#jewish convert things

[jewishconvertthings]

I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but tonight I was reminded by a class of a thing that I think may be helpful for some folks.

Because converting is *so* permanent and irreversible, and one should take it at least as seriously as entering a marriage (with the understanding that there is no divorce, only alienation), I think it's honestly a good idea to wait until you've had a major fight with your Judaism before you complete your conversion.

It's the same principle as wanting to wait until you've been sick with the flu together or had a major life setback or are lost at 2 a.m. on a road trip with your fiance before you actually get married. In that case, you want to know (1) what does this scenario bring out in them? (2) what does this scenario bring out in you? (3) how do those things interact with each other? and, most importantly: (4) how do you resolve it together?

With Judaism, it's easy to fall in love with Torah. It's easy to fall in love with an idealized version of your community. With the rituals and the liturgy and the music and the ruach.

It's harder to learn a point of halacha that hurts deeply and to be forced to reconcile what you know in your bones is right with the reality of the words of Torah and its interpretation by the rabbis. It's harder to meet your congregation in love and tochecha when they have fallen short of their vision and failed you in important ways. It's harder to force yourself to engage in mitzvot that you don't see the point in or that are boring or repetitious or do not spark joy.

And until you know how you will react when (not if) that happens, until you know how you will resolve it - or if you will even want to - you aren't ready to commit to something you can't just take off.

Sometimes it sucks to be a Jew. Sometimes Torah is more yoke than honey. Sometimes you're just not feeling it. And that's okay! That doesn't make you an imposter or a bad Jew; it makes you human. But you still need to address it, because that day will come.

I love being Jewish with all my heart, but there are parts of Torah that are like a knife in my soul. For me, the way I resolve it, is that those things in particular are the shards my neshama was sent to liberate the sparks from. We live in a broken, unredeemed world, and sometimes you should feel that, acutely. That is part of being a Jew, that you are sensitized to the world and its suffering. But it should still, in the end, lift you up. It should not break you, and you should not have to cut off major pieces of yourself to fit the role. Hitting that wall and feeling that pain before you immerse in the mikvah can really open your eyes to what kind of Jew you want to be - or if you actually want to carry this burden as well as taste its sweetness.

#jewish convert things #jumblr #converting to judaism #convert feels #convert advice

[fromgoy2joy]

99.96 percent of the year when I go to a museum: oh my gosh! Egyptian artefacts . What a complex society. Love their things with cats!

Me in the two week lead up to Pesach, staring daggers at random pharaoh 8,789’s bust, gripping the visitor’s guide in my hand: oh you fuckers.

#fromgoy2joy thoughts #jumblr #jewish #jewish convert #jewblr #jewish tumblr #jewish conversion #jewish humor #pesach #Passover #Passover things #Passover posting #Pesach things #jewish tradition #jewishness #jewish history

[hindahoney]

Wild and revolutionary concept: maybe don't treat converts like trash just because they're converts? And also don't ask someone if they're a convert in a public setting?

#having lunch before shabbat and had to remind my friend not to do this to people #like i get it might be a hard concept for some born jews to understand but one thing jumblr has taught me #is that its a sensitive and private topic #you dont just.bring it up. especially not in front of people? #because i have seen other born jews get all Different when they find out someone is a convert #and its crazy disrespectful #side note you can disagree w a convert about their opinions on certain things #and still not go after them for being a convert #thats a dif topic though #anyway unless the convert is openly inviting that convo #dont fucking bring it up???? #jumblr #judaism #jewish #jewish conversion #like it prob feels like how i do when someone treats me dif for being baal teshuva #its just a shitty thing to do in general #dont bring it up? #if you have to ask they prob havent told you for a reason #yes even if its from a movement you don't think is vaid #like what do you expect them to go back to their rabbi and be like 'is like to return this conversion and exchange it for orthodoxy' #thats not how it works they already converted to that movement what is the point of you trying to make them feel bad about it #like what do you change or affect by doing that #same w being baal teshuva #you want me to get in a time machine and tell my parents to move to a jewish community? #whats the point of saying anything just shut up

[achdusyisrael]

Actually on the subject of being lonely when you're the only Jew; I have a nice story for y'all.

About a week ago I went to clock in for my shift and my coworker (who's Jewish) went up to me and asked if I wanted to try her "Rosh Hashanah" drink. Basically just a modified shaken espresso.

But it was so nice and kinda heartwarming ngl that she made it and thought "oh I should tell Eve about this"

#jumblr #also kinda off topic but #one thing I've noticed as I started converting is that #at first I referred to Jewish ppl as 'them' and now only about a month away from my mikvah #it's more 'us' #just the slow process of belonging to a people #I typically refer to myself as 'Jewish in training'

[shadowycoffeebean]

my rabbi came over to consecrate my new apartment and helped me hang my first mezuzah! i was really nervous but it went really well and im so happy!

