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Mazel tov! We didn't even decide our son's name until a few hours after he was born. I decided I wanted to meet him first before naming him for life. I know a few people that didn't announce a name until the bris.

PJ library is great! You can also get yourself this ready for Chanukah.

Wish we had a meal train, I just spent a lot of time cooking and driving my wife around!

This is one of the main things I didn't realize I was giving up when I started keeping kosher. Due to the sharpness of peppers requiring more in the way of supervision, and the nature of serious hot sauces being something done by lots of tiny companies, the percentage bearing hashgacha is fairly low.

One of the hotter things I've found readily available is Trader Joe's Habanero Hot Sauce. It's supervised by the Cape Town Beth Din which is on the CRC list. It's admittedly well below what you're looking for, but that's what I've got.

I can't recommend From Sinai to Ethiopia enough for anyone interested in the adjustment in terms if religious life and the shift from Haymanot to Rabbinic Judaism.

We bought blue and white lights at Target several years ago. My husband draped them around our fence. You should put this directly in your front lawn. You should also contact the local Bar association about the possibility of pro bono work and the actual legality of this. I briefly lived in suburban/rural Illinois (like, just far enough from the very outermost Metra stop that getting into Chicago was better done as an overnight than a day trip) and it was miserable and isolating, and the casual antisemitism was a huge culture shock. I hope you are in a place less miserable than I was, but judging by your HOA's attitude you might not be.

>The English is clear but it still feels like you're reading the Bible

Not sure what else you'd expect, but boy do I have the book for you!

If you want his landmark high-level CEO account of program management of SHAEF in WWII that includes detail of the Holocaust, it's Crusade in Europe. Written in plain language.

His personal accounts to his superior officer (Gen. George C. Marshall) comes in the assembly of his letters of report: Dear General: Eisenhower's Wartime Letters to Marshall

He also submitted a report that's in the public domain covering the daily operations from his ascension to Allied Supreme Commander through VE Day. You might find it on Archive.org in several formats.

>“Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the track of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” – General Dwight D. Eisenhower, on the Holocaust.

I think it’s really hard to explain this kind of thing to mainstream Christians in the US, because, like the proverbial fish who can’t perceive water, these Christians don’t understand how pervasive Christian culture is in the United States, and therefore don’t understand why Jews—even Jewish atheists—might want to establish, within their own homes and intimate relationships, a place where that culture does not dominate.

Maybe, as a Christmas present, you could give your ex a copy of The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming.

Do you live in America? Here's matza you can order from Amazon for under $20. It'll cost more for 2 day shipping, I guess.

Eating matza on the first two nights of Passover is equally as important as not eating leavened food.

https://www.amazon.com/Yehuda-Passover-Matzos-Packages/dp/B004DIDCQE

I grew up there. Ezra Friedlander and R Alexander Rapaport are both good people to know. Glatt A La Carte is one of the best kosher restaurants in the city but only eat there if someone else is picking up the check. The days before Sukkos (October 10th through the 13th) is a wonderful time for a photo essay. If you could only read one book about Hasidic power dynamics in 2019, make it Hellman’s latest book. The the Boro Park based stringer is probably Gifter. You should probably buy him lunch and see if he can give you a tour.

Probably the most famous Yiddish linguist, author of the History of the Yiddish Language.

He would disagree with what you have to say about Yiddish being a purely Germanic language with Hebrew loanwords.

Torah She Bal Peh is just as important as Torah She B'Ktav. You cannot understand the Written Torah without the Oral Torah. Without it, we don't know the proper way to slaughter animals, what tefillin are, what mezuzot are, what a Sukkah is or how to dwell in it. If it wasn't given to Moshe at Sinai, we would have a clear period in the historic record when it emerged because prior to that things would have been utterly chaotic. We don't even know how to set our calendar without the Oral Torah. Everything is clearly predicated on it.

The answer to the second question is much more complex, and I'm actually reading a book on it right now that I'd recommend, called <em>The Unbroken Chain: Understanding the Mesorah of the Jewish Oral Tradition</em> by Rabbi Dovid Sapirman. I take issues with some of his arguments that I don't think are terribly strong, but so far it's an overall solid book that runs through the development of Torah She Bal Peh very well.

I think a better and more accepted translation is "Blessed are You, HaShem"

"You are blessed, Hashem." would be "Atah M'Brecha HaShem"

For more info on how these work there are some good books like The Halachos of Brachot or The Laws of Brachot for a break down of them. The first book is a bit easier to read as it isn't as dry.

Before all of this, what you really need to do is grab yourself a copy of The Jewish Annotated New Testament which does an excellent job of putting the entire Christian Bible in its historical and Jewish context.

>John 8:59... Now, is resisting arrest and/or execution forbidden in the Torah?

No. There's no crime in trying not to be punished and you're entitled to defend yourself against a legal charge. That's also not really the point of John 8:33-59, which is about the essential difference between Jews and Christians (note that John doesn't like "The JEWS" and Jesus is a mouth piece for John's High-Christology).

>John 10:36... Is saying that you are G-d's son blasphemous?

