#jewstodon — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-09-20

Hello to my fellow Jews. I would like to take the opportunity of Erev #YomKippur to remind you that asking your fellow Jews to “forgive you all your sins” is not how it’s done.

Jewish law is quite explicit: you can and should ask forgiveness only for _specific_ sins you know you’ve committed. Generically requested foregiveness, even if granted, is not a get-out-of-jail-free card to avoid doing real #Teshuva.
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon
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#yomkippur #teshuva #jewstodon #mazeldon

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-09-12

After attending Rosh Hashanah services this morning for the first time in four or five years¹, I believe that, at least for the time being, attending High Holiday services is bad for my spiritual well-being.

Everything was fine until, while I was still reciting the silent musaf amida², a rabbi sitting in the row behind me started a conversation with a rabbi sitting in the row in front of me, and they chatted for several minutes.
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon #RoshHashanah
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#jewstodon #mazeldon #roshhashanah

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-07-30

Niche #Jewstodon #PetPeeve content…
If you're going to include the full Monday/Thursday תחנון in your שחרית service, then for the love of G-d, give people enough time to say all the words.
If you don't think it's important enough to do that, then be honest about what you're doing and skip תחנון.
Signed,
Someone who reads Hebrew pretty darn fast and yet is often several paragraphs away from נפילת אפים when the ש"צ starts the חצי קדיש
#Mazeldon

#jewstodon #petpeeve #mazeldon

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-07-27

I heard a funny but extremely niche joke at synagogue on Friday night:
"Why do we invite people to eat at our Passover Seder in Aramaic?
…
…
…
So they'll understand."
#funny #humor #joke #Mazeldon #Jewstodon

#funny #humor #joke #mazeldon #jewstodon

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-07-24

("Inside baseball" vignettes about Jewish mourning incoming, you may not understand everything if it's not in your background…)
I sat #shiva for the first three days (incl. the day of the funeral) down in Maryland at my sister's house, since my mom lived near her and my dad still does. On my last night in MD we sat shiva for an hour with my dad at his assisted living facility so they people he knows there could visit. LOTS of people came.
#Jewstodon #Mazelodon
…

#shiva #jewstodon #mazelodon

bellum omnium contra omnes ❧ $250/$921 @[email protected]

2026-07-13

dear #Disability #DisabilityLife #HelpFolksLive2026 #HelpNeeded #HelpNeeded2026 #Jewstodon #LosAngeles #Mazeldon #MutualAid #MutualAidNeeded #MutualAidRequest, not to go on a whole saga, but we have a need i've been trying to fill and trying to figure out for years at this point, and i've gotten to the conclusion that it's impossible barring intercession my someone with more money than we have, or some sort of connection, and we need the help.

we need #Housing, we need housing yesterday, or at least #HousingNow, and it needs to be relatively local to where we already are. this could mean living with people who already have the apartment/house and the space, or it could mean banding with a third person or couple who can afford to shoulder most of the burden of the rent and are willing to live with us.

we're both #AmbulatoryWheelchairUser and #Disabled, and we live on my #SSDI, and am the sole income provider for myself and @inoru_no_hoshi. i get $1704 per month, and right now about $700 of that goes to bills, and a decent portion of the rest goes to food and medical needs even though we do still get food stamps even with my income. at the most, we can afford to put $600 towards housing every month. we know that's not much, and that may change depending upon coming into additional money, them getting a job, what have you. we're always going to be limited by needing to qualify for medi-cal (although we're aware of the 250% working disabled program), and i'm always going to be limited by the substantial gainful activity rules and my own limited abilities to bring in further money. it changing cannot be counted on, especially in the near future..

if this is you! i'm going to dump the rest of the details, including why we need to get out of our current situation, into a thread so that not everyone has to read them, but if you know people in los angeles environs, empty nesters who miss having a full house, people with a two bedroom adu or guest house/back house, whatever it may be, please #Boost #BoostThis and #ShareThis and whatever other ways of getting the word out that you have. we're desperate. we're really, truly desperate.

#sharethis #boostthis #boost #ssdi #disabled #ambulatorywheelchairuser

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-05-05

CW: Eye contact

Before and after Lag BaOmer:
#LagBaOmer #Jewstodon #Mazeldon #IfYouKnowYouKnow #WhatARelief

#lagbaomer #jewstodon #mazeldon #ifyouknowyouknow #whatarelief

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-04-06

It's day 5 of #Passover and we're nearly out of candy. Our shopping priorities were clearly wrong. #sendHelp #Pesach #Jewstodon #Mazeldon

#passover #sendhelp #pesach #jewstodon #mazeldon

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-04-04

Child #3, away at college, goes to CVS and buys #chametz. Yesterday. Using my credit card. 🤦 I find this out when I get the email receipt from CVS.
Normally I pay for his food at college.
There's a lot of #halacha I'm not so strict about, but not #Pesach.
"I need you to not be buying chametz with my credit card on Pesach," I tell him. He apologizes.
"I am taking that out of the money I owe you, because I can't be owning chametz on Pesach."
He agrees.
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon

#chametz #halacha #pesach #jewstodon #mazeldon

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @[email protected]

2026-03-31

Hello fellow #Pesach #Passover celebrators. I'm going to let those of you who go all-out to make your house kosher for Passover in on a little secret that I wish someone had told me decades ago when I was a young frummie:

"Invisible chametz" only matters on surfaces that are going to touch food during the holiday.

Let me explain by way of examples…
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon (1/6)

#pesach #passover #jewstodon #mazeldon