#Jewish tropes

[writingwithcolor]

Hello! I am currently developing a villain oc for a universe where superpowers are a normal part of human history and happen regular citizens, written primarily from the perspective of the villains. However, after doing some research, I worry that I may have accidentally made the main villain as an antisemetic character, specifically which dealing with blood libel.

The main villain is an older woman who’s main goal is to stay young in an attempt to live forever, as well as grow extremely rich. Her power allows her to drain the life force of others which kills them and also in turn makes her stronger and younger. She also mainly commits large-scale heists and has gathered herself quite the pool of wealth. To aid her in her plan to become as rich as possible, she had begun to target very young children with powerful abilities and trained them to become near-perfect killing machines.

Now, I feel like it is important to note that:

- She does not harm the children, especially not with her power

- She does not consume blood

- None of her physical features are Jewish-Coded

But even so, I worry that, with the combination of her targeting children, having a near-obsession with wealth, and her power being the ability to drain people of their life energy, that it may come across as antisemetic, which is in no way my intention. Do you have any advice on what I can do to fix this, or is it okay as it is?

Is my villain protagonist playing into blood libel tropes?

Thank you for catching this! You are spot on, all three of those characteristics (stealing children, hoarding wealth and draining others of life) are antisemitic tropes, especially when used together. I’m also getting strong Mother Gothel vibes from this, so you might want to research what Jewish people have said about that character for more insight. 

An easy fix is to deliberately and explicitly distance this character from Judaism, probably by having her be part of another religion (though not a real-life marginalised religion or one that could be read as similar to Judaism, please!). 

It would also help to have some actually Jewish characters who play positive roles. As a villain, she could even be hostile to these characters to create even more distance.

Good luck and thanks again for spotting this in time!

Shoshi

Agreeing with Shoshi here--in the past, when a villainous character has been in danger of reinforcing antisemitic tropes, I’ve also advised having that character specifically and overtly practice Christianity albeit perhaps in a warped way; specifically Christianity because Christianity originated and perpetuates the blood libel trope in the first place. If you’re writing in a world without real-world religions, avoiding associating this character with an in-universe marginalized religion or ethnic group (or more to the point, specifying her membership in a dominant religious or ethnic group) may serve the same purpose. 

Likewise, if you’re writing in a world with real-world religions, having heroic Jewish characters directly opposing her and citing Jewish values as their motivation does a lot to negate any assumption that you intended your villain to be a statement in support of antisemitism. If you’re writing in a world without real-world religions, I’m going to link you to this ask as a caveat:

Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons 

But if there is a marginalized religion or ethnic group in your story that does echo Jewish ideas or is overtly Jewish-coded, having heroes with a strong connection with this culture may serve.

Meir

#antisemitism #Jewish #Blood libel #Villains #Jewish tropes #Jewish stereotypes #asks

[luckthebard]

I don’t know why this is something we apparently need to re-explain to parts of the CR fandom every few years, but if I see one more post that implies that the way Samuel Oscar Riegel is approaching his character’s faith journey is “culturally Christian” I’m gonna McFucking lose it.

#this fandom’s inability to retain the very obvious fact that Sam is Jewish is my villain origin story #also people throw around that phrase like it means something or they know what they’re talking about #when mostly they’re just mad at how THEY can’t seem to stop interpreting everything through certain evangelical Protestant tropes #and moral standards #I don’t have time for a whole rant atm but I’m truly at my wits end #cr discourse

[matan4il]

It shouldn’t be this heartbreaking to be a Jew online.

(in case anyone misses this point, which I think is very important: it takes more than reblogging a “Happy Passover” post to be an actual ally to Jews online. Education is vital)

#jumblr #frumblr #jewish #jew stuff #jew #jewish stuff #antisemitism #antisemites #antisemitic #look at me mom i get to use all the fun tags! #judaism #jews #fight antisemitism #really the way i've seen posts by non-jews telling people what is and isn't antisemitism #or people casually dropping antisemitic tropes in comments and tags #or people casually reblogging posts that are offensive or harmful to jews #jr

[koshercosplay]

Her sword was out before the creature could even blink.

"Don't come any closer," she snarled. "I know what you are."

The goblin in front of her bared it's teeth. "And I know what you are, princess."

She gave a start. It knew that about her? Or was it just a petty insult?

"Doesn't matter." She lifted her chin. "I want you out of this kingdom. Your kind don't belong here." It was thrilling to finally put her training to good use. One by one, the goblin menace would finally be over in her lifetime.

The creature tilted its head to the side and began circling her. She swallowed thickly and followed it's path with her sword outstretched. It's pale green skin seemed to shift in the sunlight, and the pointed ears poking through it's thick hair reminded her of toadstools peeking out from the soil beneath their feet.

