#orthodox — Public Fediverse posts

Comedy gold. :fozzie_wocka_wocka:

"JNS asked the #mayor’s office if it will include #Jewish community stakeholders.

#JonahSpangenthalLee, spokesman for the mayor, told JNS that “additional search committee members are still being assembled, so this is still a developing process.”

A public forum has been scheduled for Sept. 26, a Saturday, at #VanAsselt Community Center in south #Seattle, near an #Orthodox Jewish neighborhood."

https://www.jns.org/news/u-s-news/seattle-mayor-launches-police-chief-search-city-hall-tells-jns-too-soon-to-say-if-itll-consult-jewish-leaders-it-has-discussed-scheduling-conflicts-on-saturdays

Negotiating identity between orthodoxy and emergence: a Protestant response to Orthodox worship
https://nextchurch.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/negotiating-identity-between-orthodoxy-and-emergence/
#Orthodox #worship #liturgy #emerging #church

We baptize by triple immersion. This is what it looks like!

#baptism #christianity #orthodox

Wishing a blessed Feast of the Dormition to my #Orthodox fam and happy nameday to all the Marias and Panayotis and Despinas and Parthenas out there

Even @[email protected] despite his ongoing terribleness

Wie. Ich. Kotze.
Überall auf der Welt, versuchen die verdammten Religiot*innen wieder, anderen ihr Weltbild aufzudrücken... USA, Afghanistan, Israel you-name-it:

[...] Auf der einen Seite stehen ultraorthodoxe Juden, sogenannte Haredim. Sie protestieren dagegen, dass das Café am Sabbat geöffnet ist. Auf der anderen Seite versammeln sich säkulare Israelis, die demonstrativ kommen, um dort einen Kaffee zu trinken.
[...]
Der Konflikt zwischen religiösen und säkularen Israelis ist nicht neu. Doch er gewinnt an Bedeutung, weil sich die Bevölkerungsstruktur Israels verändert. Ultraorthodoxe Juden machen heute mehr als 14 Prozent der Bevölkerung aus. Wegen ihrer hohen Geburtenrate könnte ihr Anteil bis 2050 auf rund ein Viertel steigen. [...]

In #Moldova, #moscow paid #Orthodox #priests, conducted a vote-buying scheme and set up training camps on #election #interference — all in an effort to derail the Western-leaning government.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/world/europe/russia-moldova-putin.html

"For generations, #Hollywood has been filled with #Jewish voices — but Jewish identity itself has often been portrayed through a limited lens. The familiar neurotic Jewish character who complains, worries or turns traditions into a punchline has become a recurring presence on screen. The humor is often brilliant, and self-deprecation is deeply rooted in Jewish culture, but #AllisonJosephs believes Hollywood has rarely explored another side: ordinary #Jews from all walks of life who are openly proud of and connected to their heritage.

#Josephs, a #writer, #producer and Jewish advocate, has spent nearly two decades working to change the way Jews are portrayed in #media. In 2007, she founded #JewintheCity, an organization created to challenge misconceptions about #Orthodox Jews through #storytelling. In 2021, she expanded that mission by launching the Jewish Institute for #Television & #Cinema (#JITC) Hollywood Bureau..."

https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/film/390875/beyond-the-nebbish-new-hollywood-initiative-seeks-to-transform-jewish-representation-on-screen/

"When I tell people I’m a nonobservant #Orthodox #Jew, there is usually a small pause, followed by a look that says: Pick one. I understand it. The phrase sounds like a hedge, or like someone claiming a title he hasn’t earned. But I don’t think it’s a contradiction.

It helps to start with where this came from, because it didn’t come from childhood. Until a few years ago, I wasn’t curious about any of it. I was #secular and, on some subjects, actively hostile to religion. What changed was #Oct7, 2023, and then a semester when I was honored to be associated with #Yeshiva University. I came away wanting to know more than I did, and I’ve been picking at that ever since.

I should be clear about the scale of it: I am not a learned man in the #Jewish sense of that word. If you quoted a passage at me, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t recognize it. What I do is modest and improvised."

https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/390840/can-one-be-a-non-observant-orthodox-jew/

"Following the #Hamas-led #Oct7 attacks on #Israel, #Jewish #authors have described an increasingly hostile environment in traditional #publishing. In fact, the number of #books marketed as Jewish have declined over the past three years — pointing to either fewer Jewish books, or fewer #publishers willing to market them as Jewish.

Even so, the demand for Jewish #romance #novels from Jewish readers has flourished, aided by The Matzah Ball’s #author #JeanMeltzer and a #bookclub she started called Jewish Joy.

“I think a reason why the community grew is because of what the romance genre itself offers the reader, which is basically happiness,” says #HeidiShertok, the author of two #Orthodox Jewish #romances and a leader of Jewish Joy. “We’re going to give you that happily ever after, no matter the struggles and the obstacles and the difficulties that the character is facing. And I think we need that so much right now, especially as #Jews.”

https://forward.com/news/842360/these-jewish-readers-wanted-happy-endings-so-they-turned-to-romance/

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

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

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

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

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

Well... we've found one of the key areas where I'm completely insensitive to the valid needs of the Orthodox community.

