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On to Sh'mos (Exodus)!

I just wanted to share something that made me genuinely happy.

I managed to change the mind of an online friend who used to support Hamas and called Israel a terrorist state. It took a long time and most arguments I tried didn't work, he'd always shut it down saying "the 2000 years thing is BS" or "there should be two states, Arabs were living there too" etc.

But eventually, I explained the UN partition plan, how it was supposed to be, and how the Arab side rejected it. I told him about the War of Independence, and that the whole "Palestinian people" concept is a very modern political identity. He didn't even know Gaza was under Egyptian control before or that Jordan annexed the West Bank.

That alone made him pause and start thinking. He realized how much false info had been fed to him by the algorithm. And when he noticed out how even Jewish schools in Europe need bars and police to stay safe (he's European), something clicked. He told me he feels ashamed now for having believed Hamas propaganda, and doesn't even want to talk about it anymore because it embarrasses him.

I'm honestly shocked. I've lost so many online friends over this topic. It started to feel impossible to change anyone’s mind. But it is possible.

In the end, I realized most of the lies people believe come from the way the Nakba and Israel's creation are framed. Once you give people actual history, it seems it can make a difference for some people, I was starting to give up.

Anyway, I'm just really happy and needed to share this.

I attended one of the larger Hands Off protests today in a Midwestern US city. I had mixed feelings about participating based on the anti-Israeli and by extension anti-Jewish rhetoric within progressive circles. Here are a few of my observations and options about the protest today:

Of note, I wasn't wearing or carrying anything identifiably Jewish. I blend in pretty well to the extent that usually only other Jewish people or people very familiar with Jewish people correctly recognize me as Jewish based on my features.

The first thing I quickly noticed is that Reddit is not an accurate portrayal of Americans as a whole. The "Boomer" generation of 60+ year olds had the most representation. Social media to them, if they use it at all, is Facebook. That's how they heard about the protests and that's what they used to organize. I cannot state enough how proud I am of them for showing up in such large numbers.

The overwhelming message was anti-Trump and anti-Musk as intended. Other causes also showed up. There were pro-Pali and pro-Hamas people among the crowd. They were not in large numbers and they seemed to mostly only interact amongst themselves. I stayed as far away from them as I could and honestly it was pretty easy to avoid them. I didn't even hear any of their conversations. They all appeared to be young and white.

Some self described Republicans were there. They talked about feeling duped and admitting to making a mistake. They are hurt by all this too. I specifically overheard farmers and union laborers talking about how badly this has affected their finances and livelihood.

Members of our local Ukrainian community showed up. No explanation needed for how they feel about Trump.

Hispanic protesters talked about family members that have been detained and deported with no due process. LGBTQ protesters talked about their safety fears. Women talked about their loss of bodily autonomy. Veterans talked about their sacrifices and loss of benefits.

People are so creative with their signs!! Examples are easy to find all over social media and news outlets.

I think it's more important than ever that we Jews continue to engage with the reasonable majority of this movement.

Imagine ending a friendship with someone because she…sent her children to Jewish day camp. These people consider Jews to be “dangerous”, and they are going to start encouraging people to put Jewish institutions in danger.

I’m from Ireland and have been studying Judaism for the past few months and I believe it and I want to convert. I have a lot of relatives in Toronto and thinking of going to college there. Can I convert to Orthodox Judaism in Toronto thanks

This is an email I sent today about antisemitic harassment I have been experiencing. If anyone has any additional resources please let me know. I have removed sensitive information such as names, addresses, and usernames.

Dear Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law,

My name is (removed). I am Jewish, newly pregnant, and engaged to my fiancé (removed). We live in (removed, USA). I am writing to request legal guidance and support after being the target of a personal, public antisemitic attack by my fiancé’s ex-wife, (removed). Her actions are not only emotionally distressing, but they are putting my mental and physical health—and that of my unborn child—at risk.

I suffered a miscarriage in February, and I am deeply afraid that the ongoing harassment, which includes public defamation and antisemitic rhetoric, will again endanger my pregnancy.

(Removed, ex wife) and (removed, my fiancé) have been divorced since May 2022 and share custody of their 9-year-old nonverbal, autistic son. On April 1, 2025, (removed, ex wife) published an article titled “The Zionist Step-Mom Debacle” on Medium, which contains numerous false and inflammatory accusations about me—except for one fact: that I am Jewish and openly Zionist.

The article goes far beyond criticism. It paints me as an ideological threat to her child, accuses me of cruelty, psychological warfare, and dehumanization, and uses language that clearly demonizes Zionism as a “disease of the spirit” and associates it with “supremacy” and “ethnic cleansing.” These are not legitimate political arguments—they are targeted attacks meant to dehumanize me for my identity.

