#judaism — Public Fediverse posts

Lewis Larsson, John D. Whiting, 1917.

Source: Library of Congress

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c2e5a7a0-b4bc-4534-bc80-b49691c93ccb

#judaism #mountains #stereographs #religion #israel #holyland #rituals #hebrew #palestine #sacrifice #bible #photography #art #publicdomain

Lewis Larsson, John D. Whiting, 1917.

Source: Library of Congress

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c2e5a7a0-b4bc-4534-bc80-b49691c93ccb

#judaism #mountains #stereographs #religion #israel #holyland #rituals #hebrew #palestine #sacrifice #bible #photography #art #publicdomain

Lewis Larsson, John D. Whiting, 1917.

Source: Library of Congress

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c2e5a7a0-b4bc-4534-bc80-b49691c93ccb

#judaism #mountains #stereographs #religion #israel #holyland #rituals #hebrew #palestine #sacrifice #bible #photography #art #publicdomain

Lewis Larsson, John D. Whiting, 1917.

Source: Library of Congress

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c2e5a7a0-b4bc-4534-bc80-b49691c93ccb

#judaism #mountains #stereographs #religion #israel #holyland #rituals #hebrew #palestine #sacrifice #bible #photography #art #publicdomain

Lewis Larsson, John D. Whiting, 1917.

Source: Library of Congress

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c2e5a7a0-b4bc-4534-bc80-b49691c93ccb

#judaism #mountains #stereographs #religion #israel #holyland #rituals #hebrew #palestine #sacrifice #bible #photography #art #publicdomain

Shabbat candle lighting times for Israel and US

Shabbat candle lighting times for Israel and US | The Jerusalem PostJerusalem Post/JudaismSee Shabbat candle lighting times for…
#Israel #News #Candlelighting #jerusalem #Judaism #Shabbat #shabbattimes
https://www.europesays.com/3232315/

https://www.europesays.com/iran/277812/ Shabbat candle lighting times for Israel and US #CandleLighting #Israel #Judaism #Shabbat #ShabbatTimes

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

https://www.europesays.com/people/212530/ Pro-Israel heckler slams Mamdani over rise of antisemitism in NYC #antisemitism #BoroughPark #Brooklyn #Judaism #Metro #USNews #ZohranMamdani

" #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.

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The Mexican Horse Thief

Section Eight Solutions

THE FERDIVERSE!

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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

"In a townhouse in #Greenpoint, #Brooklyn, a gathering for #TuBAv was underway. There was chanting and breathwork, singing and ceremony. Several Brooklyn-based #Jewish communities, including Temple of the Stranger and Lab/ #Shul, had come together for the experience.

These vibes are usually associated with Eastern traditions, paganism or indigenous American practices; most Westerners who want that form of spirituality go looking for it at Buddhist meditation centers or ayahuasca retreats, forms of engagement more often associated with the 1960s or ’70s #counterculture movement than with a #synagogue.

But a group of #rabbis, leaders and #spiritual seekers believe drum circles, chanting, #meditation and #mysticism are, in fact, just as core to #Judaism as any #rabbinic text — a sort of lost magic that has impeded vibrant, direct spiritual experience."

https://forward.com/culture/845078/ivri-judaism-jewish-ritual-practice-mysticism-spirituality/

More info: https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/elul-writing-prompts-from-a-circle-of-classmates-to-a-global-practice/

Jewish Studio Project 2026 Elul Prompts Registration: https://www.jewishstudioproject.org/elul-prompts-2026

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Jewish #Elul

From Ritual Well:
Prepare your heart for the Days of Awe with a new Ritualwell companion booklet of reflections, poetry, prayers, and creative prompts for the journey from Elul through Yom Kippur. Then join Rabbi Yael Levy on September 15 for a special exploration of Psalm 130. Together, we'll discover how this ancient prayer of longing and hope can deepen our High Holy Day experience.