"The princess finally comes out of the castle. Finally getting her hands dirty for the first time." It stopped moving and swooped into a condescending bow, never taking it's eyes off her face. "Please accept my most heartfelt congratulations," it sneered.

She bristled at the implication of her softness and tried to match the goblins' jeering tone as she responded, "I've been training for this my whole life." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Then why haven't you killed me yet?" It's yellow eyes glinted.

"Why-" She couldn't believe her ears (which were blissfully rounded, thank you.) "Would you like me to apologize for allowing you a few more seconds of your slimy existence?"

"Slimy?" It ran a finger down the length of a bare arm and made a show of holding it up in mock ignorance and examining it closely, before dropping it to hang loosely at its side. "The fact that you believe that shows me what good your training has done for you."

It held its arms out to either side, as if initiating some bizarre attempt at an embrace.

"Come on, then. Kill me."

Her sword was still pointed at it's chest. It would be an easy kill. But even as she leveled her gaze and prepared to strike, something stopped her. She could already hear her father scolding her for taking so long, but there was something wrong.

Against her better judgment, she dropped her arm and let her sword rest by her side, keeping a firm grip on it, just in case.

"All the goblins I've heard about put up a great fight with our warriors." The goblin had the nerve to roll its eyes. She pressed on. "Why are you being so... so- boring!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, princess. Would you like me to be more entertaining?"

In a flash, the goblin was entirely too close to her, and she could feel it's breath on her face as it closed its hand on hers over the hilt of her sword. And to her immense embarrassment, she froze. Absurdly, she noticed that the goblins' skin was not, in fact, slimy. Interesting.

In another second, the goblin had twisted the sword out of her hand and thrown it halfway across the clearing and took a few steps back.

"Oh no! The poor helpless princess was set upon by a goblin!" It called out loudly, and she cringed. "She couldn't possibly hope to defeat its superior intellect and battle skills!"

She shook herself out of her frozen state and dared to step forward.

"I would thank you to stop talking now," she said coldly.

It appeared to consider her words.

"Yes, you're quite right," it said, mimicking her lofty tone. "You're too boring to bother fighting with."

It turned and began walking away with an infuriating spring in its step, as if she wasn't standing right there, armed to the teeth. She silently drew out the tiny dagger from her right gauntlet and took careful aim. This time she wouldn't hesitate. The goblin paused, and then turned around so quickly that she didn't have time to hide her actions. Caught in the act.

"You're preparing to throw something at me, which will only end in your injury, not my death. Come now, let's part friends." It grinned at the look on her face.

"Don't worry. I know we'll never be friends." It turned away from her and began walking again. "You're too busy trying to kill me."

"What- but-" she spluttered. "Only because you lot are trying to kill us!"

That made it pause again, although this time it didn't say anything. She started walking towards it, closing the distance between them and wondering at how silent it's footsteps had been in comparison to hers. It was still keeping its back to her, either in foolish bravado or sheer confidence in its speed. It turned quickly when she approached some invisible boundary.

"Are we?" It suddenly said, fierce and low.

"Are you... what?" She responded, confused.

"Are we trying to kill you?"

She bit back the urge to make a derisive comment. What was the point of this circular conversation? Time was marching on and she still hadn't killed a goblin.

"Yes. You are. It's been well-documented and you know it."

It looked at her in disbelief.

"You really believe that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She said defensively. "Everyone knows goblins are vicious thieves who will do anything to snatch a penny. I'll have you know my uncle was killed by a goblin in cold blood!"

The goblin was silent for a moment, yellow eyes searching her brown ones.

"I haven't tried to kill you."

"You are clearly the exception."

"Hm, well I know plenty of goblins who have never gotten into a fight."

She scoffed, this time letting her derision show freely. The goblin seemed insistent on continuing the conversation instead of fighting, which was incredibly frustrating. It wouldn't be honorable to kill it while it refused to fight, although it sure would be easier. She decided to voice her confusion aloud, again.

"Can you tell me why, exactly, you are so determined to avoid fighting me?"

"I heard humans smell so bad, you can tell they're coming from a mile away. I had to see for myself."

She began to get offended, and opened her mouth to give it a piece of her mind, before she realized it was grinning again.

"What's your name?" It asked her, taking her by surprise.

"Fern," she said instinctively, too taken aback to remember she wasn't supposed to answer that question.

"Fern. What a good goblin name." It winked at her. Asshole. "My name is Ash." It started walking away again, but this time, it motioned for her to follow it.

Was she insane? She came out here to kill her first goblin and take her place alongside her mother. She should be wiping its blood off her sword and heading back to the castle in victory, not standing around chatting history and exchanging names with it!