Below is a short excerpt from her article:

“Yes, the soon-to-be stepmom to my autistic, nonverbal child is a Zionist… Zionism is a disease of the spirit. A sickness rooted in supremacy, fear, and historical amnesia.”

She also publicly accuses me of trying to erase her from her son’s life, positions herself as a victim of ideological oppression, and links my Jewish identity to global violence—all while promoting her GoFundMe to raise $17,000. In that GoFundMe, she blames (removed)—her ex—for not helping her avoid foreclosure, despite a court-ordered divorce decree requiring her to sell or refinance the home by May 2023.

The harassment hasn’t stopped at Medium. (Removed) has a presence on social media, including X (formerly Twitter), where she regularly posts or interacts with explicitly antisemitic content. I’ve attached an example from today, in which she commented approvingly on a post that compares supporters of Israel to Adolf Hitler, featuring deeply offensive and Holocaust-inverting imagery.

In private communications—some witnessed by me directly—(removed, ex wife) has screamed at (removed, my fiancé) on FaceTime in front of their son, calling me things like:

• “a greedy, selfish Zionist”

• “You’re turning into one of them, huh?”

• “Did she make you convert yet? I never thought you’d go to the dark side.”

I have already submitted a report to the ADL but have not received a response. I am turning to the Brandeis Center for legal advice regarding what protections or legal actions may be available to me as a Jewish person experiencing targeted and public antisemitic harassment. This campaign of abuse is not only defamatory and rooted in hate—it is actively endangering my well-being and my pregnancy.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I would be grateful for the opportunity to speak further or provide any additional documentation needed.

Sincerely,

(Removed, my name)

Shabbat Shalom, all!

Tough love time. Folks, antisemitism is the worst that I remember it, but it is nothing like it was in the 1950s, 1940s, 1930s, or earlier. In the 50s, the KKK was open and firebombed synagogues in the South. My grandfather was denied a promotion because the other guy was "in the Church." In the 1940s, Jews couldn't be pilots, but we're made navigator because we "were good with numbers."

We all know the stories.

We get through this be being strong, supporting each other, and being careful who we ally ourselves with. Don't be surprised when someone you thought was a friend or lover turns out to be a racist piece of excrement. Drop them. If they come to you and apologize, that shows they are trying to be a friend and accept them back, but do not pursue them.

Have (and show) some Jewish and personal pride. We will get through this together. We will thrive!

When the war in Gaza started, I initially supported Hamas, unaware of the full picture. Seeing videos of dead kids on social media, I was quick to blame Israel and the Jews. Over time, I realized my hatred was misdirected, causing me emotional stress. I failed to consider the broader context. I often asked why such evil was allowed to happen, but eventually, I was shown another perspective. I began to understand the suffering the Jewish people experienced and recognized that my support for Hamas wasn’t helping the Palestinian people, but rather further pushing their destruction and perpetuating hatred and division.

I now understand that a truly free Palestine is one without Hamas. In Israel, various groups, including Muslims, and Christians, live in relative peace, which made me realize logically that the situation in Gaza was largely due to Hamas’s actions. Both sides have bad actors in the civilian space, but they don’t represent the majority. Hamas’s propaganda has done significant harm to manipulate the attitudes of good human souls.

Today, I believe that Jews have the right to live in peace and prosperity in their land. I no longer boycott Israeli goods and instead support local Israeli businesses. I now see that supporting Israel can contribute to peace for Palestinians.

In simpler terms: Supporting Israel is supporting Palestine. I hope others open their minds to this realization. To my Jewish friends, I apologize for my ignorance, and I ask for your forgiveness. Above all, I ask the Lord for forgiveness as well. Shalom Aleichem.

I knew it could happen. I knew it could happen. I knew it could happen.

It happened.

Went to my well attended local protest. Thousands of happy, peaceful people.

A woman crammed in next to me and I turned to look and was face to face with a teenaged white girl in a keffiyeh with a sign that said, “Fuck Israel. Hands off the Middle East.”

I remained silent although I did pull my Magen David out so she could get a good look at it.

Has she never seen a map?!

Additionally, there will be at least one Jewish coach to reach the Championship game.

Bruce Pearl - Auburn Todd Golden - Florida John Scheyer - Duke

Just thought this was a crazy stat.

There was a lot of anticipatory fret about today’s rallies expressed on here in the preceding days.

We didn’t go to the much larger rally in Portland, and I don’t really have any accounts of what took place there to say, yes or no, there was any intentional infiltration of the event with a pro-Palestinian display. But, the Clackamas rally just south of the city was peaceful, with about 1,000 or more in attendance, and there wasn’t a single Palestinian flag or keffiyeh in sight. And I wore my Star of David without even a confrontation or a bat of an eye.