Save your spot: https://ritualwell.org/event/out-of-the-depths-a-journey-through-the-days-of-awe/

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Jewish #Elul #HighHolyDays

Download your copy (small donation requested): https://jewishmindful.org/return/

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Jewish #Elul

Today is the last day to register: https://jewishmindful.org/hh2026-workshop/

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Jewish #HighHolidays #Elul

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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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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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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University of Melbourne defends management of antisemitism on campus
By Andi Yu and James Oaten

The Royal Commission has heard the University of Melbourne has been improving its processes for students to make complaints in the wake of antisemitic experiences by staff and students which escalated in 2024.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-15/university-of-melbourne-antisemitism-management-royal-commission/106917522

#RoyalCommissions #Judaism #HumanRights #ReligiousDiscrimination #AndiYu #JamesOaten

Register Here: https://ritualwell.org/event/elul-journey-towards-yizkor/2025-08-06/

#Mazeldon #Judaism #Jewish #Elul

"The accusation that #Jews can never truly belong to the countries they call home is one of the oldest #antisemitic #tropes in history. In #Spain Jews were forced to convert to #Catholicism or face expulsion; in #France they were asked to #assimilate by practising their #Judaism in private; and in the #SovietUnion Jews were pressured to abandon religious practice and suppress expressions of #Jewish identity.

No matter how long the Jewish community contributed to a society, we were always suspected of serving someone else.

Time has passed and the language has changed but the accusation has not. For the past three years, I have seen this rhetoric become normalised. #Online forums and comment sections have become a cesspool of antisemitic abuse.

Add to that a layer of #misogyny and violent sexualised comments directed at my partner, and even harm wished upon our newborn baby."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/01/antisemitism-jewish-australians-josh-burns-mp-comment-ntwnfb

"The #Samaritans are different. They are a tiny community of around 800 souls, divided between #Holon and #KiryatLuza near #Nablus. They trace their ancestry back to the ancient #Israelites and possess a version of the #Torah that differs only slightly from our own. Their central point of departure from mainstream #Judaism is their belief that #MountGerizim, rather than #Jerusalem, is the divinely chosen place, together with their rejection of the Oral Law and #rabbinic tradition.

As I stood among them, watching ancient rituals performed with immense sincerity, hearing #Hebrew prayers and seeing #Torahscrolls carried with reverence, I could not help feeling that I was encountering not strangers, but long-lost cousins.

Their Torah is, with only relatively minor differences, our Torah. #Abraham, #Isaac, #Jacob, and #Moses are their ancestors no less than ours. Yet somewhere in the distant past, our paths diverged."

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-900393

You are invited to the Shalom V'Tzedek
Anti-Fascist Book Discussion Group

The group happens every 1st Wednesday of the month at 3 pm Central time via Zoom.

Our current book for discussion: "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder.
(Please note that the opening introduction presentation will be recorded for later sharing, but the bulk of our conversation time will not be recorded.)

To register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IitdKJavQoiEunHzMTqPgg

For more information on this group: https://shalomvtzedek.org/bookgroup-antifascist.htm

Also, our sponsor is Shalom V'Tzedek a Jewish school of learning that explores Unbound #HumanisticJudaism with a special focus on #peace and #SocialJustice

#AntiFascism #BookDiscussion #Books #Mazeldon #Judaism #ResistFascism #Fascism #TimothySnyder

"The conflict will not end when one side defeats the other. It will not end when the right deal is reached or the right pressure applied or the right leader replaced. It will end — if it ends — only when enough people within each of these traditions recover what their own deepest sources have always known: that the God they are killing for is not the God their mystics encountered."
Killing in the Name of Blood - by The Vertical Dispatch
https://www.sophiainitiative.ai/p/killing-in-the-name-of-blood
#fundamentalism #redemption #israel #usa #iran #judaism #christianity #shia

why the fuck is "matzo not suitable for passover" a thing

who looks at matzo and thinks "hm, yes, I'd like to have this OUTSIDE of when I'm religiously required to"

there's too many boxes for it to be some niche strain of masochism

When I was 13, I lost my bat mitzvah photos. This was fine.

https://gender-defiant.ghost.io/two-kinds-of-stealth/

#parents #protecttranskids #allyship #lgbtq #transgender #translaw #transhealthcare #transrights #genderqueer #pride #transjoy #genderdiversity #judaism #jewishness #sheminiatzeret #stealth

Apotheosis

This is also called divinization or deification. It’s from the Latin deificato, meaning “making divine.” This is the glorification of a subject to divine levels & commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.

