Ask a Jew

[Actual]

Sorry to be a pain but I'm going to re-post my earlier question cause an answer would be awesome.

"what's this idea that all Jewish people are supposed to spend their time trying to return to the holy land.

Why,
how hard are they supposed to try,
where exactly is it,
and are you/your family planning to?"

 

[Wintermoot]

do you celebrate "regular" holidays like Christmas
have people ever descriminated you for your religion (like Neo Nazi,s KKK members etc.)?
do you strictly adhere to your relgion (and by that I mean followin the Tora,s rules word by word) or do you follow the loosely?

 

[BoosterGold]

So if you're Jewish what's a 7 percent tip on a 200 dollar meal and is that a fair tip?

I'm not Jewish and I felt immediately compelled to answer your question. 18% ($36, in this case) is seen as about standard. I generally tip 20% or more for really good service, though. Of course, I don't eat $200 meals.

OT: What differentiates High Holy Days from other holidays in the Jewish tradition and what are the High Holy Days?

Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur
The New year and the day of repentance

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

Sorry to be a pain but I'm going to re-post my earlier question cause an answer would be awesome.

"what's this idea that all Jewish people are supposed to spend their time trying to return to the holy land.

Why,
how hard are they supposed to try,
where exactly is it,
and are you/your family planning to?"

you're kidding me right? they have this awesome new invention called the airplane which will let you get to the holy land in half a day at most. although, any jew can become an israeli citizen if they want to, in a process known as aliyah (ascencion). but I do know what you're talking about, like in prayers how we always say "next year in israel", that's from back when there was no israel, and even so it kinda means when the world becomes a better place over all

 

[geier]

@BoosterGold
I see it the same way.

@bioshockedcriticjrr
See, it's that kind of thinking i don't understand.
I don't ask for forgiveness and i don't want it. I didn't kill anyone.
Feeling guilty ? Why should i ?

 

[pubbing]

My understanding from the old testament is that sin requires blood to be spilled to atone for. Since I assume you do not sacrifice fatted calves and chickens any more. How to you atone for your sins now a days.

 

[Actual]

Sorry to be a pain but I'm going to re-post my earlier question cause an answer would be awesome.

"what's this idea that all Jewish people are supposed to spend their time trying to return to the holy land.

Why,
how hard are they supposed to try,
where exactly is it,
and are you/your family planning to?"

you're kidding me right? they have this awesome new invention called the airplane which will let you get to the holy land in half a day at most. although, any jew can become an israeli citizen if they want to, in a process known as aliyah (ascencion). but I do know what you're talking about, like in prayers how we always say "next year in israel", that's from back when there was no israel, and even so it kinda means when the world becomes a better place over all

Ooooh OK, I kinda took it too literally. I thought all Jewish people were only where they were because the opportunity to move hadn't come up yet....yeah that is pretty retarded of me.

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

do you celebrate "regular" holidays like Christmas
have people ever descriminated you for your religion (like Neo Nazi,s KKK members etc.)?
do you strictly adhere to your relgion (and by that I mean followin the Tora,s rules word by word) or do you follow the loosely?

I personally have not, but know plenty of people who have seen swastikas spray-painted onto their synogogues, along plenty of people who have been given shit at their school over israel. I personally do not. I keep kosher and have shabbat dinner, but don't actually keep shabbat or wear kippot on a daily basis but I'm what you'd call "conservative" somewhere between not religious and religious

 

[BoosterGold]

My understanding from the old testament is that sin requires blood to be spilled to atone for. Since I assume you do not sacrifice fatted calves and chickens any more. How to you atone for your sins now a days.

We sacrife newborn Catholic Babies, Man I love that joke.
Well other then not sinning, we have Yom Kippur, we fast for 24 hours, pray like crazy. and that about does it

 

[Wildflowers]

do you celebrate "regular" holidays like Christmas
have people ever descriminated you for your religion (like Neo Nazi,s KKK members etc.)?
do you strictly adhere to your relgion (and by that I mean followin the Tora,s rules word by word) or do you follow the loosely?

Define 'celebrate' Christmas. Christ has no significant meaning beyond being a well crafted robot, so, why would people celebrate it? Do you think Jews celebrate 'happy moses day'? Not meant to be negative. It is, however, a civic holiday in most nations, and a pretty good excuse to see family and friends. It is a day of celebration, yes. It is not a day to be celebrated as per the religion, because.. it isnt part of the jewish religion.

