#judaism — Public Fediverse posts

Islamophobia is rising – and Britain’s politicians have been dangerously complacent in tackling it | Arun Kundnani
By Arun Kundnani

Mainstream figures have been enabling anti-Muslim racism, creating the ideal conditions for the rise of hard-right political parties

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/14/britain-politicians-complacent-islamophobia-rising-hard-right-politics

#Islamophobia #Islam #Religion #Judaism #Race #UKnews #TheGuardian #ArunKundnani

From “The Forbidden Question,” (“De verboden vraag”) De Groene Amsterdammer, September 9, 2026, excerpted from Antizionisme: Een Joodse geschiedenis (Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History):

Benjamin Moser describes unlearning #Zionism as “a process of growth, a deconstruction,” comparing it to unlearning a mother tongue.

He writes that Zionism was a recent and contested project, not an ancient or inevitable expression of #Judaism. Anti-Zionism among Jews was older than Zionism; before Herzl, the idea of Jewish return to Palestine was originally Christian, while many Jews saw Zionist nationalism, separatism, and militarism as a step backward.

Rejecting Zionism was not “amputating” part of himself but entering a hidden Jewish tradition that Zionism had suppressed and that Zionism’s escalating cruelty ultimately vindicated. He’s calling for Jewish self-centeredness to end and for Palestinians, “the real victims of Zionism,” to be placed at the center.

Dutch https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-verboden-vraag

#zionism #judaism #history #bookstodon #benjaminmoser #palestine #gazagenocide #nakba #antiszionism

From “The Forbidden Question,” (“De verboden vraag”) De Groene Amsterdammer, September 9, 2026, excerpted from Antizionisme: Een Joodse geschiedenis (Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History):

Benjamin Moser describes unlearning #Zionism as “a process of growth, a deconstruction,” comparing it to unlearning a mother tongue.

He writes that Zionism was a recent and contested project, not an ancient or inevitable expression of #Judaism. Anti-Zionism among Jews was older than Zionism; before Herzl, the idea of Jewish return to Palestine was originally Christian, while many Jews saw Zionist nationalism, separatism, and militarism as a step backward.

Rejecting Zionism was not “amputating” part of himself but entering a hidden Jewish tradition that Zionism had suppressed and that Zionism’s escalating cruelty ultimately vindicated. He’s calling for Jewish self-centeredness to end and for Palestinians, “the real victims of Zionism,” to be placed at the center.

Dutch https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-verboden-vraag

#zionism #judaism #history #bookstodon #benjaminmoser #palestine #gazagenocide #nakba #antiszionism

From “The Forbidden Question,” (“De verboden vraag”) De Groene Amsterdammer, September 9, 2026, excerpted from Antizionisme: Een Joodse geschiedenis (Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History):

Benjamin Moser describes unlearning #Zionism as “a process of growth, a deconstruction,” comparing it to unlearning a mother tongue.

He writes that Zionism was a recent and contested project, not an ancient or inevitable expression of #Judaism. Anti-Zionism among Jews was older than Zionism; before Herzl, the idea of Jewish return to Palestine was originally Christian, while many Jews saw Zionist nationalism, separatism, and militarism as a step backward.

Rejecting Zionism was not “amputating” part of himself but entering a hidden Jewish tradition that Zionism had suppressed and that Zionism’s escalating cruelty ultimately vindicated. He’s calling for Jewish self-centeredness to end and for Palestinians, “the real victims of Zionism,” to be placed at the center.

Dutch https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-verboden-vraag

#zionism #judaism #history #bookstodon #benjaminmoser #palestine #gazagenocide #nakba #antiszionism

From “The Forbidden Question,” (“De verboden vraag”) De Groene Amsterdammer, September 9, 2026, excerpted from Antizionisme: Een Joodse geschiedenis (Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History):

Benjamin Moser describes unlearning #Zionism as “a process of growth, a deconstruction,” comparing it to unlearning a mother tongue.

He writes that Zionism was a recent and contested project, not an ancient or inevitable expression of #Judaism. Anti-Zionism among Jews was older than Zionism; before Herzl, the idea of Jewish return to Palestine was originally Christian, while many Jews saw Zionist nationalism, separatism, and militarism as a step backward.

Rejecting Zionism was not “amputating” part of himself but entering a hidden Jewish tradition that Zionism had suppressed and that Zionism’s escalating cruelty ultimately vindicated. He’s calling for Jewish self-centeredness to end and for Palestinians, “the real victims of Zionism,” to be placed at the center.