The original sense of apotheosis relates to religion & is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively “apotheosis” may be used in almost any context for “the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.” So normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.

In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world. Some that are active today. It requires a belief that there’s a possibility of newly created God’s, so a polytheistic belief system.

The Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, & Judaism don’t allow this. Though many recognize minor sacred categories such as saints. They’re created by a process called canonization. In Christian theology, there’s a concept of the faithful becoming god-like, called divinization or in Eastern Christianity theosis.

In Hinduism, there’s some range for new deities. A human may be deified by becoming regarded as an avatar of an established deity, usually a major one, or by being regarded as a new, independent deity (usually a minor one), or a mix of the 2.

In art, an apotheosis scene usually shows the subject in the Heavens or rising towards them. They’re often partnered by a number of angels, putti, personifications of virtues, or similar figures.

Especially from Baroque art onwards apotheosis scenes may show rulers, generals, or artists purely as an honorific symbol. In many cases, the “religious” context is classical Greco-Roman pagan religion, like The Apotheosis of Voltaire, which features Apollo. The Apotheosis of Washington (1865) sits high in the dome of the United States of America Capitol Building is another example. Personification of places or abstractions are also shown receiving an apotheosis. The classic composition was suited for artistic placement on ceilings or inside domes.

Before the Hellenistic period, imperial cults were known in ancient Egypt (pharaohs) & Mesopotamia (from Naran-Sin through Hammurabi). In the New Kingdom of Egypt, all deceased pharaohs were deified as the god Osiris, having been identified as Horus while on the throne. They were sometimes referred to as the “son” of other various deities.

The architect Imhotep was defied after his passing away. Though the process seems to have been gradual. This took over 1,000 years, by which time he had become associated with medicine. About a dozen non-royal ancient Egyptians became regarded as deities.

Ancient Greek & Roman religions have many characters who were born as humans but became gods. Like Disney’s Hercules. They’re usually made divine by 1 of the main deities, the 12 Olympians. In the Roman story of Cupid & Psyche, Zeus gave the ambrosia of the gods to the mortal Psyche. This transformed her into a goddess herself.

In the case of the Hellenistic queen Berenice II of Egypt was deified like other rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The court dispersed a myth that her hair, that was cut off to fulfill a vow, had its own apotheosis before becoming the Coma Berenices, a group of stars that still bear her name.

In the Greek world, the 1st leader who granted himself diving honors was Philip II of Macedon. At the wedding to his 6th wife, Philip’s enthroned image was carried in procession among the Olympian gods. Such Hellenistic state leaders might be raised to a status equal to the gods before death, like Alexander the Great, or afterwards, like members of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

A heroic cult status that’s similar to apotheosis was also an honor given to a few reversed artists of the distant past, such as Homer.

Up to the end of the Roman Republic, the god Quirinus was the only 1 the Romans accepted as having undergone apotheosis, for his identification/syncretism with Romulus. Syncretism is the practice of meshing together different beliefs & various schools of thought. Eventually apotheosis in Ancient Rome was a process whereby a deceased ruler was recognized as divine by their successors. This was usually done by a decree of the Senate & popular consent.

The 1st of these cases was the posthumous deification of the last Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 42 BC by his adopted son, the triumvir Caesar Octavian. In addition to showing respect, the present ruler often deified a popular predecessor to legitimize himself & gain popularity himself & gain popularity with the people.

A vote in the Roman Senate, in the later Empire confirming an imperial decree, was the normal official process. But this sometimes followed a period with the unofficial use of deific language or imagery for the individual. This was often done rather discreetly within the imperial circle.

There was then a public ceremony, called a consecratio, including the release of an eagle which flew high. This represents the ascent of the deified person’s soul to Heaven. Imagery featuring the ascent, sometimes using a chariot, was common on coins & in other art.