#judaism #jumblr #jewblr #jewish stuff #jewish things #jewish convert #convert things #jewish conversion #mezuzah

[autistic-katara]

i think goyim should just shut the fuck up about jewish people forever actually

#“actually judaism isnt an ethnoreligion bcz u can convert so no the jews arent ur/x jew’s ‘people’” are you fucking high??? #stg to the right we’re an evil non-white cabal who controls everything and eat babies #and to the left actually we’re all white ppl pretending to be oppressed and are probably still an evil cabal who control everything and eat #babies #im so fucking sick of it just please shut upppp #criticise israel criticise zionism #but PLEASE stop talking abt how antisemitism is just mean words online and we’re actually not an ethnic minority bcz conversions a thing #and esp then after wonder why jews r wary of u #my great grandparents did not flee poland under fear of persecution (as our ancestors did many times) #for u guys to call antisemitism mean words online and treat judaism like christianity but whiter and with a worse oppression complex #i’m so fucking tired of this just think before u speak ffs #jewish #jumblr #judaism #ryan shut the fuck up

[communistkenobi]

I’m curious if other communists have like a religious relationship to their political beliefs for lack of a better word? That’s not a good word to use but I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m solidly atheist but all of the feelings and emotions religious people talk about, revelation and spiritual connection to community and so on are all things I experience pretty regularly and I interpret those feelings as fundamentally communist. the way I take in and absorb information in particular feels revelatory in a religious sense. I’m pretty sure this is fairly common with MLs but I’m curious about it in general

#disabling rbs because I don’t want this to leave my blog #I’m using religious in a deliberately loaded way because I lack the language for alternatives #I joke frequently with my friend that communism is the religion of science but like I do unironically believe that lol #also not claiming marxism is ‘just another religion’ I do not think that’s true or useful to think of it in those terms #but if you take political theology seriously the belief in a socialist state is like the modern version of a desire for religious authority #anyway sorry extremely complicated things that I’m not remotely expanding on enough #I’ve just been thinking about it a lot recently #it’s like a totalising force in my life and shapes the way I interpret and understand the world and my relationship to it #I remember reading marx for the first time and in a very real sense I ‘converted’ to being a communist #I need to read more Benjamin because he goes into like jewish mythology and stuff in his work #but like him talking about the divine violence of the state made it click for me and is partly responsible for me making this post

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People did more to make me believe in G-d again, and Them as good and loving and worthy of my worship, than the church I was raised in (and later left before finding my way to Judaism) until I was 12, that taught me that my suffering was my fault for not praying hard enough

#jumblr #jewish #judaism #rabbi harold kushner #when bad things happen to good people #not a spon but every quote from that book #i want to shout it from the rooftops #jewish conversion #jewish convert #im kinda who the book was dedicated to #the one who wanted to keep on believing

[milfygerard]

i had to see this awful article and now i need you all to see it too

#barry.txt #its Bad #from what me n my discord friend can tell harry styles became friends w the guy who directed the one direction doc #and he was an orthodox jew so for a few months in 2013 he. maybe tried to convert? or something? #which is why he had a small flurry of random tweets talking about extremely specific jewish things and then just never discussed it again

[brightgnosis]

I set out everything for my Shabbat and Havdalah sets just to see what it all looks like together and I could honestly not be happier? Not all of the crystal matches (some are definitely the wrong tones), but it's all so lovely regardless.

I'm so shocked the table cloth I bought fits the table perfectly, honestly. I was prepared to be really disappointed about messing up the measurements or something. But I'm pleased I didn't botch it, and it all worked out. It's really cute and wonderfully thick, too. And the little crocheted "lace doily" thing I bought for the center was a good choice to tie everything together.

And yes, I'm aware that Tulips are toxic to cats. But no, they are not toxic by proximity like Lilies are. Also no, my cats are not capable of getting to the Tulips; they are put up where they can't get to them and being monitored closely. They're only down for these photos.

I love my candle holder for my Shabbat candles, too. Not too sure about continuing to use these particular types of candles for it for Shabbat, however- even though they're easily accessible for me and I have access to a wide array of colors (which has been very nice, seasonally speaking). The wax just melts really fast and leads to a big flame that freaks me out a bit. So I may switch. The holder, though, is wonderful- and it came from a local Vintage shop that I adore.

The little crystal cup I bought off Etsy to use as my Kiddush cup wound up being exactly the right size for me- which is a complete miracle. I thought it'd be larger based on the listing, but it's perfect; I really wanted a smaller cup since I can't actually drink alcohol and I honestly don't want giant cups of Wine or Grape Juice for Kiddush and Havdalah.

