiktok #cdnpoli
#canada #usa #yemen
@blackmastodon #freePalestine #GazaGenocide #IsraelTerroristState #StopGenocide
#palestina #StopAIPAC #IDFTerrorists #DismantleZionism

@nora #gofundme
#Holocaust #Jews #Socialists #Disabled #Homosexuals #Roma #Gaza #Bosnia #Rohingya #Genocide #Sudan #Rwanda #Nigeria
#MutualAid #Gaza #PalestineSolidarity

#Gaza #Palestine #Syria #iran #Genocide #geopolitics
@palestine @lebanon @Yemen #SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism #tiktok #cdnpoli
#canada #usa #yemen
@blackmastodon #freePalestine #GazaGenocide #IsraelTerroristState #StopGenocide
#palestina #StopAIPAC #IDFTerrorists #DismantleZionism

@nora #gofundme
#Holocaust #Jews #Socialists #Disabled #Homosexuals #Roma #Gaza #Bosnia #Rohingya #Genocide #Sudan #Rwanda #Nigeria
#MutualAid #Gaza #PalestineSolidarity

#Gaza #Palestine #Syria #iran #Genocide #geopolitics
@palestine @lebanon @Yemen #SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism #tiktok #cdnpoli
#canada #usa #yemen
@blackmastodon #freePalestine #GazaGenocide #IsraelTerroristState #StopGenocide
#palestina #StopAIPAC #IDFTerrorists #DismantleZionism

@nora #gofundme
#Holocaust #Jews #Socialists #Disabled #Homosexuals #Roma #Gaza #Bosnia #Rohingya #Genocide #Sudan #Rwanda #Nigeria
#MutualAid #Gaza #PalestineSolidarity

#Gaza #Palestine #Syria #iran #Genocide #geopolitics
@palestine @lebanon @Yemen #SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism #tiktok #cdnpoli
#canada #usa #yemen
@blackmastodon #freePalestine #GazaGenocide #IsraelTerroristState #StopGenocide
#palestina #StopAIPAC #IDFTerrorists #DismantleZionism

@nora #gofundme
#Holocaust #Jews #Socialists #Disabled #Homosexuals #Roma #Gaza #Bosnia #Rohingya #Genocide #Sudan #Rwanda #Nigeria
#MutualAid #Gaza #PalestineSolidarity

#Gaza #Palestine #Syria #iran #Genocide #geopolitics
@palestine @lebanon @Yemen #SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism #tiktok #cdnpoli
#canada #usa #yemen
@blackmastodon #freePalestine #GazaGenocide #IsraelTerroristState #StopGenocide
#palestina #StopAIPAC #IDFTerrorists #DismantleZionism

"For many #Jews, the morning of #Oct7 remains seared into memory. In #JoannSfar’s case, it was also the day of his birthday party, which included “as many #Muslims as Jews,” he told me. Amidst tragedy, #Sfar felt a profound gratitude for life, which seemed especially precious. It was a day of fear and uncertainty, followed by many more over the following months. For Sfar, drawing was the only way out.

To Life is Sfar’s #illustrated journal of his experience after Oct. 7, a reflection of his fierce peace advocacy coupled with a profound connection to #Israel. It follows several previous #books by Sfar, who is a #French #Jewish #graphicnovelist best known for The Rabbi’s Cat. His works touch on his #Sephardic heritage, highlighting a history of friendship and brotherhood between #Arabs and Jews.

To Life is the #English #translation of Nous Vivrons, which was #published in June 2024 as the first of a three-part series."

https://forward.com/culture/books/840947/graphic-novelist-october-7-to-life-joann-sfar/

"Over the centuries, #American #Jews have built a vast religious landscape in which no single institution or orthodoxy can reign supreme or dictate how #Judaism should be practised. Such free market Judaism has produced a panoply of diverse religious #Jewish life, but it has also made collective representation more difficult.

