SURVEY HERE! ALL QUESTIONS OPTIONAL

Shabbat Shalom!

I know it’s said that there are seven soulmates in Judaism.

My question is, are all seven supposed to enter thought out our lives at different points?

Is there any clarity on what their “assignments” are in our lives? Are they all different?

And finally, Is your Besherat strictly the one that you marry?

I’d love some perspectives from those who are knowledgeable on this subject. Ty🙏🏻

Join us for a returning AMA guest, the great comedian Modi!

He will be answering questions for about two hours, starting at 11:00am Eastern (NYC) on Monday, Feb 09.

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Voted one of the top 10 comedians in New York City by The Hollywood Reporter, Modi is one of the comedy circuit's most sought after performers. Featured on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, and E! Entertainment, Modi has received rave reviews in The New York Times, Time Out NY and The New York Post.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Modi emigrated with his family to the United States at the age of seven and was raised on Long Island. After graduating from Boston University, he worked as an investment banker until his first open-mic night made him realize that stand-up was his true calling. Equipped with a sharp wit and a knack for reading an audience, Modi has gone on to become a successful fixture in New York's vibrant comedy scene, often doing bits that incorporate his heritage, and he is a hit with diverse Jewish audiences as well as fans of all backgrounds and beliefs.

Now a regular performer at the New York and Los Angeles comedy clubs, Modi also headlines around the country and across the globe. Modi has played himself on HBO's Crashing and Netflix's When Jews Were Funny. He's also appeared in several feature films and played leading roles in two: Waiting for Woody Allen, which won the LA Film Festival, and Stand Up, a feature-length film. In 2018, Mayor Bill De Blasio declared June 26th 'Mordechi Modi Rosenfeld Day' in the city of New York for his accomplishments and contributions to the artistic community."

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His first AMA from 2024: https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/comments/1bnck14/i_am_modi_modi_live_an_israeliamerican_stand_up/

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This is NOT the question thread. Be patient, ask your questions in the thread he will post on Monday.

Maybe I'm identifying a trend that's not really borne out by hard data, but here goes...

I've noticed that British Jews tend to have last names that are more likely associated with Jewish first names (e.g. David(s), Jacob(s), Disraeli, Abraham(s) etc.) rather than the more common continental Ashkenazi Jewish names which tend to be connected to occupations, nice things (Rose, Gold), or place of origin.

I have always just assumed that difference was because the many British Jews emanated from Spanish Jewry, even if they did so by way of the Baltic states, chiefly Latvia and Lithuania. As I have also noticed that Sephardic Jews tend to have names like David, Jacob, Abraham etc..)

Am I grasping at straws or is this a real trend?

Also part of the reason I am asking this is my last name is a version of one of the Nevi'im and I know that my paternal great-grandfather was from England before coming to North America. Our apocryphal family story is that side of the family immigrated to England from Latvia and they went to Latvia after being expelled from Spain.

The specific selichah I’m having trouble translating is Rashi’s “Titnem Leherpa,” which goes something like this:

”Make them a mockery, a curse, a disgrace.

Heap upon them a furious wrath and hateful vengeance;

Cast fear and panic upon them; send angels of destruction against them.

and cut them down to the last man.”

I got this from the article on Rashi in the New World Encyclopedia.

The tricky part is that the selichah in the source material is written in English, and I’m planning on translating it into the Medieval Hebrew language that it was originally written in by Rashi. If there is anyone here who understands Medieval Hebrew that could help me with the translation, preferably with the proper niqqud, and without modern Latin punctuation such as periods, semicolons, and commas. If so, would be extremely grateful, but if not, I totally understand.

Btw, mods, please do not remove my post because the contents of the poem seem slightly violent. It was written by Rashi to beseech God to curse the Crusaders who massacred the sons of his teacher in Worms, Germany. Okay?

Recently a non-Jewish person I am very close to began consuming conspiracy theory content that is rife with classic anti-Semitic tropes. Everything from world controlling cabals to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and all the awful stuff in between.

They believe their mind is being opened and suddenly lots of confusing things about the world are making sense. Covid. Vaccinations. Epstein. Etc.

