lavendertook: (lavender candle)
lavendertook ([personal profile] lavendertook) wrote2018-10-28 05:22 pm

Love to the survivors at Squirrel Hill and in Kentucky

Do not be daunted
by the enormity of the world's grief.
Do justice, now.
Love mercy now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated to complete the work,
but neither are you free to abandon it.


-The Talmud via a friend on fb /(Talmud 303/commentary mash-up}/Rabbi Rami Shapiro translation?

I'm so sad about Rose Mallinger, 97, survivor of the Holocaust, murdered in Pittsburgh.

Also I need to respond to a number of media statements: Jewish identity is not just about faith, but a cultural/ethnic/religious identity mash-up that is not monolithic.

Not all Jews are white. There are many Jews of color. Being Jewish and growing up in a mostly Christian white town in which I was Othered instilled a liminal identity in me in relation to whiteness. I've got lots of thoughts on the construction of whiteness in shifting relations to cultural, ethnic, and national identities that I won't get into here.

I'm Jewish and agnostic with mystic/witchy leanings. I'm more familiar with the Old Testament than the New because I studied it in college in relation to other ancient middle eastern religions and cultures with a particular interest in my Jewish identity. My family did not belong to or attend synagogue, but they instilled a strong Jewish identity in me and I had Jewish community through relatives and my parent's friends, though as a child I longed for more. But I studied Latin in high school, sang in Christian masses with choirs in churches, and favored the Catholics in the Protestant/Catholic divide in my town because Catholic cathedrals and robes had more glitz, gorgeous architecture, and stained glass, and I've always been a worshipper of beauty and craft.

When listening to Tom Lehrer's song National Brotherhood Week, my whole family would joyfully chime in to sing, "And everybody hates the Jews!" because that's how Jewish humor rolls, and why most of us aren't surprised by the level of antisemitism we're seeing now with the U.S. bully pulpit's encouragement, just sad and more worried, as are all of you. I'm still going to put my electric menorah in my front window in the new house.

Love and healing to the survivors in the hate shootings in Pittsburgh and Kentucky.
febobe: (Cranky)

[personal profile] febobe 2018-10-29 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, right, b/c their lust is your fault as a wicked woman wearing short skirts, right? I mean, I'm all for modesty as a rule, but I have had it up to here with guys (and a lot of gals) acting like a man's lust and/or inappropriate conduct is somehow to be blamed on women. If you tell your child not to eat the cookies for the bake sale, that those aren't for them, and your child eats them anyway, should you blame the cookies? They didn't jump out of the jar and scream EAT ME. Likewise, I should be able to walk down the street stark naked and not be in fear of sexual assault...not that I WOULD, but that is how much any guy's conduct is my responsibility. Zip.

When D and I were dating, he'd often leave my place early for the evening, and he would admit when he called back from downstairs that he was really having trouble holding back. But that's what good men do. They see something, they want it, and if they have trouble saying no, they assume the responsibility lies with THEM to protect the object of their desire from their own lust. That's a real man, IMO. He never blamed me for it or tried to make me feel like anything he felt was my fault. It's got a lot to do with why I married him.

Sorry for hijacking, just had to bitch about the ridiculousness of firing a woman for problems the male staff apparently had....

*hugs*
baranduin: (Default)

[personal profile] baranduin 2018-10-29 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I always figured it was a lie about the men ... the woman who fired me said to someone that once she understood I was not a Christian, she understood why I was the way I was. She wanted me gone and pinned it on the men.

It got me what I wanted—my husband kicked a door down at school when he found out and he was the mildest of men, and we returned to UCLA. Bye bye Nazarenes.
febobe: (HaveAgreedToCarry)

[personal profile] febobe 2018-10-29 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
That is sick on her part. I think that's a horrible thing to say to someone...esp given that some of the very best people I've known aren't Christians, and some of the very worst claimed to be Christians.

That is a WOW about your husband. But hey...UCLA's better anyhow. :) Good medical programs, I'll say that...some of my survivor friends go there. Can't imagine the Nazarenes could hold a candle to them.

Every time I think I know how interesting you are, I learn more. Thank you for being fascinating and wise and so very dear to me. <3 There's a lot I can learn from you, and I appreciate you so much.

*hugs snugs loves*
minoanmiss: Detail of a modern statue of a Minoan goddess holding up double axes in each hand. (Labrys)

[personal profile] minoanmiss 2018-10-29 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
Word. [deletes my own rant about the horrid practice of blaming women for people being horny] [agrees heartily with this comment]