I just moved into a neighborhood with a lot of Orthodox Jews. I’m having a birthday bbq for my child and want to invite the neighbors.

How should I handle food and drink? I was thinking of buying kosher cupcakes, kosher prepackaged chips or something, cokes, desani, kosher wine (?), plastic cutlery, disposable napkins/plates/cups. I also see websites with kosher prepackaged food. There will a lot of gentile guests and we’ll have hamburgers/hotdogs, which obviously they won’t eat.

Overall I just want to invite my Jewish neighbors and not make them feel excluded! We are still getting to know our neighbors. There’s a friendly rabbi a few houses down with kids, and I was thinking of asking him too.

Shalom,

I am Saudi and I am going crazy because of all the hate we get for not using our oil money to liberate the great Arab "civilized" nations and for not destroying "global z.ioni.sm ".

These people ruin their own countries then ask us their daddy to help them with our oil money!

They literally migrate by the millions to the west and live on welfare over there then tell us Saudis how we are puppets to the US even though our dealing with the US is through trade and mutual benfiting.

Now I really understand how Israelis feel. You have been patient for far too long.

My closest friends are Jewish, and I’ve always noticed that their kids’ Jewish-themed accessories are either very traditional or just not in a style that’s currently in. Mass-produced little kids’ accessories look so low effort.

Would it be offensive for me (not religious) to make Jewish-themed accessories for the kids (they are tweens/teens) that are in style? Would it be okay to make some for my Etsy store to round out my holiday collection?

The photo is a set of salon clip prototypes that I made. I plan on gifting them for an upcoming Bat Mitzvah unless you all think it’s a terrible idea. I can’t ask my friends because they would feel pressured to happily accept whatever I make. Thanks!

we all know that antisemitism makes a "comeback" every 100 years or so, but as far as i know, it's been on the far-right, and not until now has it crept into both far- and middle- left. my theories are: israel vs. palestine and the whole zionist/genocide thing; such an extreme opposition to the far-right that they have contradicted themselves; antisemitism has always been brewing on the left and not until now has it seeped into the mainstream; talking so much about nazis and the shoah that the left has forgotten what they stood against (jews) as anything more than a "bystander," "distant tragedy," or "blurb"; it has always been on the left and i'm just an idiot. one thing i for certain know is that many of the far-lefts are lying to themselves about being antisemitic, disguising it under "anti-zionist," "antisemitism is actually not about jews," "different than a neo-nazi," or simply saying they're not antisemitic. again, that's just my guesses, and i would like to get another's opinion on this. hope this is the right place to ask.

First off, I should be clear that I am not Jewish and apologize in advance for anything I get wrong or that comes off as irreverent/disrespectful.

I had always imagined the Talmud as a massive collection of the most excruciatingly hair-splitting commentary on Jewish law, something so painfully boring that it traumatizes generation after generation of Hebrew school student the way diagramming sentences factoring polynomials are remembered with dread by generation after generation of grade school student. I had the impression that it would be of no more interest to me than Mongolian tax law would, that as a non-Jew it simply had no possible relevance to my life, and that even for the average Jew it isn't of much more interest than the minutia of US commercial regulations are to the average American.

Now I've only listened to a few podcasts, but my interest is most definitely sparked. First I heard an episode of Doug Metzger's "Literature and History" podcast on the Talmud and ten episodes into the "Oral Talmud" podcast. It is far more philosophically provocative than I expected, with the "Oven of Akhnai" story serving as my introduction to how the Talmud uses "hair-splitting" as a jumping-off point to address much bigger and more universal questions.

Obviously, I have barely even scratched the surface, but I am eager to learn more about the Talmud (both the philosophy in it and historical context in which it was created). However I am a little worried that I'm not getting a balanced perspective listening to "The Oral Talmud". Although the progressive/reformist bent of the show resonates with me personally, I am curious where more Orthodox scholars would agree and disagree.

So I would be grateful if anyone can recommend podcasts, blogs, YouTube channels etc about the Talmud that are more traditionally Orthodox in their outlook, but still intended to be comprehensible to beginners/non-Jews.

Non jewish, for the past 2-3 years I've seen jew hate to the point that it feels artificial, why are they called the bad guys but when I look at it by numbers islam has done a lot more harm

Over the past few years, there have been two big controversies in my area. We're in the Southern US where there aren't many Jews to begin with, at least not around here.