Dutch https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-verboden-vraag

#zionism #judaism #history #bookstodon #benjaminmoser #palestine #gazagenocide #nakba #antiszionism

From “The Forbidden Question,” (“De verboden vraag”) De Groene Amsterdammer, September 9, 2026, excerpted from Antizionisme: Een Joodse geschiedenis (Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History):

Benjamin Moser describes unlearning #Zionism as “a process of growth, a deconstruction,” comparing it to unlearning a mother tongue.

He writes that Zionism was a recent and contested project, not an ancient or inevitable expression of #Judaism. Anti-Zionism among Jews was older than Zionism; before Herzl, the idea of Jewish return to Palestine was originally Christian, while many Jews saw Zionist nationalism, separatism, and militarism as a step backward.

Rejecting Zionism was not “amputating” part of himself but entering a hidden Jewish tradition that Zionism had suppressed and that Zionism’s escalating cruelty ultimately vindicated. He’s calling for Jewish self-centeredness to end and for Palestinians, “the real victims of Zionism,” to be placed at the center.

Dutch https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-verboden-vraag

#zionism #judaism #history #bookstodon #benjaminmoser #palestine #gazagenocide #nakba #antiszionism

I had too much time on my hands this morning. I know only 2% of one city will understand but let’s talk about Rosh Hashanah in Pittsburgh https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP83HmtWy/ #pittsburgh #judaism #IfJewKnowJewKnow #yinzer

Sailing the Adriatic Sea on the Celestyal Journey https://www.byteseu.com/2362394/ #Croatia #Greece #Italy #JewishHistory #Judaism #Montenegro #TheBalkans #Travel

Rothschild Out of Control: What Happened to Tel Aviv’s Most Upscale Boulevard?

Thursday evening, Rothschild Boulevard at the corner of Nahalat Binyamin in central Tel Aviv. Crowds of teenagers and…
#Israel #News #Israeliculture #Judaism #mizrahi #popculture #telaviv #TelAvivnightlife #Ultra-Orthodox
https://www.europesays.com/3247540/

https://www.europesays.com/iran/289276/ Dr. Phil and Sylvan Adams get Israel right #Activism #antisemitism #CampusProtests #CollegesAndUniversities #Israel #Judaism #Nonprofits #October7

Rosh Hashanah 2026: After October 7, Jewish unity and connection must endure

Every Rosh Hashanah, Jews stand before the uncertainty of another year, asking: “Who shall live and who shall…
#Israel #News #Gaza #gazahostages #HershGoldberg-Polin #Judaism #RachelGoldberg-Polin #Religión #roshhashana #telaviv #TheOctober7Massacre
https://www.europesays.com/3246783/

Russian drones attack the Ukraine-Moldova border, leaving two dead

The attack on the Starokozache border crossing left two civilians dead and forced a temporary closure of border…
#Moldova #MD #Europe #Europa #EU #Antisemitism #AuroraIsrael #Israel #Israelicurrentevents #israelinews #Israelipolitics #JewishCommunity #Jewishculture #JewishNews #Judaism #middleeast #newsinSpanish #Shoah
https://www.europesays.com/3246432/

I don't practice any abrahamic religion, and I don't support Israel, but Jews have perhaps the most coherent narrative of the 3. I mean, Christians know nothing about their religion. Most of them don't know who Isaac, Moses, Isaiah and others supposedly were. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have not had to educate a Jew while debating yet.

#religion #christian #bible #culture #judaism #islam #thoughts #opinion #israel

I don't practice any abrahamic religion, and I don't support Israel, but Jews have perhaps the most coherent narrative of the 3. I mean, Christians know nothing about their religion. Most of them don't know who Isaac, Moses, Isaiah and others supposedly were. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have not had to educate a Jew while debating yet.

#religion #christian #bible #culture #judaism #islam #thoughts #opinion #israel

I don't practice any abrahamic religion, and I don't support Israel, but Jews have perhaps the most coherent narrative of the 3. I mean, Christians know nothing about their religion. Most of them don't know who Isaac, Moses, Isaiah and others supposedly were. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have not had to educate a Jew while debating yet.