Who ends up speaking on behalf of American Jews when #antisemitism spikes? Who testifies on Capitol Hill before Congress? Who can synthesise the concerns of #Orthodox, #Reform, #Conservative and unaffiliated Jews without pretending their differences don’t exist?

Whether #America ever gets a chief #rabbi again or a universally-accepted council of chief #rabbis may be beside the point. What isn't beside the point is that at a time of disturbing levels of antisemitism and a Jewish community fractured by politics, some kind of unity, however America chooses to build it, has never felt more necessary."

https://www.thejc.com/opinion/could-america-ever-have-a-chief-rabbi-rforj7x8

Snippet from Culture Cancer - tromsite.com/2026/07/culture-c…

Another example of stage 2-3 Culture Cancer is that of the occupation of West Bank by Israel. They have literally caged in a group of people, like you would do with livestock for consumption.

On top of that some people from the Israeli tribe are forcefully taking the land from the West Bank residents, beating, mocking them, even murdering them.

An example:

One of the Israeli settlers “hoarding” a Palestinian woman, mocking her as if she is a cattle. And filming all at the same time. Did I mention that he is holding a riffle?

In the video you can see him making the same noises that the Palestinians make to hoard their animals. The Israeli leaders tolerate and even encourage this behavior.I recommend these two documentaries to see the insane cancerous situation between Israel and the West Bank:

No Other Land - videoneat.com/documentaries/26…
Louis Theroux: The Settlers - videoneat.com/documentaries/26…

These are examples of a stage 2-3 Culture Cancer. It has spread significantly and it is hard to tackle. Thus it has a great influence over a population of people who can turn violent against each other.

#israel #gaza #westbank #settlers #war #genocide #jews #jew #palestine #palestinian #abuse

A unique #theatrical #performance inspired by #Yiddish #folktales features dead #Jews dancing at a cemetery, a prophet appearing in the form of a bunny rabbit and a stone-munching worm named Shamir. It all takes place within the confines of a 2’ X 4’ box known as a #cranky and it’s coming to #NewYork later this month as part of the International #Puppet #FringeFestival.

For those unfamiliar with the decidedly low-tech medium, #crankies are portable stages through which a panorama is scrolled by cranking a pair of wooden dowels. The characters and scenery on the scroll are usually accompanied by #narration and #music, in this case a live #klezmer trio. In backlit crankies, #shadowpuppets can also be used for characters.

The cranky performance of #ShternaandtheLostVoice was created by the #MagidEnsemble, a far-flung interdisciplinary collective that includes a #storyteller, a #graphicartist and three former members of the #Boston klezmer band #Mamaliga."

https://jewishpostandnews.ca/uncategorized/in-a-world-of-ai-run-amok-yiddish-folktales-are-making-these-theater-wizards-cranky/

"#Antisemitism in our seven countries is no longer a surge; it is our new normal,” the organization said in a statement. “Governments must stop reacting after #Jews are attacked and start acting before, with real #securityfunding, stronger laws and #socialmedia platforms that enforce their own rules.”

Fifteen Jews were #murdered at a #Hanukkah celebration on #BondiBeach in #Sydney, two were #killed at #HeatonPark #Synagogue in #Manchester on #YomKippur, two were killed at the Capital #Jewish Museum in #WashingtonDC, and one was killed in #Boulder, #Colorado.

The figure was the highest since 1994, when 85 people — including 67 Jews — were killed in the #AMIA #bombing in #Argentina."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-deadliest-year-in-decades-for-diaspora-jews-task-force-warns-hate-is-our-new-normal/

It's like getting picked last for dodgeball back in Jr High. 😆

"In tandem with naming Mr. #Najmi to helm the advisory committee, Mr. #Mamdani issued an #executiveorder that he said was intended to expand the pool of #judicial appointments and create a “merit-based, independent, fair, and publicly credible” process.

