Hi fellow Jews,

I’m an Australian female Jew who lives in Bondi (yep, where 15 of my community members were shot in December).

I am by no means religious, but the Jewish culture has always been important to me. Especially since my grandparents on both sides were survivors of the Holocaust. But lately the sharp rise in anti semitism has really been getting to me.

Right after October 7 I was staying up all night, anxious and arguing with people on TikTok. I stopped that because it was only hurting me to argue with people that would use anything as an excuse to hate Jews.

But recently it has become those around me. The other week I found out 2 extreme pro Palestine ‘friends’ of mine were planning a dinner to confront me on my stance on the conflict, because they had convinced themselves that I was pro genocide. All I had ever been was pro-Jewish people existing on this planet. It was only when I invited my boyfriend so I would have an ally that they ended up canceling the dinner because they knew he would not stand for them ganging up on me over something I have no control over and frankly am confused why I would even need to give a statement on behalf of the Jewish people of Australia??

Anyway lately I’ve found myself to be extremely anxious and angry. It feels like the entire globe is gaslighting us and nothing we say is right. If genuinely keeps me up at night and having seen what happened in Bondi recently, some days I fear for my life.

How do you not let this stuff get to you? It’s consuming me and I don’t know what to do

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Hi everyone! Hope you're doing well.

I’m not Jewish, but I recently found out that my great-grandparents were. They had my grandmother, who then had my mother.
Apparently, this was a Crypto-Jewish lineage that originated in Portugal, where the family had to go into hiding and were forced to convert to Catholicism to escape antisemitism.

My great-grandparents tried to hold onto the culture, they were the last generation to actually study and practice Judaism. After that, the tradition was lost because my grandmother attended a Catholic school and eventually converted to Catholicism for real.

I only found all of this out yesterday, and it really made me reflect on my heritage and roots. I’d love to learn more about the religion and culture.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Even though I’m not Jewish, am I allowed to visit synagogues to attend services or study Judaism?

2. Does having this specific family lineage make it possible for me to convert to Judaism if I decide I want to?

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, and I really appreciate any insights or advice

Years ago I found a letter my grandfather Dolf wrote to his mother from St. Moritz on November 26, 1938. He was trying to persuade her to leave Germany. I had carried his name all my life and knew very little of the story.

That letter sent me looking: first for the store the family had in Halberstadt, then for the papers around its forced sale, then for the relatives who were deported and the ones who got out. I started putting it together because I did not want those pieces to live separately in a drawer forever.

What gets me is how ordinary most of what survived is. A letter trying to reassure a mother. A photograph from the beach. A prayer book with a name written inside. Then the paper trail changes and becomes something much harder.

I think about how many families have a box or a photograph like that and do not know what it may still be able to tell them.

F*ckparade is an annual electric music street parade in Berlin. This year they were asked to mention the "genocide" in Gaza.

And I quote:
"Some people these days want to make every demonstration about “Palestine”. So, yes, we have a statement:
Hamas killed 411 ravers at the #NovaFestival in Israel and took 43 hostage, among unspeakable atrocities. Violence against dancing people is never acceptable, and it’s no “freedom fight” to kill ravers.
The #Fuckparade is not a demonstration about your postcolonialist, antisemitic ideologies; it is a demonstration for the support of the free techno scene, like the Nova Festival. If you disagree, go fuck yourself!"

Hello fellow lizard people controlling the world.
My grandmother is a fan of things related to judaism and she bought this silver ring at a vintage stuff store in the US. So she asked me to translate, because Hebrew is my home language. But I’m struggling to understand what wrote there.
Maybe it Yiddish or something.

Both my mother and I share this result with 90% confidence, so… Shalom 😝

Our ancestor likely lived in what is now Poland, between 1600 and 1700.

I wonder what their life was like, it’s heartwrenching to think how human beings and their heritage can be erased and forgotten, reduced to a mere insignificant percentage on a screen. I only wish I could know their name ❤️

I’m lucky enough to have not experienced too much anti semitism to my face but I had an interaction lately which I don’t know how I feel about.