#religion #christian #bible #culture #judaism #islam #thoughts #opinion #israel

I don't practice any abrahamic religion, and I don't support Israel, but Jews have perhaps the most coherent narrative of the 3. I mean, Christians know nothing about their religion. Most of them don't know who Isaac, Moses, Isaiah and others supposedly were. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have not had to educate a Jew while debating yet.

#religion #christian #bible #culture #judaism #islam #thoughts #opinion #israel

Russian drones attack the Ukraine-Moldova border, leaving two dead https://www.byteseu.com/2358113/ #antisemitism #AuroraIsrael #Israel #IsraeliCurrentEvents #IsraeliNews #IsraeliPolitics #JewishCommunity #JewishCulture #JewishNews #Judaism #MiddleEast #Moldova #NewsInSpanish #Shoah

תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ, תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ,
תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ.
Let a year and its woes end, let a year and its blessings begin.
that's what many Jews sing on Rosh HaShana, which starts tonight.

happy Jewish new year everyone, shana tova. here's to one better than the last.
🍎 🍏 :pomegranate: :shofar:

#Jewish #RoshHaShana #ShanaTova #Jew #Jews #Judaism #NewYear #JewishNewYear #Tishrei

"There are numerous renowned #Jewish #children’s and #YA #authors and #illustrators whose identity and affiliation with #Judaism is well-known and often crops up in their work or personal interviews: #MauriceSendak, #JudyBlume and #SydneyTaylor to name but a few. But #bibliophiles may not be aware that there are a number of other famed and talented #kidlit creators over the last few decades who are, in fact, also members of the Tribe. Here’s a list of notable children and #youngadult #authors you may not have known are Jewish!"

https://www.kveller.com/5-kid-and-young-adult-authors-you-may-not-know-are-jewish/

https://www.kveller.com/the-inventor-of-the-shopping-cart-was-a-jewish-man/

Very cool to see Kveller.com tell the story of Sylvan Goldman, the inventor of the shopping cart (and a bunch of other stuff), but also a long-time member and supporter of Oklahoma City's own Temple B'nai Israel.

#OKC #Oklahoma #Judaism #JewishHistory #Mazeldon

Israel must give Ethiopian Israelis a bigger role in politics and at the UN

For generations, in the highlands of East Africa between the Blue Nile basin and the Red Sea world,…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #breakingnews #christians #EthiopianJews #ethiopianjewsinisrael #famousjewishpeople #generalassembly #Israel #israelipolitics #Judaism #muslims #Opinion #Sigd #UnitedNations #UNSC #USPolitics #zionism
https://www.newsbeep.com/712314/

" #EzraFeig begins each Friday the same way: corralling 100 #Jews to go on a #run in #CentralPark.

He stands up on a park bench, towering above the crowd. They’re schmoozing and stretching, with impressive energy considering the hour. Around half wear blue shirts and shorts emblazoned with a white #StarofDavid, interlaced with an outline of a #runner.

#Feig spreads his arms wide and says “Welcome to #NiceJewishRunners.”

A 35-year-old health care entrepreneur, Feig launched Nice #Jewish #Runners in the wake of the #Hamas-led #Oct7 attacks on #Israel. Three years later, the running group has kept up its pace. Jews from multiple generations, but mostly in their 20s and 30s, continue to feel the group’s pull. For those raised in less observant backgrounds but called to engage more with their #Judaism after Oct. 7, the weekly jogs give them a way to do so outside a #synagogue.

The group has expanded to at least 19 cities in five countries around the world."

https://forward.com/news/847343/these-jews-are-looking-for-a-runners-chai/

" #Rabbi #ChaimSteinmetz of #CongregationKehilath on the #UpperEastSide has #published “A Proud #Jew,” drawing on his weekly #Torah #essays.

The essays collected in the new volume, his third #book, reference weekly Torah portions, the holidays, Jewish life and contemporary events. Together, they explore what it means to live as a Jew in a complicated world and why #Jewish identity should be a source of strength rather than something to conceal.

The book’s title comes from one of its essays, but as #RabbiSteinmetz writes in the preface, it reflects the message of the entire collection: “Our mission is to carry with pride #Judaism’s message to humanity.”

That message has taken on particular urgency in Rabbi Steinmetz’s work in #NewYork."

https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/rabbi-steinmetz-book-presents-a-proud-jew,26755?

Symbolism

How important is it??

