Katya Aybara

SOURCE

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

It’s just a celebrity on a red carpet wearing a red hand pin. Fashion is subjective.​ It’s just a slogan projected onto Big Ben. It’s free speech.​ It’s just a BBC presenter comparing us to rats. It’s just banter.​

It’s just a rabbi murdered in the UAE. A random tragedy.​ It’s just 50 Jewish kids kicked off a plane in Spain. A diplomatic spat.​ It’s just a girl in France. An isolated incident.​ It’s just a plot to kill us in Manchester, a firebomb in Boulder, a shooting at Bondi Beach. Just one-offs. All of them.​

It’s just... maybe take the kippah off when you leave the synagogue.​ It’s just... maybe put the mezuzah on the inside of the door this time.​ It’s just... maybe have an exit plan.​

But you’re right. It’s probably just me.

Rightwing media: A writer was declined entry to a writer's festival because she openly celebrated the October 7 massacre, and is campaigning for people to "make Jews afriad again."

Ethnicity is decided by ancestry, language, food, culture, traditions, history, social treatment, and religion. Missing one (not speaking Ladino, being atheist, etc.) does not preclude you from an ethnicity. Genetics are not the same thing as ancestry, especially in a society built around tribal affiliations. It is not synonymous with the concept of race.

Converts, gerim, Jews-by-choice, new Jews, you're wholly Jewish. An antisemite does not ask how you were raised before calling you a slur. Nobody decides if you are Jewish enough besides your beit din. You are welcome, you are one of us. Indeed, halacha forbids us from discriminating against you or reminding you of your time before your first visit to the mikvah. It is not inappropriate to remind people of this, if they break those rules.

Jews who are reconnecting, converts do not threaten you. You might actually share a lot of experiences, which is a good thing. A lot of the resources that are utilized in the conversion process are available and useful for you as well, if you want. You both deserve grace for this process.