On the other hand... she tilted her head as she took the first few steps to follow the goblin- Ash. No one else that she was aware of had ever been invited somewhere by a goblin. History was littered with failed agreements, betrayals, victories and defeats. But who'd had a conversation with a goblin, been left alive, and then invited somewhere?

As far as she could tell, Ash was leading her along a fairly well-traveled path through the forest, although it was leading her unnervingly far from where she was supposed to be. Someone would come looking for her soon. Most likely Arvit.

She groaned inwardly. Arvit would chastise her, loudly and publicly, if she didn't make it back by nightfall. And she wouldn't be allowed this opportunity again for a long while.

Ash was silent ahead of her, unaware of or uninterested in Fern's movement. She studied the goblin from behind even as she kept careful track of their journey, so that she could lead her soldiers here in the future. It was lean in body, and it's skin had an unhealthy pallor, from what she could see of its bare arms and legs. It's simple tunic and well-worn, knee-length trousers, gave the impression of someone who traveled a lot and lived simply.

She surprised herself by wondering where Ash had gotten her clothes- Wait. Was Ash a woman? It was always so difficult to tell with goblins. And since when did she care anyway? It was a goblin. It's not like they were going to end up best friends. She lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders, trying to give off an air of confidence. She was the one in power here. Not the goblin.

Their surroundings slowly changed as they kept walking, going from dense, lush forest to darker, more sinister woods. Fern started jumping at every distant creak or snap of a twig. Something hooted nearby and she nearly dove behind a tree. Ash resolutely kept walking, paying no attention to any of the sounds around them, although it did take the time to point and laugh at Fern when she stumbled and fell into a pool of mud.

Finally, she planted her feet and declared, "I'm not going any further until you tell me what's going on."

Ash stopped and turned around, and deadpanned, "Don't worry, I didn't bring you here to kill you."

Fern snorted. "You can't kill me. You would have already if you'd been able to."

Silence fell between them, and Fern realized that the darkness around them wasn't just from the woods. It was truly past sunset, and she was so screwed.

#my writing #this is based on that post i made a while ago #about turning the antisemitic jewish goblin trope on its head #ive been playing around with the idea of actually writing it for a while #(fern's gonna unlearn her internalized antisemitism REAL QUICK lmao)

[eretzyisrael]

by Rabbi Michael Barclay

A mere month after the horrors of babies being beheaded, women being raped, and the slew of horrors from Hamas, Owens went on Tucker Carlson’s show to speak about how it really wasn’t that bad, and why should she even care. (After all, she seems to think that Hitler was “ok”, so what’s the problem?) She wanted to talk about the depravities of Hamas as an “academic discussion”, and refused to even condemn Hamas. She castigated Ben Shapiro for being passionately pro-Israel, and demonstrated a remarkable ignorance about everything Jewish, including: the Holocaust; the history of Israel; the history of the involvement of Jews in the early civil rights movement, and how Kanye West’s anti Semitic comments were clear expressions of Jew hatred.

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But her appearance a few months ago is not the exception; it is part of a pattern of repeated Jew hatred that seems to be an essential part of Owens’ psyche.

Most recently, she has tried to justify her repeating anti-Semitic trope by attacking a Rabbi and his family. She has called any Jew who points out her anti-Semitism a “thug” and “part of a gang” that she compares to Crips and Bloods.

I am always recalcitrant to  speak negatively about any conservative in the public arena, as we are all attacked too much by the left as it is. But it is worth taking an honest look at Ms. Owens to see if her previous words were just based on ignorance, or if in combination with her latest actions demonstrate a Jew hater and ignorant hypocrite.

While Owens showed ennui towards what happened on Oct 7 and defended Kanye West, in the last few days she has adopted some of the oldest Jew hating lies. There is a reality that in the early 20th century, many Jews got involved in the entertainment industry as it was just starting. Many of the original heads of studios were Jewish: the Warner brothers, Thalberg, Mayer, and others gravitated to the new industry of motion pictures as they were kept out of other businesses by institutionalized anti-Semitism. This led to the oft repeated anti-Semitic trope of “the Jews control Hollywood”. Although there was actually a level of truth to that in the early 20th century, it was simply a Jew hating slur by the 1950s. By the 1970s, the majority of executives, producers, and powerful agents were no longer Jewish. By the 1990s, the slur was no longer being used, and had actually been replaced by the anti-gay slurs of “Hollywood is controlled by the gay mafia”, and “you can’t get a job in this town if you’re not gay”; and the days of Jew haters accusing Jews of controlling Hollywood was a relic of the past.