The executive order from Mr. Mamdani said committee membership “shall reflect the cosmopolitan population of the City of #NewYork.” Members serve four-year terms, except for members appointed at the recommendation of deans of #law schools, who serve for two years.

That promise contained in the executive order was not fulfilled, according to the four #Jewish #lawyers’ groups that signed the letter.

“To have no #Jews on the committee that’s selecting #NewYorkCity judges is pretty remarkable,” said #MatthewJKluger, the president of the #Bronx County Jewish #BarAssociation. “It certainly sends a strong message.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/nyregion/mamdani-judges-jewish.html

"#Galut is thus often understood as the experienced reality of being in exile, albeit structured, however, by the internalization of the textual notion of the #Diaspora and tempered by the daily experience (good or bad) of life in the world. The #Jew experiences the daily life of exile through the mirror of the #biblical model of expulsion, whether it be the expulsion from the #GardenofEden or freedom from slavery in #Egypt. Galut has formed the #Jewish self-understanding of exile, at least for religious #Jews. Yet for some thinkers today the involuntary dispersion of the Jews (galut or #golah) is articulated as being inherently different from the voluntary exile of the Jews (diaspora or #tfutsot). These two models exist simultaneously in #Jewishhistory in the image of uprooted and powerless Jews on the one hand and rooted and empowered Jews on the other."

Reprinted with permission from Antisemitisms: A History of Jew Hating by Sander L. Gilman.

https://lithub.com/on-the-complexities-and-contradictions-of-diasporic-jewish-identity/

"The Forward compiled and reviewed video of 10 #pageants in the #US since 2020 that feature a #Jewish character named “zhyd,” “Moshko” or “Chaim,” and sometimes his wife, usually named Sarah. All were posted to social media, in many cases by the #churches themselves.

The pageants mix and match a few motifs, all showing these two #Jews in a negative light as they try to lure #Christians to commit sin. Some tempt the faithful with goods, loans or liquor. Some mock believers for worshipping #Christ; curse Christians; summon and collude with the #devil, or betray baby #Jesus to #KingHerod, who is seeking to kill him.

Most of the #actors playing the zhyd role wore what look to be #peyos, the sidelocks traditionally worn by #Orthodox #Jews. In one instance, the character wore an exaggerated #fakenose.

The Forward located photos from an additional eight pageants for which video is not publicly available that show actors with what appear to be peyos or a fake nose."

https://forward.com/news/839093/ukrainian-catholic-church-verteps-jewish-villains/

#Israeli #Nazis continue their ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The world just watches. This mess of the Middle East was created by #Europeans. They didn't just murder #Jesus, a Palestinian #Jew. They have actually been supporting #European #Jews to continue to murder Palestinians and to destroy the peace in the #MiddleEast.

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/headlines?utm_source=copilot.com

#gaza, #israel #europe

"One of the biggest traumas that people had in the #Bershad #ghetto was that no one would notice the death,” #Shternshis told the #Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “So the #song that did talk about the lack of empathy, but also talked about the funeral, was actually a fantasy that all these things would happen — a prayer, a grave.”

This is Shternshis’ second “#Yiddish Glory” #album aiming to resurrect #music from witnesses of the #Holocaust in the #SovietUnion. Her first album in 2018, titled “#YiddishGlory: The Lost #Songs of #WorldWarII,” was nominated for a #Grammy.

That project was the first she reaped from the discovery of #Beregovsky’s documents, and it focused largely on songs collected from #Russian soldiers who fought against the #Nazis. The “Silenced Songs” album centers almost entirely on #Jews who lived in the #ghettos and #concentrationcamps of #Ukraine’s #Vinnytsia region, which was occupied by #Romania and #Nazi #Germany from 1941 to 1944."

https://www.jta.org/2026/07/17/culture/lost-holocaust-music-nearly-erased-by-stalin-goes-on-tour-in-asia

@guardian

#WarInGaza #Palestine #Religion
#Israel #GeoPol

(3/n)

...apart from some occasional #JerusalemPost headlines, but the global backlash, and even the classification of their military 's deeds as #Genocide, made it very obvious that there would be a reckoning:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/115129530425980355

It is extremely unfair to all the #Jews in the global #Diaspora who did not have a hand or even opposed the #Israeli regimes actions in #Gaza (and now elsewhere,)...