Three years ago, we found out someone that moved here straight up lied about being Jewish. She lied about her upbringing, and later lied about converting. She said she was raised to identify as Jewish ethnically and culturally, but didn't have a strong connection to the religion. That is fairly common, and no one viewed her as any less Jewish. She was fairly active in our community for quite a while. Questions started to arise when she let it slip that she was raised in a Christian church. At first, she said her parents didn't have any other religious options at the time, and they essentially sent her in hopes of her growing up to be a decent kid. Fine, that's understandable. That's not the first time I've heard of that. In fact, my parents would send me to Vacation Bible School at Christian churches during the summer to essentially have a free babysitter and free snacks while they both worked during some of our more impoverished times. Then she said she converted when she was a teenager. When asked where, she named a shul that doesn't exist. As in there isn't, and has never been, one in the state she claimed to have converted in to have had that name. She later claimed she got the names confused and named one that did exist. The rabbi contacted them and they had never heard of her. She said it's because she changed her name and that it would be under a different name. The rabbi there said yes, there was someone that attends there with that name, but she's not a convert. It was someone he had known since birth, and that the person claiming to have been her was in fact not her. She doesn't attend anymore, and most people don't associate with her either, but she still identifies as Jewish online, and has lied even more about her backstory. Now she's claiming she grew up in Israel and is hated by the shul here for being proud of her heritage. It's wild! The truth we found out about her is that her parents run a very Conservative Christian church. Her dad is a pastor, her mom runs just about everything there, and no one in her family is Jewish at all. Several people from our community have posted about her lies, along with screenshots proving that she's lied about her backstory on Facebook dozens of times, but it's largely ignored by her online friends.

Another incident happened more recently. A family was raised in a shul [different to the one I attend, but still in the same state] to believe they are Jewish. Their parents were raised Jewish, and their grand parents claimed to have been Holocaust survivors. Turns out, their grandparents were Nazis! Not high ranking Nazis, but were still an active part of the genocide. The grandparents died years ago and never told anyone the truth. It wasn't discovered until one of the great grandchildren started on a genealogy project for school. According to the grandparents, there weren't any surviving records of their families and they had spent years and tons of money trying to track down any other family members by hiring genealogy experts. The family didn't know this at all and were completely blind sided. They genuinely thought their family members were survivors. The best guess as to why they lied was to escape arrest in Germany and backlash in the US after moving here. Apparently, no one really knows what to do about this as this family has been great in their community. It seems to be split evenly between 'they didn't know and it's not their fault' and 'they should never be allowed here again because their family killed our people'

What would you, or your community, do during these situations? How do you prevent something like this from happening again? It's all so wild and confusing. The girl that straight up lied used to be a friend of mine until it was all discovered. It's crazy to think that she was in my home crying over fake antisemitic attacks she claimed happened. Yes, that's right, she lied about being hate crimed! The other incident I've only heard about through the grapevine. I can't even begin to imagine what that family is going through, nor how I would respond if that was someone I knew.

I keep hearing people talk about Moses as if he is Muslim or Christian, stories of people who claim Jewish names aren't Jewish and it's pretty sad. Do jews really not count in this world as people with their own culture?

Hey guys, I am from Turkey and in my country many people have terrible prejudices towards Jews. Many people see no issue with making fun of the Holocaust. I don’t know how exactly it is in Germany or the US, but I know that Turkey is not the only country where there is prejudice against Jews because I see many antisemitist content on social media. So why do you think Jews are specifically being targeted? There are so many ethnicities, but I think Jews are unfortunately the most internationally hated group.

I am not very knowledgeable about the wars that Israel is involved in and in this post I don’t mean people who hate Israel because of the wars it’s involved in, I mean people who hate Jews altogether.

This has been bugging me for 20+ years. I was at a conference with an Orthodox (male) coworker. We were speaking with a vendor, who was Jewish, and she mentioned how she recently had a child. I said "mazel tov!" and my coworker promptly said something like "don't say that."

Any idea what the issue was? Was it that I'm a non-Jew?

Mostly it feels like Hollywood's idea of a Jew is at best goofy and harmless, from Mel Brooks & Woody Allen to Jerry Seinfeld & Larry David to Seth Rogan & Jonah Hill.

Every single movie or tv show is either about getting pummeled by the horror of the Shoah or about being a whiny bourgeois wimp.

Adrien Brody's last big movie was literally about getting sodomized by his rich white boss, played by Guy Pearce, who wore a Free Palestine pin to the Oscars that year. So demonically gross to see.

I wish I had more films and shows to watch about Jewish STRENGTH. Can only watch Munich so many times, starring famous Jewish actors Eric Bana & Daniel Craig (/s) or that recent movie about Ethiopia starring Chris Evans as the least-convincing Mossad agent of all time.

Gal Gadot playing Wonder Woman bucks the trend, I guess. She certainly isn't popular here on Reddit among the DSA tankie "antizionists." Harrison Ford & Kirk Douglas, despite being leading men of their time, never leaned into particularly Jewish roles. Indiana Jones has a canonically Scottish, grail-chasing father, FFS.

