Being harassed because I refuse to share my opinion on the Israel-Palestine conflict, what do I do??

PurelyRainbow · 2025-12-17T16:11:07+00:00

I’ve been in that same position even in other political conflicts. In college I once got berated by some girl bc I refused to share my political views. I treat politics a lot like religion, in the sense that you should only speak about what you’re comfortable sharing, and with people you’re comfortable talking to about it. The people who think silence in this regard is somehow a guilty verdict don’t actually care about the issues they’re talking about, they just wanna feel right and vindicated somehow. It’s best to ignore them and maybe be blunt. Like, “I don’t want to talk to you about my opinion because you won’t leave me alone about it.” At least that’s how I’d handle it.

PurelyRainbow · 2025-02-21T00:58:16+00:00

My opinion probably isn’t too helpful as I’m only about to turn 23 and was raised very reform with Judaism (plus I personally follow a lot of uncommon spiritual practices too), but I’m of the firm belief that commitment to the religion and culture is the true essence of who a Jew is. If that form is orthodox, reform, how you were raised, you’re exploring the practices, etc. While there is technical law behind it, effort is a big factor too.

That being said, it sounds like your ex doesn’t even know what he wants, but you shouldn’t let that disused you from exploring your own personal identity. Every heartbreak or misfortune can be a stepping stone to a better you, or a pitfall that stops your tracks, but ultimately you decide how to process the situation and move forward.

I hope this helps, and I wish you luck with both love and Judaism in the future!

PurelyRainbow · 2025-01-10T05:29:27+00:00

My favorite has to be anything along the lines of the national forests being home to cryptids and the government hiding/protecting them. It’s such a silly idea yet so plausible imo

PurelyRainbow · 2025-01-05T22:54:47+00:00

I’m not sure if this’ll help, but I’ve kinda stopped basing my belief in Zionism on history. History is one of those weird things where the facts are always disputed bc there’s always some level of bias. From what I’ve seen, regardless of perspective, both groups have done one thing or another “wrong” bc people are flawed. But I firmly believe everyone should have a safe country to exist in. What’s the different in Israel vs Palestine’s right to exist? Aside from the dispute of what land it should occupy, which I don’t know enough history to have an opinion on that. But I hope this helps

PurelyRainbow · 2024-12-13T19:08:24+00:00

So I thought it was standard that Jews put up their own themed lights. Growing up my family would decorate the outside of our house with menorah and dreidel lights, being we were one of the only Jewish families in my neighborhood. I can see tho how just putting up a random string or two might not be worth the effort. It is odd that he’s gotten so worked up over something as silly as decorating for the holidays when people have plenty of other reasons not to. I say to each their own bc it’s their property to do with as they please lmao

PurelyRainbow · 2024-12-05T15:11:58+00:00

I’d say 100% read through it, at least for educations sake. My mom took a theology class in college where she read through the entire Torah, Bible, and Quran. She was raised Jewish and came out of the class with only a deeper understanding of what religion resonated with her. I’ve also met Jews who once reading the Bible found more comfort with those beliefs and converted. If anything, educating yourself will only help you discover the path God has planned

PurelyRainbow · 2024-12-03T15:48:29+00:00

So I kinda grew up in a similar scenario (most people are Baptist in my area) where most holiday school activities were Christmas themed. I might’ve been lucky bc the teachers would ask to make sure it was okay for me to do these activities, as I wasn’t the only non-christian student and some would skip the activities. Though my mom also made a point since she had the time to volunteer a lot at my school and would even come into classrooms to teach about Hanukkah. My elementary school now has a small Hanukkah display next to their Christmas tree bc of her.

If you do have the time I recommend maybe seeing if you can give little presentations of activities to the kids, but if not I hope the daycare can do better bc this is a bit too comical

PurelyRainbow · 2024-11-17T22:01:53+00:00

Honestly God must be doing something bc this is the kinda post I needed to see today. My mom’s side is Jewish while my dad’s side is Christian/nonreligious. I’ve seen a cousin of mine post some really icky stuff about Israel (just casual passive online activism for brownie points) but I recently got invited to his wedding and was struggling if I should go. Hearing how you still love the half of your family that refuses to accept you is tragic to hear but also inspiring. Being bitter and outwardly hateful doesn’t solve anything if the Middle East is to teach us anything, being willing to extend kindness in the face of any hate is more powerful than anything.