My Tzedakah Box is what I think is a jar for an old Oil Lamp; I'm pretty sure it's glass and not actually crystal. But I adore the pattern so much I couldn't not use it. Even if it is huge. I have no idea where I got this piece, though. I just ... Collected it somehow, at some point? I have no idea how or when.

And I scored a lovely set of 2 crystal dishes at a Garage Sale last year- one large round and one long oval (only the round one's on the table today). I bought them specifically to use as Challah dishes the second I saw them, so I'm really glad the Challah cover I bought fits over both of them!

I bought this adorable vase off Amazon, that looks like brown wrapping paper for those nice high dollar flowers you can get at street markets and vendors. I've always loved the way flowers look wrapped in brown paper like that. The color's off, though- but the vase is meant to be painted so I'm not too worried about it. I just haven't actually painted it yet (and I can't wait to).

I braided my own Havdalah Candle from some small Orthodox Beeswax candles I bought off Amazon as well. I was super uncomfortable using any of the ones I could find pre-braided online, since I'm fairly new at this. So I figured a small one'd be safer. The braid's not the prettiest, but the pack of candles is like 50 deep so I've got plenty to get better with.

And then by little B'samin jar is my favorite thing. It's a tiny little candy dish from the same local Vintage shop that I bought my Candle Holder from. I filled it with Rose, Jasmine, Orange, Clove, and Pine for my spices, and I love the way it smells together. I stuffed it the rest of the way with a little fabric rose, and then stuck a milky quartz chunk in the center. It just felt right for some reason?

I'm just ... I'm so happy right now. It's perfect. I just wish I had a slightly larger coffee table to eat at, ha 🤣 And yes, I'm aware my house is a mess and that I need to re-wrap the cat trees again. I'm working on some of it a bit today.

This blog belongs to a «Multi-Neuroatypical + Multi-Disabled» «Queer» «Childless» «Jewish + Pagan» «NonTraditionalist» Homemaker. TradWives are unwelcome.

#Personal #2024 #Homemaking #Homemaker #Housewife #NonTrad Homemaker #NonTrad Housewife #NonTrad Homemaking #Food Is The Ultimate Love Language #Just Potential Jewish Convert Things #Jewish Studies #Around My Home

[jewishconvertthings]

Honestly can I just say: all of y'all who are starting or continuing your conversions right now, even in these terrible times, and experiencing and embracing Jewish joy at a time when it is very hard to be Jewish? You are such a miracle and a blessing. There is a special kind of ahavat Yisrael - love for the Jewish people - that gerim bring to the table, and it's so life-giving always. But especially in dark times. Especially now.

May your light be a blessing on all of us!

#yes I'm obviously a ger too #this one is more aimed at the conversion students #I already signed up to be here and that is a Choice I have made #thank you to the bright-eyed students for reminding me why I did <3 #you give the rest of us such chizzuk #jewish convert things #jumblr #converting to judaism

[fromgoy2joy]

Poking around someone’s tumblr blog to see if they’re normal about Jews before I follow them:

#fromgoy2joy thoughts #jumblr #jewish convert #jewish #antisemitism #tw antisemtism #jewish tumblr #jewish humor #jewish things

[hindahoney]

Jews are allowed to hate Christianity 🤷🏻‍♀️ You know how many Jews have been killed by Christians? How many thousands of years they have persecuted us? How they're still, in many ways, persecuting us because they're angry they didn't supercede us? Christianity has done a lot of harm to us, and so have individual Christians who try to convert Jews on a daily basis.

#im not sorry #im allowed to hate Christianity #and so are any other religious minorities #'but you shouldnt hate a group of people then youre doing the same thing they did to you!' #but do you realize how its not the same because jews are a minority #im allowed to not forgive them for what theyve done to my people #and i dont feel bad about it #the amount of times a Christian has made me uncomfortable because they were trying to convert me #fuck off #judaism #jumblr #jewish #frumblr #antisemitism #jewish history

[thisshitisridiculous]

WHY IS WILSON AT THE MEETING THE MOM AND TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE DINNER

#i'm gonna scream #throuple of all time truly #wilson super interested in if house would convert if he married someone jewish also just a casual thing #totally normal #house md

[quasi-normalcy]

.

