Ahavah (אהבה in Hebrew) ‘means “love” in Hebrew. The Jewish mystics remark on the affinity between the word ahavah, “love,” and “echad,” one. The numerical value of their letters is the same: 13.’
Source: thejc.com
Judaism and Christmas
I have been meaning to post this earlier, but just haven’t got around to finish writing this blog. So I’m doing this now before the new year begins.
Since it was Christmas time and living in Europe it is pretty much impossible to avoid being affected by it in one way or another, there is just no escape, I thought I’d talk about the topic Judaism and Christmas.
Since I have got more and more into Judaism, I have naturally started questioning all the Christian traditions and holidays that I’ve always been surrounded by. I wasn’t raised in any religion, but living in Europe, many of those Christmas holidays and traditions are part of the culture and most people just celebrate them without ever really thinking about their meaning or associate any religious importance to them (unless they are religious Christians obviously). And I get it, it’s part of the culture, just like Jewish holidays are part of the Israeli culture, regardless of one’s religious observance.
But I think choosing Judaism makes you more aware of these things, and more critical of these religious aspects of the culture that most people don’t bare a thought to (like in the USA, many Jews have no problem celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas, and don’t see it problematic in any way). Hanukkah obviously has nothing to do with Christmas, it just happens to be around the same time of the year, and that has resulted in many Jews adapting Christmas traditions to their Hanukkah celebration, including decoration, presents ( not just gelt) and even Hanukkah (or Christmukkah) trees. Herman Wouk in his book ‘This is my God’ writes about Hanukkah in the USA:
..in schools where there were large numbers of Jewish children a dual celebration of Christmas and Hanuka sprang up, as an official symbol of mutual courtesy and tolerance. This in turn generated a new Jewish interest in Hanuka.
While Christmas and other Christian customs pose a risk of assimilation for the Jewish minorities, I agree that it can also work as a way to spark an interest to know more about Hanukkah, as Wouk states that ‘if the old custom of Hanuka money has become the new custom of Hanuka gifts, this is a minor shift in manners. (..) The gifts win their attention. The little candles stimulate their questions.’
I find myself being very critical of Christmas, and even despising it these days, but I feel that probably with time when I am more confident and familiar with my Jewish practice, I’ll be able to feel more neutral about it. I have a strong desire to raise my kid(s) Jewish, and if one grows up with a strong Jewish identity, celebrating the Jewish holidays and customs, it doesn’t seem likely that receiving gifts, decorating a tree or eating some gingerbread cookies once a year would possess a big threat to their identity. I would draw the line at Christmas carols though – I would not feel comfortable singing about baby Jesus (just hearing those songs make me cringe) or having someone forcing my child to do that at school. (To be fair, neither do many secular Christians, because for them Christmas is simply part of western culture with no religious significance, and they would rather sing Frosty the snowman or Jingle bells than those less cheerful sounding some baby Jesus songs).
The hardest part for me is the feeling of loneliness during holiday season, when the majority of people around me are celebrating and I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel or what I should do, especially when most places are closed for the holidays. This year I went to the gym (and it was amazing, I had the whole gym to myself!) and on Christmas Day I ordered pizza (the delivery was super fast, I don’t think they had many orders coming in!) So I didn’t feel like I was missing on anything, apart from missing having someone who feels the same as I do to spend my time with. Days like these really make that feeling of loneliness worse, and make me long for a community, or even just one person, that shares the same values and who would not find it weird to order takeaway food on a Christmas Day.
I think that will be one of my next posts: the feeling of loneliness and the difficulty of not really having a sense of belonging in any community or culture at the moment.
The Do’s and Dont’s of Talking to Converts
The Do’s and Don’ts of Talking to Converts
An interesting read. At this point I have already come across several of these questions, and often as one of the first things a person asks. In fact, I have come to expect them, so in a case that a Jewish person does not ask me any questions concerning conversion, I feel strange and particularly in the case of dating, I feel the need to check that the guy is indeed aware that I wasn’t raised Jewish. On a positive note, most people ask these questions out of interest and are well-meaning, not in a judgemental way at all. I’m sure I will come across more of those ignorant and negative ones too, but so far the positive reactions outweigh the negatives. A very sweet response from a man recently kinda brought tears into my eyes ‘Being Jewish to me isn’t what’s on a piece of paper. It’s part of your soul.’ Indeed, having that piece of paper just makes it official though.
Jewish Word of the Day
I used to get confused when I read about ‘being called up for aliyah’ as I only thought of it as referring to a Jewish person moving to Israel. So I initially understood it as ‘being called to return to Israel’, haha! Fortunately now I know the word actually has two meanings:
Aliyah: “The Hebrew word aliyah translates as “elevation” or “going up.” It is, in fact, used both for being called up to the Torah reading and for moving to the Land of Israel.: ”
Source: Chabad.org
Memorizing Prayers
Jewish Word of the Day
בית המקדש
= Bet Hamikdash
”Beit Hamikdash is the Hebrew phrase for the Temple that was first built by King Solomon. A bayit is a house. Mikdash comes from kadosh, meaning holy. In the Tanach, it is usually referred to simply as the “House” in which God especially dwells, a domestic image of the place where God and the Jewish people met in holiness.”
Source: thejc.com
My Jewish Learning Blog
I have transferred my blog from Tumblr to here, because WordPress seems more versatile and I feel it is easier to categorize different topics of my posts.
WordPress randomly posted this quote for me on my blog, but since it actually sums up pretty well what My Jewish Learning is about I decided to keep it in this post. The journey to Judaism is indeed a long, and often a very lonely one, and having people to share your journey with is so important and makes it, if not much easier, at least a lot less scary and more rewarding,
So thank you Izaak Walton (and WordPress) for this inspiring quote, I hope I will find some company, whether virtually or in real life, to share things along my journey of learning and living Judaism.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Jewish Word of the Day
Nigun/niggun (Hebrew: ניגון meaning “tune” or “melody”) “A nigun or niggun is a form of Jewish religious song or tune sung by groups. It is vocal music, often with repetitive sounds such as “bim-bim-bam”, “lai-lai-lai”, “yai-yai-yai” or “ai-ai-ai!” instead of formal lyrics. Source: Wikipedia
Side note: I love that the Chassidic music is often so cheerful – in comparison to the solemnity of their very strict religious observance.
Learning the Nikkudim
I’m on holidays and I am trying to spend as much time as I can reading and learning for the next few weeks.
My Hebrew is still very rudimentary, and although I can recognize the letters and slowly spell out some words, knowing the right vowel sounds is still a mystery for me. I can’t decide whether it would be better for me to learn without nikkudim or with them.. I know there are different views on this. To read Biblical Hebrew yes, but for learning modern Hebrew I don’t know if it will just make it more difficult depending too much on the vowel markings. The mystery is though, how can you tell the correct pronunciation of a word if you are not familiar with it and don’t know which vowel sounds should be used?
Other Hebrew learners, please do share your thoughts on this. If I can just find the right logic ‘deciphering’ the writing, I’m sure I will get on with it.
I have saved lots of pictures like this from My Hebrew Learning on Instagram, I find it a nice source to learn some Hebrew basics. Rather than going through a course book, I’ve been gathering material from various online sources, as I feel the more material from different authors the easier it will be to get to grasps with a new language.
Channah’s Jewish Learning 