Reminds me of a group trip I took as part of a tour group to a Casablanca, Morocco market where one bargains for the price and someone saying to me later--"I hate that Jewing down stuff"
― curmudgeon, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:50 (eight years ago) link
in case anyone was wondering the magic key to fluffy matzah balls is seltzer water and whipped egg whites
― Οὖτις, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:55 (eight years ago) link
Someone wrote a letter to the editor complaining about a picture printed in the newspaper a few days ago of local Hasidic Jews burning chametz. "The bread should have been composted."
― tokyo rosemary, Wednesday, 27 April 2016 14:24 (eight years ago) link
That reminds me a little of the people who clucked at the Hassidic Jews whose home burned down because of a Shabbos hot plate malfunction. Any excuse to vent your discomfort with the other.
― JWoww Gilberto (man alive), Wednesday, 27 April 2016 14:26 (eight years ago) link
some very interesting stuff in here about the intersection between halacha and labor:https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/benjamin-brown-on-halakhic-labor-law-statist-or-democratic/
― Mordy, Wednesday, 25 May 2016 00:49 (seven years ago) link
lipa watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsG8TYdtg0
― Mordy, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 21:06 (seven years ago) link
it's unbeLIPAble
― tokyo rosemary, Thursday, 23 June 2016 14:41 (seven years ago) link
Hey Jews! I have a new job with my local Jewish Social Services!!! I'm super happy, it is a fantastic org with about a 50/50 mix of Jews/non-Jews both on the staff and client side.
Double bonus: I get both the usual federal holidays AND the Jewish holidays off! 20 paid holidays, holy shit.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Sunday, 21 August 2016 18:21 (seven years ago) link
Yay quincie! Mazel tov.
― Sean, let me be clear (silby), Sunday, 21 August 2016 18:23 (seven years ago) link
Thank you. The folks who interviewed me liked that I talked about tzedakah and tikkun olam in my cover letter, ha!
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Sunday, 21 August 2016 18:44 (seven years ago) link
I hadn't really ever articulated it before my interview, but I found myself noting that my Jewish studies greatly influenced my decision to become a mid-life social worker. They really did.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Sunday, 21 August 2016 18:46 (seven years ago) link
Tikkun olam is a powerful organizing principle and I want to learn more systematically about it.
― Sean, let me be clear (silby), Sunday, 21 August 2016 19:19 (seven years ago) link
the way tikkun olam is used by renewal (and how it has entered popular humanist judaism imagination) is somewhat distinct from its original context (in kabbalah). there's an association between the meanings but i think something is lost in the contemporary usage. acc to kabbalistic account of creation G-d first created a perfect world. but the world was too perfect - too rigid in its completeness - that it shattered. that was the world of tohu (the void). the second world G-d created, our world, was the world of tikkun. and in that world sparks from the shattered vessels of tohu were scattered. when you do a mitzvah you elevate those sparks birur nitzitzut (essentially doing a mitzvah brings the will of G-d into the physical world and so that's a way of perfecting the world, by bringing G-d's presence, in a way that doesn't shatter reality). so that's the original tikkun, but you can see how it transmuted to become a softer concept of just doing good things to make the world better - minus the esoterica.
wiki says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohu_and_Tikun
The implications of Tohu-Tikun underlie the origin of free will and the realm of Kelipah (evil), caused by Shevirat HaKelim/Shevirah (Hebrew: שבירת הכלים "Shattering of the Vessels" of Tohu), the processes of spiritual and physical exile and redemption, the meaning of the 613 mitzvot (Jewish observances), and the messianic rectification of existence. Through this Tikun/Tikkun (תיקון) also has an active meaning, the esoteric Birur/Beirur/Birurim (Hebrew: בירור "Sifting/Clarification") of concealed Nitzotz/Nitzutzei Kodesh/Nitzutzot (Hebrew: ניצוצות "Sparks" of Holiness) exiled in physical creation. This new paradigm in Kabbalah replaced the previous linear description of descent with a dynamic process of spiritual enclothement, where higher "souls" invest inwardly in lower "vessels". Related to the primordial cosmic realms of Tohu-Tikun are two associated spiritual states for interpreting existence, psychological temperaments, or stages in the spiritual development of the individual.The cosmic drama of Tikun in Lurianic Kabbalah inspired the 16th-18th century popular Jewish imagination, explaining contemporary oppression and supporting messiah claimants but the most important Tikun is to have peace and order in Creation. The revivalist Hasidic movement, from the 18th century onwards, internalised esoteric Lurianism through its own concern with experiencing Divine Omnipresence amidst daily material life. The terminology of the modern Jewish ideal of Tikkun Olam ("Fixing the World"), popularised by Reform Judaism, is taken from the Lurianic concept, but applied more widely to ethical activism in contemporary society.
