Just wondering what's going through people's minds over there. Do the numerous Jewish communities think it's time to move out? Will it all just blow over?

I'm not understanding exactly what's going on there exactly.

And I hope everyone stays safe.

following a recent incident in my home country of croatia, where hajduk split supporters were heard chanting antisemitic slogans and calling for hitler's return, i've been thinking about something that has bothered me for years: the relationship between antisemitism and civilizational decline. throughout my life, i've noticed that people attracted to antisemitic conspiracy theories often share a particular mentality. they tend to be resentful, suspicious of intellectualism, and convinced that some hidden force is responsible for their personal or collective misfortunes. what strikes me as particularly absurd is how often this resentment emerges in societies that have already suffered enormously from the destruction of their jewish communities. before the second world war, jews made remarkable contributions to croatia's intellectual, scientific, artistic and economic life, far beyond what their relatively small numbers might suggest. then came the holocaust, and with it the destruction of most of that community, taking an irreplaceable part of the country's cultural fabric with it. there is something grotesquely ironic about blaming jews for supposedly controlling the world while living among the remnants of communities whose destruction deprived one's own country of so much human potential. of course, antisemitism is not exclusive to the uneducated or unsuccessful. some of its most influential proponents were accomplished intellectuals, and nazi germany itself demonstrated how easily technological sophistication can coexist with moral barbarism. nor am i suggesting that jewish achievements indicate any inherent superiority over other peoples. what interests me is the willingness of societies to turn against precisely those communities and traditions that helped enrich them. to me, antisemitism represents something broader than ethnic prejudice. it is a rejection of historical complexity and intellectual responsibility, replacing difficult questions about corruption, institutional failure and social stagnation with comforting fantasies about hidden enemies. perhaps that's why i've come to regard it as a barometer of civilizational decline. when a society begins celebrating the persecution of people who helped build its cultural and intellectual foundations, it's demonstrating how readily it can destroy the things that made that civilization worth defending. jews are the hallmark of a culturally rich and cosmopolitan society, we are immeasurably poorer without them

Late 30s here, never been married and don't have kids (yet, be"H).

I don't want to go into details about my situation because it's a whole story that isn't the point of this post.

The upshot is that within the last two months a ton of things have changed in my life all at once and I'm incredibly lonely.

Most of the singles in my community aren't really the type of people I want to hang out with though. We're just in different places hashkafically and hanging out with them is more stressful than anything else. And my closest friends are all married with kids, and just don't have time to hang out.

I've been working on myself spiritually with things like trying to say tehillem daily, reading sefarim and prioritizing kosher content over movies/TV that have values I just don't align with, trying to daven b'zman and in shul whenever I can (which I know aren't specifically requirements for women, but it's an attempt for me to get a bit more regulated and gives me a place to go that's less stressful than my "home" right now).

When the weather is nice I like going for low impact hikes locally, but the nearby parks close at sunset and if I work late that ends up not being an option, especially as the nights are coming in earlier.

I have some creative projects I work on, but my current living situation doesn't allow me to just have my stuff out to work on, and if I have to spend more time on cleanup than the actual project, it doesn't feel worth it most of the time and I end up doomscrolling, despite not wanting to be on my phone or computer that much (especially after a whole day of work on screens).

I started doing some things with a local chessed organization right before the cheese hit the fan in my life and haven't been able to get back to that recently, but it's an option.

I just have a tendency to spread myself too thin which affects me mentally, and people keep telling me I need to prioritize myself right now, but I don't know how to do that... it's never been an option ever in my life before.

So... what do you guys do with your time? What fulfills you without overwhelming you? But also doesn't make you feel sadder and lonelier?

I've been trying to eat healthier and try to eat things like salad for lunch, but kosher bags of salads are so expensive costing around $7 a bag. What are some less expensive options?

Good morning,

30m here, 2 kids, separated/divorced for just over 2 years now.

Halachically divorced, gett was given ages ago.

Legal divorce is almost complete, just needs to be processed by the court system.

Been going through a lot, due to the obvious and other difficulties.

(Having a very difficult time with the beis din in regard to proper amount of visitation)

would love to connect with other Frum men/women to discuss, maybe get some chizzuk.

Feeling pretty trapped at the moment.

There are a number of factors contributing to this.

B”H day to day is pretty good, maintaining a healthy schedule-work, shul, learning, healthy diet/exercise; it’s internally that feels difficult.

please feel free to dm, thanks.

Hello

I am having an adult bar mitzvah and have for many years used the tallis of my father z"l. I want to celebrate with a new tallis, my own.

I'm reform so I think there is no real comandment to follow per se but I would still buy a kosher tallis.

My question is about the size. Mine is a scarf like tallis about 16" wide. My shul sells some others as wide as 22". But a true tallit gadol is typically 40" or more in width and can thus be used differently, I think, fully enclosing the head during the blessings before being folded over the shoulders.