The Jewish communitiy's continued commitment to the abjectly failed approach of Holocaust education somehow eliminating antisemitism, despite all evidence to the contrary, is wild to me.

"#Holocausteducation remains essential because it equips new generations to recognise and resist the propaganda, demonisation, and moral distortions that are once again taking hold today. The lessons of the #Holocaust are not merely about protecting #Jews; they are about defending #Westerncivilisation from the return of barbarism. Those seeking to diminish, distort, or silence those lessons are precisely why the story of #AnneFrank remains compulsory learning for every generation.

To remove Anne Frank from the #classroom is to deny #students an opportunity to confront one of #history’s greatest moral failures and to understand how ordinary people can either enable or resist injustice.

A society that forgets Anne risks forgetting what made her story necessary in the first place."

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/why-anne-frank-must-be-taught-in-schools/

"In this moment of rising #antisemitism, I’ve noticed that the way I remember, and retell, my own childhood has changed too.

When people hear I’m from #Omaha, they usually say, “I didn’t know there were #Jews there.” I tell them there were, just not many, and that it was a lovely place to grow up #Jewish. When people ask about antisemitism, I usually say I grew up with almost none. That was true. Mostly but not entirely.

A few years ago, before #October7, I was on a podcast when that tension caught up with me. Right after saying I’d experienced very little antisemitism, I mentioned, almost as an aside, that in second grade, someone came to our home in the middle of the night and painted a #swastika on our front door.

“That sounds like a lot of antisemitism,” the interviewer said. She was right.

Why had I always left that detail out? It happened, it was part of my childhood story. But we washed it out..."

https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/390172/the-story-this-moment-needs/

Interesting Jewish experience on a city tour in Germany. These questions around memory are pretty important and thought-provoking.

"A year before, I’d gone on two more of these types of #Jewish memorial trips. In Poland, we’d visited #Auschwitz, #Treblinka, and the #WarsawGhetto. In #Prague, we saw the Old #Jewish Quarter, #Theresienstadt, and #Europe’s oldest #synagogue. Here, too, we naturally experienced these cities and tourist sights through the eyes of #Jews. Each monument was viewed and explained, each museum was visited or at least noticed, each chance for lamentation was taken.

But on this city tour through #Dortmund, I noticed something rather peculiar: no Jews. With one exception: me. Oh well, I thought, today, my generation is so trained to be tolerant that it would practically be an advantage to be the only #Jew in a large group."

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/390165/the-kristallnacht-monument-and-the-question-of-whether-to-stop/

"When #Jewish #immigration to #Brazil is mentioned, many immediately think of the large urban centers in the South and Southeast. Few know, however, that one of the most fascinating chapters of the Jewish #diaspora in the country began thousands of kilometers away, along the banks of the #Amazon rivers.

It was in the early 19th century that the first #Moroccan #Jews arrived in the Brazilian Amazon. Coming mainly from cities such as #Tangier, #Tetouan, and #Casablanca, they brought with them far more than merchandise: they carried centuries of history, a rich religious and cultural tradition, and above all, the hope of starting anew.

Descendants of #Sephardic Jews expelled from the #IberianPeninsula—especially from #Spain during the #Inquisition in the late 15th century and later settled in North #Africa—these families fled persecution and political instability in #Morocco. Their destination was a distant, lush, and virtually unknown land: the Amazon."

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/from-morocco-to-the-amazon-the-extraordinary-journey-of-moroccan-jews-in-brazil/

Not typically a fan of Rabbi Ruttenberg, but this is an interesting, provocative thought-piece.