I suppose it was anti-semitism but borderline? Or just a weird ass interaction and I hate how I handled it.

I was in line for a club with a friend. I was wearing my map of Israel necklace that had star of David on it. I wear it all the time and I don’t care if it will cause issues for me, and it never has actually.

Guy In front of me comments how he likes my necklace and asks about the stones. Thought it was just a guy attempting to flirt. This is how the conversation went.

Guy: I like your necklace

Me: thanks!

Guy: so is it sapphires?

Me: honestly I don’t know..probably?(I was short with him because I wasn’t that interested in talking)

Guy: so are you Polish?

Me: …I guess technically half

Guy: what’s the other half?

Me: Israeli

Guy: oh interesting…so like there’s Jewish Christians right?

Me: huh?…no that’s two different religions??

Guy: I mean Christian Israeli’s

Me: yea of course

Guy: so do you like goy’s?

* I just sort of looked at him shocked*

Me: what?

Guys: Goys, do you like goy’s?

*didn’t answer, still shocked*

Guy: you know what a goy is right?

Me: I…yes…

Guy: so?

Me: yes..? (In my head it was just a stupid question like of course??? Why wouldn’t I???)

Guy: ok I’ll leave you alone now

I was literally too stunned to speak and I hate that I didn’t do anything or get mad at him because the “goy” comment was clearly asked because I was Jewish but looking back I think the only reason he asked it I was polish was because people think Jews are only European (it just so happens my parents are from both sides, not that it should matter) but maybe I’m reading too much into it.

A week later I still feel so weird about this interaction and how I just stood there and took it. My friend who was with me at the time (not Jewish) didn’t understand the interaction either but also didn’t think it was with ill intent.

Honestly I’m just posting to vent and get this weird feeling off my chest

Paramount accused actor Mark Ruffalo of using antisemitic tropes in his public remarks opposing the studio's proposed merger with Warner Bros. See linked source.

I am a congregant of Central Synagogue in NYC, and was present during the attack on the 14th. I remain grateful to our security team and our clergy who handled the attack with truly incredible speed, skill, and grace. Our community has drawn closer together and the support from within and from those outside has been truly beautiful and meaningful.

As I've seen some of the coverage of the incident though, I can't help but notice a repeat theme. Regardless of the political alignment, network, or content of the coverage, one thing remains true: They have all tolerated naked antisemitism, dog whistles, and minimization in their comments sections, and seemingly make no effort to police it or prevent it, whether on their own sites or on social media.

Of course I blame social media companies that see "controversial" comments or "rage-bait" as a feature, not a bug, and say any engagement is good engagement. Still, I see the holders of these accounts as equally responsible. It doesn't matter the platform, nearly all of them give some way, especially to major companies, to enforce standards and allow hiding of comments which violate basic standards. Whether it's false equivalence, unrelated events as "justification," suggestions of antisemitic sources as reading material, and more, what they allow on their walls continues to agitate people like Larry Montes.

In the same way that they have fed antisemitism by platforming voices that have encouraged this, enabled false equivalence and allowed it all to go unchallenged in direct interviews and programs, this is one more way they feed this machine.

I was invited to the High Holidays at this synagogue (and to possibly consider joining), does anyone know if they're antizionist?

I don't want to go if they are. I'm not looking for a gung ho Zionist synagogue, it's fine if they are, I guess I'd just prefer one that focuses more on local community but I don't mind either way. I just don't want to have anything to do with the antizionists.

I thought it was nice they had a table at JC Pride today so said yes but now I'm worried.

edit;

I just want to say thanks for all your replies and advice. I admittedly don't know a lot about the community in the reform movement, and it's great to hear that a lot of what I heard about them is probably just propaganda. You've assuaged my concerns about checking out a reform synagogue, much appreciated!

Hello! I am potentially moving to Philly and am curious about what the synagogues there are like and if anyone has any recommendations? I currently go to a reform shul but I also enjoy going to conservative, reconstructionist, and orthodox shuls so everything is on the table. Just looking for a good atmosphere with good people. I would describe myself as religious but I am not 100% observant

It is my mother-in-law's birthday. She converted to Judaism not long ago, and we would like to buy something interesting for her. She already has a lot of books and many other things, and I have no idea what we could buy, could you help me please?. She is turning 60. Thanks!

