conversion journal

ben’s memory is a blessing. that’s extremely jewish. spiderman is inspired not just by the shame of his death, but by the moral teachings he’d given peter in life. and his name given to these babies is another part of it: babies named in spiderman’s honor are also very honestly and truly named in his honor, and continue to be blessings to the world. 

i think you make a fair point about xtians intentionally fostering ignorance in their communities. i would however caveat that with a few things. firstly, that judaism isn't actually a 'big' religion; jews make up .19% of the global population. we're one of the smallest religions actually (but i do pick up on the fact that you're acknowledging judaism as having some global significance/legacy beyond our current numbers, being considered the progenitor of the abrahamic religions). secondly, it's important to recognize that what happened in colleyville wasn't a one-off actually. that's what xtians and the press might make it out to seem like, so that they can more easily look away and not address the underlying issues. but make no mistake, armed attacks on synagogues happen quite frequently around the world, and other forms of antisemitic violence (harrassment, vandalism, beatings, arson, trashing our cemeteries and community spaces, desecrating ritual objects, disparaging us publicly, all sorts of forms of violence...) rages daily both within and outside the united states.

so that being said, i kind of feel like if you don't see antisemitism around you, you're not paying attention. while xtians might go out of their way to stay oblivious to antisemitism, claiming ignorance at this point falls a little flat. it's more likely you just don't care, because it's really all around us all the time.

“A Blessing Before Putting Up a Queer Bumper Sticker, Flag, Poster, or Other Symbol of Queer Visibility

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha’olam asher natan lanu hizdamnut k’doshah likbo’a simlei nir’ut k’virit.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Power of the universe, who has given us a sacred opportunity to affix symbols of queer visibility.

– by Rabbi Ahuva Zaches, 2019″

L’hispallel is a unique experience, but as with most Jewish things today, this holy word has been changed into an English word with a western connotation. The word “prayer” actually comes from the Latin word meaning “to beg” — exactly what most people feel prayer is. They imagine a big king in the sky who is getting a big ego boost from watching his subjects beg. This is a terrible image of our selves and of G-d.

In current times, Lucifer, the devil and satan are all seen as the same being, sometimes even roping Baphomet in. However who truly is satan? Or what?

Many ideas we have of the devil come from both noncanonical books and media presentations of the being.

Satan: The Abrahamic antithesis of good, first referenced in the Hebrew bible as Yetzer Hara or evil inclination. Within the Taknuh, Satan is seen as a more metaphorical, evil in form of personification, with the name ha-satan translating to the adversary or the accuser, known to reference both human and supernatural forces opposing to man. In the Christian new testament of God, Satan, or the original translation being “Satanas” is a far more literal figure, tempting jesus in the desert, and is described as "the ruler of the demons" (Matthew 12:24), "the evil one" (1 John 5:18) etc and is placed in contrast once again to the Lord.

“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence,

Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the

Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Mathew 4:10

Again he is translated to be more metaphorical, occasionally, dependant on the interpretation.

Lucifer: Named after most relation of venus, also being translated as the morning star in the bible during king James’s translation, originally related to satan in a book called paradise lost. Originally it is possible Lucifer or the falling star of Venus was related to the fall of satan. as the book of Isaiah ok of Isaiah 14:12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations." with luke 10 "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven". This possibly was because of the capitalization of Lucifer. The word Lucifer came from the translation of “Helel” within the Hebrew texts to the Latin lucifer.

In Roman mythology, Lucifer was the son of Aurora, the goddess of dawn. He was depicted as a man with a torch and was often presented in poetry as the one who heralded the Dawn.

Devil: The name Devil comes from the greek diábolos, the deceiver or the slanderer, roughly brought into common use around the middle ages and is used as well as Lucifer and Satan in the everyday.

12How art thou fallen from heaven,

O day-star, son of the morning!

How art thou cut down to the ground,

That didst cast lots over the nations!

13And thou saidst in thy heart:

‘I will ascend into heaven,

Above the stars of God Will I exalt my throne,

And I will sit upon the mount of meeting,

In the uttermost parts of the north;

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like the Most High.’

15Yet thou shalt be brought down to the nether-world,

To the uttermost parts of the pit.