I just found out about the existence of the Kabbalah center, and I was wondering what you guys think of it. I’ve so far seen mixed opinions, calling it a Jewish counterpart of Scientology. What do you guys think?

For now, let’s just call them Hypno. I met Hypno back in early January, mainly because of our shared interest in Yoshikage Kira from JJBA Part 4. Simple enough. We complimented each other’s cosplays. Simple enough. Now I’m committing some Schadenfreude on the antisemitic side of Xiaohongshu, having the time of my life. And then I open TikTok to see that Hypno posted a new intro/boundaries slideshow. It went off to a good start, but then one of the slides says “bigotry is absolutely not tolerated on my page. this includes (but is not limited to) homophobia, racism, transphobia, zionism, etc. … to them it was probably nothing. to me it felt like the punch that killed houdini. i then call them out & tell that im a zionist well dropping hints of what a zionist actually is, and then they say something along the lines of “yeah dawg i’ve been pro-palestinian for a while now,” (WHICH WAS NEVER EXPLICITLY STATED IN THEIR BIO), “and don’t get me wrong i have lots of jewish friends and family, i just don’t support genocide.” and neither do i. but it’s not a genocide, it’s a war. and war will always be complicated enough for you to believe one side only. i blocked them after that so they didn’t have to. i’m heartbroken. and crying. and if you’re there, hypno…thanks for being my mutual while it lasted.

Shavua tov y’all! I’ve recently started doing Havdalah with my family (we lit Shabbat candles in my family growing up but never really Havdalah) and can’t figure out how to stop the candle wax from getting everywhere, especially with a new candle. The only thing that’s worked sort of is stuffing the candle holder with aluminum foil so it stands straight.

Is there some ancient wisdom I’m missing to avoid this issue?

For printing this garbage:

https://www.theverge.com/news/643670/microsoft-employee-protest-50th-annivesary-ai

I am so disappointed ☹️

This was posted to Twitter by “Sneako”, a known bigot with millions of followers across platforms.

Crazy how comfortable people are just saying ts in a public area.

Really cowardice to hide the intentions too. I knew something was up and I got my phone out to record him and he left. I said don’t put me in the video and he did any ways.

All are Members of the Tribe except Houston.

If you weren't able to see this amazing documentary in theaters, you can now rent or buy it to watch at home!

https://www.october8film.com/watch-at-home/

Do noahides study the Torah and say prayers and can noahides wear the magen David

The Simchas Torah joke is tarnished by the passage of time (it’s kind of like seeing the Twin Towers in old NYC tv and movies) but we’ll always have “go shit in the ocean.”

https://youtu.be/LNVgLLgT8AY

I am extremely concerned with how many antisemitic reels flood my instagram, why is this not being stopped? Why isn’t Zuckerberg doing anything about it?

Since 10/7, I've been wanting to get a tattoo to celebrate my Jewish heritage. I know many think tattoos violate Jewish law (Lev 19:28), and while I am fully Jewish, I've always considered myself more spiritual than religious, and the proscription against tattooing is debatable, so I'd like to not start that sort of discussion. What I would like to discuss are design ideas from some that might have some experience. For placement, would most likely want it on my left bicep or inside my left forearm. I've been thinking about designs including "עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי" and a Magen David or Hamsa.

For context, I’m talking about the Minecraft movie everyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about.

This is a question mostly for other American Jews, but if anyone else wants to chime in I'd be interested.

There's a big protest in the US tomorrow, all across the country to protest the actions of the government. It's called "Hands Off" and I fully support the cause.

However I haven't gone to a protest since 2018. It was a Women's March and I left it feeling incredibly conflicted. Halfway through the march, people around me started chanting an anti-Israel slogan. It was like my voice was stolen from me. I didn't support what anyone eas chanting. It didn't have anything to do with women's rights, it was just a loud minority chanting and uninformed people following suit.

Since then, I've just avoided protests all together, except for a Yom Ha'Atzmaut march to free the hostages last year.

I used to love going to protests, but I just don't think I have it in me to handle antisemitism on the left. The antisemitism on the right is so cartoonishly evil, it doesnt even feel as threatening as it used to. But when I'm in a crowd of people I think are friends and suddenly Israel comes up and everyone chimes in and it seems to range from merely uninformed to simply horrible. It's a weird time to be a Jew, that's for sure.

How do you feel about protests these days? Do you go to support the greater good and just ignore any antisemitism? Do you avoid protests like me? Do you engage with people or no?

With the way the world is going, I anticipate many more protests in the future and Im curious how other jewish people are handling it.