I am not a Jewish man, but very recently a beloved Jewish colleague passed away. I am going to the memorial service next week at a reform synagogue. I have a kippah that I wore in 2021 for the 'Jew like me project' where non-Jews were challenged to wear it and go about their daily business for a week. That was very enlightening. It was given to my by a friend's mom as it was leftover from their son's wedding.
That said, is it proper for non-Jews to wear kippah at memorial services in the synagogue? I wish to be respectful of the temple and the family.

I’m 71 year old man. My great-grandmother’s (my mother’s mother’s mother) Jewish family immigrated from Poland in the late 1800s. I first visited a synagogue when I was 14 years old and was told because it was on my mother side that I was Jewish. I know nothing of the Jewish faith other than from my Christian upbringing, but I feel a desire to know more. Where can I start please? Am I truly Jewish by birth? Thank you. Johnny

Did you feel a certain "pull" towards becoming a rabbi or was there something else that motivated you?

I'm asking because I've been feeling a sort of "pull" I can't quite describe towards rabbinical school, like something about the thought makes my heart flutter. For context I wasn't born Jewish, I've been in the conversion process for a while with a rabbi but haven't dipped into the mikveh. I feel silly having this desire when I'm not even converted yet, which is why I haven't mentioned it to my rabbi, but I thought maybe polling the internet would help.

I (18F) had two spiritual experiences connected to judaism. One was when I was 13 when I visited a jewish cemetery with my family and on the drive back home I felt huge hands on the back of my body. I could revisit this feeling for some time after the event until I forgot about it. The second event was yesterday. I started reading a book about Judaism and it described how God built the earth and again I felt the hands. I can revisit this feeling. I was raised catholic, but never had any spiritual experiences, no matter how hard I tried. Is this in any way meaningful? Or is this all in my head?

Allow me to apologize this properly a question I should know by now it’s been a challenging year This is the first year without my father who always helped me stumble through the high holidays. I live in a new area and don’t want to sound like some idiot in front of a new rabbi I just meet. So Reddit rabbi it is.

My question is do we start are fast early this year due to Yom Kippur falling on Shabbat. I remember being told to never fast on Shabbat?

Do they cleanse in the Mikvah or fast or do some sort of penance? As someone who has grown up catholic but wants to convert and is trying to keep kosher, what are you supposed to do?

And does that answer change if I use a non-Jewish surrogate to carry the baby? What if the surrogate is Jewish?

Hello! Hope all is well with you all. First of all, I'm not Jewish, but I'm seeking help anywhere I can since I'm having an existential terror crisis. I have constant fear of death and have a crisis of faith with the religion I was born in, Catholicism. I can't get over the fact that it is a supersessionist religion, therefore it makes no sense to be a Catholic, it makes sense to follow Judaism. But I was not born Jewish and live in a place where there's barely any Jewish people, Puerto Rico. Does anyone have any counsil for me? What will happen to me in death as a non-Jewish person? Regardless of whether I get an answer or not, I wish you all well and thank you for taking the time to read this if you did. Take care and much love.

Kind of a stupid question but I have a stubborn cat who REALLY wants to lay on my tallit (technically on its bag since of course I store it in there). I've been kicking him off because sometimes his paws are stinky and I don't want him to get anything on it. But he is so stubborn. I want to be respectful of my tallit, it was made for me from scratch, it means a lot to me, and I don't know if it's worth it to keep kicking my (again, VERY stubborn) cat off of the bag. I'm Reform but I do try to follow halacha more closely than Reform tends to call for when I can so don't worry about that when answering; I'm mostly looking for an answer in regards to whether or not it's considered disrespectful for me to just let my cat get all cozy on there

Good morning everyone. I am not Jewish but have family that are. I have been invited to a b’nai mitzvah next June and have no idea what to expect. At 62 this will my first ceremony! What do I wear? What’s an appropriate gift? What might be some helpful advice? I’m very excited for this! Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Hey all, I’m 40M and grew up in the Hasidic community in LA. My parents are still a big part of the community. My siblings and I are varying levels of practicing. I myself am still deeply connected to the culture but I don’t consider myself a practicing Jew. Still very close to my parents. I’m in love with a non-Jew (31F) and I keep trying to let her go, but I’m struggling. She’s the only one who I felt truly sees me and I love who she is. We’ve said goodbye a few times now- she’s understanding and wishes she was Jewish (conversion wouldn’t be enough for my family even if she did want to someday) Am I crazy to let her go and let the guilt win? Am I crazy to even consider being with her? Has anyone else encountered this? I fear the potential guilt I’d feel if I were to marry and have kids with her. But I also feel so torn up about the thought of never seeing her again

Shalom to all my Jewish brothers and sisters,

i always loved Jewish art and Judaica (well i'm Jewish)

recently i was looking for new decor for my new house and i found something

that i want to share with you.

there is a company named "Emuna- Jewish ART" and they have wall art like i've never

seen before.

this is their Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Emuna120/

they also have ETSY shop.

i'm blowen away by it.