Until recently I did not thing too much about Symbolism. My only reference to this was the symbols my father and his Religion told me were evil, then the Mark of the Beast was a big thing with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then after the Epstein files I saw that, perhaps, just perhaps this symbolism thing is very important. Started checking on what symbols the Epstein people are using. The REAL Satanists. That was interesting indeed. By some chance this research led back to my other research, the Scots and further back, the Pics. Now they tell me the Pics have THE oldest Rock Carvings in the world, by bloody far, make out Bushman Rock Art look almost brand new! And. In there I found a few symbols used by the Christian Church.

Then, today I see on the big screen in the NG Church, a logo that interested me no end. I even went to the Sound Engineer lady and asked who made that logo!??? Head Office in Pretoria. I took a shot of the big screen and the logo.

This is a version of the Celtic Knotted Tree, modified only slightly. Ja. And. If you click on the church link, you will see the design of their official logo. Don’t tell me yo cannot see the Knotted Tree’s basic design.

Well, that is my quick look at this, I am sure I will come back to it.

Big Five Wars is my main mission for now and they also get updated regularly.

Facebook:

The Mexican Horse Thief

Section Eight Solutions

THE FERDIVERSE!

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Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 51st Shabbat in a row that I have had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. Fifty one weeks. Which means next Friday will be one full year, and it will also be the last Shabbat Shalom montage.

I want to sit with that for a moment before I say anything else.

This tradition started on Facebook, and it grew so quietly beautiful that I began sharing it everywhere I am. Not because it needed a bigger audience, but because something this simple deserves to be seen.

What began as a simple post has become one of the most meaningful things I do. Week after week you brought light into this space. Candles on your tables. Family gathered close. Quiet corners of your homes on a Friday evening. Some of you have been here since the very first one, and some of you joined along the way, and every single image made this what it became.

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 50th Shabbat in a row that I have shared your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly greeting. Fifty weeks. What began as a simple post has become one of my favorite traditions, and that is entirely because of you.

And this one arrives with something special. We have entered Elul, the final month of the Hebrew year, the quiet stretch of reflection before everything begins again. A month made for exactly what you already do here every week. Pausing. Looking inward. Reaching toward each other.

Reading your comments has become one of my favorite ways to welcome Shabbat. If I ever miss responding it is never intentional, sometimes comments get hidden, but I always feel the spirit behind them 💙

You give me the gift of sharing my passion for teaching Hebrew and for community.

Wishing you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat, and a beautiful start to Elul.

Shabbat Shalom 💙

#ShabbatShalom #Elul #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 49th Shabbat in a row that I’ve had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. What began as a simple post has grown into something far more meaningful than I ever imagined.

And here is what moves me most about it. Not everyone in this community observes Shabbat. Some of you light candles every Friday night as your family has for generations. Some of you come from a different faith entirely. Some of you are simply here for the language, or the culture, or because something in this corner of the internet feels like a good place to land at the end of a long week. And every single one of you belongs here.

Week after week, you bring light, warmth, and connection into this space. Seeing the images you share, whether candles, tables, family moments, or quiet reflections, has turned this into a truly special tradition for our community.

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

!Electronical-Computer-Mechanical
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/373

!COmputer & Programming
#компьютер, #компьютеры, #ЭВМ, ремонт компьютеров, компьютерная техника, железо, #программы, #настройка, #диагностика, операционные системы, игровые приставки, аппаратные средства, computer, #computers, computers, computer repair, computer equipment, #hardware, #programs, #setup, #diagnostics, operating systems, game consoles, #hardware, #комп'ютер, #комп'ютери, #ЕОМ, ремонт комп'ютерів, комп'ютерна техніка, #залізо, #програми, #налаштування, діагностика, операційні системи, ігрові приставки, апаратні засоби ремонт телевизоров, #мониторы
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/372

_Фонд редких книг
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/371

Энергетика и целительство
Energy and healing, Енергетика та цілительство
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/370

Эзотерическая рунология
Esoteric runology, Езотерична рунологія
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/369

Шаманизм, Шаманізм, shamanism
#Шаманизм, #Шаманізм, #shamanism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/368

Фэн - шуй
Фен Шуй, Feng Shui
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/367

Тантрическая традиция, Tantric tradition
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/365

Медитации и транс, Meditation and trance
#Медитации и #транс, #Meditation and #trance
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/364

Магия, Magic
#Магия, #Magic
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/363

Каббала и Тора, Kabbalah and Torah
#Каббала и #Тора, #Kabbalah and #Torah
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/362