No, because the entire Human race are "G-d's children," so it's technically a pointless statement in that regard. Of course, what John's Jesus means is that he is G-d's chosen, in a slightly lower christological reading that he's a better representative of G-d and a higher reading that he is literally more divine (and in the original Hebrew/Aramaic, to say you are a son of something means you are in that category, not literally something's son), for the purpose of supplanting the Jew's specific relationship with G-d, which is a direct blasphemous violation (claiming that G-d can/would nullify His eternal covenant, Deut 5:29 and also nullifying the unity of G-d - Deut 6:4, and of course that G-d would contradict himself by changing when He is unchanging - Num 23:19).

>Isn't the prophesied messiah supposed to follow the laws of the Torah pretty much 100%?

Yes, it wouldn't make sense to have a representative who rejects or changes the Torah.

I was basing my correction on what you wrote in your comment as I don't have time to purchase and read the book. Does the book discuss pre-Christian antisemitism or does it claim that Christianity completely invented it? If it's the latter then it would be wrong because while Christianity did popularize antisemitism among a much wider audience while using it to justify its creation antisemitism long predates the religion itself. Since were giving out book recommendations, read The Jews of Egypt by Modrzejewski or to a lesser extent Egypt After the Pharoahs by Bowman.

Joan Nathan is a Jewish cookbook author and food historian, having written six about Jewish cuisine and two on Israeli cuisine. Her goal is to preserve Jewish traditions by interviewing cooks and documenting their recipes and stories for posterity, and her cookbooks feature both delicious, easy to follow recipes and historical context.

I strongly recommend her book King Solomon's table. You will find everything from Shakshuka to Yeminite Chicken Soup to Challah. The Book of Jewish Food is another classic, but a bit more dry, with less photos. I love photos, haha.

Happy cooking!

The Jewish Study Bible isn't Christian. It's an academic look at the Tanakh based on the JPS translation; it's quite useful and has some terrific essays.

Jewish Study Bible

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I believe you're thinking of the "Complete Jewish Bible" and the "Complete Jewish Study Bbile", which are Christian.

You don't necessarily have to read the religious texts.

Those are actually the stories of our tradition and don't really explain specifics of why we do things and how we practice. We derive may of our traditions from the Torah and complimentary texts but there are easier ways of getting an understanding.

>I want to learn about the basic tenets of Judaism, it's practices, and its mythology.

Essential Judaism is typically given to folks who want to convert but it's really just a great book for understanding a set of basics related to Jewish life, Jewish practice, and Jewish history.

You can also ask questions in the "No Stupid Questions" thread on the front page if you're looking for specific answers to specific questions.

/u/A_SweetPotato I don't think that this is something that you can get from a Reddit /r/Judiaism comment. To be honest you can check out a week or two in a yeshiva or seminary. Those teachers are equipped to answer your question with Emes much better than strangers with no known affiliation online. Find a rabbi who has smicha and grab a coffee with them at least...otherwise you are inviting a lot of people to brigade and namecall you or each other over their differences. I'm also BT and my rebbe and my community are a good match for me and my questions but I would be nowhere without R' Dovid Gotlieb. Check out his NEW BOOK if you want a "proof" style argument but I have to reiterate that I think this isn't a conversation that you can have in a public online setting.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alarmclock.xtreme.free&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US

I use this app. You can set the alarm to automatically stop after a couple minutes.

Amazon, other places on the web

This is the one I have (I really only use it on Yom Tov) and you can get a warehouse deal on it for $48

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0735MX51B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

Futurama has a lot of Judaic references, and I've used it in teaching a kallah on Judaism in the media. While the references to Judaism specifically are usually small like this (my favorite being the Bot Mitzvah - Hulu, sorry), there have been whole episodes on the idea of religion and secular life. Good stuff.

That's not the government, that's the American Academy of Pediatrics, and yes, even the government can be wrong about shit. Every time a tech issue comes up that the government has to deal with it's made abundantly clear that no one in the government knows jack shit about technical issues. Senators have said things like "if the rape was real, the body has ways of shutting the whole thing down". Why do you think they would be knowledgeable about anything related to medicine?

Also, check this out:

After reviewing existing medical research, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced in 1999 that circumcision has no medical benefit and shouldn't be recommended for all baby boys.

From the horse's mouth:

After a comprehensive review of the scientific evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics found the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks, but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision.

>Leading rabbis with superb command of halacha will give discrete rulings on a case-by-case basis after hearing all the information and may refer couples for an abortion.

While discrete works here, I assume the author meant discreet.

For a somewhat longer, but more nuanced look at faith and various ways that Jews understand belief and G-d, you might want to look at this series of 18 interviews on the topic. https://forward.com/tag/still-small-voice/

This is also an interesting book on the topic. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807407984/ref=dbs\_a\_def\_rwt\_bibl\_vppi\_i3

The situation isn’t quite as binary as either you subscribe to Maimonides’ 13 principles or you’re merely an irreligious secular/ethnic Jew.

There were two short story collections you could look for, Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction and a sequel, More Wandering Stars. There was also a novella about Golems by Ted Chiang ("Seventy-Two Letters") that isn't explicitly Jewish but might make an interesting comparison piece.

The famous Reb Zusya parable:

The students of Reb Zusya, hearing that their teacher was about to die, came to pay him one last visit. But entering the room, they were surprised to see him trembling with fear.

“Why are you afraid of death?” they asked. “In your life, have you not been as righteous as Moses himself?”