Lets stop this time change nonsense once and for all! ⏰️

"For many #Orthodox #Jews, a typical winter weekday begins early: head to #synagogue, gather in a #minyan for morning prayers, then rush off to work.

Orthodox #Jewish groups say a bill that would make #daylightsaving time permanent could upend that routine by pushing winter sunrises, and the earliest permissible time for some prayers, an hour later.

#AgudathIsrael of #America is among the groups urging the Senate to reject legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, arguing that the change would create both public safety risks and significant challenges for #OrthodoxJewish religious life."

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-902853

Racism in the Church responses to racism in the Orthodox Church in South Africa
https://khanya.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/racism-in-the-church/
#racism #Orthodox #RSA

I don't know why Christianity Church, try to deny what sometimes, hides. Maybe they should become #Orthodox (where priests can have a woman) and by the #LAW of nature, #events like those described in the last post, don't happen. You know, whatever is your Religions, the God is aways the same, no matter what #Religions You have!!!!

A rescuer holds an Orthodox Christian icon found amid the debris at the site of an apartment building, which was heavily damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 6. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

#photography
#Ukraine
#Kyiv
#religion
#Orthodox
#icons

They're going to use this very legitimate issue to fuck America over.

"The #US #SupremeCourt has agreed to hear the case of #DanielGrand, an #Orthodox #Jew from #Ohio who says local authorities barred him from holding #Jewish #prayer gatherings at his home and that neighbors harassed him over the practice.

The decision by the nation’s highest court to take up the case is considered highly unusual in the #American #legal system, as the Supreme Court hears only about 50 cases a year.

The dispute began in 2021. Grand, who lives in #UniversityHeights, wanted to pray with a #minyan, the quorum of 10 Jewish men required for certain communal prayers. Because Jewish law prohibits driving on #Shabbat and holidays, and the local #synagogue was too far away to reach on foot, he decided to host worshippers in his private home."

https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rkqhgwu7zx#google_vignette

That this commentary was in solidarity with Nerdeen Kiswani's is some kind of magical logic.

"A #socialmedia post by popular #columnist and former #attorney #JillFilipovic criticizing an #Orthodox #Jewish religious practice sparked a heated #online debate this week, drawing more than 1 million views and thousands of comments, many defending the custom."

https://vinnews.com/2026/06/30/columnists-post-on-orthodox-jewish-men-avoiding-handshakes-with-women-sparks-fierce-online-debate/

I just discovered that the Greek word for 'entertainment' and for 'dispersal' share the same root. In #orthodoxy theology the fall of Adam led to the fracturing of his psyche leading to (as I understand it ... probably very much in-part) the focus of his attention becoming external to his inner being rather than centered on his interior life of intimacy with his creator. His attention was dispersed, losing his inner perfection

Thus entertainment, a gift of course, has the potential to fracture and disperse our thoughts all over again.

So what? #orthodox #theology is the gift that keeps on giving. It even sheds light on my modern day addiction to my phone. The desire to recover the inner stillness leads to my repeated fracturing/dispersal as I medicate myself on the phone.

And this in part explains to my mind why the emphasise on sin is more as a disease that needs healing and less on a charge sheet the needs removing rather than wrong actions.

Just mind blowingly awesome.

@TheZorse @strangenoblesad #lordhavemercy

"After decades of declining enrollment in non-#Orthodox #Jewish #dayschools, a new report from #Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day #Schools found enrollment is now growing across denominations.

Within Prizmah’s network of 305 Jewish day schools, which includes 122 nondenominational schools and 153 Orthodox schools, enrollment increased from 94,008 #students in the 2021-2022 school year to approximately 101,041 students in 2025-2026, marking an increase of 7,000 students, or 7.5%. In the 2025-2026 school year, overall enrollment grew by more than 1,000 students.

The report found that non-Orthodox school enrollment has increased by 3% from 2021 to 2024, while Orthodox schools have seen a 7% increase. #Reform #dayschool enrollment has also risen by 5%, reversing years of declining trends. The report marked the first time that Prizmah had reported growth across decades charting enrollment across the denominational spectrum of Jewish day schools."

https://www.jta.org/2026/06/26/united-states/jewish-day-school-enrollment-is-rising-across-denominations

Iconography update: the layout of the big icon of the Resurrection is done, but there are few details yet. The symbols of the four evangelists are done, and there is sketchwork for a few smaller icons surrounding the base of the dome.

#Orthodox #Iconography

"The new #book The #Jewish #Woman’s #Health Handbook: Navigating Personal and Family #Healthcare for all Stages of Life (#MosaicaPress) represents a similar societal progress, offering the first resource of its kind specifically tailored to the needs and concerns of #Orthodox Jewish #women. #Edited by Dr. #JennieBerkovich, DO, and Dr. #MiriamKnoll, MD, it features 9 chapters by female #physicians and health-care professionals.

The #editors and contributors are members of the Jewish #OrthodoxWomen’s #Medical Association (#JOWMA). The organization provides free health education to the entire Orthodox #Jewishcommunity and supports a network of current and future Jewish female physician leaders. Their vision is a Jewish community that has easy access to culturally sensitive and relevant health information and can make informed medical decisions."

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/book-review-the-jewish-womans-health-handbook/