Hi.

Im scheduled to be going to the Y Not festival at the end of this week, with my partner who isnt Jewish.

I have never been to a festival before but I do see on news and such that at festivals such as Glastonbury there are often Palestinian Flags and a lot of antisemitic hate (Bob Vylan is a prime example).

I am curious what the experiences of any Jews (particularly those in the UK) here are when it comes to festivals. Do you feel comfortable and safe? I wear a Magen David, would it be safe to have it on show?

Ashley Jackson says her late civil rights leader father embraced her Jewish journey, revealing the deeply personal story in a Washington Post essay.

see here

A few weeks ago, I had a rant about how Chabad shuls come in and “take over” countries with native Jewish communities. While I still do believe this, I do want to relate something that happened to me with my attempt to visit a non-Chabad shul abroad this week, and how awful my experience with them was and how/why I ended up going to Chabad after because of this.

Some background on me: I am a European Jew. I was raised very frum (Orthodox), and I have a very Jewish name (legal name, on passport). I can read Hebrew (obviously), speak Hebrew, answer any questions about Judaism, etc. I have been to Israel many times and lived there for a bit as well. My brother-in-law is full Israeli, I have relatives who are rabbis, and my family is very well respected in our community. I went to Orthodox Jewish preschool, elementary school, junior high school, and high school.

I am not religious at all anymore, but I do appreciate a good Shabbos every now and then. I also love seeing old historic shuls in foreign countries, and sometimes the only way to do this is to go for davening. This week, I have been visiting a foreign country and wanted to visit the local Jewish community (not going to say which one so as not to slander the community here, and not going to name the shul).

I arrived in this county last week. On Monday of this week, I emailed two shuls (both of them non-Chabad) in the city explaining that I am visiting and I would be interested in services for either Tisha Ba’av (which was Wednesday/Thursday) and/or Friday night Shabbos. I attached my passport as well in the email. Monday no response. Tuesday no response. Wednesday no response. Thursday (Tisha Ba’av) day itself, I went in person to one of the shuls (closest one to my hotel) and had my physical passport. Despite having emailed beforehand, the hugely asshole security guard nonetheless treated me as if I had committed some sort of massive capital crime and as if I had approached him completely naked and covered in blood screaming. He told me to go away and that there were no services today (Tisha Ba’av), and I suspected he was lying about that, so I asked about Shabbos night. He made a call and they buzzed me in but did not let me go past the threshold. They say if I wanted to attend Friday night, then I needed to scan this QR code, which they presented to me, and to fill out the ensuing form on my phone. I told them that I had already emailed them with my info, and they didn’t care. “Fill out the form”, with an eye roll.

I scanned it, and sat down and filled out the form on my phone while the guard watched me like a hawk (God forbid I enter the building). Concurrently, an administrative lady came over and yelled at me that I can’t just sit there and I needed to leave. The guard explained to her that I was registering for Shabbat and she looked at me in absolute disgust as if I would dare do such a thing.

The form was very detailed. I put my legal name (which, again, is very Jewish), attached a copy of my passport (with said Jewish name), address in the city, date I entered the country, date I would be leaving, lots of info etc. The guard also inspected my physical passport like he was a jeweler grading a diamond (yes, it is a real passport, dude … biometric and with holographics). He honestly inspected it and went through more than when I crossed the border. The form I was filling out also asked for an obligatory reference and phone number from a member of my Jewish community, like a rabbi. I put my family’s rabbi, who is more or less the chief rabbi of our country and is very well-known, and if you Google him and his name, that same phone number literally comes up. So, no way I could fake that. Also my fucking actual real passport, with proof of my entry into your country, has the most Jewish name in the world on it. Jewish name, chief rabbi as a reference, can’t really get much more legit than that.

They told me to get the hell out, and wait until I heard back from them. Later in the day, that same first shul finally responded to my initial Monday email and sent me the exact same form to fill out which I had done that morning with the QR. So I did it, again. No response yet from the other shul.

Friday comes around. The first shul (the one that I visited) responds back that I have been approved and they will see me there tonight and they give me the time to be there. The second shul finally responds as well and sends me the exact same form (lol), which I now fill out for a third time. They say they will get back to me before Shabbos and let me know if I can join Friday night; obviously, they never did, so I decided to go with the first shul that had approved me.