“When I stand before the throne of judgment,” Zusya answered, “ I will not be asked, ‘Reb Zusya, why were you not like Moses?’ I will be asked , ‘Reb Zusya, why were you not like Zusya?”

-copied from http://www.geni.com/people/Rabbi-Zusha-of-Anipoli/6000000007044844180

Yes, it is definitely possible to be forgiven. When you do teshuvah properly (and observe the following Yom Kippur), and ask any victims for forgiveness if applicable, then you are definitely forgiven.

It's perfectly legitimate to be concerned about the effects of your sins. But keep in mind that if you do teshuvah out of love, rather than out of fear, then this is much better, because then you will not only be forgiven, but your sins will then be considered as merits. (Coincidentally this was actually in yesterday's Daf Yomi, Yoma 86b.)

In addition to learning the laws of teshuvah, I strongly recommend this very short and well-loved book full of encouragement for people who worry about their spiritual state due to their actions:

https://www.amazon.com/Restore-My-Soul-Meshivat-Nefesh/dp/0930213130

I just got the Jewish Annotated New Testament (sorry for the Amazon link), a work by a group of Jewish scholars that try to contextualize the Christian New Testament from a Jewish perspective. Like when Matthew writes something they, try to say he was probably talking about this one thing which he heard about through this one text. I wouldn't say it's *anti-*Christian, but it certainly explores what Judaism and the Jewish community was like during the period when Jesus (probably) lived and the New Testament was written and compiled.

I think Jews should read it because it does give a good understanding of early Christianity and how it came to be from a non-Christian source.

I think Christians should read it as they often have no idea what Judaism actually is or the socio-political and religious context for first century Judea.

I hope someone eventually does a "The Jewish Annotated Koran" for the same reason.

> I'm looking at The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, but ideally it would be something more traditionalist rather than academic.

I wasn't aware of this book -- thanks for bringing it to our attention.

I've read some of the Apocryphal books in the Oxford edition. They are basically "non-Jewish" translations, but pretty neutral and scholarly.

I would concur that a traditionalist view of the Apocrypha is going to be hard to find almost a priori, as these texts are considered "chutz la-machane", as it were, and the surviving originals are usually not in Hebrew or Aramaic anyway (except maybe in DSS fragments).

A Jewish-oriented scholarly translation will be about as close as you'll get.

On a related note, I would appreciate if anyone could recommend a "Jewish annotated" Josephus translation.

Make family Shabbat meals sacrosanct. Get toys like the Kidkraft wood holiday sets (often on sale from Zulily or Amazon for a bit less), or decor like an aleph-bet wall hanging, so that Jewish things are a normal, every day sight and not just whipped out on special occasions. Put money in a tzedakah box together and decide where to send it when it's full. Use his/her Hebrew/Jewish name at home (if it's distinct from the one on the birth certificate). And yeah, read books! Reading is huge! You can cover holidays, folktales, middot, all kinds of things that way.

Yes, there is the concept of meditation in Judaism. For more information, I would suggest checking out the book Jewish Meditation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

> Is it normal that I feel afraid?

Yes.

> Why do I feel this way? What can I do?

A great question that many of us are also looking for the answer to. Be proud of who you are for starters.

Bari Weiss has a book out on How to Fight Anti-Semitism that I have yet to read, but I hope it at least gives a good start here is the link on US Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593136055/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;psc=1

I have this book, which posits some of the Inquisition concepts (e.g. limpeeza de sangre) as the foundations for modern racism.

I recommend both The Gospel According to the Jews , by José Faur and The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity, by Hyam Maccoby.

1) Basics of conversion document from the sidebar.

2) There are a few, ranging across various denominations

3) Why do you want to convert? What denomination to you want to affiliate with?

4) It is right before Passover, so a bunch of us will not be here for the next few days.

5) Most important As soon as I read about shortcuts, my only thought was, maybe you shouldn't covert as anybody wanting a shortcut can't be that serious about it.

You should only convert if you actually believe in it. I can not think of anybody that would convert an atheist.

However, we do have this resource for you.

If we are going to go down this rabbit hole, messiah comes from the Hebrew word Moshiach. The word used in the bible to describe the Jewish Messiah. They are only synonyms to Christians.

No.

Antisemitic is just a word, and it's meaning isn't perfectly aligned with it's etymology. The word was created by a 19th century German thinker who self identified as an antisemite - which to him meant he hated Jews. The word he created does not perfectly align with what we may expect it to mean based on its parts, but that doesn't change what it means.

There are many groups that are semitic, but 'antisemitism' refers only to hate directed at Jews. Of course, this is confusing, but you can thank Wilhelm Marr.

http://www.britannica.com/topic/anti-Semitism

About snacks….. no cheese it’s, no gummies. Sealed with an OU is usually good. Though they’ll probably bring their own food. Bottled water is good.

• The Five Types of Kaddish
• The Kaddish by Hakham David de Sola Poole (extensive dissertation on the topic of Kaddish)

Recipes of My 15 Grandmothers: Unique Recipes and Stories from the Times of the Crypto-Jews during the Spanish Inquisition seems promising, especially if you're interested in Sephardic cooking and traditions among people who couldn't always be open about their heritage.

