I feel like in general a lot of atheist goyim don't understand how many of us jews don't even think about if we literally believe in the supernatural conception of G-d or not. How our faith is about an evolving tradition, culture, conviction to values, the importance of the sacred, and ritual as cause for mindfulness and reflection; as prompts to consider things in a way you might not otherwise.
Like it's one thing for me to just one day say "I'm going to forgive myself for things I feel guilty about"
It's another to have a specific time every year that as a community we all reflect on the year, where we messed up, how we can make amends now to those harmed, and then spend a day ritualistically reflecting and forgiving ourselves for that which we no longer need to feel guilty about. To say "we learned from our mistakes and now we can move forward having learned and done our best to repair"
There is a power in ritual and poetic blessings and coming together as a community.
Like, it's one thing for me to have a dinner party with activists
It's another to bring together community to have a ritualistic ceremonial dinner where we discuss how we can commit ourselves to working towards justice and liberation in a structured way. To celebrate and discuss.
To ritualistically burn chametz and to remind yourself of the history of your people and why that obligates you to pursue justice
Like yeah you can be an atheist jew and we don't care. It's not about literally believing in the supernatural or not. It's about the practice and the values and the community.
@shel can i reboost all of this??
@ainalani absolutely i'm posting it to the public timeline afterall
@k Well this is a good time of year to do it!!
Find a congregation:
https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/directory
https://reformjudaism.org/congregations
and see if they're having a seder you can go to. It's common for the seders at synagogues to be on the second night of pesach (tomorrow night!)
you could also just look at any events going on that sound appealing; go to some shabbat services... and definitely definitely meet and talk to the rabbi at the synagogue about wanting to reconnect with judaism and where you're lost
@k Reform and Reconstructionist are the liberal movements; and are much more into explaining what's happening to newcomers during seders and services and stuff. More accessible than conservative where everything is in hebrew and orthodox where you're expected to have memorized the order of prayers and do it all yourself
@k keep in mind that the most radical stuff usually happens not at synagogues but in minyans; informal groups of jews doing things in their house (minyan literally means "the minimum number of jews necessary"). Most synagogues will be passively zionists or skirt around the subject. At a minyan you'll find olives on the seder plate etc.
buuut minyans aren't public and expect a level of knowledge already when you join. usually you meet them at jewish community events and become friends and get invited
@k if it's beef then that's fine yeah? also observing kashrut in modern times is considered pretty optional since it's about like... specifically what's safe to eat in west asia so if you don't live there then it's more like "don't eat literal poison please"
though a lot of us observe it anyway as tradition, because it just feels right, and because it serves as a reminder of our commitment to our values and faith each time we don't eat bacon. but it's very not mandatory these days
@k and like i said if you can't find a seder then like there's no time of year when it's not a good time to stop by your local congregation and talk to the rabbi
my very first time going to services was for rosh hashona services and it was definitely fantastic.
@k good luck!
@shel the theological/supernatural/eschatological aspects of Judaism are also substantially and qualitatively different from Christian doctrine; even shared ethical tenets based on scripture have substantially divergent specifics
@shel like Maimonides listed belief in the resurrection of the dead as one of the required articles of Jewish faith but Jewish messianism is still a whole lot different from the Christian version.
I get grumpy about “Judeo-Christian” all the time and not even just from the secular humanist perspective
@shel I have observed that most of my Jewish friends, for reasons you’ve listed, have a relative peace with their religion even if they are atheists. I admire that and wish it was a thing I could have (but am probably ultimately too angry at god to ever get there).
@shel @mismatched It's funny - this describes my own relationship with Judaism, but not as a goyish/Jewish thing so much as the contrast between the religious education I had growing up (solid foundations but fiercely Zionist, authoritarian, into supernatural father God, and plenty hypocritical) and the traditions I maintain today as an atheist Jew. I see some of my Christian friends engage with the Gospels in the same way, and atheismbros are being equally unfair to them.
Goyishe atheists don't understand that "judeo-christian" is bullshit and Judaism is not Christianity nor is all Christianity evangelicalsm.
They assume all religion is like Christianity and is Bad because it Placates Us or is inherently conservative.
when Judaism is all about questioning power, arguing with authority, pursuing justice, community. Not all of it; certainly some jews are conservative and l-rd knows the zionists are hard right-wing and have forgotten the meaning of tzedek tirdof