But not so for Owens, who has brought back that Jew hating libelous trope in recent days. And she has additionally made personal attacks on a prominent Rabbi and his family for his exposing her Jew hatred.

#candace owens #antisemite #rabbi shmuley boteach #hollywood #gang of jews #jewish control #kanye west #anti-semitic trope #jews control hollywood

[shiraglassman]

Hey, I know this is kind of a dumb question, but I came across a TikTok about a month ago suggesting that dragons (the western, fire breathing, princess snatching, treasure hoarding ones) were rooted in antisemitic in the same way something like goblins are. I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not, and it kind of sent me into a tailspin, since I’ve always loved dragons (I read the WoF series ONCE and wouldn’t shut up about it for 3 years), and I was worried that I would have to drop them entirely for fear of offending someone. I can definitely see the similarities between common antisemitic tropes and dragon tropes, but I’ve always heard that the origins of the western dragon were that it was just a scalier of the devil and not meant to represent any marginalized community. However, I am not Jewish in any way, and I’m aware it’s not my place to dictate what is and isn’t harmful, so I was curious as to what you thought. (Sorry about how long this is TuT)

I held on to this ask for a few weeks to try to make sure my response made sense, so here goes. Disclaimer that I'm just one Jewish woman who loves dragons, and I claim no expertise or position of authority. I can't guarantee that someone won't look at your special interests and judge you unfairly. I also can't guarantee that you'll be hyperaware enough and careful enough to catch dogwhistles if they're subtle, compared with ordinary fictional dragons. What I can guarantee is that your average Jewish person is not going to assume you are more unsafe to be around than other unknown gentiles just because you like dragons, but fandom spaces and Tumblr spaces sometimes represent a skewed or specific cross-section of the population and may react differently. I can't make any of those calls. I don't want to tell you to start tuning out marginalized people when we speak about our issues including bad representation, but I also don't think "every Western dragon" is a problem the same way the entire perception of Halloween witches is, for example. For "some reason" (antisemitism) we've decided that big hooked noses are a thing you strap to your face to fake being a witch, or the way witches look in clip art. This is an issue because it takes a simple, neutral feature that some of us have and exaggerates it to the point of looking nonhuman. "Ha ha," says the trope. "Wouldn't it be funny if this trait that these Others have was so different and so jarring in appearance that they looked as different as they truly are, from us, the In Group?"

If the same group of folks who had anxiety about us coexisting alongside them created the witch aesthetic as created the Western dragon lore, and indeed much of old-fashioned European fantasy, it's easy to see how their feelings about us an other marginalized groups (disabled people etc.) creep into the stories. HOWEVER, it's also incredibly easy for dragons to not be us. Or have anything to do with us. If you're nervous when writing your own stories that someone is going to mistake your greedy characters for Jewish-coded, try to establish that real (human or otherwise) Jewish characters coexist with the greedy dragon or whatever to show that you're not using the dragon as a subconscious Jewish reference. But if you're talking about just "can I continue to buy dragon merch from creators who draw cute art", the only thing I can tell you is that there's an intense diversity of opinion among the Jewish people and even though I'm saying it's fine and probably most people at my temple would say it's fine, I can't account for strangers on apps I don't even have. Personally, I think you're safe as long as you avoid dragon things that evoke the trope directly. And many MANY dragons don't even evoke the trope these days, because so many millennials and younger grew up adoring dragons so we launched media where dragons are good. And don't even always hoard wealth. Much of modern dragon media seems to ignore the greedy and/or hoarding tropes entirely or have replaced greed as a motivator for the collections with "this dragon has a special interest", which is cute and doesn't evoke antisemitic tropes at all. You'll probably be able to make good judgments about what does the trope and what doesn't, but for some additional help here is a post Meir and I did on @writingwithcolor, which is where we'd prefer these questions be directed (yes, I know we're closed currently but we're reopening soon.) P.S. If this was sent to my personal specifically to avoid the WWC ask box being closed, please don't — that's an amount of volunteer work I simply can't take on. But I also know that it's possible and likely that you didn't know about WWC at all, so now you do — feel free to peruse our vast archives of past posts. @im-tired1124

#jumblr #jewish #dragons #antisemitism #tropes #dog whistles #im-tired1124

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

Hey quick question you guys! So why is it that every time y’all make demon-angel fanart of stan/kyle or gerald/randy, kyle and gerald are always the demons? This totally couldn’t be partially due to some internalized antisemitism, right? That would be ridiculous lol.