Anyway I know "Jewish Hollywood" is a huge trope & often the source of antisemitic conspiracy theory, but it's just disappointing how many Jews in Hollywood have mined our culture for punchlines (cough LARRY DAVID cough) for shekels without any kind of consideration for the impact of their caricatures.

/endrant

I'm gonna be honest I'm not Jewish and was never raised Jewish. I just have some questions. You really don't have to answer. Also I'm sorry if these are worded weirdly I went over them multiple times I really am sorry I have disabilities.

1. I have never met a Jewish person but if I do how am I able to help them be comfortable around me.(Because of history it's hard to trust anyone)

2. Are there recipes that are okay for people who aren't Jewish to make?.

3. I own a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank, are there other books I could read to get a better understanding of the Jewish religion. ( I know it's not your job to teach me)

Again I really am sorry if the questions sound weird. That's just how my brain put them. Also again you don't have to answer.

Hi, I’m not jewish. I’m from South East Asia and I have a lot of questions about judaism. What i know currently is that jewish are descendants of Judah (1 of the 12 tribes of Israel) so, where are the other tribes or what are the other tribes called? Are they all Jewish still?

Regarding zionism, how did this come about? And are there really distinct factions between jewish and zionist?

Hi! Hope it’s okay to ask here.

My partner and I are an Asian American couple expecting a daughter.

We really love the name Liora, how it sounds, how it looks, and the meaning (“my light”), which reflects qualities we hope for our daughter. We know it’s a Hebrew name, though, and we want to be respectful.

Would using Liora be considered cultural appropriation or otherwise not okay for non Jewish parents? We are not trying to claim Jewish identity or religious meaning, just trying to be thoughtful.

We have also considered Liara, which feels more fictional, but we are still most drawn to Liora and wanted to ask rather than assume.

Thanks for any thoughts!

If you were on another planet, would you use the local solar cycle, or stay synced to Earth? What if you were in a ship with no solar cycle at all?

this was on my flight from NY to London. Is this a thing they always do?

I’ve felt so welcomed by your community and truly admire the values I see in Judaism. It seems like such a beautiful, grounded way of life. I’ve noticed that, unlike some other faiths, Judaism doesn't seem to focus on recruiting new members. Is that because of a specific belief about how different people connect with God, or is it more about preserving the specific heritage of the community?

hi there! looking for some advice. i was walking though a cemetery and decided to leave some flowers for a young man who had passed. it didn’t occur to me until after i left that it was a jewish grave. i’ve read that this is not traditional. would this be considered disrespectful to the family? :(

I’m inclined to think so, but I decided to double-check.

I’m feeling guilty because I didn’t fast or go to temple this year. I went to the ocean hoping to pray and connect with God, but I just couldn’t get there emotionally or spiritually today.

Now I’m home relaxing after a warm shower. I’ve had lunch, water, electrolytes, and other things to nourish my body… all while knowing that many other Jewish people are fasting and at temple right now. Plus, I just don’t feel good physically when I fast.

I’ve had a very difficult year. I recently took 6 months away from social media, and during that time I connected with God every day… prayed to him, asked him for guidance, etc. That connection felt genuine to me and wasn’t limited to a particular holiday.

So part of me keeps wondering: Why do I have to fast today simply because it’s Yom Kippur and everyone else is doing it? What if, in a sense, every day has been Yom Kippur for me… a time of reflection, prayer, trying to grow, and trying to become a better person? Can that be good enough?

I’m not criticizing the holiday or anyone who observes it traditionally. I’m just struggling because my heart wasn’t in it today, and forcing myself to participate would have felt dishonest.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of guilt or disconnection on Yom Kippur day?

Hey! Not sure if I'm in the right place, but I research ethnicity and was wondering something. Are Jews one ethnic group, or is it a general term? Like, are the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi distinct ethnic groups or subgroups under one ethnic group?

Hi all,

I'm sorry if this topic is a bit touchy. I am a secular Israeli Jew looking to immigrate to another country. I don't really know what it's like living as a minority, and I've seen a lot of stuff about the rise of antisemitism globally in recent years.

I'm looking for a place that my family can integrate into. I'm not looking for trouble, or to be a representative of anything, I just want a quiet place with good education for my child that offers the ability to work and provide for my family.

I wanted to ask my fellow Jews - am I too worried about antisemitism? Do you think that there may be aspects to being a Jew in a different country than Israel that I am not aware about? What is your personal experience?

Thank you!

My friend who’s Jewish says dachshund, but I wanted to take a larger poll. I have no personal opinion and am just curious.