This is a very common experience for non-orthodox Jews in the U.S myself included. Part of this because an orthodox Jewish curriculum spends much more time on the practice of Judaism than on "belief" or "theology", and because there are only a few things that Jews just straight up agree on. Another part of this is that in the 19th and early 20th-century Non-Orthodox and to a lesser extent Modern Orthodox Judaism became very uncomfortable with aspects of Judaism that didn't first with enlightenment ideology (ideas about the afterlife, the messiah, mysticism). Most synagogues are a lot better at this than they were in say the 50s but the general approach I find is that they would rather tell you what you need to know to be in the community than potentially scare someone off with extremely weird and complicated details of Kabbalah.

I actually have found Recon Shuls do a better job of teaching about these elements of Judaism than your average Reform or Con shul because you have more people actively choosing to be religious;y Jewish than just doing so out of habit.

As a sort of basic level, you could look into one of the intros books like Judaism for Dummies or Essential Judaism and just skip the parts you already know. For more advanced stuff you could check out Telushkin's Jewish Literacy

https://www.amazon.ca/Pleasures-Your-Processor-Norene-Gilletz/dp/0969797206

Basically "the" Canadian Jewish cookbook. Found in almost every Jewish home (Ashkenazim at least) with a ba'alat-habayit in the right age range.

Every time we make the traditional stuff -- kugel, tsimmes, latkes, etc. -- the recipe comes from there.

TL;DR Food processors are like the ikkar of Jewish cooking for many people up here in the frozen North

My collection of tefilloth has just been expanded, courtesy of the fine gents of On the Derekh, and I'm waging a losing Battle against the impulse to order this bilingual edition of the Tora with Onqelos.

When this question gets asked, it's entirely up to the folks who are around at the time to answer it, so sometimes it gets answered one way, sometimes it gets answered the other.

Judaism is decentralized, with different strains coming to the fore in different times and places, so it's likely you will find most religious impulses get expressed somewhere, sometime, in the long expanse of Jewish history. There is diversity and pluralism over time. What counts as "mainstream" and "fringe" is often in the eyes of the beholder.

When I once opined that exorcism was not a Jewish practice, I got a response that led me to Rabbi Yehuda Fetaya (1859, Baghdad-1942, Jerusalem), a well-respected kabbalist, amulet writer and -- yes, you guessed it -- "exorcist." This is all recounted in his book Minhat Yehuda:

https://www.amazon.com/Minhat-Yehuda-Rabbi-Fetaya/dp/1885220677

I've read excerpts I could find on-line, and yes, he did perform "exorcisms" in the sense that people, often children, that he thought were possessed by spirits were brought to him, and he worked to remove those demons in a fashion he was adept at. Exactly what his formula was I can't say. It appears from the English excerpts, he prayed over the children. So if all he did was what any Jew would do with a "sick" person -- pray for their recovery -- can we call it an exorcism? Yet Rabbi Fetaya says the person was "possessed" and he was exorcising the spirits.

In other faiths, exorcism is a specific religious ritual -- e.g. it is recognized by the Catholic church, there are procedures, there are ritual implements, priests are trained and certified, and they go out and practice exorcism. We don't have this in Judaism.

But sainted rabbis praying over "the possessed" and achieving a measure of success? We seem to have that in some times and places, among some communities.

This got long, I’m sorry!

I am Italian from NJ raised Catholic and converted Orthodox in my 20s. In my experience, if the family is religious they’re never going to get over it. They will eventually realize their efforts are fruitless and stop bringing it up, but your children will be stigmatized. The family won’t be mean to them directly, but for example, on my second date with an orthodox guy he was telling me about his brothers and sisters, where they live and their kids. He made a point to tell me his brother inter-married so all of his children are non-Jews. Like that is going to be how the family thinks of them.

That being said, Jews and Italians get along really well and have a lot of the same mannerisms/ways of seeing the world. The biggest difference is monotheism vs what we see as polytheism (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit). Obviously I wouldn’t tell you to convert if your heart isn’t in it, but, if all that matters to you is telling your kids there is a God and X is the moral way to behave, you might want to reconsider conversion. 1 god + moral code = Judaism.

If you were my sister, I would tell you to read “Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism” by Dennis Prager. It is a fast, easy and interesting read about Jewish ethics and how/why they define a Jew.

Judaism, for me, was like discovering the rules by which I had always lived my life were made explicit in a rulebook I never knew about. It is rich and logic-based, like philosophy and legal-reasoning. It’s more like 1L of law school than CCD or dogma. So hard to explain, but I feel robbed that I didn’t find it sooner. Anyway, that is all. Good luck! And mazal tov!

Pocket Torah - great for learning tropes [maybe nsff though]
Ice Cream Siddur - it has so many options and bits!
Also Chabad's omer app when it's time for that.

This is a really tough one, and I'm going to try not to be offensive in what I post.

>Can I be a Jew and not believe in G-d? I'd say the answer is different between someone who is born a Jew and someone who converts (bear with me before flaming!)

Someone who is born Jewish remains Jewish no matter what s/he does or believes.

Since Judaism has a defined belief structure, we get into difficulties when you ask, "Can you convert to being a Jew, yet deny G-d?"

Yes, there are Reform and perhaps Conservative Rabbis/ Betei Din who will perform the conversion. Would most "ortho" Jews accept you as Jew, count you in a minyan, etc? Probably not, in my humble opinion.