#/sarcasm #not saying it’s intentionally antisemetic #but the pattern is definitely concerning #and i’m saying maybe we should consider the history behind demonizing jewish people before making that a huge popular trope? #cause the sheer amount i see makes me a bit uncomfortable #colby rambles #sp #southpark #south park #sp style #style sp #sp gerandy #gerandy sp #sp kyle #sp kyle broflovski #kyle broflovski #sp gerald #sp gerald broflovski #gerald broflovski

[spindrifters]

I personally am thrilled and think it’s super neat that I’m seeing more and more depictions of remus as a brown boy

BUT

it’s important not to lose sight of conversation within that about what that means for a character who is at various moments coded by his narrative as a) othered and distrusted by his society, b) “animal,” and c) hiding his true nature most of the time

I’m not saying don’t do it! I’m saying KEEP doing it! but with awareness of dehumanizing tropes and an aim to deconstruct them

#remus lupin #literary critique #idk it’s the same thing with writing him as Jewish tbh #he is SO Jewish coded it’s stupid #but if you aren’t doing it mindfully that can slide into blood libel and other antisemitic tropes real fast

[feyhunter78]

what do you think about perfect pretty little innocent christian reader x bad bad miggy

like she’s completely devoted to the church and god and he just wants to taint her innocence a little 🎀

Sorry bestie confession time, I am actually a Jesus girlie, big fan of Jesus “defender of women, men gouge out your eyes if you’re a perv” Christ so I’m uncomfy with writing a fic that looks down on my beliefs

But if you have another idea (nonreligious) I’d be more than happy to write it for you!!!!💗💗

#meg talks #mail time #also I kinda think it’s a weird trope that only passed bc it’s using Christian and not Jewish or Muslim #but maybe that’s just me #no hate to the anon though #just a thought I have about the trope #watch me lose a bunchhhh of followers from this RIP

[canichangemyblogname]

Israel ignoring Egypt's warnings, Israel's chaotic "recovery" (a.k.a. their explicit non-recovery and bombing of hostages), and the IOF's chaotic engagement with Hamas fighters on Oct. 7th and 8th that caught hostages and civilians in crossfire should be proof enough that Israel cannot and will consistently fail to provide for the security and welfare of Jewish people. It should also be proof enough that Netanyahu's government doesn't give a shit about Israeli lives unless they can be weaponized to serve his political and regional goals.

The argument that the only way for Jewish people to have safety and comfort is through a Jewish ethnostate ignores how the violence necessary to establish an ethnostate breeds extremism and a cycle of violence. It ignores how Israel consistently fails to protect and provide for its citizens, how vulnerable the Israeli state would be without US support, and how politically and numerically insecure settler-colonial populations are without ethnic and genocidal violence to reproduce their position in the social hierarchy. This argument also allows countries in the Global North to wipe their hands of their own country's antisemitism. For them, Israel is the solution to their country's "Jewish Question."

Some of Zionism's basic assumptions about Jewish people and the need for a Jewish state come from antisemitic assumptions. Advocates for a Jewish state frequently invoke antisemitic stereotypes to make their case. Like... literal fucking fascists in the US support Zionism because they want to empty their country of Jewish people and then watch them die in Israel.

The largest group of Zionists in the US are Evangelical Christians. Not just in sheer numbers, but as a percentage of their population. And you know what they believe? They believe that all Jews need to return to the Holy Land to be massacred and raptured so Jesus can return. The majority of Zionists in the US are Zonists because they're antisemitic. Their antisemitism informs their support for Zionism, and their belief in Zionism informs their antisemitism.

It boggles me how the US government, literal fascists, and Evangelicals have so many of you legitimately believing that critiquing a man and a government that throws their lot in with Holocaust deniers is antisemitic.

There are experts out there who attest that Zionism encourages and spreads antisemitism around the globe and that it is a contributing factor to increases in antisemitism in the Global North. Some have gone so far as to say it is a literal threat to the well-being of Jews worldwide and a roadblock in the fight against antisemitism.

#israel #zionism #in college the professor who taught me about authoritarianism and right-wing violence stressed that Zionism would get Jewish people killed #he is a Jewish man himself #he spoke about how few in the region actually support extremist groups in the area #and about how Zionism and the violence in the West Bank was poking a great bear #he talked about how if the radicalization from violence mobilized. it could mean the blood of Jews worldwide #especially as the Zionism popular in the Global North encouraged and reproduced common antisemitic tropes #he explained that if the Israeli state does not agree to two people of equal rights under one democratic & pluralistic state #they would be faced with both Jews and Palestinians living under the authoritarian and reactionary rule of an extremist govt. #i remember him talking about the (at the time) regional insecurity of the position of the Israeli state #he was more concerned about the exportation of extremism from Saudi Arabia or Iran than a group like Hamas or Islamic Jihad #he was firm about Hezbollah being more of an existential threat than any of the reactionary groups in Palestine

[this-is-z-art-blog]

Hi, I saw your answer to someone asking about what a Hannuka celebration is usually like and I thought it was really well thought-out and helpful. I was wondering if you might be willing to give me some insight on other Jewish holidays. This was actually inspired by the DP Hannuka challenge. I'm writing a long DP fanfic that's largely from Sam's perspective and when I saw the challenge I thought this was a great time to write some holiday scenes. But when I started researching Hannuka I read that it's not really a major holiday I wanted to know which holidays hold more significant meaning and...well, I went down a rabbit hole and I feel like I HAVE to make sure I do Sam's cultural heritage justice.