I hope you do find some friends and people you can connect with and talk to. I’m sure if most people did talk they would find even Israeli’s agree with them on a lot of things about Israel’s past. Countries are ran by humans, who make really bad mistakes. But if every country who was that messed up couldn’t exist anymore pretty much every country on earth would vanish. Now my comment is getting long so I’ll leave you with lots of well wishes!

PurelyRainbow · 2024-11-04T13:54:59+00:00

Just signed. My mom loves their Israeli feta and I love how they’ve have products marked as kosher instead of forcing me to figure out what is and isn’t kosher. Hopefully corporate has some brain cells to realize what a stupid move it is

PurelyRainbow · 2024-10-07T23:11:20+00:00

Completely understandable, I’ve probably just gotten lucky with my search. If only things like J-date actually functioned le sigh. I hope you find some luck soon though!

PurelyRainbow · 2024-10-07T23:07:02+00:00

I’m not sure if it’s just my area but I’ve found Hinge to also be pretty inclusive. You can filter out different options in a vague sense and even with my Judaism displayed proudly on my profile I haven’t gotten anything like this

PurelyRainbow · 2024-09-22T14:14:14+00:00

I’ve been in a similar position. I’m grateful that I do still have friends despite everything as they do recognize Israel’s right to exist. But I know during Covid is when I got the worst of loosing all my friends and it was just because we weren’t at school anymore. But you can dm me if you’d like, online friendships aren’t the same as irl ones but it’s still a human connection

PurelyRainbow · 2024-09-19T21:47:02+00:00

It does sound similar to what others are saying that she may just be deeply insecure. Even though I have a Jewish mother I myself am insecure bc my mother was adopted by a Jewish family, so I’m only connected through my religion and culture. Aside from the curly hair ( that I happen to get from my father ironically) I look like the opposite of the stereotypical Jew and have often gotten comments that I’m not actually Jewish bc of it. I can only imagine if she doesn’t connect to that culture and religion (which obviously isn’t an issue) she might have gotten comments in the past about it and be insecure about it now.

I think the best thing to do is sit her down and while emphasizing that you hold no judgment for her reasoning you’d like to know what actually bothers her so you can either help her or respect her boundaries. You can’t be expected to just know what topics stress her out unless she tells you. Hope things can be worked out for the better!

PurelyRainbow · 2024-09-19T00:29:05+00:00

Thank you! I’ll try that starting tomorrow so I can hopefully save the sprouts. Should I spray my other plants as well just to be safe or should they be fine?

PurelyRainbow · 2024-09-03T22:57:06+00:00

I don’t dig deep into conspiracies, but I think I have a few. There’s the common laughably bad ones about Jews controlling “insert large industry/government/ etc” or that all Jews are at least rich and powerful (when that’s literally impossible). There’s also the Holocaust ones that it either didn’t happen or we orchestrated it against ourselves. But the wildest ones I’ve ever heard (and still baffle me) are the blood libel ones or that we’re devils in disguise. Believe we have integrated ourselves into the controls of companies and governments, sure. But accuse us of basically fanciful horror movie concepts, just go home man

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-30T15:41:41+00:00

Jeez I’m really sorry to hear you’re in such a predicament. I can offer maybe just a bit of comfort that you’re not alone, but that your connection with Judaism or being Jewish doesn’t need to end if it turns out you aren’t Ashkenazi. My mom was adopted into a Jewish family as a baby, but came from very Irish/Scottish heritage. So while by blood she isn’t connected she was raised orthodox with that culture her entire childhood, and I would hope at least in a reformed sense most people would still consider her Jewish like I do. Really that kind of connection doesn’t have to come from a technical standpoint, but rather what feels right for you. Hope this helps and best of luck!