Not so much because of your beliefs or lack thereof - that's between you and G-d, but more because non-Ortho conversions aren't generally accepted.

Does this matter to you?

I would refer you to one of the most famous converts, Ruth, in the Megillas Rus (Book of Ruth) who, when declaring her conversion from the Moabite Idol Worship to Naomi's Judaism, said to Naomi:

>"...whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy G-d my G-d" Ruth 1:16

In general, look at the r/Judaism Basic Introduction to Conversions

Also, please keep in mind, it's a LOT easier not to be Jewish than to be so!

1) Judaism is tremendous. "On another occasion it happened that a certain heathen came before Shammai and said to him, "Make me a proselyte, on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Thereupon he chased him away with the builder's cubit that was in his hand. When he came before Hillel, (he also asked Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot) Hillel replied, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah while the rest is commentary; go and learn it.

2) Judaism has many many forms

3) Anything more specific? Edit it into the question.

Here is the r/Judaism guide to denominations. If you feel that the OT laws are valid and still to be observed, you are most likely looking at orthodox, but possibly conservative.

Lucky you, my wife is from Rochester, so the two orthodox synagogues in the area are Beth Hakneses HaChodosh (lovingly called Saint Regis) and Beth Sholom. The conservative synagogue is called Beth el. This is all in Brighton, the main Jewish community of Rochester. I have only been to the orthodox synagogues, but both Rabbis are very nice and welcoming people. A full list of all synagogues in the Rochester area can be found here.

And as to your post later, go to a synagogue. You will get questions, only because they both have at most 40 people at a time and every new person sticks out. If you do go, wear dark pants and a white/light color shirt.

Also, what are your ideas of Satan?

Edit: It is always a good idea to talk to a Rabbi.

See this Google docs for a short explanation. All the different strands of Judaism have huge varieties within them, so its kinda hard to say that they represent a specific sets of beliefs. You can say that if someone identifies with a certain belief system, he will tend to be in a certain strand, but no more than that.

Hey! Tetzaveh's not yet taken on the /r/Judaism devar Torah rotation. Why don't you sign up for it, and then post your Bar Mitzva speech when that week comes?

The Book of Beliefs and Opinions. This is some pretty dense philosophy, but I feel it proves Judaism as the most logically sound religion. I would recommend warming up to it with Al Kuzari if it's your first experience with Jewish Philosophy. It's not as dense and isn't purely philosophical. The first third of Al Kuzari is devoted to proving Judaism's legitimacy so it'll probably be right up your alley. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions is more about proving specific Jewish beliefs instead of Judaism's legitimacy generally.

Jews were involved in trade with the Arabian peninsula since the time of Solomon. They migrated there in bigger numbers after the destruction of the 2nd Temple (which happened in 70 CE). They got involved in agriculture and trade, formed their own tribal groups, and spoke their own dialect of Arabic.

Check out this Google book

Or maybe buy this one/borrow it from the library

The ear piercing analogy is pretty apt.

There are tons of men who don't consider their circumcisions a big deal. Much more than those that are saying they regret it. The vast majority. It's Certainly not worth all the attention. The few that are upset by it likely are suffering from a botched job that was done later in life, or have psychological issues where the circumcision defines who they are. And that should be addressed, but not by infringing on the religious and medical freedom of others.

The medical advantages to men (and their partners) are well documented. There's no debate about that. If people are anti-circumcision they would sound much more reasonable if they said "despite the medical advantages...".

https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/circumcision

Denying the medical advantages outright makes them sound as anti-science as anti-vaxxers.

I don't care what others do. But If you want to infringe on the religious and medical freedom of others, you need to have good justification for doing so.

And you don't have one.

Here's a good podcast called "science vs" which discussed circumcision from a scientific standpoint.

https://www.gimletmedia.com/science-vs/circumcision-to-snip-or-not-to-snip

Edit: I agree, ear piercings are nothing. Same as neonatal circumcision. No big deal, and you get medical benefits.

Do you have a library card? Not sure where you're located, but if you live or work in the state of NY you're eligible for a NYC library card (and you don't have to go to the city to get it). With that card you get free access to Mango Languages which offers modern Hebrew. And I think more than just NYC libraries offer similar benefits. Mango has a big section for modern Hebrew but also has a separate (albeit smaller) section for biblical Hebrew.

There's also Duolingo which semi-recently added Hebrew.

I think Duolingo does a better job when it comes to learning to read/write Hebrew. Mango does a better job for conversational skills. Just my two cents.

You can get mesh cotton tzitzis that are super light. You can also get T-shirt tzitzis like these: Zion Judaica 100% Cotton Comfortable Quality T-Shirt Tzitzis Garment Certified Kosher Imported from Israel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073HG5RG6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_NPAZ4ZMKCR29715EXXT7?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1 and skip the undershirt.

You want a leather kippah like this one.

I can empathize. As a teen, I had a night brace and that left noticeable dents in my hair.

Marital Intimacy: A Traditional Jewish Approach is very good (despite the stodgy name). It's aim is largely to educate against the view that sex (and especially the physical pleasure aspect) is only a necessary evil or a byproduct of the need for reproduction etc. Within the appropriate context, obviously (as implied in the name), which it also discusses.