The part I'm writing right now takes place in autumn. I wanted to include a little bit about her family celebrating/participating in Rosh Hashana and the ten days of awe. The thing is, I have absolutely no frame of reference; I hadn't even heard of it until a few days ago. Its surprisingly difficult to find descriptions of what exactly people do to observe that holiday besides food. There's plenty to read about the food haha.

I was wondering if you might be willing to share with me your experience with autumn traditions. Your description of Hannuka was so helpful and you seemed open to more questions. But if you're not comfortable please don't feel any pressure, my goal here is to be respectful and I honestly don't know enough about Jewish Culture to know if I'm being rude so please tell me if I am. I live in a predominantly Christian area and the majority of my cultural knowledge on the subject comes from TV which tends to only bring up Judaism when a character talks about Hannuka instead of Christmas so I am basically an uncultured goldfish.

First of all, thank you, and thank you for reaching out. I love talking about this stuff in general, and I especially really enjoy helping people navigate representing characters' Judaism in their works. I know it can be really intimidating to do research on your own- you don't know what questions to ask, or what's a reliable source, or what's unilaterally true vs what varies community to community, and you want to do a good job and not perpetuate something hurtful or harmful- it's a lot! So while I want to be clear I'm just one person speaking from my personal experience and knowledge, Jews are not a monolith and Jewish thought and experience varies a lot, you can always reach out and I'll do my best to help.

Note, the Jewish calendar is lunar, which is about ten days shorter than the solar year, which is why Jewish holidays don't have the same Gregorian date year to year. Every three years (roughly) we have a whole extra 'leap month' to keep the seasons on track, because certain holidays have to be in certain seasons (most notably Passover). Jewish days also begin at sundown and end at about an hour past ('three stars in the sky') the next day, ie Shabbat is Friday evening to Saturday night each week. The high holidays are in the fall, generally, but to know when specifically something is myjewishlearning or chabad are websites you can look up 'what date is [holiday] + [year]'

Rosh Hashanah (literally translated 'head of the year'), New Year's (one of four actually). Kicks off the high holidays, both very joyous and very reflective. Apples and honey is the classic holiday treat, for a sweet new year. Challah for this holiday is often made in a circular shape, for the cycle of the year, rather than the normal Shabbat braided loaves, and sometimes people will make it with cinnamon sugar or raisins for sweetness. You also begin reaching out to make amends to people you may have hurt over the past year, a process that continues throughout the high holidays. A big theme of the high holidays is Teshuva, which is sometimes translated as repentance but is more closely 'return'. It's about making sincere apologies and doing the work to get better and avoid repeating the same kinds of harm. I once texted a non-Jewish friend of mine an apology for a previous fight of ours around this time that for her came kind of out of nowhere, which made her think I was dying. People often have a family meal together. Fun fact, the current Jewish year is 5784. Two days long kinda. Holy

The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, as you flagged, the Days of Awe or Days of Return (or in Hebrew they're the aseret yamei teshuva) are more on this theme of reflection and amends. Many participate sometime in here in a practice called tashlich, where you symbolically release bread crumbs (or some other crumpled foodstuff that may be more suited to your local aquatic life) into the water (typically a river, but sometimes your local Water is a lake or ocean) as a way to release your guilt and regrets and move forward into the new year knowing you've done all you can and you now have a clean slate

Yom Kippur ('day of atonement'), holiest day of the Jewish calendar. One of two major fasts (full day, rather than dawn to dusk). Very thoughtful and contemplative, typically a full day of synagogue services reflecting. We spend most of the day thinking about death. For many communities it's traditional to wear white or to avoid gold. You think about your wrongdoings and how to improve in the coming year, and deeply consider whether you've made your amends and if you've sincerely put in the work to change and improve where you need it.