Nobody discriminates against me for being a Jew because.. I'm not jewish, and Im Canadian. But why ask a particular person if they have suffered an individual experience? I could ask you if you've ever been hit by a car, does that apply to your entire race/social class/ethnicity/religion? If you are asking 'does religious discrimination still exist?', the answer is vehemently 'yes'. Though less predominant simply because it is harder to easily find a jew in a lineup than it is, say, a black person or something. And most racists are too slow to actually educate themselves to find out who they are being racist against. (Disclaimer - Im not going to disclaim in protection of discriminitory asshats.).

As for adherence to the testiments - there are various levels of othodoxy, same as there is for Catholic/Christians. Some Jewish people are very observant (re: cartoonish Simpsons Jews) and some look and act like everyone else, but maybe don't eat pork.

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

My understanding from the old testament is that sin requires blood to be spilled to atone for. Since I assume you do not sacrifice fatted calves and chickens any more. How to you atone for your sins now a days.

yom kippur. we think of all the bad stuff we've done over the years and take rocks and bread crumbs and throw them into a river or lake or any other significant body of water. we also fast for a day. but I'm pretty sure there are people who do this thing where they swing a chicken around their head. if any of fellow jews know what I'm talking about please expand on the specifics, seeing as how I, unfortunately, don't know them

 

[t3h br0th3r]

1.) If a Jew were to eat some pork/consume a pork byproduct by mistake is it considered a big
deal?

2.) is there a since of kinship with other people who are in diaspora (Africans, Irish, ect).

 

[BoosterGold]

My understanding from the old testament is that sin requires blood to be spilled to atone for. Since I assume you do not sacrifice fatted calves and chickens any more. How to you atone for your sins now a days.

yom kippur. we think of all the bad stuff we've done over the years and take rocks and bread crumbs and throw them into a river or lake or any other significant body of water. we also fast for a day. but I'm pretty sure there are people who do this thing where they swing a chicken around their head. if any of fellow jews know what I'm talking about please expand on the specifics, seeing as how I, unfortunately, don't know them

That sounds like a voodoo ceramony, or how my great grandmother used to kill the chickens for shabbat.

 

[Wildflowers]

Heres a link to an article about the whole 'jewish swinging chickens' thing.
Its roughly akin to throwing rocks or whatever into the water, or as you (practicing) Catholics would consider transubstantiation.
You are turning your sin into flesh/stone, and symbolically getting rid of it, so it will no longer hold you back.

Weird tradition? Maybe. But then again, so is eating some dead guys flesh and drinking his blood when you are 5.

 

[Wildflowers]

Balls, forgot the link.
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/30372/chicken-swinging-good-for-the-soul-bad-for-fowl/

 

[llamastorm.games]

Do you consider yourself jewish through religion or ethnicity?
Do you consider other jews from differing nations to be of the same race or religion as you?

I ask because often you see jews portrayed as a race of people and not a group of people with the same beliefs like most other religions are.

 

[PrototypeC]

What's the meaning and significance of those little hats? They barely cover the top of the scalp and I've seen them being taken off more than I've seen them on heads.

I know there's a word for them...

 

[Xojins]

Sorry if I missed something, but since when are these threads okay to do? I remember a while ago when there were many threads like this and the mods locked them all. Lately, I've seen at least one of these pop up every week and haven't seen any get locked.

Not that I think these kinds of threads should be locked, but some consistency would be nice.

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

1.) If a Jew were to eat some pork/consume a pork byproduct by mistake is it considered a big
deal?

2.) is there a since of kinship with other people who are in diaspora (Africans, Irish, ect).

1. for some jews maybe, but seeing as how I have friends who actively eat bacon, pork is not that big a deal in my book
2. kinda yeah, unless they're all in Israel, otherwise people tend to ignore one another

What's the meaning and significance of those little hats? They barely cover the top of the scalp and I've seen them being taken off more than I've seen them on heads.

I know there's a word for them...

you mean kippot, aka skullcaps, even if I knew, I couldn't tell you

What would you do for a penny?

I'd glare at you if this wasn't the internet.

Do you consider yourself jewish through religion or ethnicity?
Do you consider other jews from differing nations to be of the same race or religion as you?

I ask because often you see jews portrayed as a race of people and not a group of people with the same beliefs like most other religions are.

a combo of the two, because although we do have a specific religion of our own, we were seperated from the rest of the world for so long we developed traits unique to us. I'd go into more detail, but I don't want to encourage the whole "what is a jew" debate, seeing as how I've literally spent hours having structured debates about that kind of thing

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

oh, thanks wildflowers for clearing things up a little, by the way. I'd been wondering the significance of that myself