Anonymous asked:

Hey not to sound stupid, but what's the best way to be a Jewish ally? Like, yeah I'm anti-Nazi, but I don't think that's the same thing as being pro-Jewish

christinecanigula answered:

im glad u asked! some quick tips:

-its ‘jewish people’ not ‘jews’ (if a jewish person calls themself a jew its their business but goyim Shouldnt)

-we aren’t all zionists! most of us are anti-israel so please don’t ask someone their stance on it when you find out someone is jewish

-goy and gentile mean the same thing and neither are slurs

-on that note, goy is singular, goyim is plural, and goyische is an adjective

-jews of color exist and are erased and underrepresented both by gentiles and other jewish people

-we dont all speak hebrew!!! i can only do a couple of prayers phonetically and some jewish people can’t even do that

-judaism is a culture as well as a religion
-hanukkah isnt jewish christmas (its better)

anyone can add on to this, and if you need any other tips feel free to ask!

[whowantstobeaphd]

• There are more kinds of ethnic Jews than Ashkinazi (generally western European decent) and Saphardic (generally iberian peninsular). Even Jewish people sometimes don’t realise this. For example, I’m mizrahi. which means my family is from a MENA country. There are also Persian Jews! They are not Arab Jews like me (my father is from Iraq), and have different cultural practices.
• We do not “speak jew”. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked that.
• Hebrew and Yiddish are two different languages which use the same (or at least very similar) writing system. Yiddish words have been borrowed into English, but many are not used in Hebrew. Like Mench or Schlep. But generally, at least in the US, is only spoken by the ultra orthodox.
• Arabic and Hebrew are both semetic languages and they do share a few words (and a few have been borrowed in Hebrew) but they are not mutually intelligible.
• We are generally really open to teaching people are Judaism and the holidays (who doesn’t like a good party), but don’t expected us to teach you everything. If you want to learn about our cultures and religion do some Google searches and ask us to clarify. (and sometimes, we can’t! I just found out about so many iraqi Jewish practices at the beautiful age of 29)