Йога, Yoga
#Йога, #Yoga
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/361

Иудаизм, Judaism
#Иудаизм, #Judaism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/360

Индуизм, Hinduism
#Индуизм, #Hinduism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/358

веды, Veda
#веды, #Veda
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/356

suteres, koans
#suteres, #koans
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/355

esoteric эзотерика мистика мистицизм оккультизм
#esoteric #эзотерика #мистика #мистицизм #оккультизм
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/353

RELIGION
религия секты учения
#RELIGION
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/352

_Цигун, qigong Qi Books
#Цигун, #qigong #Qi Books
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/351

_буддизм, Buddhism
#буддизм, #Buddhism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/349

_Дзен, zen
#Дзен, #zen
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/348

_Даосизм
Taoism
#Даосизм
#Taoism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/347

!Electronical-Computer-Mechanical
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/373

!COmputer & Programming
#компьютер, #компьютеры, #ЭВМ, ремонт компьютеров, компьютерная техника, железо, #программы, #настройка, #диагностика, операционные системы, игровые приставки, аппаратные средства, computer, #computers, computers, computer repair, computer equipment, #hardware, #programs, #setup, #diagnostics, operating systems, game consoles, #hardware, #комп'ютер, #комп'ютери, #ЕОМ, ремонт комп'ютерів, комп'ютерна техніка, #залізо, #програми, #налаштування, діагностика, операційні системи, ігрові приставки, апаратні засоби ремонт телевизоров, #мониторы
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/372

_Фонд редких книг
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/371

Энергетика и целительство
Energy and healing, Енергетика та цілительство
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/370

Эзотерическая рунология
Esoteric runology, Езотерична рунологія
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/369

Шаманизм, Шаманізм, shamanism
#Шаманизм, #Шаманізм, #shamanism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/368

Фэн - шуй
Фен Шуй, Feng Shui
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/367

Тантрическая традиция, Tantric tradition
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/365

Медитации и транс, Meditation and trance
#Медитации и #транс, #Meditation and #trance
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/364

Магия, Magic
#Магия, #Magic
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/363

Каббала и Тора, Kabbalah and Torah
#Каббала и #Тора, #Kabbalah and #Torah
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/362

Йога, Yoga
#Йога, #Yoga
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/361

Иудаизм, Judaism
#Иудаизм, #Judaism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/360

Индуизм, Hinduism
#Индуизм, #Hinduism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/358

веды, Veda
#веды, #Veda
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/356

suteres, koans
#suteres, #koans
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/355

esoteric эзотерика мистика мистицизм оккультизм
#esoteric #эзотерика #мистика #мистицизм #оккультизм
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/353

RELIGION
религия секты учения
#RELIGION
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/352

_Цигун, qigong Qi Books
#Цигун, #qigong #Qi Books
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/351

_буддизм, Buddhism
#буддизм, #Buddhism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/349

_Дзен, zen
#Дзен, #zen
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/348

_Даосизм
Taoism
#Даосизм
#Taoism
t.me/scilib_yura15cbx/347

These are your images not mine ❤️

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 48th Shabbat in a row that I’ve had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. What began as a simple post has grown into something far more meaningful than I ever imagined.

Week after week, you bring light, warmth, and connection into this space. Seeing the images you share, whether candles, tables, family moments, or quiet reflections has turned this into a truly special tradition for our community.

What started as a collection of lovely photos has become something deeper. Many of you now share glimpses of how Shabbat lives inside your homes and hearts, and it’s incredibly moving to witness those moments. It fills me with gratitude every single week.

Reading your comments has become one of my favorite ways to welcome Shabbat.

Wishing all of you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom 💙

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

Ashkenazi Jews

Author’s Note: This post has mentions of Nazis, the Holocaust, & Nazi Germany. We completely understand if you wish to skip over this post. We’ll catch you in the next one!

Also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim.

This is a form of distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish Diaspora. Emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (Western Germany) & northern France. They migrated there from centers such as the Italian peninsula & the Southern Levant. This includes present-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, & Jordan.

After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire & the favorable policies of Casimir the Great & others.

This diaspora ramped up after the persecution during the Black Death of the 14th century. The bulk of the Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to the Kingdom of Poland (which includes modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, & parts of Russia). This area became the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.