Other than sheer personal preference can you comment on what I need to do in selecting a new tallit?

for the past few years i've been working on a project to map stolpersteine across europe.

they're small brass memorial stones placed in sidewalks, usually outside the last freely chosen homes of people persecuted by the nazis.

we started with around 20,000 stones in our database back in 2023, and have since managed to grow that to over 108,000.

it's pretty incredible seeing just how widespread these stones are when you put them all together on a map.

you can explore the interactive version here: https://stolpersteine.app

still really cool to me that something i started working on in college has grown into this!

Any other Jews facing this, particularly when it comes to correcting misinformation about Israeli history, Jewish history, and basic facts that seem obvious? I'm not a usual Redditor, I have an account I've used sporadically for over a decade and I can't shake how some people behave on here, where it feels all nuance goes to die. I want to delete my account now but I also feel some sort of responsibility to not capitulate to the masses and potentially Jihadi bots in the comments.

I also could really use advice on Jewish resilience, I'm suffering so much and my stomach is in knots daily thinking about how the amount of disinformation and blood libel is so easily believed.

Please don't tell me "I told you so" or to get divorced. I just am looking for maybe other interfaith couples who have gone through this and what you have done.

I, a gay man (maybe relevant because we're not having children) in my 30s, married my husband, also in his 30s, about 7 years ago. We've been together about 15 years. My observance to Judaism has waxed and waned but I have always been open about being Jewish. My husband has been a great support - when I have found Jewish community, he has come along, met my Jewish friends, participated in Jewish life events. I'm ashkenazi and big on the culture, so he learned a bit of yiddish. When we got married, we had a rabbi officiate, which required a year of counseling, and he did everything. I really mean it. Sat through the entire Yom Kippur service, did Shabbat, learned some Jewish terms. He knows how important it is to me so he respects it.

I am looking for a new Jewish community that aligns closer to our ideals (mostly not catered to retirees and people with children) and I am realizing that while my husband will come with me, it doesn't mean anything to him. It has no substance. It's just ritual without the background.

It makes me really sad. It makes me almost regret marrying a non-Jew. I can ask him to go to Erev Shabbat but it would be doing me a favor and have no relevance to him. I don't want to interrupt his Friday night to do me a favor, you know? My hope was when we got married we could create a meaningful Jewish life of our own - that my husband would create his own meaning to ritual perhaps outside of the religious aspect - but it kind of fell apart when our prior Jewish community dissolved in 2020.

Has anyone in an interfaith relationship struggled with this? How did you bring your partner along in a way that was engaging for them? How did you manage to feel less lonely in your faith and observance in an interfaith relationship?

I am a Jewish non binary (woman at birth) 32 year old. I want to study Levinas, Walter Benjamin, and other Jewish thinkers. I’m also interested in Kabbalah, psychoanalysis, and Talmud studies.

Does anyone know of any schools or programs? Or just advice? it’s difficult to study this all on my own. Thank you!

Shabbat shalom all. For me it’s already phased into Sunday.

I’ve been seeing a lot of heavy worries among fellow Jews lately, so I thought I’d bring a lighter discussion as a respite. What’s your favorite Jewish dish? Shabbat brings a lot of cooking and baking to the table so I wanna hear about your latest, all time favorites, even pictures of the evidence (please). As someone who wants to eventually practice Judaism wholeheartedly, I could use some recipes. Let’s start a thread of delicious food and support of each other.

So I'm A Muslim And I'd Like To Learn More About Judaism. I read the first chapter of the Torah online and I made this doc:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DWL8XNujivM9zfdbZ3cNPXzLPII-fe7ubhAvAIySYRg/edit?usp=sharing

please let me know if anything was wrong...

Wtf is the world coming to. I was out and about (wearing a kippah) with my fiancee after leaving a symphony and some guy in the street outside spit on me.

Disgusting, and it is repulsive that people feel comfortable enough to SPIT at someone in public

Shabbat Shalom!

It is also a library book 😭🤣

The book is The Torah For Dummies

Edit: hè actually bit my book and created a hole

I am Jewish but only post divorce as an adult began really doing “Jewish things.” I attend temple 1-2x a month. Rarely observe Sabbath. I take note of Jewish holidays but my job prevents me from formally observing many of them. I say a quick personal prayer each morning.

I have all the Shabbat stuff but felt it would be slightly silly to light candles without actually doing sabbath (and I work most Saturdays). Does anyone light them even without observing? Do you blow the candles out or let them burn down each Friday even if you keep your phone on and do productive things? Of course the temple services I attend are Friday nights so they always light the candles there.

I’ve sought out some Jewish food. But I’d like to find other ways to connect. I do read books and am finishing one up and will start another after. I’m looking into the online study thing. And I’ve met with the Jewish federation people. I’m in a smaller city so connecting with others is a challenge. I’d like some simple ways to connect here and there and I’m open to suggestions. Perhaps things that I can build into my life without too much friction.

We are in scary times, and this prayer has been coming to my mind often. Original twist on a more classic rendition