Telem writes ♥️

What a mouthful of a title! But these things all contect, I promise.  Chanukah has just begun, which although it coincides this year with Christmas is very much not a Jewish Christmas. In fact, Chanukah celebrates the re-dedication of the temple, our beit ha mikdash, once the Maccabeas liberated it from the Greeks. Interestingly enough, many Jews at the time were perfectly fine living under Greek rule. One might even argue some overdid it. I don't even know if I want to get more specific than that, because, yikes, and ouch. If you know you know.  The Greek ruler Antiochus could have followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Instead he acted like a putz and forbid Jewish traditions. At that time, the Hellenistic Jews happily went along but for the Maccabeas this was the drop that spilled the kiddush cup. Chanukah is therefore a holiday that celebrates the fight against assimilation.  This was all recap. Now I want to get to my actual subject which is the impact of ...

Content warning ⚠️: This post contains sensitive themes that appear in the weekly portion of the Torah Okay, hear me out for a moment. Parshat Vayeishev seems to have all the elements of a dark romance novel: An   ingénue  gets married off to the evil son of a rich and famous family who dies shortly after. Then his brother marries her, uses her for his pleasure but refuses to impregnate her, and he too dies. The young woman returns to her childhood home and awaits the opportunity to marry the third son who was also promised to her. But instead, betrayal finds her! She decides to take matters into her own hands by dressing up as a prostitute and seducing her father-in-law. When it is clear that she is pregnant, she is in danger of being burned alive. Usually, dark romance stories aren't my cup of tea. I prefer lighter reading. So it may be interesting that when I became religious and was searching for a Hebrew name I chose Tamar. At first, when I read the story of Tamar I ...

Gosh, I'm so happy you found this blog! Welcome!  A little about me: Hi, I'm Tamar, or using my and my husband's initials תלם, pronounced Telem. A telem in Hebrew is a rut in the ground where seeds are sown. More on that shortly.  I'm an orthodox Jewish mom on a mission to spread Jewish joy. The interesting thing about being orthodox is that many people have heard about us but most people haven't met one of us. In that vacuum, some might assume that all those negative media depictions are accurate and that we spend our days sitting in a box of rules and wait for the day to break free. This is a stereotype and like all stereotypes there are reasons for why they exist. Still, only a wilfully ignorant person would go so far as to reduce a minority people to their worst, dysfunctional members.  I didn't grow up religious so I think it's fair to say I can understand the perspectives of Jewish and Nonjewish people. Where I grew up most people will never meet Jews....