Ashkenazim adapted their traditions, rites, & customs to Europe. They traditionally followed the German rite synagogue ritual & until the Holocaust primarily spoke Yiddish, an offshoot of Middle High German written in a variety of the Hebrew script, with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, & Slavic influences.

The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige, in favor of national languages & Hebrew, being stigmatized by assimilationists & later also Zionists. Though it was spoken by over 11 million people worldwide before the Holocaust. The Yiddishist movement, which sought to preserve & revive the language, faded through the 20th century. Including Duolingo adding Yiddish as a language.

As a proportion of the world Jewish population, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930, near the population’s peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during WWII, which killed around 6 million Jews. Before WWII, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3-16.7 million, with 92% being Ashkenazi. As of 2023, the population of Ashkenazim was estimated to be around 10-13 million out of 15.8 million total Jews.

The name Ashkenazi comes from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz. He’s the 1st son of Gomer, grandson of Japhet, great-grandson of Noah, & a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. The name for Gomer has often been linked to the Cimmerians.

The Biblical Ashkenazis are usually derived from Assyrian Askuza, a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates. The name Askuza is identified with the Scythians.

In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as 1 of 3 kingdoms in the far north, the others being Minni (or Mannaea), an ancient kingdom that flourished in northwestern Iran, & Arrat (corresponding to Urartu), called on by God to resist Babylon.

Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia (usually identified with Scandinavia), viewed as the cradle of Germanic tribes, in the 6th-century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius. In the 10th century, in the History of Armenia of Yovhannes Drasxanakertci, Ashkenaz was associated with Armenia.

As it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where its denotation extended at times to Adiabene, Khazaria, Chimea, & areas to the east. They’re also identified with the Slavim or Slavs. In keeping with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was called Sefarad (Obadiah 20), France was called Tsarefat (I Kings 17:9), & Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan.

Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France & Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to the Jews of both medieval Germany & France.

In later times, the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern & western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany & Poland. Thus, the prayer book of Isaiah Horowitz (a prominent rabbi & mystic), & many others, give the piyyutim (a Jewish liturgical poem), according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz & Poland. A Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism.

In a religious sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is any Jew whose family tradition & synagogue ritual follow Ashkenazi practices (German rite). Until the Ashkenazi community 1st began to develop in the Early Middle Ages, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad & Islamic Spain. German Ashkenaz was so geographically distant that it developed a minhag of its own.

The counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic. Since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they’re ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi (a.k.a. Oriental Jews; Jews who lived in the Muslim world) who married into an Orthodox or Haredi (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox) Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her kids to be Ashkenazi Jews.

On the other hand, an Ashkenazi woman who married a Sephardi or Mizrahi is expected to take on Sephardic practices & the kids will “inherit” a Sephardic identity. Though in practice, many families do compromise. A “convert” usually follows the practice of the rabbinical court (beth din) that converted them.

Culturally, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, which means “Jewishness” in the Yiddish language. Before the Haskalah (a.k.a. the Jewish Enlightenment) & the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of the Torah & the Talmud for men, & communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men & women.

From the Rhineland to Riga (the largest city in Latvia) to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, & spoke Yiddish in their secular (worldly) lives. But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now includes not just Orthodoxy & Hasidism, but a broader range of movements, ideologies, practices, & traditions in which Ashkenazi have participated & somehow kept a sense of Jewishness. Although pockets of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, styles of humor, & in patterns of association.

As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly in the form of aliyah to Israel. Or immigration to North America, South Africa, Europe (particularly France), & Latin America, the geographic isolation has given way to mixing with other cultures, & with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales.

Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews. Although many Hasidic & Hareidi groups still use Yiddish in daily life. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographic Land of Israel or the Palestine region, where the State of Israel was established.

France’s blended Jewish community is typical of the cultural recombination that’s going on among Jews throughout the world. Although France expelled its original Jewish population in the Middle Ages, by the time of the French Revolution, there were 2 distinct Jewish populations.

One consisted of Sephardic Jews, originally refugees from the Inquisition (which no one expects! Sorry, we’re Monty Python fans here.) & concentrated in the southwest. While the other community was Ashkenazi, concentrated in formerly German Alsace, & mainly speaking a German dialect similar to Yiddish.

The 3rd community of Provencal Jews living in Comtat Venaissin was technically outside France, & was later absorbed into the Sephardim. Comtat Venaissin (called Comtat, for short) was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791.