The cosmic drama of Tikun in Lurianic Kabbalah inspired the 16th-18th century popular Jewish imagination, explaining contemporary oppression and supporting messiah claimants but the most important Tikun is to have peace and order in Creation. The revivalist Hasidic movement, from the 18th century onwards, internalised esoteric Lurianism through its own concern with experiencing Divine Omnipresence amidst daily material life. The terminology of the modern Jewish ideal of Tikkun Olam ("Fixing the World"), popularised by Reform Judaism, is taken from the Lurianic concept, but applied more widely to ethical activism in contemporary society.
― Mordy, Sunday, 21 August 2016 20:09 (seven years ago) link
Yeah I remember reading some version of the kabbalistic account at some point in my rather mystical teenage years and finding it rather inspiring
― Sean, let me be clear (silby), Sunday, 21 August 2016 20:12 (seven years ago) link
I rather hope that there's a progressive case to be made that Jews engage in tikkun olam not (only) because it's our word for the ethical dictates of secular social justice efforts but because it is a mitzvah (in the fullest possible theological sense available to atheist Reconstructionists such as me)
― Sean, let me be clear (silby), Sunday, 21 August 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link
for future reference
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrEpDQUXEAAAe1B.jpg
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 18:49 (seven years ago) link
kinda wanna poll
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 18:50 (seven years ago) link
http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/09/12/author-miriam-libicki-thinks-jewish-identity-is-complicated/http://jewishartsalon.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/miriam-libicki-towards-a-hot-jew02jpg.jpg
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 02:39 (seven years ago) link
Great link forks thanks
― slathered in cream and covered with stickers (silby), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 02:58 (seven years ago) link
Hey Jews! What's everyone doing for the holidays?
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
goin to family services for yom kippur
temple had a challah-making thing we went to last weekend
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:32 (seven years ago) link
I have never attempted challah. I'm not much of a baker, and good challah is pretty easy to find. How was yours?
I am working the Jewish holidays because I need the comp time for a vacation later in the year. Also: not actually Jewish.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link
Yesterday I hung out with two rabbis on separate occasions and they were both really cool and I want to hang out with them again.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:35 (seven years ago) link
Also yesterday at a meeting my colleague leaned over and asked if it were really possible that Trump contained shards of light from the shattered vessel. She thought not.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link
my wife (who is Hungarian and not Jewish) is nonetheless a master (mistress?) baker so she's p much got it down. but given that this was a family event (ie involving little kids) the recipe everyone was following was different/simpler and was "not how she would have done it" lol. still tasted great/came out fine.
I'm gonna be working cuz um I'm not that observant really
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:38 (seven years ago) link
I made rounds with a rabbi to visit (hospice) patients this week; he brought along two shofars (um I suspect that is not how to make a plural of shofar?) to play. They were both pretty small and sounded. . . not so nice as big shofars I have heard.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:40 (seven years ago) link
lol why haven't you converted yet already
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 22:40 (seven years ago) link
A reasonable question, for sure! Ger toshav is a place that has seemed right for me. Maybe this will change, maybe not. MOving to a day-to-day Jewish environment (employment-wise) is a shift, for sure.
No idea how it will shake out. A huge--HUGE--factor is the issue of (potentially) being the only Jew in an extended family. . . what does that even mean? My family is very Jew-positive, but that is different from being all-in, y'know? So, fellow traveler. All of the values, all of the guilt, all of the pork.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Thursday, 29 September 2016 02:13 (seven years ago) link
i did a local BK thing with Holocaust survivors; mostly just prepping food and then talking and dancing with them. Really intense, especially given my grandmother's recent passing. I will likely try it again; they meet more or less biweekly.
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Thursday, 29 September 2016 07:34 (seven years ago) link
Hey Jews,
G'mar hatima tova
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Tuesday, 11 October 2016 17:51 (seven years ago) link
i heard a really nice lecture tnite about keeping two days of chag that looked at responsa + halachic literature from orthodox, conservative and reform. v interesting material but i thought these two excerpts from the end were particularly lovely + wanted to share them. the first (continued from the previous page) is from R' Norman Lamm:
http://i.imgur.com/RuoMgWT.jpg
― Mordy, Sunday, 23 October 2016 04:02 (seven years ago) link
http://forward.com/opinion/357517/dramatic-orthodox-growth-is-transforming-the-american-jewish-community/?attribution=author-article-listing-1-headline
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.forward.com/images/675x/cohen-graph-1-1482172765.jpg
― Mordy, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 17:47 (seven years ago) link
Anecdotal, but it's interesting to me that a number of orthodox families send their kids to my daughter's conservative preschool. That never would have happened at the conservative preschool I went to. Anecdotal, but I wonder if it's a symptom of demand in the neighborhood outstripping orthodox school availability.