Sukkot! Rounds off the high holidays, eight day festival that starts five days after Yom Kippur. You build a small structure called a sukkah (you BET there are a hundred specific details) in your yard and take meals in it together, big holiday for guests and visiting. First two and last two days are holy, middle four are still part of the holiday but are more mundane, and you go about your regular life (ie you can use electronics and go to work). Many observe the daily mitzvot of eating something in the sukkah, and shaking the lulav and etrog (a gathering of four plants, the lulav (palm frond), myrtle branch, willow branch are bundled together and the etrog (citron) in your other hand, symbolizes gathering in all the different kinds of our people). At the last days of Sukkot is the holiday Simchat Torah ('the joy of the torah'), where we reach the end of the annual cycle of reading the Torah and begin it anew. VERY joyous and boisterous, big holiday for dancing.

Also, here's an extremely quick and dirty rundown of other the other more prominent Jewish holidays (I'm basically skipping a number of minor fasts and smaller celebrations, but also, hannukkah is on this list, and it is nowhere near the scale of importance as Rosh Hashaha).

Hannukkah. Eight day festival in the winter, lighting a nine branched menorah (the ninth candle lights the others, one more each night ie night one you light one night eight you light eight, once again a THOUSAND little laws and specifics. we are a pedantic people). You have heard of this one

Tu B'Shevat! Late winter/early spring holiday that is the new year for trees. (The name is just the date, the 15th of the month Shevat. Most though not all Jewish holidays are on the 1st or 15th of the month, or, the new or full moon). Big holiday for planting trees or trying new fruits

Purim! Early spring. In a leap year this happens twice (though 'little Purim' is a much smaller holiday). This one is bonkers and criminally underrated. Costumes, giving gifts both to charity and to your friends and family, telling the story of that time a guy tried to kill us all and failed so hard we eat cookies shaped like his stupid hat to this day (hamantaschen or oznei haman, it's just the Yiddish or Hebrew name for them respectively)

Pesach or Passover, you have probably heard of this one. Springtime! Can't eat leavened grains (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, rye) so you gotta clean ALL your stuff out. Most Orthodox Ashkenazim also don't eat 'kitniyot', basically, similar food categories that include nuts, beans, corn, and rice, so if that's your tradition it's pretty thorough. First two nights are the Seder, a large, meandering meal where we tell the story of the holiday (in my family we regularly sit down around seven, don't get to the 'eat the Meal' part until nine, and are at the table til midnight. Many families are a little more effecient but many are even less). First two and last two days are holy, first two days especially are a big time for visiting family

The seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot are a period of time called the Omer, mostly just focused on counting up (not down) the days to Shavout. On the 36th day, Lag B'Omer (name is once again just the day) it's a holiday celebrated largely with bonfire parties

Shavuot (name just means 'weeks', for the seven weeks we count to get here) is the holiday that celebrates receiving the Torah. Celebrated with study of Torah and many have a custom to eat dairy (or just not meat), holy, two days-ish

Tisha B'av is a day of mourning, and the other major fast. Commemorates a lot of various tragedies and traumas. The weeks leading up to it go through a few stages of mourning and mourning practices

Elul is the full month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, and is something of a 'ramp up' to the attitudes and festivities, where you start thinking about your past and coming year

Shabbat. As mentioned this one is every week, holy day of rest from sundown Friday to a little later Saturday. Many celebrate by going to synagogue and/or holding a meal together Friday night and/or Saturday afternoon

Miscellaneous note, safety always comes first. If there is an emergency that would require you to break a rule of the holiday, do it. The principle is called pikuach nefesh, or protection of the soul (life)

Holy days are traditionally (though not everyone observes in this way and specifics vary, it is none of my business, repsonsibility, or interest to tell other Jewish folks what to do) observed by a number of restricitons that I like the categorize as just being part of the world, not trying to create or destory anything within it. The specifics have a lot to do with laws tracing back to not participating in argricultural or textile labor, but most relevant to my life personally is not turning on or off electronics (or fire), and no writing/drawing/fabric crafts.

Again NOT every Jew does full traditional observances of every holiday and that a) is NONE of my or anyone's business b) does not somehow make them 'less' Jewish. Judaism belongs to every Jew and is theirs to decide what to do with. That said, it is a chip on my shoulder when the only Jewish characters I see depicted in media, overwhelmingly written by gentile creators, go over the top to stress how much they hate following Jewish law or how much they love not doing it; feels like people are only interested in having Jewish characters whose Judaism is either a total joke, or it has to be as unobtrusive as possible- which is another reason I try to make myself available to answer questions you might have about how TO include your characters' Judaism

#if you want to know something more specific like 'what are things you have done on x day' or 'hey im writing this scene and stuck on y #detail' or 'hey is this a Problem im worried it touches on z harmful trope' i am always open #feel free to shoot me a dm if thats easier btw #sam manson #not art #z.answer #suddenravingfan #jewish characters

[clonerightsagenda]