But after emancipation, a sense of a unified French Jewry emerged, especially when France was wracked by the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s. (We’ll be doing a post about the Dreyfus Affair.) In the 1920s & 30s, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe arrived in large numbers as refugees from antisemitism, the Russian Revolution, & the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.

By the 1930s, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, & many Jews were involved in diverse political movements. After the Vichy years & the Holocaust, the French Jewish population was augmented once again, 1st by Ashkenazi refugees from Central Europe, & later by Sephardi immigrants & refugees from North Africa, many of them francophone. Francophone refers to people/organizations who use French (language) regularly.

Ashkenazi Jews didn’t transmit their traditions or achievements by text. Instead, these traditions were passed down orally from one generation to the next. The desire to maintain pre-Holocaust traditions relating to Ashkenazi culture has often been met with criticism by Jews in Eastern Europe.

In an ethnic sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is a descendant of the Jews who settled in the Central European region of “Ashkenaz.” For roughly 1,000 years, the Ashkenazim were a reproductively isolated population in Europe.

Despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow of countries from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Since the mid-20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews have intermarried, both with members of other Jewish communities & non-Jews.

Religious persecution of the Jews in Western & Central Europe led to a significant migration of the Ashkenazi Jews into Eastern Europe. This resulted in a major cultural divide between Western/Central & Eastern Ashkenazi communities. In particular, this was reflected in the division of Yiddish into Western & Eastern Yiddish dialects. As well as in other cultural distinctions: traditions, food, dress, etc.

Initially, the Jews of Eastern Europe enjoyed relative freedom in terms of movement, being invited by the kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Over time, the situation was reversed. By the 19th century, the Jews in the West had gradually been integrated into the general society.

While the Eastern Ashkenazi maintained their strict Jewish traditions & were mostly confined to ghettos, especially in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, which incorporated a considerable amount of land where the Eastern Ashkenazi lived: Poland & Lithuania.

Well-known differences in practices include:

• Observance of Passover (Pesach)
  • Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, & rice. Quinoa has become accepted as a food grain in North American communities. Sephardi Jews typically don’t prohibit these foods.
• Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the ACTUAL slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit the rear portions of an animal after proper Halakhic removal of the sciatic nerve. While many Ashkenazi Jews don’t.
• Ashkenazi Jews often name newborns after deceased family members, not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews often name their kids after their grandparents, even if those grandparents are still living. An exception to this is among Dutch Jews, where Ashkenazi for centuries used naming conventions otherwise attributed exclusively to Sephardim, such as Chuts. Chuts is the name given to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands in the 1850s-1860s.
• Ashkenazi tefillins are wound toward the body, not away from it. Ashkenazim put on the tefillin while standing up. Other Jews generally do so while sitting down. A tefillin(s) is/are sets of small black leather boxes with leather straps having scrolls of parchment written with verses of the Torah inside.
• The prayer shawl (tallit/tallis) is worn by all Ashkenazi men AFTER marriage. Except for Western European Ashkenazi men who wear it from the bar mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.

The term Ashkenazi also refers to the Nusach Ashkenaz, the liturgical tradition used by Ashkenazi Jews in their siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition’s choice of prayers, the text of prayers & melodies used in the singing of prayers. 2 other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazi Jews are Nusach Sefard (not to be confused with the Sephardic ritual), which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and Nusach Ari, used by those in Chabad.

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These are your images not mine ❤️

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 47th Shabbat in a row that I’ve had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. What began as a simple post has grown into something far more meaningful than I ever imagined.

Week after week, you bring light, warmth, and connection into this space. Seeing the images you share, whether candles, tables, family moments, or quiet reflections has turned this into a truly special tradition for our community.

What started as a collection of lovely photos has become something deeper. Many of you now share glimpses of how Shabbat lives inside your homes and hearts, and it’s incredibly moving to witness those moments. It fills me with gratitude every single week.

Reading your comments has become one of my favorite ways to welcome Shabbat.

Wishing all of you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom 💙

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 46th Shabbat in a row that I’ve had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. What began as a simple post has grown into something far more meaningful than I ever imagined.

Week after week, you bring light, warmth, and connection into this space. Seeing the images you share, whether candles, tables, family moments, or quiet reflections has turned this into a truly special tradition for our community.

What started as a collection of lovely photos has become something deeper. Many of you now share glimpses of how Shabbat lives inside your homes and hearts, and it’s incredibly moving to witness those moments. It fills me with gratitude every single week.

