takeaway from the notes of this post
Image description: the handshake meme, where one arm is labeled "people with corn allergies," the second arm is labeled "people with milk allergies or lactose intolerance," and their handshake is labeled "why is it in my fucking medications" with "medications" in all caps. End description.
I hate when Inst*gram inf*graphics or social justice posts say stuff like “this is NOT political, it’s a human rights issue!!!” Bestie, it IS political!! Human rights issues are almost always political! They have to do with politics. They have to do with politicians. The actions they require are political in nature. Something having a clear moral right and wrong does not equal it not being a political issue!
It isn't letting me comment, so I'll reblog with my answers. To be clear, I'm not an expert of any sort in folklore, Jewish or otherwise, but I have some sources that might be helpful.
If you're looking for non-fiction, I would start with Rootsmetals, an instagram activist/educator. Her recent posts are all I/P focused and I think she is incredibly biased, so I wouldn't cite her on anything like that, but her earlier posts about Judaism on her website can provide a good starting point to help you figure out which parts of Jewish folklore you like best and want to research more. Here are some:
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/ancient-jewish-magic?_pos=14&_sid=7224c01f1&_ss=r
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/judaism-vampires?_pos=6&_sid=7224c01f1&_ss=r
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/judaism-witches?_pos=2&_sid=fe71083eb&_ss=r
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/the-jewish-soul?_pos=22&_sid=bf015af62&_ss=r
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-jewish-dance?_pos=2&_sid=d8de33d9b&_ss=r
Once you have more specific topics in mind, you can hopefully do some digging on those!
If you're looking for fiction, she also has a book of Jewish fairytales (https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Escaz%C3%BA-Other-Jewish-Fairytales/dp/B09JVFR7R2). I also highly recommend Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes, especially the stories "Among the Thorns," "Lily Glass," and "Burning Girls," although these stories are all pretty dark, so be careful, especially if violent antisemitism is triggering for you. This author also has a page of other fiction books of Jewish folklore (https://electricliterature.com/stories-books-about-jewish-magic-folklore-mythology/).
And of course, feel free to message me or send me an ask if you want any help researching :)
I’m a Jew who is interested in learning more about Jewish folklore and Jewish folk practices, as I am super interested in Jewish spirituality and mysticism but am not at a point in my life where it would be appropriate to do anything with Kabbalah. Does anyone have any good resources for that? I’ve been trying to avoid sources that are basically Jewish things repackaged as new-age/pagan.
(In case it’s relevant for FOR, I am Ashkenazi)
.
Very occasionally, this fandom impresses me
in case you were wondering as of november 10 you have to go to page 54 of the supernatural tag on ao3 until you see fics that were published before november 5
Random linguistic worldbuilding: A language with six sets of pronouns, which are set by one's current state of existence. There's a separate pronoun for people who are alive, people who are dead, and potential future people who are yet to be born, and the ambiguous ones of "may or may not be alive or aleady dead", "may or may not have even been born yet", and the ultimate general/ambiguous all-covering one that covers all ambiguous states.
The culture has a specific defined term for that tragic span of time when a widow keeps accidentally referring to their spouse with living pronouns. New parents-to-be dropping the happy surprise news of a pregnancy by referring to their future child with the "is yet to be born" pronoun instead of a more ambiguous one and waiting for the "wait what did you just say?" reactions.
Someone jokingly referring to themselves with the dead person pronouns just to highlight how horrible their current hangover is. A notorious aspiring ladies' man who keeps trying to pursue women in their 20s despite of approaching middle age fails to notice the insult when someone asks him when he's planning to get married, and uses the pronoun that implies that his ideal future bride may not even be born yet.
A mother whose young adult child just moved away from home for the first time, who continues to dramatically refer to their child with "may or may not be already dead" until the aforementioned child replies to her on facebook like "ma stop telling people I'm dead" and having her respond with "well how could I possibly know that when you don't even write to us? >:,C"
the uncanny valley between “this academic article doesn’t make sense because i’m an idiot” and “this academic article doesn’t make sense because the author is an idiot”
It makes me happy when they listen
God, I wish I had this level of confidence
Do you ever wonder about you and your place in the universe?
Nope I know exactly where my place is and it’s directly in the center
jewish culture is constantly having the v'ahavta stuck in your head
.
Your weakest moments; I will go to war for you.
Chrissy Vistiaire
My roommate has been translating Gideon the Ninth into Biblical Hebrew (and including notes that people like me, who do not speak Biblical Hebrew, can also enjoy)! And if you happen to be a scholar of semitic linguistics, I can put you in touch 😊
she/her, 🩷🧡🤍, ✡️, student of medieval & judaic studies
87 posts