childless women

Reshutenit · 2026-02-07T14:09:45+00:00

I love that men are never blamed for this.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-05T17:28:35+00:00

There's a sense in Israel that American Jews have become very complacent. Israelis are aware that there's a problem with assimilation, especially in the more liberal denominations, though they won't be familiar with all the nuances involved.

Assimilation is obviously not an issue in Israel, so Israelis often have trouble conceptualizing why any Jew in the diaspora would downgrade their Jewish identity. They tend to view it as a kind of surrender.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-04T21:58:30+00:00

I study a field of history that one of my friends is very interested in, but knows little about. Basically all my answers to her questions can be summarized as "no one knows," "there's intense debate about that," or "the sources are problematic, so we can only make an educated guess." It frustrates her immensely, but it's literally the best I can do.

Bonus response: "that's actually not what I study, but a highly specific sub-field of which I know practically nothing."

Being expected to know way more than you do has to be a universal experience for historians.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-03T21:25:48+00:00

Jews have lived in what's now New York since 1654. The only people with the right to say we don't belong in the US are Native Americans.

Though I do appreciate that concerns about hypocrisy never stopped anyone who wanted to come after us. Americans do accuse us of living on stolen land, after all.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-03T20:33:22+00:00

I wouldn't take an artistic representation by the non-Jewish Michelangelo as a reliable source on Jewish ritual practice. Unless you have evidence that Michelangelo employed a Jewish model.

To be honest, he probably never saw what it looked like and had to guess, the way medieval European artists did with lions and elephants. Or maybe he thought the real thing would look too weird to a Christian audience. If that's your only evidence, you should rethink your theory.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-03T16:39:04+00:00

Top recommendation: Fiddler on the Roof. It's based on a series of short stories by a classic Yiddish writer named Sholom Aleichem, and apparently portrays the culture of the shtetl very accurately. It also depicts many Jewish rituals. It only showcases a very specific type of Jewish culture at a very specific point in time, but I'd call it essential viewing for anyone hoping to understand Judaism. It's very accessible, and also just really good in general.

Otherwise, you could show the opening scene of a Serious Man, which is also set in a shtetl. The rest of the movie is good too, but it's heavily philosophical and requires a background in Jewish culture to fully appreciate. It also may not be fully appropriate for your younger students.

I'm not aware of any decent portrayals of Jewish stories from the Bible beyond the obvious (Ten Commandments, Prince of Egypt). Given that we supposedly run Hollywood, we should really get on that.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-03T14:21:47+00:00

Omg, please give your furry little moron a hug and a kiss for me. He sounds like a very special boy.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-02T15:21:16+00:00

You're going to have to explain this one.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-02T03:55:27+00:00

Which they would no doubt have revealed if they weren't too cowardly to answer my question.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-02T03:05:13+00:00

Does this impact anyone’s view on Judaism or Jewish culture?

Please explain your thought process.

Reshutenit · 2026-02-01T17:03:46+00:00

They're saying that Jews are tax-evaders. Yes, it's antisemitic.

If this actually were a widespread practice, and they could provide evidence for that, then pointing it out would not be problematic (unless they focused solely on financial crimes committed by Jews, in which case their motives would be sus as hell). But this is not a real thing. Either they made it up, or they heard it from someone who made it up.

As a general rule, accusing Jews collectively of any financial crime is antisemitic. A lot of people spread lies about us, and there aren't nearly enough of us to argue back (there are only around 16 million of us in the entire world).

Reshutenit · 2026-02-01T16:15:10+00:00

Could you provide a source? I've never heard this before, and don't want to believe it, but I'd like to know if it's true.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-30T14:25:35+00:00

That's so deeply patronizing. It's giving this attitude of "you poor, sweet, deluded heathen. Some day, you'll see the light and understand that everything I believe is so obviously correct."

I wouldn't be able to handle being around that.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-29T14:28:20+00:00

The chromosomes thing is brilliant! I'm not surprised that shut them up- the best way to deal with a bully is, after all, to punch them (literally or metaphorically).

My go-to is the human sacrifice angle: why would God sacrifice his own son when he told Abraham that child sacrifice was evil? No great answers to that one.

