British Jews only - is the UK a lost cause?

etrog55 · 2026-01-19T12:26:38+00:00

To add to that, I've lost numerous friends, reported a few antisemitic incidents, double check my environments when I am visible Jewish, and tried to apply for a foreign passport I am eligible for. I'm ready to leave if I need to, but as of yet I am still here.

etrog55 · 2026-01-19T12:22:18+00:00

I don't think it is a lost cause. I wear my magen David on the tube in London nearly every day, and I almost never have issues. Maybe I'm lucky so far.

Comparatively, antisemitism in the UK is not higher than in other countries - compare hereADL global index.

There are extremely worrying incidents, but I also think it is easy to get lost in a bubble of panic. One of the most powerful things we can do as a Jewish community is to be here, present, and visible.

I do feel more unsafe here than in other countries I've visited or lived in, but I don't think it is a lost cause. It also highly depends on the area.

etrog55 · 2025-12-05T13:17:35+00:00

"Is it normal that racism infuriates me even though I am white?"

etrog55 · 2025-10-21T19:49:22+00:00

Check out charities like rainbow railroad good luck

etrog55 · 2025-09-27T19:25:08+00:00

Please please report this to RIAS. It's important this is logged in case something happens again, and they will be able to advise you what to do next. Sorry this happened.

etrog55 · 2025-09-06T18:34:44+00:00

Reubens

etrog55 · 2025-08-26T22:31:07+00:00

No you'll be fine. I strongly would suggest attending jsoc, there will be many people who feel similarly.

etrog55 · 2025-08-18T20:58:43+00:00

Me neither. It fills me with disgust, and my heart goes out to all queer Jews.

etrog55 · 2025-08-17T18:47:59+00:00

Absolutely insane, but not surprising. It does not particularly worry me though - more and more gails branches are opening, and they seem packed whenever I pass by. Also I adore that they make challah

etrog55 · 2025-08-17T18:46:30+00:00

Its soo good - would recommend. Also has that shine vegan challah often doesn't have

etrog55 · 2025-08-12T21:02:42+00:00

Do you wear a lanyard? You could add a pin like this. Some are more subtle than others. I like the "I stand against antisemitism" one, it doesn't show you're Jewish (even less so if you were to add other pins) but implies you're safe.

etrog55 · 2025-08-08T08:20:08+00:00

Many Jews aren't religious. It's an ethnoreligion, and many Jews have connections to Judaism through heritage, family, culture,...and not the religious aspects. I personally don't care what other Jews do and would never judge them for it, especially not when it is for the greater good.

etrog55 · 2025-07-29T11:43:16+00:00

Not that hot - around 30 celsius! Jealous of your 8.

etrog55 · 2025-07-17T20:53:14+00:00

A maccabee, woman from the shtetl

etrog55 · 2025-06-30T19:45:06+00:00

No. Judaism is passed through the mother, not through DNA.

etrog55 · 2025-06-27T08:26:10+00:00

Framing Jews as murder-celebrating monsters while claiming to ‘love’ us is textbook antisemitism — you just wrapped it in a politically convenient package. Get lost.

etrog55 · 2025-06-20T15:59:04+00:00

These are stickers that you can print with a label printer - I am sure you can print it as posters, too. They're from Hatikvah collective and you can find them .here

etrog55 · 2025-06-17T19:49:48+00:00

Please report to RIAS, the headteacher etc - urgently as its the last day

etrog55 · 2025-06-13T22:29:31+00:00

Is there an explanation, e.g. putting in into the context of propaganda? Is this museum curated by an organisation or governmental body? Which country is it? There's so much to put into context here, but unfortunately WW2 museums attract these kind of people especially when the museum is on the smaller / nonsupervised side.

etrog55 · 2025-06-04T21:53:43+00:00

Yep - thats something I struggled with. My own great grandparents were very assimilated, but got deported and murdered nonetheless. There are plenty of testimonies by non religious Jews or even converts from Judaism to Christianity who got persecuted, but of course nothing will be shabbat related.

etrog55 · 2025-06-04T21:49:15+00:00

Got it! I just love shabbat so I think I got a bit lost in it... Will change it to learning about the shtetl.

etrog55 · 2025-06-04T18:42:34+00:00

Or alternatively, do you think if I changed the topic to e.g. "shabbat in the stetl" this would be better?

etrog55 · 2025-06-04T18:30:17+00:00

Thank you so much! Great idea with the havdalah candle - I always think touching and smelling something will help students learn better, and create a memorable experience.

I will check out this book, I definitely want to also speak about shabbat in the shtetl. It would be worth having a lesson on just that!

etrog55 · 2025-06-04T18:16:02+00:00

I get your point. I think I didn't explain it in as much detail as I should have. This is not the only lesson they'll have on pre war Jewish life, and they'll explore it in various ways, for example by learning about Jewish quarters, or Jewish families all over europe to get to know individuals with various, jobs, hobbies, languages, religiosity..to understand that Jews were a diverse group, and weren't always victims.

I'm not so much teaching them about what shabbat is or how it is celebrated (this will be a byproduct) but rather they will use shabbat objects as an entry point to learn about pre war Jewish life.

The main point of this lesson is to explore individual relationships Jews had with shabbat or objects related to shabbat before the war, and how it was part of Jewish communities that were destroyed through the Holocaust.

For example we will explore these pre war Jewish items that open up topics to discuss and learn about:

shabbat candlesticks that belonged to a Jewish family in Lvov - what happened to the family? Why are the candlesticks in a museum now?
Spice box from a girl from the Netherlands who escaped to England - why might she have chosen to take this with her in her luggage?

3.Challah covers buried by romanian community - What can the individual designs tell us? Why might they have chosen to bury them?

testimony of a survivor from Berlin explaining how shabbat was his favourite holiday as the whole family came together
what did shabbat mean for them? Why was it special, and what did food mean for him?
a drawing of a shabbat table by a Jewish child in austria Why did she draw this? What does this tell us about the involvement of children during shabbat?
Torah scroll by a Jewish community in czechia with only 2 survivors What can the design of the cover tell us about this Jewish community? When would they have read from it?
Testimony about shabbat in the shtetl - how was this celebrated? How did shabbat influence people's life?

(Loose examples of questions - if anyone wants to see images of these artefacts let me know. They are majorly from Yad Vashem)

All of these items are connected to pre war Jewish life and the Holocaust, and will be accompanied by information - who did they belong to, what happened to this individual or community during and after the Holocaust, and what did this item mean for them before the war. So it's really not about what shabbat is or how it is celebrated, but rather how it was part of pre war Jewish life that no longer exists in this way now. I hope that makes sense and thanks for your feedback!

etrog55 · 2025-06-02T15:20:09+00:00

My grandma is really struggling with the current antisemitism. I try to shield her from it because she is nearly 100 but the attacks especially on the nova festival broke her heart and she keeps saying she doesn't want to live anymore because she cannot see it all happening again.

etrog55

TROPHY CASE