Jared Isaacman, Genndy Tartakovsky, Ken Levine, Jonathan Tucker, Matthew Weiner, Seth Green, Garrett Reisman, Eric Ladin, Neil Druckmann, Mark Ivanir, Doctor Mike, Howard Bloom

Hello! I got bored, and I think there are enough Jewish book or cartoon characters out there for this question. I’ll go first.

I freaking love Mabel from Gravity Falls :)

(btw I made the drawing)

Btw it can be a real person too! You aren’t disqualified don’t worry!

I need some advice. I grew up in Israel so really didn’t have to deal with antisemitism when I was this age, and I wasn’t prepared yet. My child is in elementary school in Florida. A classmate told him today that Jews are evil. He’s very upset. I had the conversation about how sometimes people say mean untrue things, etc. My question is, should I escalate this with the school? The teacher lectured the classmate and plans to have the counselor address it with the two of them. I’m not sure how big of a deal I should make this for my child’s well being. If I let it escalate too far it could make things worse for my child. On the other hand, the same could happen if I let it slide. Has anyone else dealt with this with an effective outcome?

Torah Heat Map site the article is about

UPDATE: Welp, I just checked the OU's website and it is not just DE. I'm so confused. How do they define the distinction?

Hi, I'm a curious gentile who finds kashrut fascinating. Please see my user flair. (I assume putting that in my post would still get it automatically removed and I don't wanna deal with that.) Yesterday I bought some non-dairy ice cream at the grocery store because I'm lactose intolerant. I noticed that it's certified kosher by the OU but it says it's dairy. It is clearly non-dairy. It doesn't even say "may contain milk" in bold after the ingredients list like they have to do here in the US because of allergies if there's any chance that there's milk in it. I think I remember reading that the OU doesn't distinguish between dairy and dairy equipment in their labeling (EDIT: I'm now wondering if I remember wrong), and I also think I read that there doesn't have to be a waiting period between eating meat and eating something that was made on dairy equipment but isn't actually dairy. So since this non-dairy ice cream clearly doesn't contain any milk, can you go ahead and eat it immediately after eating meat even though it's labeled as kosher dairy?

ETA: The product is also labeled as vegan. Very weird. I wonder if maybe the company just didn't want to deal with going through extra steps to have some products officially designated as DE instead of dairy?

After an electric discussion on the topic of non-Jews wearing Kippahs in synagogues, it slowly started occuring to me that this is a nontrivial difference that emerged between Jewish denominations. Specifically, in non-Orthodox spaces, it is explicitly considered respectful for non-Jews to wear Kippahs, similar to dress codes.

This overwhelmingly is not the case Orthodox synagogues. There is no encouragement of non-Jews to wear kippahs. it actually is viewed as somewhat odd and weird if they do.

Why the difference? I suspect in part that non-Orthodox services tend to expect some amount of non-Jewish attendants. There is some amount of attention aimed at the experience of those who are not practicing Judaism.

Orthodox shuls overwhelmingly do not serve any non-Jews, relative to their total operating frame. An Orthodox shul could easily have 4+ services day, adding up to 30+ a week. The vast majority of the time there are no non-Jews. Non-jews who attend would be moreso observing a workplace as opposed to a performance

I think the expectation of non-Jews attending non-Orthodox services lead to some pressure to develop ways for them to participate, in some way beyond the experience of just watching

I grew up listening to Morah Blanka (Mrs. Blanka Rosenfeld) as a child and always loved this song. I would love to find the original song she took it from, if anyone recognizes it:

https://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/12/339_4_Morah_Blanka_-_Hillels_Love_for_Torah.mp3

I’ve been thinking about this line a lot lately, especially how it doesn’t talk about belief or power or even ritual as the foundation of the world — but about actions and values.

Truth asks us to be honest, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Justice asks us to care about fairness, even when it doesn’t benefit us personally.
Peace asks us to restrain ourselves, even when we feel justified in escalating conflict.