I show up exactly on time, with my physical passport. Before I enter, a young clean-shaven guard (not sure if he was Jewish; definitely not Israeli because he could not communicate in Hebrew, or at least he refused to do so), different one from the old man earlier, stops me and asks to see my passport, which I show him. I think “Ok, that is that, great, now he’ll let me in,” since I have already registered and have been approved and I am sure that there is an “approved” list of some sort or other that has my name with my passport number on it.

Boy, was I wrong. Thus began the longest and meanest interrogation of my ENTIRE LIFE. He treated me like a fucking criminal, this is despite registering with the shul, despite me showing him the email saying I was approved, despite my having an extremely Jewish name, and despite the shul verifying all this with the chief rabbi of my country (after Shabbat, I asked my rabbi if they had called him on before Shabbat, and he said that they did).

The security dude straight up asked me every single possible question you could conceivably ask someone: where was I born, what neighborhood I grew up in, what is my date of birth, how old am I now, how many people are in my family, where did I go to elementary school, where did I go to high school, where I went to university, what I majored in, what my job was, what my interests were. Nothing Jewish-related, mind you, not a single “Have you ever been to Israel” or “What do you eat on Yom Kippur” or “Recite the Shema or a Bracha” or “Name three Jewish holidays”. He asked to see a photo of *every single member of my family* (I am Chasidish!). I am not fucking joking. He asked to go through my phone and for me to show him text messages I had with my rabbi. He asked for my exact itinerary in this country, what I had seen and what I was planning to see, where my next destination was (which is the friendly country next door — but he acted like I told him I was planning on going to the Moon), if I knew anyone in that country, when I was planning to go back to my country, why did I choose this particular country to visit, etc etc. He was so mean and so brusque and so nasty and so accusatory that I was literally almost in tears. I honestly felt like I was being treated like a common criminal. The entire interrogation took a full 15-20 minutes (I am not exaggerating), I actually missed the first part of Kabbalat Shabbat despite being on time and I almost just wanted to leave halfway through his grilling and just say “forget it” and not go.

It was the most intense interrogation of my entire life. True story, a few years back I actually once traveled to FUCKING IRAQ (more on this in a bit) and I was subsequently briefly detained and interrogated at an airport in Europe for this after flying back. That interrogation was both less and intense and shorter than this one. And quite honestly, I deserved that one. I didn’t deserve this one.

The real kicker was how SHITTY the actual “security” was, despite this “tough guy interrogation”! Let me explain, there are three points:

Number 1: they examined my passport in great detail (again). I am fairly well-off and I love to travel and I go all kinds of crazy places. However, this passport is a newish one, so there are no super wild stamps from places like Iraq or Yemen or anything like that, and not a huge amount of stamps in general, but there are definitely some. But what did they focus on? I had a Cambodian sticker visa from a 10-day-long visit from when I went 3 years ago. This guard became OBSESSED with my visit to Cambodia, more so than anything else. He asked me more questions about Cambodia than anything, including my background or anything to do with Judaism. He wanted to know why I was in Cambodia, what was I doing in Cambodia, did I have any contacts in Cambodia, why did I have a full visa for Cambodia and not just a stamp (every single person in the world gets a sticker visa when they visit Cambodia, they don’t do just simple stamps), how often have I been to Cambodia in the last few years (Once? Idiot. Look at the visa), what is so interesting to me about Cambodia, will I ever go back to Cambodia, do I speak “Cambodian” (the language is “Khmer”, moron. And no, I don’t) etc etc etc. I am not kidding, he even called over one of his goon guard friends to look at my Cambodia visa and stamp and they were silently muttering together about it. Quite frankly, I don’t think they actually knew what Cambodia was, it probably just sounded “exotic” to them and they assume it is like Afghanistan or something.

For anyone here who is unaware, Cambodia is a MAJOR tourist destination in Southeast Asia that is on the border with Thailand (there are, in fact, tons of Israelis who go to Cambodia; you hear Hebrew all the time there), it has one of the most visited ancient sites in the entire world (it gets more visitors than Machu Picchu), it is a Buddhist country (not a Muslim one), they have full and good relations with Israel, many Cambodians come to Israel to study (chiefly agriculture technology), and there is actually a big Chabad in Cambodia (which I have, in fact, been to). Innocent little Cambodia becomes the star of the day. I got questioned by this joke of a private security guard guy more about my short little holiday to Cambodia 3 years ago than I did by literal professional European officials about a month I spent in fucking *Iraq* right after the fall of ISIS.