"Nobody would think twice about demanding a #reasonableaccommodation if #corporations asked #Jews to start violating #Shabbat or partaking of the #pork BBQ at the #company retreat against their own practice. And while I would not demand that every #Jew request such an #accommodation (for Shabbat or keeping #kosher), they should absolutely have that option available, even if their #religious practice is a work in progress. So too, here.

And despite seeing many people (including religious Jews!) eliding the moral and religious issues around #AI because "that train has already left the station," we should make choices based on whether they are right or wrong. Also, it's a fallacy: Movements grow from dissent."

https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/the-jewish-case-for-ai-work-exemptions/

My people came from Vilna. I have zero desire to go visit Europe. Its just one giant Jewish graveyard in my mind.

"A rare "antisemitic incident in #Lithuania: A local #blogger and #socialmedia activist was arrested after being filmed spitting at three #Israeli #rabbis visiting #Vilnius and urging others to do the same.

According to #Lithuanian authorities, the suspect, #GintarasLiutkevičius, posted a video on social media showing him approaching the three #Jews, who were wearing traditional religious clothing, spitting toward them and encouraging others to follow his example.

“I heard you love to spit on #Christians ... what if I spit on you?” he is heard saying in the video. “You need to go home. This is not your home. This is Lithuania — go home.”

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

Grzegorz Braun never fails. You have to appreciate his consistency. :blobcatglaredrink:

"#Polish and #Jewish leaders, as well as #diplomats from various countries, have today taken part in commemorations of the 85th anniversary of the #Jedwabne #pogrom, in which hundreds of #Jews were killed by their Polish neighbours under the watch of the #Nazi-#German occupiers.

The events were met with a protest by #nationalist activists – led by #GrzegorzBraun, a prominent #farright leader – who displayed a banner calling the official findings regarding the pogrom “Jewish lies”. They argue that #Poles are falsely blamed for Nazi-German crimes."

https://notesfrompoland.com/2026/07/10/poland-marks-85th-anniversary-of-wwii-jedwabne-pogrom-of-jews-amid-far-right-protests/

Judeo-Christian :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"Among the many #faiths practiced by millions of #Texas #students, a new statewide required #reading list that includes #biblical passages draws from just two traditions: #Protestant #Christianity and #Judaism.

Yet Texas #rabbis say #Jews had no role in shaping how #Judaism appears in the #curriculum, and they disagree with how the lone #Jewish text is presented. Rather than teaching about Judaism on its own terms, they argue, the lessons filter Jewish texts through a #Christian perspective.

The #readinglist, which is expected to go into effect in 2030, will have #publicschool students across the state reading passages from the #NewTestament and mostly Christian #translations of the #Hebrew Bible alongside #literary classics. Of the curriculum’s six #HebrewBible readings, just one uses a Jewish #translation."

https://forward.com/news/834539/texas-bible-curriculum/

This country is fuckin' coooooked.

"The blowup was sparked after #Columbia, #Tenn., #Republican activist #AustinLee sent out a mailer urging recipients to “Support Austin Lee. Join the #MauryCounty #YoungRepublicans.”

Lee’s bio on X simply reads: “Save White #America.”

Among the bullet points listed on the mailer, it says: “Stop the #GreatReplacement.” That #conspiracytheory alleges that #Jews are trying to replace white people in America.

Other bullet points included are: “Expel the invader, Punish the traitor, Ban #Islam and #Hinduism, No wars for #Jews and Men in charge.”

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/confronting-hate/im-a-jew-antisemitic-mailer-sparks-blowup-inside-local-republican-party-in-tennessee

"Many of us probably don’t imagine the #UnitedStates as a nation in which a tradition of #antisemitism reaches back to the original 13 colonies and has emerged in every generation. In her new #book, #historian #PamelaNadell carefully documents the #history of #discrimination, #conspiracytheories, and #violence against #Jews in our republic, as well as the resilience of #Jewish #Americans in resisting and organizing against antisemitism, both at home and abroad. This highly readable book offers an excellent introductory text for undergraduates, theological students, clergy, and adult study groups.