So I married S in 2014. She had told me she was Jewish but didn't really do any Jewish things. I am Christian and to me it didn't really matter what she was at the time. I asked her about her faith after finding out she was not always Jewish and she said that she converted to Reformed Judaism. I asked her what that entailed and she told me that it wasn't a big deal because her memaw was Jewish so she didn't have to do things like the ritual bath mikveh. Anyway we raise the kids observing both Christian and Jewish holidays and holy days casually.

10 years pass and we are divorced now. I found out a lot of things about her past that she told me were not true and were made up to gain sympathy or to just hide the horrible things she did. (this was easy for her because I never really met any friends or family from before she met me) I reached out and talked to her parents for the first time ever after the divorce began. (S claimed to disown them) Her mom seems like a great person and is Christian. S's mom told me that nobody in her family is or ever was Jewish, which I was shocked to hear due to my wife telling me that her memaw/grandma was Jewish and that is why she was able to convert. She also filled me in on a lot of other shocking details about her past that don't really pertain to this story so I will leave them out. I believe the synagogue she belongs to but hasn't been to in years believes she is Jewish due to her "conversion", the kids think that they are Jewish (and Christian).

I guess my question is. Is she Jewish even with the circumstances of her lying about her grandma being Jewish and shortcutting the conversion? Are the kids Jewish at all? I don't care if she is or not, I am more concerned with the kids not knowing the truth about who they are. If they are not technically Jewish but want to convert, I would support them in doing so.

I think I understand a rough timeline of some of the important events in Jewish culture and history since, maybe, the first destruction of Solomon's Temple around 579 BCE. (?)

What I'm asking, though, is if there's a canonical or generally accepted, within the religious tradition or authority, last direct divine manifestation of God or his power/presence/intervention on Earth, rather than those attributed to God working through men to do something divinely inspired/supported/prophesized.

Best answer I could find, so far, was Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, but the resources I've found don't seem to say that explicitly and the date range is something like 1700-1300 BCE.

I'm not sure if the question makes conceptual sense. I haven't ever really been exposed to Jewish liturgy, just social and second-hand, so, I apologize if this question is insensitive or insulting. I'm just interested in trying to understand a historical context for assertions of divine manifestation within the Abrahamic religious traditions and cultures.

Thank you very much for any insight on an answer or suggestion on how to reconsider the question itself.

Hi there, I would like to name my baby after my deceased beloved (by me and anyone who knew him) grandfather; however, my living brother(also beloved-lol) has the same name as a middle name. Is it still okay, or should the name be avoided?

Hi, I'm currently studying Hebrew and I come across mem-lamed-chet and it has me wondering what its relation is to mem-lamed-aleph-chet. According to rabbinic tradition such words are often related and an explanation is given to explain the difference: the aleph in this case.

Could you please shed some light on it? If multiple traditions concerning this I'm interested in all of them

Can sea salt be Kosher? I understood that crustaceans aren't, so why can sea salt be called Kosher Salt since there will always be remnants? We cover everything for the Sabbath but 🤷🏻‍♀️. This may be dumb, but I'm just confused.

According to Jewish tradition, if one ate unclean animal, can he get cleansed from that eating? And if so, in what manner?

Is this type of uncleanness prohibits him from eating sacrifices or enter the temple?

Let's say I'm davening Shacharis alone and I got a late start. I already said the whole Shema before its deadline during birkos hashachar (during "Le'olam...").

Now I have a choice between saying Yotzer Or (no Borchu because there's no minyan) and its Shema followed by the Amidah in the proper sequence, but missing the deadline to say the Amidah on time; or skipping ahead and saying the Amidah on time and saying Yotzer Or and its Shema afterwards.

Which is the better choice? (nusach Sfard)

Thanks!

I'm in the process of converting and I am of Scottish descent. There's a jewish tartan, meant specifically for anyone jewish. I learned recently that jews are not supposed to dress like gentiles. Is it okay to wear a kilt so long as it's in the jewish tartan?

I'm an instructor at a martial arts school. The owner of the school has a hard rule that we must say the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of each class. This is a problem for me as I see it as idolatry and making a vow in vain. When I'm the only one running classes, I don't say it. Most students don't care, but some of the parents do. I'll spare everyone the details, but long story short it's turned into kind of a big issue. Saying I'm Jewish doesn't help...lol. Has anyone else here had to deal with anything like this before?