Author: forlovefromfear
Due to the Assyrian-Greeks’ attempt to destroy the menorah, they caused millions of menorahs to be lit around the world each year from now on instead.
Guys we are seriously so badass. Try to make us stop doing mitzvot? We make a new holiday with a mitzvah reminding us how we kicked your ass. Try to wipe us out? We will make a holiday about how we kicked your ass, make cookies making fun of your terrible taste in headwear, and boo your name from now until the sun blows up. We are awesomeness.
*walks under the ARch of Titus* HEY, WE’RE STILL HERE 3 GENOCIDES LATER
OK sorry I am interrupting this post now
Three weeks ago today I went on a trip to Poland for Holocaust studies. One of the first things we were told was this story.
After the Shoah, the Ponevezher Rav went to Rome to try to collect funds for his yeshiva. He left the airport, found his talmid who he was staying with, and as they got into the taxi, he said “We need to go to the Arch of Titus” (or, well, he said that in Yiddish). The talmid was incredulous: “Rebbe, it’s midnight, it’s pouring with rain, come to your rooms! Why do you need to see this Arch, anyway?” But the rabbi was insistent, so the talmid gave in. They arrived, and the rebbe got out of the taxi, looked at the Arch – this frail old man next to a towering 15 metre (~50ft) stone arch, and one to the triumphs of the Emperor Titus, no less, the man who led the siege against Jerusalem which culminated in the churban, the destruction of the Second Temple which we still mourn on Tisha B’Av.
He got out of the taxi, and roared at the top of his lungs into the night.
“TITUS, TITUS! VU BISTU, VAYL IKH BIN DO?”
Titus, Titus! Where are you? For I am here.
When we stood at the crematoria at Auschwitz, that’s what the rabbi did. he tipped back his head, and he screamed. Hitler, Hitler! Where are you? Because we are here.
(please forgive any Yiddish errors – though do send me corrections – this is a write-up of notes from one verbal story of many at an understandably emotional time)
I think the shittiest part of this is the fact that when I went to shul this morning, I didn’t feel like I was in any more danger than before. Philadelphia felt like an inevitability. We know how bad antisemitism is and the only question that remains is, “so when and where is it going to happen?”
Tumblr, I want you to think really hard about that and then ask yourself why you keep dismissing antisemitism.
in general i think new york is very good for my social anxiety because no matter how much of a freak i’m being i know it’s probably not the weirdest thing people have seen today
case in point: i felt bad about bringing my unwieldy luggage onto a crowded train, until the man sitting next to me pulled a live fish out of his backpack
Pro tip from a native: no one is paying attention to you, or what you’re doing, with three exceptions:
1) You are walking slowly
2) You are shitting on the floor of the subway
3) you are mugging us
So this kid fell asleep during class and he’s still there after school so we decided to play a prank on him
but what happened when he woke up
quick story once my English teacher had a slightly off and very religious borderline radical Christian student that fell asleep during class once, and there was one atheist girl in the class
so when he fell asleep, all the students except the atheist left their backpacks and jackets on their chairs and left the room
and the kid woke up and started to panic, looked over and saw the atheist girl reading a book, still in the classroom
she turned the page, returned his glance, and said “Hey.”
and the kid freaked the fuck out because he sincerely thought he missed the rapture
ForLoveFromFear 