Reading your comments has become one of my favorite ways to welcome Shabbat and I’m wishing all of you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom 💙

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

Shabbat Shalom Friends 🕯️🕯️

This marks the 45th Shabbat in a row that I’ve had the privilege of sharing your beautiful photos and messages in response to my weekly Shabbat greeting. What began as a simple post has grown into something far more meaningful than I ever imagined.

Week after week, you bring light, warmth, and connection into this space. Seeing the images you share, whether candles, tables, family moments, or quiet reflections has turned this into a truly special tradition for our community.

What started as a collection of lovely photos has become something deeper. Many of you now share glimpses of how Shabbat lives inside your homes and hearts, and it’s incredibly moving to witness those moments. It fills me with gratitude every single week.

Reading your comments has become one of my favorite ways to welcome Shabbat.

Wishing all of you a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom 💙

#ShabbatShalom #peace #judaism #GoodShabbos #DayOfRest

The Sabbath isn't a day off. It's an act of resistance.

The commandment to rest comes right after 'You were slaves in Egypt.' Shabbat exists because an enslaved people needed to remember: you are not owned by your labor.

The day changed across traditions. The liberation theology didn't.

What does Sabbath mean in your tradition?

#interfaith #religion #Judaism #Christianity #ComparativeReligion #faith #HolyDay #theology

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/

"#Sukkot is one of #Judaism’s most communal holidays: a week spent gathering in the #sukkah, welcoming guests, and sharing meals under the open sky. #TheSukkahFoundation, a new national charitable initiative, launched to make sure no #Jewish family, school, or congregation has to sit it out for lack of a sukkah. The Foundation provides free, durable #sukkahs—along with holiday care packages of prayer resources, decorations, and educational materials—to those who cannot afford one, and invites the wider Jewish community to help fund the effort.

The Foundation grew out of #TheSukkahProject, the family-run workshop that has helped thousands of families, schools, and synagogues build their sukkahs over the past three decades."

https://www.jns.org/wire/The-Sukkah-Foundation/the-sukkah-foundation-launches-to-provide-free-sukkahs-for-jewish-families-in-need

Gold traveling menorah, the Netherlands, 1710 AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/2171041/gold-traveling-menorah-the-netherlands-1710-ad

YHWH seems to be unhappy quite a bit

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2165963/yhwh-seems-to-be-unhappy-quite-a-bit

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.

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2. Some words are rolling in my head about games of chance, of how humans want to see divine messages in randomness.

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Random Reflections from the overnight of #ShavuotLive when I was passing between times of sleeping and being awake (hours #10-16)
1. Was Essau a vampire? What about the angel that wrestled with Jacob? - Not as crazy as it sounds, as Essau fell up on Jacob's neck when they reconciled and the angel had to go when the sun came up after the night of wrestling!
2. Some words are rolling in my head about games of chance, of how humans want to see divine messages in randomness.

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Vampires #Shavuot

Random Reflections from the overnight of #ShavuotLive when I was passing between times of sleeping and being awake (hours #10-16)
1. Was Essau a vampire? What about the angel that wrestled with Jacob? - Not as crazy as it sounds, as Essau fell up on Jacob's neck when they reconciled and the angel had to go when the sun came up after the night of wrestling!
2. Some words are rolling in my head about games of chance, of how humans want to see divine messages in randomness.

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Vampires #Shavuot

Random Reflections from the overnight of #ShavuotLive when I was passing between times of sleeping and being awake (hours #10-16)
1. Was Essau a vampire? What about the angel that wrestled with Jacob? - Not as crazy as it sounds, as Essau fell up on Jacob's neck when they reconciled and the angel had to go when the sun came up after the night of wrestling!
2. Some words are rolling in my head about games of chance, of how humans want to see divine messages in randomness.

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Vampires #Shavuot

Random Reflections from the overnight of #ShavuotLive when I was passing between times of sleeping and being awake (hours #10-16)
1. Was Essau a vampire? What about the angel that wrestled with Jacob? - Not as crazy as it sounds, as Essau fell up on Jacob's neck when they reconciled and the angel had to go when the sun came up after the night of wrestling!
2. Some words are rolling in my head about games of chance, of how humans want to see divine messages in randomness.

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Vampires #Shavuot

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#Mazeldon #Judaism #Shavuot