― the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 17:55 (seven years ago) link
is this a study showing me religiously conservative people have more kids?
― mh 😏, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 21:42 (seven years ago) link
the reason why the share of orthodox jews is growing is indeed bc religiously conservative people have more kids however that fact alone tells u nothing since religiously conservative people had more kids in 1920 and 1950 too. the important takeaway is that the having more kids is starting to become a major demographic trend that will likely shift/complicate the meaning of being jewish in america in the future.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 21:44 (seven years ago) link
minor snark aside...
my friends were unaware of that ridiculous mensch on a bench toy, which I find inexplicably hilarious, and I am totally buying them one
― mh 😏, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 21:56 (seven years ago) link
Everyone have enough candles? I forgot that you're not supposed to put let them burn out every night, thus going through more than 9.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Saturday, 24 December 2016 15:03 (seven years ago) link
got one of the last 3 oil packs in town it seems like. everyone was sold out - called the judaica store on thursday and she was like "i just got a shipment in" - i ran over and by the time i got there they were almost all out of the brand new shipment!
― Mordy, Saturday, 24 December 2016 15:04 (seven years ago) link
You're not supposed to put them out, is what I meant to say.
For the second or third Christmas in a row I will be chilling at a data center while husband works in the cage. The data center is out in the exurbs of NoVa, the only redeeming feature of which is a truly excellent Taiwanese restaurant, so I will be doing the Jews-going-out-for-Chinese on Christmas thing.
Post your Hannukah plans here thusly, pls.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Saturday, 24 December 2016 15:06 (seven years ago) link
luckily not spending christmas at the data center we're working in - the contractor we're subbing for shuts down for all the holidays and won't let us work w/out them on site. will instead be watching the nfl games today and hoping i win my fantasy football superbowl. maybe i'll order chinese takeout tonight?
― Mordy, Saturday, 24 December 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
You'd think Jews would not be that novel in a big city in 2016, but it's been amusing today, listening to the kids of our awesome and generous neighbors as they stop by to deliver homemade treats, struggling with what to wish us. They're so wary, so compelled to wish us "Merry Christmas" but so careful (and considerate!) to avoid the phrase, like it would be the worst social blunder. A brother and sister just came by to deliver us a homemade dreidel pendant, which was so thoughtful. The brother made sure to say Happy Hanukkah, and then the older sister wished me a Merry Christmas, making the younger brother freak out. "No, you're not supposed to say that!!!" But jeez, if us Jews took it all that seriously we'd all be jumping off red and green lit bridges this time of year.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 December 2016 20:32 (seven years ago) link
^^^this. I work at a large Jewish social services agency where the staff is about 50/50 Jewish/non-Jewish; without some context (pictures of a Torah scroll at a colleague's desk, for example), it's not always easy to hazard a guess as to who is what. There was a surprising amount of bet-hedging "Happy Holidays!" going around this week, which only really works when Christmas and Hanukkah actually coincide.
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Saturday, 24 December 2016 20:53 (seven years ago) link
Which is, like, once every 45 years or something.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 December 2016 21:35 (seven years ago) link
I happily accept all merry xmas wishes and have never met any jews who seriously feel otherwise
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:11 (seven years ago) link
i would never be so churlish as to be literally offended when somebody tells me "merry christmas" but all the same i feel it as a small good thing when someone says "happy holidays," not a big deal, just a microgenerosity like holding a door open
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link
i say "merry christmas" to people who i know to be christian and "happy hanukkah" to known jews and "happy holidays" or "have a good holiday" or "happy new year" to strangers
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:38 (seven years ago) link
I want a new non-denominational thing to say to people. Happy Holidays is such weak sauce
― a Warren Beatty film about Earth (El Tomboto), Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:43 (seven years ago) link
"Congratulations!"
― a Warren Beatty film about Earth (El Tomboto), Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:47 (seven years ago) link
"You're Welcome!"
― a Warren Beatty film about Earth (El Tomboto), Saturday, 24 December 2016 22:49 (seven years ago) link
"Mary Poppins!"
― a Warren Beatty film about Earth (El Tomboto), Saturday, 24 December 2016 23:07 (seven years ago) link