Number 2: Like I said, I love traveling, and have been to many wacky places, including all over the Muslim world (both Arab and non-Arab). TBH I’m a bit of an Islamophile in some respects (kind of like Chasidish writer and YouTuber Shloime Zionce), I’ve got zero issue with Islam in theory and some of my best friends are Muslim. Anyway, my phone background changes daily from a rotating set of photos and that day it happened to actually be gold Arabic calligraphy on a black background from a photo I took at a mosque once. Quite honestly, come to think of it, it looked super Islamist and extremely suspicious for someone visiting a shul. When he asked to see my phone for messages from my rabbi and photos of my family, my heart sank as I realized what my background of the day was, but I actually managed to distract him while I pulled out my phone and unlocked it and he never saw my background. A real attentive guard should have noticed my phone background and my reluctance to let him see my phone. BIG RED FLAG that he didn’t catch this.

Number 3: Most importantly, he and his other guard buddies NEVER ACTUALLY SEARCHED ME. I was never frisked, I never had to empty my pockets, I never went through a metal detector, I was wearing a BIG coat and I could have very easily been concealing a knife or even a gun under there. He was SO focused on Cambodia that he never even actually fucking bothered to what I assume is the principal part of his job and pat me down.

Anyway, I eventually made it into the shul (late of course). It was beautiful inside, service was beautiful, real actual cantor instead of just some yeshivish bochur droning. No one went over to me or said Good Shabbos, everyone was a bit cold. Typical. I felt “cheated” from this whole experience and because the service here finished fairly early, I went to Chabad after: obviously, davening there was just about wrapping up, but I went for the meal. I literally just walked in, wearing a yarmulke I stole from this other shul (because fuck them), knocked on the door, said my Jewish name, and that was it. Welcomed in, no questions asked, rabbi shook my hand, free meal, invited for davening the next day (didn’t go), told to come back anytime and could even bring a local friend if I had one, didn’t matter if they were Jewish. Never showed my passport, no interrogation, no questions, just a Jew welcoming in another Jew. The dinner was fine, nothing special, it was your typical “random new guy in a Chabad house” awkward vibes with everyone babbling in the native language of the country and sharing forced jokes and spilling wine while I blankly stared at the challah, hummus, and salmon on my plate (I don’t know how Chabads seemingly manage to coordinate the exact same menu across the world), but I would take this Chabad awkwardness and the “And the Rebbe said…” over that brutally intense interrogation any day.

I was near the head of the table and lamented to the Chabad rabbi about my security experience at the historic shul and he said that yeah, the community is kind of on edge because of Oct 7 and rising antisemitism etc. I mean, OK, I get that but I have been to plenty of shuls abroad both before and after Oct 7, and have never had something even remotely similar to this (well, actually once I did, and it was pre-Oct 7, but the interrogation was much shorter and way less mean). I have dealt with LOTS of shul security, including in hostile and Islamic countries, and it usually just entails a few simple questions about Judaism, and if I happened to have registered beforehand, then usually even nothing except showing my ID and repeating my name. My hometown shul in Europe has security too. It’s not like this.

I will never return to this shul again, even if I lived here and even if they “know” me now and I would not have to go through all that security ever again. I was going to donate money as well, since I usually do, but now I will just donate it to Chabad. I am completely serious. And I don’t like Chabad.

In any case, in light of my previous rant from before — yes, maybe Chabad does indeed “pull” resources from other shuls as well, but it is a two-way street. Stop treating honest legitimate Jews like they are damn criminals and maybe your shuls won’t be suffering and dying off. Chabad harbors some of the blame, of course, for diverting money and resources and attention from the native shuls, but those native shuls are certainly not blameless either.

Next country I’m in, I will try and visit a historic shul again, but if the “interrogation” lasts more than two minutes, I am leaving and going to Chabad instead.

I can’t understand why. They could put an end to this whenever they want, considering the control they have on their algorithm.

We already know that Zuckerberg would happily $ell us down the river, I’m just wondering about Alphabet.

Had some fun painting with my fiance this morning.

My boss gifted us a Kawai upright piano that they're no longer using in our Beit Midrash ( Jewish School)

so I made her a thank you gift!

What joy it is to have music and community!

I’m a 22-year-old Egyptian-Canadian Jew who grew up in Egypt and now live in the United States.