#so first of all i'm not jewish. #but i feel like i occupy a relatively weird position with respect to judaism. #because the neighbourhood in which i grew up was like...30-50% jewish? #it was jewish enough that the local families requested and got a hebrew immersion programme at the local elementary school #that operated in parallel to the english programme that i attended #and about half of my friends growing up were jewish. #and so i absorbed a lot of the surface-level details of the religion by a sort of osmosis #like...i knew the dates and significance of the various jewish holy days #and i knew a smattering of phrases in hebrew (phonetically); most of them apparently quite rude #and we occasionally did jewish religious songs in choir (some of them admittedly lifted from the 'Prince of Egypt' soundtrack) #and once when i was in high school i was on a trivia team; and we asked a run of questions about judaism; #and i was the only one who knew them even though (i swear to god) i was the non-Jewish player on either team #(and then when i was much older i almost married a jewish enby and i would even have tried to convert for them #but our relationship fell apart for unrelated reasons) #but one of the things that was drilled into me when i was growing up (by my dad who grew up under similar circumstances) #was that you don't criticise Israel; it's antisemitic to criticise Israel #(which made for a lot of fraught moments as a teenager given that i was watching the second Intifada on the news) #and the thing is even now in the face of what seems pretty unambiguously to be a genocide against the Palestinians #i find that i'm more circumspect about criticizing israel than i would be just about any other country under the same circumstances #like i was writing things like 'fuck saudi arabia' when they were murdering houthis in yemen #but 'fuck israel'? #even though a little harsh language is least of what that regime deserves #ugh #i feel like i'm privy to the death of a dream that was never even mine. #personal #religion

[yardsards]

can i ask about your experience as a quaker (or growing up as one? i just saw you mention bein one in some tags)

i jus don't know much about them

so i was not raised quaker, i was raised baptist. which was. 0/10, do not recommend. all the guilt of catholicism with none of the stained glass lmaooo

like, i did resinate with the idea of there being some sort of higher power and i liked the idea of getting together with other believers to discuss spiritual matters but as i got older and started thinking for myself i realized i really didn't like a lot of things about the church. i hated the bigoted beliefs of its members. i hated the emphasis on blind obedience to authority. i didn't believe that the whole literal truth could be found within one book, specifically one group's interpretation of said book. and the idea that people were born inherently bad and sinful and that a supposedly kind and just god would condemn people to eternal suffering just for not believing the "right" things just did not sit well with me at all

when i went off to college i decided to try out a few different churches around town. i ended up settling on a progressive presbyterian church. the community was great and very accepting of queer people. i had some minor qualms with the theology but it wasn't like with my parents' church where every sermon made me feel increasingly nauseous, and i generally felt *good* during and after the services

and then covid hit and while they did stream their sermons, i lost that sense of community and just kinda... fell away

throughout all this i was researching different faiths online, both christian and non-christian. and one faith that kept popping up a lot that i liked the sound of was quakerism. like at one point i remember taking some online quiz of like "what religion do your values most align with" and quakerism was very in the lead. (before this, i'd only really been exposed to quakerism in history textbooks and assumed the religion died out alongside puritanism)

in the end what got me really interested was actually a video by a youtuber i liked, a queer/disability advocate and historical fashion enjoyer who also happened to be quaker

and after looking more into it, i decided to try attending a quaker meeting. which was easier due to covid cuz i could find a church online (located physically hundreds of miles from me) that did their sunday services over zoom

and so i attended and the people there were great and were doing actual good in their communities. and the way services were run, and their beliefs about what god *was* and all of that just hit me with an intense feeling of like. holy shit this is what i've always wanted from religion.

the video explains the sort of core beliefs and practices of quakerism better than i can but the main belief is that like. every person is godly. as such, it's our job to treat all living people as equally and kindly as possible. additionally, since we all have god inside of us, we need to look inwards and come to our own conclusions about our own religious beliefs and practices (and generally respect other people's religious beliefs even if they differ from our own, so long as they're not causing real tangible harm)

i haven't attended any meetings in a while, due to that group going back to semi in person (they still stream it out but it feels more like being a spectator than a member) and there being no quaker meetinghouses in the tiny town i currently live in, coinciding with me being too depressed to regularly attend anything. but i'm planning to start attending quaker meetings again once i move to a real city

#eliot posts #christianity cw #quakerism #tangentially: another faith that popped up a lot in my searches was reform judaism #from what i read it had a lot of the same things that i liked about quakerism. and was second place in that quiz i took lol #also my big sister was really interested in judaism when she was a teen (tho never converted) #bc our mother's side of the family is ashkenazi jewish but just ethnically not in practice. and my sis was interested in our roots #so i have a bit of a soft spot towards the faith because of her lol #but i decided i didn't wanna try and join any synagogues even online unless i was really serious about considering conversion #figured they didnt need a clueless gentile bargin in and being Confused and i felt too awkward to directly ask any individuals abt it #which was prolly like 20% a reasonable conclusion and 80% my anxious tendencies telling me i'm just a nuisance #but yeah lmao i think in a nearby parallel universe (if those exist) there's an eliot that converted to progressive judaism lol #long post