#Nadell defines antisemitism largely with #historical and contemporary examples rather than abstract theories. The term was coined by #WilhelmMarr in 1879 to distinguish the “modern #racial basis of #Jewhatred” from traditional Christian anti-#Judaism. The #author defines it as “#Jew hatred” and cites “many episodes of anti-Jewish animus” in #US history."

https://www.christiancentury.org/books/antisemitism-more-american-we-want-admit

Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

• Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

• The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
• The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
• The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

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Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

• Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

• The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
• The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
• The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

Make a one-time donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a monthly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a yearly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Rate this:

I truly hope that American #Catholics aren't subjected to hatred and harassment as a result of Red Don's utterly idiotic and one-sided feud with the Pope. But if they are, I'm confident that #Jews like myself will stand by them. We understand what ignorant hatred can to do a community.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE

During the #Holocaust, thousands of #Jews went into hiding, often with the aid of ordinary citizens recognized later as Righteous Among the Nations by #YadVashem for risking their lives.

That history makes this all the more shocking👇

From #TheDailyPolitik on FB.

Samaritanism

Samaritanism is an Abrahamic monotheistic, ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, & legal traditions of the Samaritan people.

Often preferring to be called Israelite Samaritans, who originated from the Hebrews & Israelites. They began to emerge as a relatively distinct group after the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the Iron Age. The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the 4th, & penultimate, stage of ancient Assyrian history.

Central to their continuity as an Indigenous Heritage in the Holy Land is keeping the Patriarchal & Mosaic covenant as specified in the Samaritan Torah. Samaritans believe this is the original & unchanged version of the Pentateuch (which is the first 5 books of the Hebrew & Christian bible) since Moses & the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

The Abisha Scroll is traditionally held by the community to be the oldest existing scroll written by Abisha, son of Aaron the priest, around 3,000 years ago based on living tradition. However, Jewish & Christian theologians have made attempts to dispute this claim which proved unsatisfactory.

Judaism claims Samaritanism developed right alongside their own religion. Samaritanism asserts itself as the true preserved form of the monotheistic faith that the Israelites kept under Moses. Samaritan belief also holds that the Israelites’ original holy site was Mount Gerizim, near Nablus, the State of Palestine (West Bank).

They also believe that Jerusalem only attained importance under Israelite dissenters who had followed Eli (In the Book of Samuel, Eli was a priest & judge of the Israelites in the city of Shiloh) to the city of Shiloh.

The Israelites who remained at Mount Gerizim would become the Samaritans in the Kingdom of Judah. Mount Gerizim is revered by Samaritans as the location where the Binding of Isaac occurred. In comparison to the Jewish belief that it occurred at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Today there are only about 900 registered communal members. This puts Samaritanism as 1 of the smallest ethnoreligious groups globally in the Abrahamic faiths. Samaritans believe that this is a prophecy fulfilled from the scriptures: “You’ll be left few in number.”

Though they hope for a future time when a prophet like Moses known as the “Taheb” (Restorer) will perform 3 signs, namely the jar of manna, the staff of Moses, & Cherubim, or the Golden Candlestick.

This time period they believe is when an era of Divine Favor would return, & the hidden tabernacle of Moses would miraculously be revealed for the Israelite people & Mount Gerizim is restored to its former glory.

Samaritans trace their history, as a separate entity, to a period soon after the Israelites’ arrival into the “Promised Land.” Samaritan historiography traces the schism to High Priest Eli leaving Mount Gerizim, where stood the 1st Israelite altar in Canaan, & building a competing altar in nearby Shiloh.

The dissenting group of Israelites who followed Eli to Shiloh would be the ones who, in later years, would head south to settle in Jerusalem (the Jews). Whereas the Israelites who stayed on Mount Gerizim, in Samaria, would become known as the Samaritans.