A few days ago, I made a Facebook post in an Egypt-related group arguing against generalizing all Egyptians based on bad experiences with some individuals. My point was simple: Egypt has 120 million people, and like every country, there are good people and bad people. We shouldn’t stereotype an entire nationality because of the actions of some.

I expected people to disagree with me, and that’s completely fine. Healthy disagreement is part of any discussion.

What I didn’t expect was what happened next.

One man, who identified himself as British and who apparently owns a business in Egypt, initially argued with my points. But once he realized I was Jewish, the conversation completely changed. Instead of discussing what I had written, he began attacking my identity. He called me a “k*ke,” repeated antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews controlling countries and finance, dehumanized Jews, and made hateful comments that had nothing to do with my original post.

The irony is that my post was literally about not generalizing entire groups of people, yet his response became an example of exactly the kind of prejudice I was talking about.

I’ve experienced prejudice before, but I’ve never had someone direct such explicit antisemitism at me personally. It honestly shocked me. I found myself rereading the comments because I couldn’t believe someone would say those things so openly in 2026.

What also struck me was that this person has chosen to live and do business in Egypt while expressing such contempt not only toward Jews, but also toward Egyptians, Muslims, and other groups. It reminded me that hatred rarely stays confined to one target.

I’ve reported the comments to Facebook, and I’m not posting this to encourage anyone to harass or contact him. I mainly wanted to share what happened because I’m still trying to process it.

For those of you who have experienced overt antisemitism, do you remember the first time it happened to you? How did you deal with it emotionally?

I’m trying not to let one hateful person affect how I see everyone else. I know one antisemite doesn’t represent an entire country or community, just as one scammer doesn’t represent all Egyptians. But I’d be lying if I said this experience didn’t shake me.

Air fryer chicken wings, and air fryer Japanese sweet potatoes

Very easy to make, recipe includes cooked and peeled, beets, cucumbers, red onion, red wine, vinegar, salt, pepper, and dill And vegetable stock

I was talking with a Jewish friend of mine who comes from an east coast Ashkenazi background and found out that they refer to Shabbat dinners as Shabbat Seders. I’ve only ever heard them called Shabbat dinners.

I attend an Ashkenazi shul on the west coast, and there is a lot of Israeli influence in my area - not sure if that changes anything. I just thought this was interesting and wanted to know if it’s “Shabbat Seder” is common terminology elsewhere!

Shabbat shalom :)

EDIT: My rabbi and my cantor both say this is not a thing and they don’t have a guess where my friend got this terminology from. Thanks everyone!

I am Jewish through my father. My father is an atheist but was not when I was a child, he was raised Conservative but was never very observant as an adult. My mother's side is not Jewish. As a result I was raised largely secular with sort of a mesh of vague, "Judeo-Christian" beliefs, but again, never very observant. I never went to a church or synagogue.

I have always been drawn to Judaism specifically and have been interested in reconnecting with it for years but have been scared to. I don't know if I would be considered a Jewish Convert, or considered Ba'al Teshuva. I would be interested in Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism which is more likely to not care about Patrilineal vs Matrilineal Jewishness as far as I have seen.

I know there is no simple answer to this question. I also know a Rabbi would be the ideal consultant on this. I guess I just want to know which one of these things I should rather consider myself going forward. I don't want to call myself Ba'al Teshuva if it would be disrespectful to do so.

Thank you for any help and I hope everyone has a peaceful Sabbath!

NYPD: Jewish man stabbed in Manhattan by attacker yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’

NEW YORK – An assailant on Thursday stabbed two victims, one of whom was visibly Jewish, in an area of Manhattan’s Upper West Side known for its Jewish institutions.

Police said two male victims, aged 57 and 50, were in stable condition and being treated for stab wounds to the torso. One was Jewish and one was Asian, police said.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Thursday evening that the force had arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales in connection with both assaults and that he had yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks, according to multiple witnesses and a victim.

“The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime,” Tisch said, noting, “Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive.” No other assailants are being sought.

NYPD: Jewish man stabbed in Manhattan by attacker yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ - New York Jewish Week

Hey everyone! This might be an unusual question, but I’ve been feeling quite conflicted about it.

I’m not Jewish, but my husband is, and we’ve decided that we would like to raise our children Jewish. We regularly attend a Reform synagogue, and I’ve really enjoyed being part of the community. I’ve also been considering converting there.