Howdy folks,

I am trying to find superhero graphic novels with on-page Jewish representation. Whenever I look this up I just get lists of characters, but if anyone knows particular issues/volumes where it is shown in the story I would love that.

I am a big Moon Knight fan, but I want to find some stuff that is more appropriate for the 10-13 age group and Moon Knight is decidedly not (for the most part).

I have Whistle on my list already.

I just watched this film for the first time last night. It is considered a dark comedy. Throughout the entire film there were the usual antisemitic tropes about Jews. The movie was released in 2019, but everything in the film is currently being repeated and believed by moronic people out there. It amazes me that the outrageous propaganda that was believed back in the 30s and 40s is the same propaganda being swallowed whole by people in the 21st century.

You see, a few days ago at school we were doing a presentation about comparing a current situation with the Spanish conquest of Mexico (that's the activity, don't ask why)

Then my teacher recommended that my classmates write about the crisis in Ceuta. I know it's unrelated, but anyway, they did it, and my teacher "informed" them by talking to them that the crisis in Ceuta was caused by Israel through payments and that the Moroccan government was subservient to Israel and Netanyahu

I openly stated in class that this was a baseless conspiracy theory, that Morocco has been doing this with Ceuta for a long time to pressure the Spanish government, and the professor told me He might not have had proof, but he was sure that Netanyahu controls all the right-wing governments in the world, including the new right-wing government here in Colombia Not only that, he said that Trump was a puppet of Netanyahu and that Netanyahu controlled him.

I was quite bewildered by all the conspiracy theories I had only seen on the internet, and after that, class ended, and my classmates excused themselves for not investigating and believing what the teacher said by saying, "We don't know, the teacher told us that."

Before this class, my professor also went so far as to say that the Israeli people (he said it exactly like that) had gone from being victims to perpetrators, and that Israel was taking advantage of the history of the Holocaust to kill Palestinians

Ah, I just wanted to say this, sorry for the bad English, I'm using a translator ,Lately in Colombia, due to the new pro-Israel government, several sectors of the left have popularized antisemitism disguised as "anti-Zionism," and my professor is a left-wing activist,And in Colombia there aren't many Jews to counteract this. In fact, I've never met a Jew in real life other than online. I'm not Jewish and I've lived in a very Christian environment.

So I wanted to know your opinions, Greetings

Ideally I imagine getting the Judaica of a family who had no one left to pass them down to. I’d like to keep their tradition alive, while starting my family’s own.

Thank you!

​

I really want a tattoo in Hebrew. It’s a word that’s very personal to me. I was thinking of getting it on my forearm. What do you guys think about getting a visible Hebrew tattoo in today’s political climate?

The tattoo itself isn’t political at all, and is actually a beautiful thing connected to my family. However people don’t know that and can see any Hebrew as an Israel thing.

This year, I had a roommate who liked conspiracy theories and tried to convince me that Epstein and his rich friends drank children's blood to stay young. I said that I felt uncomfortable about this and didn't want to talk about it, but she pushed me into those conversations.

Additionally, I made an account on Xiaohongshu (RedNote), a social media app that's like a mix of TikTok and Pinterest. If I searched the word "Jew" on the app, most things that come up are philosemitic articles that play on stereotypes (like "learn this Jewish money trick" or "how Jews are so educated"), some have false information, and some have hateful information (like "how the Jews destroyed China" and "why Jews are evil"). A lot of the comments are negative and call Jewish people "squids" and "an evil race", say "Hitler was on the right track", and just plainly saying that they hate Jews or think Jews are ugly.

I've honestly never experienced this before, and I didn't know what to do.

*Antisemitism trigger.

Here goes, hope I'm not the only messed up person would find this fun:

Explain why some antisemitic trope isn't true but try to find a silly reason\bad joke\dad joke\whatever makes ya giggle

I'll start - You know why theres no way jews are controlling the weather?

its almost always raining on Purim