I haven't read, but I've heard very positive things about Doesn't Anyone Blush Anymore?. As far as I understand, it's not about sex or sexuality exactly, but speaks to the more general topic of intimacy, which is obviously related to sex, from a Jewish point of view.

I'd also recommend the work of Esther Perel on the same topic, even though it's not specifically Jewish (but she is, and arguably it comes through). She has insight into insight and sexuality that is worthwhile as far as understanding the Jewish approach.

A good book that's large but is broken down into very tiny easy to understand segments is Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin. You can read it through, or use it as a sort of encyclopedia. It has a broad coverage of basically all there is to know about Judaism. I would highly recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061374989/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_K5P7B9HDF3XDK0MJDY16

Book: A Century of Ambivalence:The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present - Gitleman

It says to present but it is really until the 90s it starts with Russian taken over of Poland/Pale of Settlement

It's important to know that there are at least three basic types of Hebrew, although they share much in common: Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, and Modern Hebrew. Biblical Hebrew is that used in the Bible, Rabbinic is that found in most Hebrew books until the 20th century, and Modern Hebrew is that which is spoken in Israel.

For Modern Hebrew, one idea is Duolingo.

For Biblical Hebrew, I suggest the Yale Language Series work by Kittel et. al.
Amazon Link

Some people say you should start with learning Modern Hebrew. I'm not sure it matters, although Biblical Hebrew does have more complex grammar.

I'll give you the 5¢ version:

DH comes from a Christian foundation who didnt have the best grasp of Hebrew to begin with and no access/willful ignorance of the Oral Torah. I'd liken this to someone who knows JavaScript who writes commentary on C code and pretends that Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie's The C Programming Language doesnt exist.

The Christian source of DH matters. Their theology depends on some "proof" that God double deals and revoked the eternal covenant with the Patriarchs & Israelites. "Proving" human authorship of the Chumash is the tactic here following the lines that human authorship invalidates any claims of a divine covenant. Developments in DJ continued by Christian theologians till non theological academics pick up the idea.

Unfortunately academics can just as prone to ignoring material that doesnt fit their preconceived theories as anyone else. This is especially true in the humanities and pseudo-sciences where there is a greater emphasis on publish or perish and polishing the boots of ones predecessors than in the hard sciences where there is a greater obligation of burden of proof and cross examination of experimentation methodology and results. Net result is an Ivory Tower of Babel.

Long story short is that since all the foundational and expositional bits of DH can be shot down, the burden of proof is not established. Does this mean proof of Divine authorship? By logical or scientific means, no, but at the same time there is no disproof so I treat the whole thing on the same level as parapsychology in terms of academic output.

Let me repeat, I was not born a Jew and did not grow up at all religious and this is the same thing I'd have said years before I had any personal interest in this matter.

You could always use Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Hebrew - English) as your guide, however this will likely lead you to be slightly out of step with many of your peers. Here's a book list of various manuals and guides that were created for contemporary Orthodox practice.

Shabbos:

• Shemirath Shabbath by R. Yehoshua Y. Neuwirth
• 39 Melachos by R. Dovid Ribiat
• Halachos of Shabbos by R. Simon D. Eider

Kashrus:

• The Kosher Kitchen: A Practical Guide by R. Binyomin Forst
• The Laws Of Kashrus by R. Binyomin Forst
• Kashrus in the Kitchen Q & A by R. A. Wiesenfeld

Brachos:

• Guide to Blessings by Rabbi Naftali Hoffner
• The Laws of B'rachos by R. Binyomin Forst

Tefillah:

• Hilchot Tefila: A Comprehensive Guide to the Laws of Daily Prayer by R. David Brofsky
• Guidelines: Tefillah by R. Elozor Barclay/R. Yitzchok Jaeger

Tznius:

• Understanding Tzniut by R. Yehuda Henkin
• Modesty: An Adornment for Life by R. Pesach Eliyahu Falk

General Halakhos for Women:

• Halichos Bas Yisrael (2 vol.) by Rav Yitzchak Yaacov Fuchs

Niddah (for when you are married):

• The Laws Of Niddah by R. Binyomin Forst
• Halachos of Niddah by R. S.D. Eider
• The Laws And Concepts Of Niddah by R. Z. Sobolofsky

Abbreviated Halakhic Compendium:

• Kitzur Shulhan Arukh (either Metsuda or Touger translation)

Reform is different from Orthodox in fundamental ways (see our summary).

It's not a superficial squabble over details, and so it's unwise to convert one way or the other because of geographical (?) constraints. If it's so important to you that you "can not wait any longer", it should be important enough for you to a) make an informed decision, and b) move, if necessary (as Ruth famously said about conversion, "wherever you go, I will go").

I hope that doesn't come across as nasty, because that's not how I mean it at all, but it is important that you realise the seriousness of the decision.

If you have decided that Reform suits your outlook or desired level of commitment, that's fine, and there are many around here who will be able to help you, and we'll all support you (incidentally, all but one of the people who have responded to your question when I wrote this are definitely Orthodox). But if you simply "want to be Jewish", you should consider Orthodoxy.

Personally, I feel quite strongly that someone who wants to be Jewish because s/he loves the Jewish outlook and Jewish practice and culture (in the way you described to ari5av above), should convert Orthodox, both for himself (or herself) (I (biased as I am) think it's more fulfilling and closer to the Judaism you love), and for the Jewish (especially) Orthodox community, to which s/he will be an asset.