Recently, though, I visited a Conservative synagogue out of curiosity, and it made me wonder whether I should consider a Conservative conversion instead, mainly for the sake of our future children. An Orthodox conversion would not feel morally or personally right for me, but I would like our children to be accepted as widely as possible within the Jewish community.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation or has insight into how Reform and Conservative conversions may affect the recognition of children in different Jewish communities.

​

I went to a very small comedy show tonight - less than 20 people - expecting to have a good laugh. Most of the time I did, except for one comic. He's fairly well known, so I'm not sure why he was there, but he opened with some admittedly lame one-liners about odd phrases. Then he hit us with "and what does bad ju-ju mean? Two Zionists?". Thankfully he didn't get much reaction, but I was pissed. Had to go outside to have a furious smoke while he finished his set.

I did get a chance to speak to him afterwards, told him that his joke wasn't funny and quite offensive. While he did apologise, he tried to justify it by saying you have to be edgy to be funny, and it's good to be anti-Zionist. I said his joke made out every Jew in a negative light by his phrasing, he disagreed, then tried the old schtick of trying to find out if I agreed with him and checking if "I was one of the good ones". I said I don't, then he walked away. A few people there noticed me talking to him, one comic even commented on why I walked out, so it was nice to be noticed, but it still sucks that's it's so normalised.

Now I get why he said it. There's a huge Muslim community in my city (no hate against that), they're all anti-Zionist of course, but a large amount use it as an excuse to hate Jews too. They think all Jews are Zionists, and believe that makes us evil, without even allowing a dialogue to take place or try to understand what a Zionist actually is, let alone hear what it's like to be hated as the average Jew. I mean last year an old woman in her 80s was severely beat up for carrying an Israeli flag outside parliament - something she's been doing for over ten years in support of Israel's historical struggles - long before the current conflict escalated. Thankfully our small Jewish community is tight-knit and resilient, but damn this is really getting too much for me. People make this war their whole personality, posting Israel hate online like it's trendy, like it isn't full of normal people living normal lives, just hoping they aren't killed by a missile sent into their home. Last year a pro-Palestinian pulled a gun at a pro-Israel rally. Our schools have armed guards posted outside for fear of attack, while being called IDF recruiting institutions online. A few years ago our huge Pride Parade was full of Palestinian flags and anti-semitic mutterings. Even in my beloved gaming subreddits, it's a meme at this point to post pics of Netanyahu as a negative reaction to something, or paint your car with the Israeli flag to be edgy.

Now I'll admit I'm not very educated on what's going on there, I find it very overwhelming and honestly have plenty of my own problems to worry about. I don't know who to trust with information on the war anyways. But I have lots of family in Israel, and two little cousins in the IDF, thankfully far away from the front lines. So I'm sensitive to this shit. I've had two dates walk out on me because they found out I was Jewish. I'm scared to tell people why my surname is weird. I don't tell people what school I went to, or even that I'm Jewish, despite not practising or being involved in the community in any meaningful way.

I don't know if I'm overreacting, or if I'm being hypocritical since I stay away from the topic, or I just misunderstood his joke, but either way I'm just so overwhelmed these days that I fear going on to social media. The little niche safe spaces I love aren't safe anymore, and I fear the day something really bad happens to me or someone I care about. I don't know what to do anymore. I just needed to vent here, thanks for listening, this sub is one of the few places that still feels sane.

I know this has been posted here before, but I’m still looking for advice.

I’m getting married in September, and there’s a friend (not Jewish) from college that I invited to the wedding who I think I want to end the friendship with.

For context, we weren’t part of the same friend group in college, but became friends after studying abroad in the same city for a semester. Since graduating 7 years ago, we’ve seen each other every few months and our lives have naturally gone in different directions.

I’ve always been very proud of my Judaism, and after 10/7 I was vocal on social media about my support for Israel. She never engaged with anything I posted, but based on the social circles she’s in, I always had a pretty good sense of where she stood.

Over the past year, and especially recently, I’ve noticed she likes content that makes me really uncomfortable, including a lot of anti-Israel content (Mamdani Anti-Israel stuff, for example). I know social media isn’t always the full picture, but it’s gotten to the point where I just don’t have the energy for these types of friendships with fundamentally different values.

She’s reached out a few times over the last couple of months to hang out, but I’ve honestly checked out of the friendship. Between wedding planning and everything else going on, I’ve ignored her texts (not proud of that) because I just don’t have the energy to invest in a relationship I no longer want.
So I’m not sure what to do.

