Happy Hanukkah, everyone, from these two jerks! I’m posting this a little early this year. Line art by the amazing Ro Stein & Ted Brandt, and colour art by @deecunniffe.
I want to point out what a technical achievement this story is on the art side. There’s a real joy to creating a whole story in eight panels, but this? This is some magic. We introduce four new characters. In panel 5, SIX PEOPLE are talking. SIX. In the world of comics, that’s almost un-doable.
Yet Ro and Ted arranged everything so the conversations flow and are sensibly grouped, all the “acting” is fantastic, and then Dee laid on top these beautiful, almost fairytale colours – look at the subtle work, the blush in Henry’s cheeks, Frank’s five o-clock shadow, the shine of the wine bottle’s glass surface, the light texturing in the backgrounds… and of course the snow! This is some first-class illustration work on an incredibly hard script. (I fear Ro and Ted always get me at my worst – my very formalist script for them in the 24 Panels anthology was no cakewalk either. (The problem is, they’re just so damn good at it… check out their work on the Image comic Crowded!)
It’s World Mental Health Day! (October 10th.) So I thought it might be useful to compile mental health resources for the Jewish community into one post. If you know of any that aren’t listed, please feel free to add them.
RELIEF – connects/refers Jewish people to therapists and other
mental health resources (focuses mainly on the frum community)
Elijah’s Journey – suicide prevention for the Jewish community (Facebook page)
The Aleph Institute – provides spiritual support for Jews in
institutional environments such as prison, health facilities, and
rehab
No Shame On U – aims to de-stigmatize mental illness by providing
comprehensive education
OHEL – comprehensive services for those facing mental health issues, with professionals fluent in English, Yiddish, and Hebrew
Yad Rachel – for mothers facing postpartum depression, also helps educate family and health providers
Jewish friends, I see you and love you, my heart is with you right now and every day. You are part of my community (part of my chosen family) (part of my precious world).
Rape is the only crime on the books for which arguing that the temptation to commit it was too clear and obvious to resist is treated as a defence. For every other crime, we call that a confession.
I’ve gotten more angry asks about this post than I have actual reblogs.
imagine hearing “well if he didn’t want to be shot, he should have worn a bulletproof vest” on a trial
The thing is, though, it is said, in the case of racial minorities and vulnerable people. How often has a black person been shot just for driving/walking/ringing the cops for help/wearing a hoodie/playing in a park? How often do people say they should have behaved differently, as though their actions were a logical precursor to their murder?
How often do Jewish people, Sikhs and Muslims get blamed for being ‘too’ who they are in public? Especially women wearing a headscarf or men wearing a turban? How many are told, ‘well, what did you expect?’ when they try to report a hate crime?
How many queer people are blamed for their own murders and assaults simply for existing in public spaces? How many are told that if they just made an effort to be normal, they’d have been safe? How many were assaulted when they were actually passing, but were outed as queer and found themselves trapped and abused by people who felt angry at being ‘tricked’?
How many disabled people have been murdered just for not being normal? How many autistic children and adults are killed by their caregivers annually, or subjected to torturous therapies to try to cure them? How many interviews, articles, memoirs and documentaries justify this cruelty in the name of normalisation and blame the disabled person for the impact of their disability on their families?
People have always blamed victims. Yes, it happens to victims of rape and sexual assault, and always has done, and is disgustingly regularly reported as justification for what happened. But it happens to others too. Also, please remember that the rates of rape and sexual assault of people of colour, queer people and disabled people are far higher than the general population, and that it is far harder for these victims to access the justice system, compensation and health/support services.
instead of calling it the spa or Turkish Bath, she refers to Jake going to The Shvitz. (ep: Old School)
Jake wishes her Happy Chanukkah (in the episode Christmas)
instead of getting holt one present, she had six small presents which is just one short of the full seven (see above)
went to magnet school (it was probably day school)
family events center around thanksgiving and never christmas & is in general way more obsessed with thanksgiving dinner than christmas or other holidays
is cuban, and there’s definitely a cuban jewish population (one of the local cantors where i am is cuban!)
reasons why amy santiago wasn’t already jewish but converted to judaism:
she saw a complete collection of the talmud and fell in love with the cross-indexing
that one time she was like “i LOVE complex and obscure rules” when getting paperwork approved for holt
wants a rabbi in her life (both holt and a real rabbi)
loves books a whole lot so probably read the recommended reading list in a week
shavuot is an all night study session and that is the best kind of holiday amy santiago has ever heard of she would convert based on that alone
The thing is though the main funny thing JRR does not realize about the jewishness of his dwarfs is that his elfs are also extremely Jewish and that’s the cultural relationship I want to see in fanwork, i want elfs to be early modern German orthodox spiritualist weirdos i want elfs to put chasidim to shame…. and I want dwarfs to be Russian peasant jews from the early 20th century who are like, cool, 1. what are you talking about 2. My brother and I run a fruit stand and are communists
… I feel like I have followers who will appreciate this
For anyone planning any type of school/community/club/activist event or party, the first two nights of Passover this year (2018) are:
Friday night 3/30
Saturday night 3/31
Most Jews won’t be able to attend events on these nights. Passover is one of the most important Jewish holidays, and most Jews will be attending a communal meal with their families or communities on these two nights.
Please avoid scheduling important events then, just as it would be inappropriate to schedule important events on Christmas Eve.
In addition, most Jews avoid products containing wheat, barley, etc during Passover, which begins (as mentioned above) on Friday night 3/30 and ends in the evening of Saturday 4/7. While it is okay (though not ideal) to schedule events during that week, if you are and the main food/drink involves cookies, bread, pasta, flour, cake, beer, etc, please provide an alternate food for Jewish participants.
Please reblog, even if you’re not Jewish yourself! Thank you 💙
There is a famous story told in Chassidic literature that addresses this very question. The Master teaches the student that God created everything in the world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.
One clever student asks “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?”
The Master responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all — the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs and act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that god commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.”
“This means,” the Master continued “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say ‘I pray that God will help you.’ Instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say ‘I will help you.’”
ETA source: Tales of Hasidim Vol. 2 by Mar
I started reading this and was worried it would be something attacking atheists, or bashing religion, but this makes me really, really happy.
imagine that there is no God who can help, and say ‘I will help you.’”
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Yes. YES.
This is lovely and precisely the thing I’ve been trying to explain to my family for ages.
This is exactly why as an athiest I perform regular acts of charity, despite being disabled and on a fixed income myself. I don’t have someone telling me I need to for some eternal, ephemeral reward. I do it because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t have a checklist in my head, ticking off credits with a higher power. I think, “Shit, it’s hot this week and the homeless shelter is giving out lots of bottled water. I’ll buy a few cases and drop them off if I can.” Because it’s something I can do to help that I can afford and manage to do at this current time to help others. That’s not an example I pulled out of my arse – right now I have 3 x 24 bottles of water in my car plus four packs of tube ice blocks ready to freeze, plus a whole bag of sanitary products (they were on sale last week) and it’s 41C outside today. I’ll drop them off at the collection point on Monday. We’re able to do this much because my Christian mother saw us regularly buying things for charity, donating items we didn’t need, or chucking a bit of money in people’s fundraisers and thought she, personally, should do more, and offered to go halves. I’m not saying there aren’t uncharitible athiests – there are plenty – but the idea that those of us who don’t believe in a higher power are amoral, heartless, and devoid of any kind of selflessness is just plain wrong.
knitting in the dark 