The largest & most famous example in art in a relief on the base of the Column of Antoninus Pius, showing the emperor & his wife, Faustina the Elder, being carried up by a much larger winged figure, described as representing “Eternity,” as the personifications of “Roma” & the Campus Martius sit below, & eagles fly above. The imperial couple are represented as Jupiter & Juno (or Zeus & Hera).

The historian Dio Cassius, who said he was present, gives a detailed description of the large, & lavish, public consecratio of Perinax, emperor for 3 months in 193, ordered by Septimius Severus.

At the height of the imperial cult during the Roman Empire, sometimes the emperor’s deceased loved ones (heirs, empresses, or lovers) like Hadrian’s Antinous were deified as well.

Deified people were posthumously given the title ‘Divus’ for men & ‘Diva’ for women to their names to signify their divinity. Traditional Roman religion distinguished between a deus (god) & divus (a mortal who became divine or deified), though not consistently. Temple & columns were erected to provide a space for worship.

The imperial cult was mainly popular in the provinces. Especially in the Eastern Empire, where many cultures were well used to deified rulers, & less popular in Rome itself, & among traditionalists & intellectuals.

Some privately, & cautiously, ridiculed the apotheosis of inept & feeble emperors, as in the satire The Pumkinification of (the Divine) Claudius. This is usually attributed to Seneca.

Numerous mortals have been deified into the Taoist pantheon. Examples are Guan Yi, Iron-crutch Li, & Fan Kuai. Song dynasty general Yue Fei was deified during the Ming dynasty. He’s considered by some practitioners to be 1 of the 3 highest-ranking heavenly generals. The Ming dynasty epic Investiture of the Gods deals heavily with deification legends.

In the complicated, & variable, conceptions of deity in Buddhism, the achievement of Buddhahood may be regarded as an achievable goal for the faithful. Many significant deities are considered to have begun as normal people, from Gautama Buddha (the original Buddha & the creator of Buddhism) downwards. Most of these are seen as avatars or re-births of earlier figures.

Some significant Hindu deities, in particular Rama, were also born as humans. He’s seen as an avatar of Vishnu. In more modern times, Swaminarayan is an undoubted & well-documented historical figure, who’s regarded by some Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu, or as being a still more elevated deity. Bharat Mata (Mother India) began as a national personification devised by a group of Bengali intellectuals in the late 19th century. But now it receives some worship.

Various Hindu & Buddhist rulers in the past have been represented as deities, especially after death, from India to Indonesia. Jayavarman VII, King of the Khmer Empire the 1st Buddhist king of Cambodia, had his own features used for the many statues of Buddha/Avalokitevara he erected.

The extreme personality cult instituted by the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, has been to represent a deification. And continues to this day with the current leader. Even the nation is admittedly atheist.

In Christian theology, instead of the word “apotheosis,” they use the words “deification” or “divinization” or the Greek word “theosis.” Pre-Reformation, & mainstream theology, in both East & West, views Jesus Christ as the preexisting God who undertook mortal existence. Not as a mortal being who attained divinity. A view known as adoptionism. Adoptionism is an early Christian non-Trinitarian doctrine that holds that Jesus was born a mere human being. But Jesus was later adopted by God as His son, usually at Jesus’ baptism or resurrection, rather than being divine from eternity.

It holds that he has made it possible for human beings to be raised to the level of sharing the divine nature as II Peter 1:4 states that he became human to make humans “partakers of the divine nature.”

In John 10:34, Jesus referenced Psalm 82:6 when he stated: “Is it not written in your Law, I have said you are gods?” Other authors stated: “For this is why the Word became man, & the Son of God became the Son of man: so that Man, by entering into communion with the Word & thus receiving divine sonship, might be made God.” Accusations of self deification to some degree may have been placed on heretical such as the Waldensians.

The language of II Peter is taken up by St. Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, “if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods.” It becomes the standard in Greek theology. In the 14th century, St. Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word. In the 5th century, St. Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons “by participation” (Greek methexis). Methexis is “group sharing,” where the audience actively participates in the performance.

Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor. For whom the doctrine is the result of the Incarnation: “Deification, briefly, is the encompassion & fulfillment of all times and ages.”

The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t use the term “apotheosis” in its theology. This is equivalent to the Greek word theosis are Latin-derived words “divinization” & deification” used in the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church.

The concept has been given less prominence in Western theology than in that of the Eastern Catholic Churches. But is present in the Latin Church’s liturgical prayer.

Despite the theological differences, in the Catholic church art depictions of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in art & the Ascension of Jesus in Christian art do share many similarities in composition to apotheosis subjects. As there are many images of saints being raised into Heaven.

Anthropolatry is the deification & worship of humans. It was practiced in ancient Japan towards their emperors. Followers of Socinianism were later accused of practicing anthropolatry.

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#1865 #193 #42BC #4thCentury #5thCentury #AbrahamicReligions #Adoptionism #AlexanderTheGreat #Ambrosia #AncientRome #Angels #Anthropolatry #Antinous #Apollo #Apotheosis #AscensionOfJesus #AssumptionOfTheVirginMary #Atheist #Avalokiteshvara #Avatar #Avatars #BaroqueArt #bengali #BereniceIIOfEgypt #BharatMata #Buddha #BuddhaGautama #Buddhahood #Buddhism #CaesarOctavian #Cambodia #CampusMartius #canonization #CatholicChurch #Christianity #ColumnOfAntoninusPius #ComaBerenices #Consecratio #Cupid #Deification #Deity #Deus #DioCassius #Disney #DIva #Divinization #Divus #EasternCatholicChurch #EasternChristianity #EasternEmpire #Egypt #Egyptians #Emperors #FanKuai #FaustinaTheElder #GrecoRoman #Greek #GuanYi #Hadrian #Hammurabi #Heaven #Hellenistic #Hera #Hercules #Hindu #Hinduism #Homer #Horus #IIPeter14 #Imhotep #ImperialCults #India #Indonesia #InvestitureOfTheGods #IronCrutchLi #Islam #Japan #JayavarmanVII #Jesus #John1034 #Judaism #JuliusCaesar #Juno #Jupiter #KhmerEmpire #KimIlSung #Krishna #Late19thCentury #Latin #LatinChurch #Mesopotamia #Methexis #MingDynasty #NaramSin #NewKingdom #NorthKorea #Olympians #Osiris #pagan #Pertinax #Pharaohs #PhilipIIOfMacedon #polytheistic #Psalm826 #Psyche #PtolemaicDynasty #Putti #Rama #Reformation #Roman #RomanCatholicChurch #RomanRepublic #RomanSenate #Romans #Romulus #Saints #Senate #Seneca #SeptimiusSeverus #Socinianism #StAthanasius #StCyrilOfAlexandria #StIrenaeus #StMaximusTheConfessor #Swaminarayan #Syncretism #Taoist #TaoistPantheon #Temple #ThePumpkinificationOfTheDivineClaudius #Theosis #Triumvir #USCapitolBuilding #Vishnu #Waldensians #YueFei #Zeus

I'm sharing my annual Humanistic blowing of the shofar video for anyone who hasn't had the chance to hear #shofar during his month of Elul (the Jewish month of preparation for the High Holidays)

Im dedicating this to all who are about the work of Tikun Olam (world repair), but especially to my dear friends at The Spinoza Havurah and all of my friends from Judaism Unbound and the Unyeshiva.

#Elul #HighHolidays #Judaism #RoshHashanah #Mazeldon #HumanisticJudaism

https://youtu.be/uXVYUar9i0Q?si=Oz00W_jTCQp-sQha

From Ritual Well:
🌿 A Loving Walk Through Elul
Beloved teacher Rabbi Vivie Mayer gently guides us through the month with wisdom, heart, and compassion — a journey you can take at your own pace. Her teachings are an invitation to slow down and meet this season with tenderness.