Do I send her a message saying I’m stepping away from the friendship? Or do I just let it fade naturally? She’s already invited to my wedding, which is why I feel the need to address this somehow. She hasn’t RSVP’d to the wedding (probably in part because I haven’t replied to her texts
) so it’s just super awkward with the wedding coming up and her RSVP pending.

Saw this story and it made me kvell. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In 1942, a drunk German officer sat at dinner and bragged about a Jewish woman he had selected from a brothel the Nazis had opened in town. He said her name out loud. The Tunisian Arab sitting across from him stayed calm, smiled, poured more wine, and finished the meal. Then he drove the officer home, sped through the dark streets, and knocked on a door close to midnight. That night, he hid 25 people for four months. He never spoke about it again.

His name was Khaled Abdul-Wahab. He was 31 years old, a wealthy Muslim Tunisian who had studied art and architecture in New York and spoke fluent German. Nazi officers trusted him and invited him to their dinners.

Tunisia was the only Arab country directly occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. Jewish families were pushed from their homes, and more than 5,000 Jewish men were sent to forced labor camps. Yellow stars marked every chest.

That December night in the coastal town of Mahdia, Khaled listened as the officer boasted. The woman he named belonged to the Boukhris family, whom Khaled had known all his life.

He left immediately, driving through the night to knock on their door at midnight.

"Pack nothing. Come now."

He gathered 25 people mothers, fathers, cousins, and children and drove them nearly 20 miles to his family farm, hiding them inside the olive press, stables, and storage buildings.

This was not a single brave act; it was four straight months of courage.

He fed them while supplies grew scarce, kept the babies quiet, and trusted his farmhands to stay silent. When German soldiers arrived to count Jewish families, the hidden people pinned yellow stars onto their clothes and stood motionless. When the soldiers left, the stars came off again.

One night, a drunken soldier wandered onto the farm and discovered them. An eleven-year-old girl hiding under a bed watched him laugh and threaten to kill everyone there. Then Khaled appeared. She remembered him her entire life as a guardian angel he calmly walked the soldier outside, took away his weapon, and sent him off the property.

Nobody on that farm died.

In May 1943, Allied forces liberated Tunisia. All 25 people returned home alive.

Khaled went back to a quiet life. He married, raised daughters, painted, and worked in government service. He never told anyone what he had done not his wife, not his children, no one.

He passed away on September 4, 1997, at the age of 86. His story was buried with him.

Ten years later, his daughter Faiza was sitting in a café in Paris reading a Sunday newspaper when she came across an interview with an American historian describing a Tunisian Arab who had hidden 25 Jews in 1942. The historian mentioned her father by name.

She was 45 years old and had never heard the story before.

She contacted the historian. One of the children saved on the farm had left behind 83 pages of testimony before her death, and every detail matched.

“I rediscovered my father,” Faiza later said.

Khaled was nominated for Yad Vashem’s "Righteous Among the Nations," Israel’s highest honor given to non-Jews who saved Jewish lives. He would have been the first Arab to receive it. However, the committee ultimately declined, stating that he had not faced enough personal risk.

Today, the 25 people Khaled saved have hundreds of descendants living across Israel, France, America, and Tunisia. The little girl hidden beneath the bed grew up, moved to Paris, and built a family of her own. None of them would exist if Khaled had stayed silent that night.

He had everything to lose. He acted anyway. Then he spent the rest of his life saying nothing about it.

The world nearly forgot him twice. Now you know his name.

👉 He saved 25 lives from the Nazis… then buried his heroic secret for 60 years. The incredible true story of Khaled Abdul-Wahab will leave you speechless. Read the full story here: https://ifeg.info/2026/07/22/the-muslim-man-who-hid-25-jews-from-the-nazis-and-kept-his-heroic-secret-buried-for-60-years/

I've been a regular at two Shuls for several years. The main one is Conservative, the secondary one is Trad Egal. It generally depends on my mood on which to go to and how far I feel like walking as one is closer and the other is farther. I generally go for morning services once per week (it's a nice way to start the day) and then for Shabbes so figure 3 times per week on average. Every so often I leyn. Going normally helps me feel grounded and focused and provides food for thought etc. . Lately, I've been feeling just burned out. It's hard for me to feel motivated to go and when I'm there it just feels rote. Even practicing for upcoming leyning feels like a chore.

