Devarim 29:13

A valiant effort on their part, but one that has not taken root. At the time, homosexuality, and gay people generally, were discussed only in euphemisms. The proper Hebrew word for “gay” was—and still is—homosexual (although today, the word homo, once used as a curse, has achieved wider usage), a word that grated on my young PC ears. “Lesbian” was, and remains, lesbit. Other than that, there was k’ze (“like this”), as oblique a euphemism as I’ve ever heard, and m’ha-chevre (“from the gang”). These equivalents of “friend of Dorothy’s” made sense in a society that still was intolerant of gays and lesbians, especially a communal society where everyone seemed to know everyone else—and everyone else’s business. More recently, activists tried to encourage the use of the word g’ei, “proud,” which has the advantage of sounding like the by now international word gay.

✡ Second night! Happy Hanukkah! ✡

Remember that we will always, always, always

Fight

Survive

[ © Alexis Gordon, Hanukkah & Shabbos, Kislev 29, 5776/December 11, 2015]

Chag Chanukah sameach!!! Here’s a handy-dandy list of brachot for Ḥannukah with the names of haShem censored (I always forget the second)!

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה‬ 

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam asher kideshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu lehadlik ner shel Chanukkah.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam she'asah nisim la'avoteynu bayamim hahem ba’zeman hazeh.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time.

The following, the Shehecheyanu, is only recited the first night of Chanukah as this bracha is said to show thankfulness for new and unusual (i.e. things that don’t happen regularly) experiences.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה

Barukh atah haShem elokeynu melekh ha'olam shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigi'anu lazeman hazeh.

Blessed are You, LORD our G!D, Master of the universe, Who has kept us in life and sustained us, enabling us to reach this season.

JKR really went and wrote a whole ass movie wherein her Jewish witch character, Queenie, decided to sympathize with and join wizard hitler who suggests he can stop the real life Holocaust but also in order to do so, he needs to commit another holocaust and only keep some non-magic users alive as slaves. despite being in love with a “no-maj” and being able to fucking read minds, Queenie thinks following this guy could help her out somehow. 

halachically, if their mother was the ger, her children would be considered jewish no matter what, even if they denounced judaism later in life. if it was their father, they would be considered halachically jewish by the reform & reconstructionist (and maaaaaaybe conservative, im not sure tho) branches if they had public major jewish lifecycle events (brit, b'nei mitzvah, etc). orthodox, they would not be halachically jewish if only their father was a ger. of course, many jews consider patrilineal jews to be 100%, irrevocably jewish, but jewish culture & halacha are often at odds w each other! and halacha is even a weird thing for patrilineal jews like me who are ethnically jewish but were not raised jewishly, so even tho our DNA is jewish & much of the community says we are, halacha says we are not.