Info & Registration: https://ritualwell.org/learn/at-your-own-pace/an-exploration-of-teshuvah-and-love/

#Mazeldon #Jewish #Judaism #Elul #HighHolyDays #TikkunOlam

Interessant gesprek op Amerikaanse tv, Jon Stewart met schrijver @PeterBeinart:

Over joods zijn in relatie met genocide #Gaza #Palestina.🍉 Ook #BTselem wordt genoemd.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=X5kXCdzt_us

Nederlandse ondertiteling: The Daily Show gisteren op Comedy Central NL, kijk terug via Ziggo/KPN/Odido/NLZiet enz.

#OURgenocide #joods #joden #judaisme #judaism #zionisme #zionism #genocide #gaza #Palestine #stopGenocide #freePalestine #jewishvoiceforpeace #eenAnderJoodsGeluid

elul journal prompt number seventeen, twentieth of elul:

What's something you believe in, but don't live out? What's something reflected by your actions that doesn't align with your heart?

mosaic of a basket of pomegranates, found in the Maon Synagogue, a 6th-century synagogue and archaeological site in the Negev Desert. photo credit to Avishai Teicher: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_7439_basket_with_pomegranates_in_maon_mosaic.jpg

#judaism #jewish #elul #aesthetic #journalprompt #archaeology #synagogue #pomegranate #mosaic #art

elul journal prompt number sixteen, nineteenth of elul:

Who in the Torah or Tanakh or Talmud do you most identify with? What can you learn from them?

Austrian Mahzor (Festival Prayer Book). made of pierced, repousse, traced, engraved, and cast silver; and ink printed on paper. dated 1765-1855 and printed by Anton Schmid. now belongs to the Jewish Museum: https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/7183-book-cover-with-prayer-book-mahzor-festival-prayer-book

#jewish #judaism #elul #aesthetic #journalprompt #mahzor #judaica #jewishart

elul journal prompt number thirteen, fifteenth of elul:

What is one thing you are ashamed of? One thing you are proud of?

Apple Picnic Socks. pattern, socks, and photograph by Ariel Chang: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/apple-picnic-socks

#judaism #jewish #elul #aesthetic #apple #apples #knit

elul journal prompt number twelve, fourteenth of elul:

What questions do you most want to ask G-d? What do They ask of you?

David Praying in the Night. gouache on board by James Jacques Joseph Tissot, c. 1896-1902. better known as James Tissot, this Catholic painter was raised by a drapery merchant and a milliner. much of his work reflected his background, with a significant amount of his artwork either depicting women's fashion or biblical tales.

#jewish #judaism #elul #aesthetic #art #arthistory #gouache #jamestissot

elul journal prompt number ten, twelfth of elul:

What are you certain you won't change your mind about? Should you be so certain?

Rosh Hashanah, from the Holiday Series. painting by Arthur Szyk, 1948. raised a Polish Jew in Łódź and attached to both his Polish and Jewish identity, Arthur Szyk was heavily influenced by medieval illuminated manuscripts early in his development as an artist. later, he would become most well-known for his political cartoons and illustrations.

#judaism #jewish #elul #art #jewishart #aesthetic #painting #arthurszyk

elul journal prompt number six, seventh of elul:

What about teshuvah feels comforting to you? What about it feels uncomfortable?

photo credit to USSR Post: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Soviet_Union_1971_CPA_3995_stamp_(Honey_Bee_on_Apple_Blossom_and_Honeycomb).png

#judaism #jewish #elul #art #aesthetic #journalprompt #stamp #stamps #vintage #history #vintagestamps

elul journal prompt number five, sixth of elul:

What does teshuvah mean for your community?

art credit to Leoangeloart: https://www.reddit.com/r/painting/comments/e337nf/pomegranate/

#judaism #jewish #elul #art #aesthetic #pomegranate #pomegranates #journalprompt #painting

elul journal prompt number four, fifth of elul:

What does teshuvah mean to you?

A Happy New Year. Jewish greeting card by Mordecai Menahem Cohen, 5693 / 1932. it seems there is little to no information about the artist available online, but two of his greeting cards are available to view in the Jewish Museum's online collection: https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/artist/mordecai-menahem-cohen

#judaism #jewish #jewishart #greetingcard #roshhashana #elul #journalprompt #art

I’m teaching spiritual prep for the high holy days starting tomorrow morning. Join us!