As to the last question: Reform will accept your children as Jewish so long as they are brought up Jewish. Those particular standards vary from place to place. To my understanding, it is not too hard to meet those standards minimally. By all other denominations, they will not be considered Jewish.

Here is a document about various Jewish denominations

Here is one about the basics of conversion.

Personally, I do not think you should convert just to teach tolerance. Judaism does place a lot of emphasis on tolerance of other religions, but there is so much more to it than that. Depending on the denomination, there is an emphasis on dogma (per se). If you want a specific religion that will foster tolerance, and you are already a Christian, have you thought of the Universalist Church?

>Does Orthodox consider Conservative to be Torah true

Not quite. Some do try their best, but the movement as a whole is not what I would consider acceptable. This document covers the basic differences between the various sects.

>Do Orthodox Jews read books by Conservative authors?

Sure, if I am interested in the subject.

Conversion: You will not find orthodox Jews as a whole to be accepting of a conservative conversion.

And if/when you do convert, moving to a Jewish community that matches your beliefs should be required. It is impossible to be an active Jew of any kind without the communal support.

Nahum Sarna raises these questions in the forward to his book Exploring Exodus.

> Now, given that, why the hell would anyone make up that they were slaves?

I think most scholars will argue that the "authors" of the Exodus myths probably did not think they were making it up. For the bible scholar, even if the slavery myth started as a kernel of truth, who knows what the kernel was.

Will be a while until make prints and merch available. (Even IF I do.)

But feel free to download this PDF and make a print.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=75C73C14169A72EB!14118&amp;authkey=!AOJb-N1PQYwa39g&amp;ithint=file%2cpdf

It's definitely latin. I'd guess based on the little Latin I know and the context you've given us that it may be notes by a Christian monk or scholastic on Abarbanel's Peirush al haTora.

I found the following in the footnotes to Eric Lawee's &quot;Isaac Abarbanel's Stance Toward Tradition&quot;: "During the revival of interest in Hebraic literature in the Renaissance and centuries following, Abarbanel's works were translated into Latin and studied by Christian Hebraists such as Constantijin l'Empereur van Oppijck, Johann Buxtorf the Younger, Sebastian Schmid, Johann Benedict Carpzov, and Richard Simon as much of those of any other postrabbinic Hebrew writer."

See also Solomon Gaon's article "Don Isaac Abravanel and the Christian Scholars" in the journal The American Sephardi, vol. 6 (1973), pages 17-21.

Have you ever watched the documentary Trembling Before G-d? It's actually quite interesting, and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven't.

You might be interested in reading The Jewish Wardrobe - if you have access to a university library, you may be able to borrow it or at least take a look.

Hebrew or English? According to Worldcat, the Bibliotheque Nationale in France has a copy of the English, you can try contacting their Judaica librarian. A bunch of places in the US have the Hebrew edition.

There were a lot of rabbanim in early 20th Century Russia who supported the anarchist position in different ways, particularly R' Shmuel Alexandrov and R' Alexander Chein.

This is a sort of prospectus that Amnon Shapira did to outline where more work could be done in considering religious Jewish anarchism, which may be interesting.

Also, from the mystical angle, R' Yehuda Ashlag (Ba'al haSulam) supported a sort of libertarian-socialist society, one that is similar to 1930s Spanish anarchism (CNT-FAI) in a lot of ways. His article Building the Future Society (translated here) gives some sense of how he was approaching it.

The URL just reminds me so much of this: http://www.hulu.com/watch/215175/saturday-night-live-weekend-update-stefon?c=140:157

> "... twelve dancing Jewpids" > > "Jewpids?" > > "Jewish cupids -- they just want you to find someone nice and settle down."

When you have the time you would do well to read these two rabbinic works which in large part concern answering Islamic polemics within the medieval context:

• Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen
• R. Nethanel al-Fayyumi's Bustan al-Uqul

Android 7.1

Everything else looks like reiterations of either a church or mosque, with a magen david slapped on. I kind of liked the twitter one though.

I think it's a combination of a lot of things, the non judgemental attitude of Chabad, our centers traditionally aren't like membership-based Synagogues, which are a turn off for the young generation, amongst other factors.

This book is a great read link

Highly recommend The Torah: Jewish and Samaritan versions compared by Mark Shoulson (Amazon link). It's in Hebrew of course. A translation wouldn't be able to portray the majority of the differences (as they are mostly spelling or word choice differences; some occasional differences are significant enough that they change the meaning or even more rarely add verses).

Essential Judaism is a famous one.

It just gives you really straightforward basics about the religion. It explains the philosophies behind each sect but it's really meant for a complete outsider to read if they're trying to learn about what Judaism is at a basic level.

Fascinating, TIL. I was under the impression that it was more clear, but I had not seen the sources inside. That said, can one really bring a letter to argue against a commentary? It seems to me that while R' Kook held that animal sacrifices would not resume, he expressed in a letter to another Jew the common hope for their full resumption. I'm not sure I see a contradiction.

You might look into The Vision of Eden by R' Dovid Sears for further source materials. I have not read the book but I can highly recommend its author.