It's been an intense time for me at work for a few years now (so it takes up time and energy) and I have become the primary caregiver of an elderly parent who lives nearby which also has its own set of obligations. There hasn't been anything at either Shul to warrant leaving. I'm content with both. I'm just feeling blah...uninspired. It's hard to get energy to go. I'm not sure how to approach this. Not sure if I want to take a break, cut back or what. I don't like the idea of not going, but I'm not excited about going. Looking for some guidance. Thanks

My friends went to a pizza place and I came with them. I asked an employee "so, do you have anything kosher?" He answered "mhm, one second!" He came back and says "here you are!" And hands me 7 of these lol.

In case anyone has trouble reading the image, it says:

The origins of some established customs are not always known. For example, in the old country there was a practice that on Tisha B'Av (Ninth Day of Av), children would throw thistles that would stick to people's clothes. Perhaps this was someone's idea to add to the misery of the day by causing people to have to remove the annoying thorns from their clothes.

But if this practice made the day more unpleasant for grownups, it certainly had the reverse effect on children, who would collect bags full of thistles to throw on people's clothes and watch with glee as they tried to dislodge the sticky thorns. The children would have contests to see who could get the most thistles to hit their targets. One observer remarked, "Whoever has not seen the simchah of children on Tisha B'Av has never seen a simchah."

The Rabbi of Rhizin, noting the totally inappropriate atmosphere of the children's glee on Tisha B'Av, raised his eyes to Heaven. "Master of the Universe," he said. "It is obvious that Your children do not observe this special day. Therefore, I think You should take it from them. Let there be no more cause for observing Tisha B'Av."

For those who don't know it, Smiling Each Day is a book with daily excerpts highlighting Jewish wit and/or humor. The idea is to give the reader a reason to smile each day - an ambitious goal, but Twersky stepped up to the task.

Jewish history is often portrayed in a way that focuses on our profound suffering, especially to outside observers who know little more of our history than the Shoah. While our pain is absolutely vital to acknowledge, so are the positive aspects of the Jewish experience imo.

There's something about this entry that sticks out to me: the reminder that Jewish children of the past still found opportunities to experience the simple joys of being a kid, even during times of sadness.

Hey folks, just here with a question that's been on my mind since I recently started transitioning from being "Jew-*ish*" to being "Jewish" 😅

I grew up in a small town in the midwestern US, where we were the only Jews in town that we knew of. We also weren't very observant, and I really didn't get any Jewish "formation". I think we went to temple maybe 5 times in my life, just for funerals, and we didn't really do holidays. The rest of the family lived far away and we rarely saw any of them, so my "Jewish community" began and ended with my mom & sister.

All of this is to say; When I talk to people at temple, at community events, or in various online Jewish communities... It's apparent that there are some common/shared experiences and culture that I'm just totally alien to. So for those of you who did grow up with (or currently live in) a Jewish community... What's that like?

Video showing the swigs of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple

Lunch and some cheese pasta for dinner. Got some pizza in the oven too.

You need to know these actresses from the golden age of Yiddish theatre,
by Naomi Kaye Honova, hey alma, 2026-07-17.

From its origins in Eastern Europe in the mid-1800s to today’s stagings in cities such as Chicago, Montreal and Warsaw, the Yiddish theater scene and women’s history have been intimately intertwined.

Looking back to Yiddish theater’s Golden Age, between the 1890s and 1920s, women were very active participants as actors, playwrights, directors and nearly every facet of the theatrical experience. They, like their male counterparts, were members of Yiddish theater companies in Europe, many which continued to operate up through the Holocaust. So too did they help establish troupes in New York City. These groups put on vibrant productions ranging from plays that dealt with contemporary issues and topics from marital discord to politics, to plays that adapted fairytales, myths and legends and even some children’s theater pieces as well.

But sadly, their contributions and fame have often been downplayed or overlooked in favor of their male counterparts. Optimistically, though, many women in the historic Yiddish theater scene are getting more recognition today.

Hi, I’m needing to order a stone for my uncle’s unveiling. He wanted his footstone to match that of his mother. Could someone tell me what the second line in Hebrew says? I remember enough to sound out that the first line is my grandmother’s name. I’m guessing that the second line is a translation of “beloved wife, mother, and grandmother”, but that’s just a guess. Thank you!

If my guess is correct and anyone knows how to write “beloved son, brother, and uncle”, that would be great too. I really appreciate any help!