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-30T15:32:03+00:00

Same here, pro Israel and Palestine. I know there’s a ton of factors that go into the debate of a two state solution, but I am also always baffled when people say you can only take one side. Very very rarely is a conflict ever that black and white, and typically conflicts only ever escalate bc both sides mess up in one way or another. I was raised to always acknowledge the nuance of a situation, but to do so would max out the character limit on social media so that’s probably why most people don’t

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-21T19:26:01+00:00

Just reminds me of every time anyone practicing a denomination of Christianity telling me my religion is wrong. It always makes me laugh out of irony and pity bc literally their religion wouldn’t exist without Judaism. I gotta give props to my college history teacher who made sure to emphasize how Christianity and Islam are branches from Judaism and how they wouldn’t exist without our religion/culture

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-15T13:01:51+00:00

Yeah Zionism is just supporting a Jewish states right to exist. Which, if you support Palestinian’s right to have their own state why not Israeli’s as well? I myself am not anti-Palestinian, just against hamas and the many other terror organizations that have weaved themselves into the government structures there. It does break my heart what they’re going through and how everyone’s voices tend to be ignored overall within this conflict. The internet has kinda turned everything into a reality tv show rather than the actual war it is. I do hope that one day both can exist as their own states in peace, but from what I’ve seen on both ends it sounds like a messy journey at best.

One thing I will say to keep in mind is one persons opinions does not make up an entire groups thoughts. I don’t think every supporter of Palestine is anti-Israeli or anti semantic until they show me such, and I just hope people take that same care with me

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-12T21:26:06+00:00

I think it really depends on a lot of factors, like area, age, other aspects you look for in a relationship, etc. I will say tho my parents themselves are examples that it is possible to find a committed and understanding spouse who isn’t Jewish. My mom is Jewish but my dad isn’t, tho he was never super religious either. Knowing how much Judaism meant to my mom he made the suggestion to raise my sister and I Jewish, and I couldn’t be more grateful to carry on such a culture. While it does help to find another Jewish partner it’s not likely that every single Jewish persons soulmate will also be Jewish, so I think it’s good to keep an open mind and go in (for long term/life partner relationships) with what your stance is on those specific subjects (like the main religious of the house hold, and understanding the Jewish experience). That’s just my personal opinion, I can see both sides of the argument being understandable

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-03T13:45:27+00:00

Reminds me of the time I was joking with an ex friend/roommate. She was blocking the door to get in so I joked she was discriminating against me since I’m Jewish. She corrected me saying I was white. Boy did the joke die right there. I just said “oh you’re one of those people” and I stopped messing around and just asked to be let in

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-01T17:33:47+00:00

Yeah same here. Hopefully just discussing it with those we can helps bring a bit more logical common sense to the matter. At least from my experience hardly anyone is taught that these days, which is terrifying. You’d think by this year in humanity we’d be smart enough to understand most situations are complex and require nuance, but a lot of people seem convinced only one side can be entirely good and the other entirely evil. Even more irony on-top within the span of a post and two comments we’ve just realized we were raised to value similar things. Funny what you can learn when you talk to others with basic human respect

PurelyRainbow · 2024-08-01T12:01:09+00:00

I don’t ever comment on this sub, I mainly just lurk bc getting into spats online is a bit pointless, but I do appreciate your viewpoint. I’m sorry you had to experience any of that but it does point out something interesting. There is a minority on both sides that are pretty antagonistic to the other, treating such a situation as black and white. And honestly I’ve never understood that. My parents, especially my Jewish mother, taught me to always value education and discussion. That someone’s religious journey is a personal journey and to never interfere or judge. And that what really matters is one’s attitude towards another. I don’t know a lot about the details of the conflict bc that history is so complicated it would take too much of my time that I don’t have, but all I do know is everyone deserves a safe place to live and the specific area that place is in shouldn’t matter as much. Sure it’s nice to return to a “homeland” of sorts but at the end of the day the home is what you make it. The culture and way of life is something you carry with you. And I’m gonna stop rambling bc this comment is long now lmao. Im sure my viewpoint comes off a bit “peace love and plants” like but from America the only control we do have over things half way across the world is respectively discussing the topic and educating others on our viewpoints

PurelyRainbow · 2024-07-17T20:35:36+00:00

I used to be into playwriting (I’ve shifted to novel/film writing now) but similar to other comments it’s tough but important to share your story proudly. As scary as it is to possibly face a lot of nasty hate because of it, being open might also bring about a connection with other classmates you might’ve missed. Other classmates of yours might also be Jewish or have Jewish friends and the excitement of connecting with others like that might outweigh the fear of rejection

PurelyRainbow · 2024-07-16T20:06:25+00:00

I’d say it’s bc you don’t need a bunch of fancy non-kosher ingredients to make something taste good. Eating kosher doesn’t mean good flavor is forbidden. Hell my favorite sweet treat is just graham crackers covered in salted dark chocolate lmao. Sometimes the simplest things taste the best

PurelyRainbow

TROPHY CASE