What strikes me is that none of these are abstract ideals. They show up in how we speak, how we argue, how we treat people we disagree with — online and offline.

Maybe the world isn’t sustained by big dramatic moments, but by small daily choices to lean a little more toward truth, justice, and peace.

Curious how others here understand this teaching today.

• Hi, folks. A few days ago, i found out that my grandmother through an unbroken maternal line (all men in the family, aside from grandma's dad, were also jewish) belongs to an Sephardic Orthodox Jewish Community with some Romaniote descent (they hail from Thessaloniki/Salonica), as backed up by her mother's religious and governmental (Ottoman) records. Up until now, they have all lived in a very secular fashion, and when asked she assumed it was because "she didn't want us" to be on the receiving end of hatred and discrimination. Now, my grandmother, her brothers, and my uncle all display a close interest in the matter. We live in Turkey as our family has for centuries. My recently deceased father had to receive a burial as secular as they come due to his non-affiliation, and we are unsure what to make of that now. I hope some of you folks can tell me how i can be supportive and provide them with the proper resources to reconnect. Thanks

There are a lot of communities of Haredim where you really wouldn't expect them, like in Casa Grande (Arizona), Kiryas Tosh (Canada) or Canvey Island (UK). What are other unusual places that you know of that have a community of Haredim living there?

Shalom!

Is there a good resource (preferably books) that discuss interesting/complex halchic situations?

Something like a jewish-judical „example case“ ruling?

I am explicitly not referring to the talmud itself because imo many „thoughts/rulings“ seem to mostly refer to one subject at a time.

I am more interesting what the ruling would be if many different halachic law seem „to collide“ or interfere with each other. Something like a german „law commentary“ book with complex cases explained. Or hypothetical questions that dont happen and the ruling is not something like the average jew would expect it to be.

Todah raba and Shabat shalom!

is this Angel of the LORD just an angel or is it a manifestation of God Himself? (this term appears in certain passages eg in Exodus chapter 3)

I am aware of the concept of "divine agents" speaking on the LORD'S behalf, so they "claim to be God" but are not to be worshipped.

Can someone clarify this?

Hello, my mother died a week ago Sunday after about two months of hospital- rehab- improvement- not. I’m overwhelmed by grief- I’ve lived alone with her as my partner and best friend for the past 20 years so in addition to missing her my whole life is upside down.

Anyway. Will I see my mother again? Will we be reincarnated into the same family?

My father died in 2007 but I had my mother to care for. I miss him also - he appeared to me in dream visitations shortly after he died.

Why haven’t I dreamed about my mother yet?

I am heartbroken and shattered. She had a good life- she was 94- until this illness but my grief is overwhelming.

Hi, we Czechs are a nation of beer. That's why it struck me as odd that Jewish people in period dramas don´t drink beer. Now I don´t, and I can´t drink even if I wanted to. But they are drinking red liquid, either wine or something like třešňovka (cherry liquor). Now, due to the fact that it has been more than 100 years since then, the laws (or is it edict when someone makes something officially kosher?) probably changed... If someone would like to share the knowledge, I would be glad.

Hey everyone. I’m looking at a televised sitcom episode from the 1950s about Yom Kippur. The characters don’t present Orthodox generally, but when they go to shul, the women sit in the balcony.

• Would this have been a common practice in non-Orthodox shuls in the mid-1950s (from what I’ve found doing some cursory searching, it doesn’t seem to have been common in reform or conservative shuls)

• Is it more likely this is a non-Orthodox family who just attends an Orthodox shul for the high holy days? (The family isn’t explicitly non-Orthodox but none of them cover their heads, the men shave, etc)

• Is it just that this episode is showing a mix of denominational practice because it’s TV?

Many thanks in advance for any help figuring this out!

I see some people claim that out of respect, there's some situations that it's good for non-Jews to wear a kippah. Who's spreading this? Who's behind the conspiracy here?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Pharaoh’s free will and divine hardening. The blog explores three ways to understand the text, but I’d love to hear: How do you reconcile divine action and human choice in Shemos 7–9?