your life is either defined by the system or the way you defy the system
check out what i'm reading on insta @leahlegit
friendly reminder that lgbt jews are valid, not pinkwashed, and belong in all lgbt events while being proud of their jewish heritage
friendly reminder that not all jews are zionists, and not all zionists are jews, and conflating the two leads to antisemitism
friendly reminder that if you label jewish symbols or jewish pride as triggering, that’s antisemitic
i thought that some of this was clear, but today proved me wrong. sending love to my fellow lgbt jews
december: arrives
christmas decorations: out
christmas carols: play
I AM FORCIBLY BECOMING MORE AGGRESSIVELY JEWISH
Wishing everybody a blissful holiday season!
because a lot of people dont seem to get this:
- golems are from jewish folklore. dont treat them like a generic fantasy creature, thats appropriative
- kabbalah is a specifically jewish religious tradition. dont practice it if youre not jewish and dont use kabbalah symbolism as generic occult stuff, thats appropriative
- for the record if it has hebrew on it and it doesnt have anything to do with judaism its probably appropriative
- dont wear a magen david if youre not jewish, its used as a symbol for judaism so wearing it if youre a gentile is appropriative
- while im at it heres a rundown of some terms you should know
- goy: hebrew and yiddish for non-jewish person, it literally translates as “nation.” the plural form is goyim. goy is not a slur.
- gentile: english for non-jewish person
- anti-semitism: you probably know what this means but i just want to point out that the word anti-semitism was NOT coined by jews but by a german anti-semite who wanted a more scientific-sounding alternative to “judenhass,” which literally translates to “jew-hatred” so please shut up about how arabs are also semites. we know.
- if you’re not jewish you should also avoid using the word “jew” since many jewish people are uncomfortable with it (though i personally am fine with it). use “jewish person” instead if youre a gentile
please reblog this if you’re not jewish, i almost never see gentiles acknowledging cultural appropriation of judaism and anti-semitism on tumblr, even among people who otherwise pay close attention to such issues
If you ever need someone to knock some sense into these people, hit me up. People (wrongly) assume Im an anti-Semitic because they found out my great-grandad was a nazi and because Im aryan. They'd place bets in grade 6 to see who would win in a fight, me or my jewish friend. You're 100% right when you say Jewish people don't have a "look" too. In 9th grade some kids found out that a dark skinned boy was jewish, and claimed he was faking so he could get close to me. They were wrong, but still.
oh trust me i’ve gotten so close before. i’ll make let you know though and we can go at it together. let me just say that assuming someone is antisemitic because of their family history is as equally as ridiculous and harmful so if you need any help too, hit me up. that whole thing is ridiculous. also how does one fake being jewish?? i’m sorry that that happened to you and it’s stupid. i have a friend who actually has been in a similar experience and it’s awful to see what people do and what lengths they’ll go to believe someone else is at fault.
Your last post was so well written and very important. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on people who are of Jewish descent, and look it, but 100% DO NOT believe in the Jewish faith, being automatically labelled as Jewish? Do you think it's problematic at all that we as a society use the same word for the religion and ethnicity? Sorry if this is a weird question, this is something I've always wondered about but I don't feel qualified to comment on since I am not Jewish in either sense.
well to be perfectly honest this is a really strange topic, mostly because there is no agreement even within the jewish community about ethnicity vs religion. one thought is if a person doesn’t believe in the jewish faith, they are not jewish, as most of the stuff that comes with the ethnicity is the religion. however, some people, usually more religious ones, consider them to be jewish. this is because judaism is passed through the mother, so technically if the mother is jewish then the baby is jewish as well. this school of thought is that if you’re from jewish roots, that’s what you are no matter what (this is how a jew was defined in nazi germany btw). personally, i think that situation should be left to the person in question and if they choose to identify as jewish.
so to answer your question, i think it can be. however because of the fact that there is no distinct line between ethnicity and religion, there’s not much that can be done. historically, if a person is ethnically jewish they are religiously as well, but now it’s not always the case. i think that the best thing to do in general is to try not to label someone so quickly because we are so diverse.
i’ve been wanting to say something like this for a while, and it’s going to be a long post, so it’s going to be under the cut. however, please take your time to read this because antisemetism of any form is rarely talked about on tumblr and even though this may seem small it’s important so please please please keep reading.