The Journey Home: Soul Work for the High Holy Days
in This Turbulent Year

Sundays from 10:00 – 11:15 am PT

#HighHolyDays #judaism #elul

https://ravjill.com/hh2024-course

-- What Does "Inerrant" Even Mean? 🤔 --
(from Viced Rhino)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHo77-9UUQ

#Bible #inerrancy #scripture #prophecy #Christianity #Judaism

"Labour has gone to great lengths to make clear that nothing substantial will change."

"Centrist rule, typified by the incapability or unwillingness to take seriously the manifold crises humanity now faces, only increases the political dissatisfaction on which the far-right feeds. The […] Tories – or Reform itself – may well return renewed and worsened in 2029 when public frustration sees Labour’s exercise in political nothingness collapse."

Francesca Newton writes: https://vashtimedia.com/election-labour-victory-keir-starmer-shehecheyanu/ 🧶

#farCenter #conservation #rule #austerity #publicHealth #resentment #cultureWars #antiWoke #lifeConditions #healthCare #hostility #disdain #brutalization #farCentre #LabourParty #Labour #England #Britain #UK #centreLeft #leftOfCentre #takeOver #elections #UKPol #politics #SocialDemocracy #SocDem #triangulation #Starmer #ballot #UKPolitics #parliament #vote #campaign #government #HouseOfCommons #ambivalence #Shehecheyanu #hope #Macron #Jewishness #Judaism #Jews

https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2024/06/07/a-tale-of-lists-and-blacklists/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email I'm really loving #ErikaDreifuss essays for her debunking of Jewish villainy and scapegoating. Like I keep saying, #Gazans are not the entirety of their tyrannical representives, and in the same way, #Israelis are not either. Throwing loaded language at each other and making inferences at behaviors is keeping us back. #Hadassah #judaism #censorship

"Six months of liberal Zionist doublethink"

by Ben Reiff, an editor at #972Mag and #Vashti: https://vashtimedia.com/2024/04/12/formats/the-pickle/six-months-liberal-zionist-doublethink/ @supremacy

#liberals #highGround #righteous #righteousness #moralBeauty #moralGround #Jewishness #judeity #Jews #Judaism #israelism #patriotism #JewishSupremacy #whiteness #coloniality #Zionism #StandWithIsrael #JStreet #Yachad #vertue #justness #morals #morality #SpotAndDiscard #humanRights #humanitarian

I understand, starting to learn a new language, especially one as unique as Hebrew, can bring up a lot of fears and doubts.

You might be wondering, "Will it take months to get the hang of this? Will I even be able to grasp it?"

Let me reassure you, with my best-selling Hebrew 1, 2, and 3 series, these worries can be put to rest.

Grab your copy locally on my website hebrewbyinbal.com

#alef #hebrew #languagelover #books #judaism #judaica

Midwives, doulas, birth attendants:
join the Safe Birth in Palestine Coalition.

https://bit.ly/sbpcoa

#safeguardingchildren #birth #midwifery #maternitycare #Midwives #doula #parenting #Palestine #Gaza #Judaism #pregnant #israel #GenocideInGaza #Zionism #finaldays

What does it mean when the Bible says Goliath's spear had a shaft like a weaver's beam? Lachlan and I discuss ancient looms and an intriguing possibility about the warrior Elhanan in a chat on Lachlan's channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW2CTlnsauU

#Bible #Christianity #Judaism #mythology #religion #BiblicalStudies #deconstruction #exvangelical #inerrancy #textiles

50 wounded and 350 arrested as Israeli police storm al-Aqsa mosque | Morning Star
#IsraeliPolice
#Israel
#AlAqsaMosque
#Palestians
#Jerusalem
#Ramadan
#TempleMount
#DomeOfTheRock
#Islam
#Judaism
#IsraeliAuthorities
#Gaza
#AnimalSacrifice
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/50-wounded-and-350-arrested-israeli-police-storm-al-aqsa-mosque