I come from a very secular, intermarried, and Reform family. Yes, I know that the Rabbi who did my mother's mother's conversion is not accepted and the conversion is not accepted.
A little over ten years ago, I started keeping semi-kosher — going out to any restaurants, but only eating kosher meat, separating dairy, and skipping food altogether I could see the serving utensils becoming cross-contaminated.
About two years ago, after some exposure to Orthodox communities, I decided to become strictly kosher and more modest. I tend to wear a type of beanie, my peyot have become quite long, I sometimes wear tzitzit, have been studying the blessings, and observe Shabbat to varying degrees (oftentimes I am hundreds of kilometers away from synagogue so am not actively going to synagogue every Shabbat, and it is almost an hour walk each way when I am nearby one).
I have sometimes wanted to just wear a regular kippah but feel it is honestly disrespectful and misleading to people from Orthodox communities if someone sees me, thinks I am very religious, and then gets the wrong impression of actual Orthodox communities. Sometimes I listen to music that would be inappropriate, hug my female friends, things like this. Right now, I am more of an "eccentric secular person" rather than an "OTD religious person" and I think that especially where Judaism is concerned, it is crucially important to follow mainstream observance and not cook up my own way of doing things.
Do you think that wearing a kippah and having peyot visible would be too much? I found it really important and meaningful to have a part of my out appearance that I cannot just change (like an item of clothing) but always keep them totally hidden. If you are from an Orthodox background, would you feel this was a violation or a caricature?
January 1st: New Year’s Day
March 10th: Armed Forces Day
June 4th: Tiananmen Square Remembrance Day
June 21st: Summer Solstice
August 1st: Her Imperial Majesty the Empress’ Birthday
September 12th: Imperium Day
Third Monday in October: Thanksgiving
October 21st: National Cookie Dough Day
October 30th: Hallow’s Eve
October 31st: Halloween
November 11th: Imperial Remembrance Day
December 17th Saturnalia Begins
December 23rd: Saturnalia Ends
December 24th: Christmas Eve
December 25th: Christmas Day
December 31st: New Year’s Eve
I would appreciate very much as good of a list that you could give, thank you
Hello everyone!
Sorry for the long post, but I need a forum to talk to about my Judaism and hear from different views across the spectrum of observance and hashkafa.
To start, I was born Jewish and grew up Reform. I had a Bris and Bar Mitzvah. After a few years I became more religious and decided I wanted to observe more mitzvot and minhagim. These included not eating pork products, not shaving, davening more often, going to synagogue more. However, due to my mother's dislike of very observant Jews, out of respect for her, decided to become more secular again.
Once I left for college and entered my freshman year, I became more observant again and have been increasing over time. Now I am 20 years old and in my second year of college and have gone almost full kosher (no meat and dairy, shellfish, pork, etc.), have been davening three times a day, going to Friday night Shabbat services, and following more mitzvot in general.
Here is where it gets sort of difficult. I have been talking with a Rabbi who was ordained from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and I am interested in Open Orthodox Judaism, but there are a lot of mitzvot and minhagim that could drive away my friends and family. My girlfriend on one hand is Christian (Catholic) and I do want to marry her since I don't date without the intention to marry later on. She does not want to convert into any sect of Judaism, but she has agreed to allowing our children to grow up Jewish and be converted. Also, if I were to follow certain mitzvot strictly, then I could drive her and my secular family away. Some of them include, full shomer kashrut, shomer Shabbat, wearing a Kippah/tzitzit all the time, and shomer tzniut. Now I know every Orthodox member of this subreddit would tell me I can't be Orthodox in any way because my lack of observance for these and the fact I would even consider intermarriage probably saddens you. But, I want to be more observant and would definitely consider much of my hashkafa to be "Open" Orthodox. So my question to everyone is how can I be Orthodox in this way, but also be secular enough for my family, girlfriend, and friends to not be "turned off". I am sorry again for rambling. Thank you all very much!
I literally have thousands of them. Let me just spend them at Variks pretty please.
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Hi fellow Canuck atheists,
I just got a notification about this from the Centre for Inquiry Canada. It's a legitimate government petition, sponsored by Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MPP for Beaches—East York, asking for nonbelievers/secularists/atheists/etc who are persecuted for not toeing the religious line in their home country to be added to the list of people eligible for "fast track" refugee status. Members of minority religions in countries where they are persecuted are eligible, so why not nonbelievers?
The time frame for signatures closes in two days. Let's show our fellow humans some support!
Link to the petition at the bottom.
Text of the petition:
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled
Whereas:
- Atheists are persecuted in several countries both by government and the public;
- Atheist persecution can result in serious injury, imprisonment, or death at the hands of family members, street mobs, or governments;
- Some countries, including Saudi Arabia, label all atheists as terrorists: this alone should not disqualify them for refugee status;
- The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled several times that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to freedom from religion as much as the right to freedom of religion, a standard which applies to refugees as well as citizens;
- Atheists are denied access to the Less Complex Claims Policy of Canada because they are excluded from the list of those who qualify, all of whom are members of a religion; and
- This is an urgent matter because the lives of several atheists are currently in danger while awaiting their refugee hearings, which would be avoided if atheists were included in the less complex claims process.
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to change the policy regarding Less Complex Claims to include atheists in the list of people eligible for the status, so that they will be treated equally with those people belonging to the religions currently listed in the Less Complex Claims policy.
Link to the Petition:
https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3114
Since the 2.2 update, been seeing new Minor Artifacts. I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of them, the perks, possible stats, etc? Thanks