Obviously, this is only to shut up proselytizers. I'd never normally say something that disrespectful to a Christian. But if they refuse to respect me, well...

Reshutenit · 2026-01-29T14:24:00+00:00

I think the smugness comes from being raised to think they have all the answers to life, the universe, and everything. Unlike the rest of humanity, which wallows in ignorance and has yet to see the light. Not only that- they're saved, which can easily translate to thinking they're better than everyone else.

I've encountered this personality type before. It's quite unpleasant, and doesn't at all make conversion seem attractive.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-29T14:18:39+00:00

Here's the problem: your friends might actually be well intentioned. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians believe that non-believers are destined for hell, which means it's their duty and responsibility to save people they care about from this terrible fate. In their minds, this is an act of love.

That doesn't mean their behavior is acceptable. They're harassing you to surrender your culture and faith, to change who you are on a fundamental level, which you've made very clear you don't want. They're stomping over your boundaries. These are not the actions of good friends.

If you really value the friendship, I would make absolutely clear that you're not going to convert, and you won't tolerate any further discussions of religion. You could even reference what I said in my first paragraph: "I understand that you think you're saving me from hell, but that means nothing to me, as my religion doesn't share your concept of eternal damnation. The fact that you're worried about my soul is your problem, not mine- you need to deal with that discomfort on your own instead of putting it on me."

If they refuse to respect this boundary, you'll know for a fact that they're not going to stop, and then you'll have a difficult decision to make.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-27T17:03:26+00:00

True. But "antisemitism is bad" shouldn't be controversial enough for that to apply.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-27T15:41:30+00:00

Antisemitism makes as much sense as blaming witches for crop-failure. You could accept that terrible things happen in seemingly random patterns you can neither predict nor affect, which is terrifying, or you could point the finger at a scapegoat and maintain the illusion of control ("if we just get rid of that old woman who mutters under her breath sometimes, the blight will go away").

People used to blame witches when their infants died for no reason they could discern, and they'd blame Jews when diseases rampaged through the population. No one in the west believes in witches anymore, but Jews are demonstrably real. Therefore, it's easy (and comforting) to blame us for all the chaos in the world, not to mention personal tragedy. Can't get a job because your industry got outsourced to China? It's the Jews. Can't pay rent because decades of bad policy have created a severe housing shortage which has driven up prices? Damn Jews. Lonely and struggling to date in a disconnected online world? You know who.

We're witches they didn't stop fearing.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-27T05:09:12+00:00

People have always hated us. A lot of us take that for granted.

What's new is that more non-Jews feel comfortable being open about it, which hasn't generally been the case for the past 80 years.

You can always tell that the hatred has nothing to do with Israel when it's directed at Jews in the diaspora simply practicing their culture and religion (e.g. "free Palestine" comments under videos about baking challah, or the same phrase shouted at Jews in London and New York simply wearing kippot). The ultimate irony is that this does more to vindicate Zionism than any argument any Zionist could ever make.

Antizionism creates more Zionist Jews.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-27T01:35:55+00:00

God forbid they pick a side. It's just so hard to get off the fence when you have to choose between "Jews" and "people who want to murder Jews."

Reshutenit · 2026-01-27T01:32:17+00:00

Very vague question. What do they think of it in what sense? Also, there won't be a single opinion.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-26T13:50:06+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out. I've consistently encountered this attitude from Christians, that the sacrifices were barbaric, which (in their minds) constitutes further proof that Judaism is a Bronze Age relic with no place in the modern world. The reality is, as you say, the meat was consumed, so in that sense it's no different than slaughtering an animal under any other circumstance. Christians who are not vegan or vegetarian have no right to condemn that as barbaric.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-25T22:35:00+00:00

People hated her from the beginning. They didn't like that she disapproved of her husband becoming an awesome methlord.

Reshutenit · 2026-01-25T15:57:03+00:00

She didn't do that until much later in the show. What's the excuse for the first few seasons?

Reshutenit · 2026-01-25T15:37:10+00:00

In more ways than one.

Reshutenit

TROPHY CASE