Genetic studies in 2004 suggest that Samaritans’ lineages trace back to a common ancestor with Jews in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood (Cohanim) temporally near to the period of the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel. They’re probably descendants of the historical Israelite population. The Cohanim refers to the Jewish priestly class, male descendants of Aaron the priest.

The Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus, destroyed the Mount Gerizim Temple & brought Samaria under his control around 120 BCE. This led to a long-lasting sense of mutual hostility between the Jews & Samaritans.

From this point, the Samaritans likely sought to consciously distance themselves from their Judean brethren. Both peoples came to see the Samaritan faith as a religion distinct from Judaism. By the time of Jesus, Samaritans & Jews deeply disparaged one another, as shown by Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan.

The main beliefs of Samaritanism are:

• There’s 1 God, Yahweh, the same God recognized by the Jewish prophets.
• The Torah is the only true holy book & was given by God to Moses. The Torah was created before the creation of the world & whoever believes in it is assured a part in the world to come. The Torah’s status in Samaritanism as the only holy book causes them to reject the Oral Torah, the Talmud, & all the prophets & scriptures, except for a version of the Book of Joshua (which they don’t hold as Scripture), whose book in the Samaritan community is significantly different from the Book of Joshua in the Jewish “Bible.” Moses is considered to be the last of the line of prophets.
• Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the 1 true sanctuary chosen by God. The Samaritans don’t recognize the sanctity of Jerusalem & don’t recognize the Temple Mount, claiming instead that Mount Gerizim was the place where the Binding of Isaac took place.
• The Apocalypse, called “the day of vengeance,” will be the end of days. When an entity called the Taheb (basically the Jewish Messiah equal) that comes from the tribe of Joseph will come, be a prophet like Moses for 40 years & bring about the return of all the Israelites, following which the dead will be resurrected. The Tahib will then discover the tent of Moses’ Tabernacle on Mount Gerizim, & will be buried next to Joseph when he dies.

The Samaritans have retained the institution of a high priesthood & the practice of slaughtering & eating lambs on Passover Eve. They celebrated Pesach, Shavuot, & Sukkot. But they use a different method from that used in mainstream Judaism in order to determine the dates annually.

For example, Yom Teru’ah (the biblical name for Rosh Hashanah), at the beginning of Tishrei (This is the 1st month of the civil year & the 7th month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar.), isn’t considered a New Year as it is in Rabbinic Judaism.

Their Sabbath is observed weekly by the Samaritan community every week from Friday to Saturday, beginning & ending at sundown. For 24 hours, the families gather together to celebrate the rest day: all electricity with the exception of minimal lighting (kept on the entire day) in the house is disconnected, no work is done, & neither cooking nor driving is allowed.

The time is devoted to worship which consists of 7 prayer services, reading the weekly Torah portion, spending quality time with family, taking meals, rest & sleep, & visiting other members of the community.

Passover is particularly important in the Samaritan community, climaxing with the sacrifice of up to 40 sheep.

The Counting of the Omar remains relatively unchanged. The Counting of the Omar is a ritual in Judaism that consists of a verbal counting of each of the 49 days between the holidays of Passover & Shavuot. However, the week before Shavuot is a unique festival celebrating the continued commitment Samaritanism has maintained since the time of Moses.

During Sukkot, the Sukkah (the temporary hut built for use during Sukkot) is built INSIDE of houses, instead of OUTSIDE like mainstream Judaism. This Samaritan tradition is traced back to the persecution of the Samaritans during the Byzantine Empire.

The roof of the Samaritan Sukkah is decorated with citrus fruits & branches of palm, myrtle, & willow trees. This is in accordance with the Samaritan interpretation of the 4 species designated in the Torah for the holiday. The 4 species are 4 plants (the etrog, lulav, hadass, & aravah) mentioned in the Torah as being relevant to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

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