Here's a Noahide siddur (prayer book) I read about:

https://www.amazon.com/Service-Oklahoma-Society-published-Paperback/dp/B009O4EI3I

So a cousin of mine wrote this amazing book about specifically Moroccan Jewish cooking. Unfortunately it’s in French but with some google translate you should be fine. The book is called fleur de safran https://www.amazon.com/Fleur-safran-Jacqueline-Cohen-Azuelos/dp/2744900923/ref=nodl_

Name some songs. I have the Complete Jewish Songbook and would be happy to share a song or two in a DM if it’s in there. I would also recommend buying it - it’s a fantastic resource.

I spent a good part of Shabbat reading a copy of Hakham Faur's Horizontal Society that I borrowed from a friend. My copy of R. Menasseh ben Israel's Tesouro dos Dinim arrived Friday evening, so it spent a little bit of time going through it.

Also on Amazon. But given the examples it looks like some of them are from when the phrase came into existence, not necessarily when a particular passage was added to the haggadah or the prayer in the haggadah (though I could be wrong). I will still buy this, it looks really cool!

Yes. His Amazon shopping cart had this and this.

The Internet has a lot of these items, for example Matzah Meal and recipes exist for Making your own soup or you can just order Manshweitzh online most likely from Amazon as well

It's this thing (I'm sure there's cheaper ones, this is just the first I found). You just plug it in, it gets hot, and you put the food you want to heat up on it. If you get a timer outlet then you can choose when you want it to turn on and off before Shabbat. This is what most people use to have hot food for Shabbat I would say.

As /u/4cubits wrote, it's a print of the Sefer Raziel Hamalach, a kabbalistic work (actually three). The text is widely available, but the old print may have some value.

Jewish fantasy works? I don't think there's anything like the Tolkien-esque "high fantasy" (or at least, I haven't seen it), but there's a pretty charming literature out there about Jewish vampires and werewolves.

Meanwhile I turned up this book - &quot;People of the Book - A Decade of Jewish Sci-Fi and Fantasy&quot; which I think I now need to buy. Unless maybe /u/rivkachava has one laying around I could borrow?

R. Henkin originally wrote an article in Tradition against R. Falk's book... which eventually served to become the seed for an entire book entitled Understanding Tzniut: Modern Controversies in the Jewish Community.

The first is Chabad. They don't do conversions, and I recommend you stay away in general. They are not bad, just different in a manner that you won't be able to handle right away.

The second is reform.

Handy document on various denominations

Basic conversion resource on the sidebar

The question of converting to orthodoxy is "do you believe the tenants of orthodoxy?". Do you believe that God gave Moshe the law, and that law given then is the law that is applicable today? (A very terse explanation). If you don't believe in the basics, you won't be able to get a conversion.

You should approach whatever Rabbi you meet with honesty. Where do you live? We can help you find the various synagogues in your area.

Note: Being it is a few hours before the Sabbath, most of the orthodox population here is preparing for the Sabbath and won't be around until tomorrow night.

Judaism is an intensely personal religion. Some families reject the validity or the binding of Jewish law, some some do not keep the laws, kosher being an example. This denomination sheet might help with that

r/Judaism, the Dvar Torah project needs you. I would love to see every consistent contributor to sign up for a week of giving a Dvar Torah. Atheist, Ultra-Orthodox or somewhere in between, please sign up for a week. r/Judaism is neutral in regards to all denominations, and everybody is welcome to post. This project was not started by me, but by several people who were willing to post something every few months. Many of those people are no longer around, and many of you have joined since then. I want to hear from everybody, so please sign up. If I were a better person, I would have something unique every week, but I am not a better person, and you would all get bored. Everybody should feel comfortable posting a thought however long or short about one portion. Sign up here

Oh you should still be able to see it-- I just copied the wrong link for sharing, initially. Sorry about that! Try this one. Please let me know if that still doesn't work for you!

This is my favorite kepah. I wear it about 5 our of 7 days. For my siddur, I use the complete hebrew/english artscroll, sfard paper back. It's tiny and fits perfectly in my talus bag next to the tefilin.

Of course, I had to find it on Google Maps as well. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=t+mobile+near+Rockaway+Turnpike,+Woodmere,+NY&amp;hl=en&amp;ll=40.636818,-73.740492&amp;spn=0.008891,0.021136&amp;sll=40.629295,-73.737659&amp;sspn=0.017914,0.042272&amp;oq=tmobile,+rock&amp;hq=t+mobile&amp;hnear=Roc...

Brisket's up there, especially if Kasha and Bowties are on the side. But also Tsimmis. Anyone? I feel like there are a million ways to make it, but I've had some mindblowingly good tsimmis and I want MORE. Oh, and lox/bagels/whitefish salad and not sure if this counts but gravlox too... alright I need to stop working myself up over this.

EDIT: Not tsimmis, I meant Cholent. One of my absolute favorites, although tsimmis is good too. Also forgot to mention chopped liver, big pastrami/corn beef sandwiches and tongue.

Gravlox is Salmon that is cured in the fridge for a few days with salt, sugar and dill (that recipe is different from the one I use). I've always had it at my grandparents house as an appetizer with crackers, sour cream and minced onions. Amazing.

I really love Jewish food.

EDIT 2: Fixed "cholent" and found a better recipe.