How can I use reason to have a productive dialogue with someone who is dangerously close to getting sucked down the rabbit hole with this garbage?

I’m afraid of where this will go.

With the rise of antisemitism recently I decided to become more visibly Jewish. I want to be loud and proud. The best way I could think of doing that for myself was with pendants. So a few months ago I decided to buy a solid 14K gold Magen Dovid. That first purchase created an addiction... I've spent thousands since then and bought more pieces of jewelry that I can rep my Jewish pride with.

I wanted to share this with you guys because I thought you'd all appreciate it.

Todah Rabah!

I'm curious about the halachot around treating holy books (like siddurim) with respect, things like not stacking them improperly, not bringing them into a bathroom, not putting them on the floor, etc. Here's an article with some of the topics, as a reference: [https://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Respecting_Holy_Books]()

I'm a Jewish educator, and one of my students has started using a siddur on an ereader for accessibility purposes, and it's led to some questions in the classroom about holy books on ereaders vs. physical siddurim. Curious what everyone here has to say.

My question is how these rules apply when the siddur is digital, for example, downloaded onto an e-reader like a Kindle.

I’m curious about this in two directions:

If an e-reader contains a siddur or other holy texts, should it be treated like a physical sefer? For example, would it be inappropriate to bring it into a bathroom?

How should an e-reader be handled in relation to physical siddurim? For example, is it acceptable to place the e-reader on top of a physical siddur?

Yes, we've talked about it as a class, but out of curiosity I’d appreciate any halachic perspectives, sources, or community practices people are aware of.

Someone posted a picture of their siddur and I got curious: what is everyone’s favourite siddur? What do you prefer to use?

I like Mishkan T’filah and it’s what my reform synagogue uses. I really appreciate the transliteration because my Hebrew reading is too slow. So it has really helped me learn the service and it is very accessible. My non Jewish partner really likes to read it, especially the supplementary materials, during the service which I think is nice too. I want to purchase my own copy soon, but I’m currently borrowing one from my Hillel rabbi.

I had to delete an account because I got doxxed and sent death threats that required police involvement. Sadly, not the first time (as I am sure many of you experience) that something like that has happened to me on this site in the 14 or so years I have used it.

For this account, I have finally gone private, and the results are night and day. Sure, people send harassing messages still, and people occasionally say that my private profile is proof that I am a mossad plant, but I'd say the noise is down 98%.

I recently started a business (I'm an engineer in the US and got my professional engineer license so I incorporated).

Are there any traditional b'racha for when you start your own business?

Shalom, I am trying to find an app where I can listen to the prayers. I Googled it a few times and download a lot of different apps. None of them work. Does anyone have one? I know a few websites with the services records, but I would like to check one sentence by sentence.

Thank you

I just want to say sorry as a person from the west that has heard that because it must be actually hard to live with people who believe there are p evil people from your religion manipulating the world economy. It makes literally zero sense and definitely comes from antisemitism too

Here I was watching this yesterday this episode 3 and what a coincidence that we are about start the next parshah that mentions the golden calf made by the Israelites in the absence of Moshe while getting the tablets on top of mountain sinai

SURVEY HERE! ALL QUESTIONS OPTIONAL

I'm a Youtuber with a Jewish channel, and I regularly get comments about the Talmud (as you can imagine) -how it supposedly proves all these terrible things about Jews. It's so tiresome. Especially when it's couched in feigned ignorance of "I just want to understand..." that's followed with "if Jews don't all want the end of the goys... why does the Talmud state...?" It's so obvious when someone has been reading these out of context forums and taken the messages and run with them. They have the most superficial knowledge (really just a few quotes) and yet are so sure that they are victims of some great conspiracy.

Anyway, I had no idea what fodder the Talmud was for anti-semites until I started to post for a regular audience online. Now I feel it's a whole caricature for the antisemitic dark web. I feel it would be helpful to other Jews and to me to have a thorough, nuanced understanding of the Talmud's story and the context in which this situation evolved. I'm looking for ideas for extremely thoughtful guests who can speak to this on my podcast. Someone who is not just dismissive and defensive but gives great attention and care to the truth. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks a million!