The Peregrination has a cultural tradition of also extending membership to ghosts. This rules

#that being said with the detail that their wandering diaspora is often accused of stealing children to eat... #is this an attempt at a Space Jewish Parallel with space antisemitism tropes to match #weird note to hit in the holiday special that also hits the extremely old and tired trope #of having a Christmas themed storyline with one token person referencing Hanukkah who still gets pulled into the Christmas festivities #sure we have fantasy space Jewish allegories but the actual Jewish people in space are largely glossed over #breathing space// #oh shit actually is the peregrination knocking on the door thing supposed to reference Elijah at passover

[traitorestraven]

one of these days i am going to write an essay about mjf and diasporic post-holocaust jewish masculinity vis-a-vis powerlessness and vulnerability and class and fear and conflicting cross-cultural gender roles and shame and

#one day! #one of these days!! #he's such a fascinating case study and i want to put him under a microscope #mjf #aew #like the fact that he has a lion of judah motif ALONE #the fact that he calls himself a five foot nothing adhd riddled jewboy enough times that it's become something of a pat phrase is like #ok #let's unpack that #there's so much going on here #like i look at this character and i know that he's playing off of established wrestling tropes and being jewish doesn't define him etc etc #but also sometimes i am like #do the gentiles watching this know what they are looking at #am i projecting? maybe #but that's my right sooo

[sybbi]

People will see the Star of David and be like "Is this Zionist propaganda?"

#are you fucking kidding me #also 'i think i'm fine with being called an antisemite now' is not something the good guys say #like if you are capable of understanding why the collective cultural treatment of muslims in the us following 9/11 + the rise of isis = bad #you should understand why treating every jewish person as culpable or guilty by association for israel's deeds is also bad #like how are you all stepping backwards on this #you people will bend over backwards to clear yourselves of guilt when the us does anything so how are you not capable of doing the same #for jewish people?? #like you understand this is the attitude israel counts on right? #the more unsafe jewish people are made to feel abroad the more israel's branding as the only safe place for jews #is proven right #be angry at what is happening but dont deny that jewish people have also been faced with a uniquely shitty situation #where people they thought they were safe with are now joining neo nazis and christian radicals and white supremacists #in spreading hate and targeting them bc of an apparent bloodlust and need for retaliation #retaliating against random jewish people is not helping palestine spreading antisemitic tropes is not helping palestine #making your jewish neighbors and friends feel like you're watching them for any excuse to prove theyre one of The Bad Ones is not helping #if you can't acknowledge that jewish people outside of israel feel rightly uneasy bc all u see is 'israeli excuses and propaganda' #YOU. ARE. AN. ANTISEMITE.

[euphorial-docx]

some people are way too comfortable comparing timothee chalamet to rats and reptiles. like let’s use our big brain for a second and think about why that’s not okay.

#say yet another twitter post where they said he looks reptilian and i’m just… i’m tired #and one of the replies said people don’t know he’s jewish because they know he’s french #as if people can’t be french and jewish #and also… his breakout role was him playing a jewish character. #like be so serious right now. you know he’s jewish. #even if you don’t then there has to be some subconscious thinking to make you compare him to the animals you’re comparing him to #(sadly enough) #begging people to look more into those harmful stereotypes and tropes #PLEASE #if it’s genuinely an accident and you didn’t know/didn’t realize then just apologize and learn from it and don’t do it again

[faggotry-enjoyer]

there's obviously a lot more to it but i think a decent litmus test to gauge how you're doing with regard to being socially safe for people in a given marginalized group to be around is how you react to their humor. do you take lighthearted ribbing of the majority outgroup as a personal offense? do you immediately close off if they joke about their oppression or lighthearted self-deprecation based on relevant stereotypes or tropes? or are you, yknow, chill about it? are you okay with not always being in on the joke?

#idk like in my experience my favorite cishet people are the ones who laugh at my gay jokes or even join in depending on the vibe #i appreciate it when thin people don't treat my fat jokes as self deprecating #i love it when friends treat my disability as something neutral that can be joked about rather than a Big Deal #like obviously dynamics are going to vary widely and not all laughter is the same #e.g. if one of my jewish friends makes a joke about her mom working in finance (real example) #and i laugh bc she had excellent comedic delivery #that's very different than it would be if i was laughing bc i agreed with the antisemitic trope she was poking fun at #the latter vibe i think i've heard described as 'laughter with a mouth full of blood' #and that should be avoided #but there's something to be said for not being so scared of that that you end up needlessly walking on eggshells #and therefore treating whatever the relevant marginalized identity is as like a big serious elephant in the room that cannot be acknowledge #if that makes sense #does this make sense? #faggotry enjoyer original