The Jewish thread

[noisyturtle]

I know I can't be the only of The Chosen People  )
How's your Christmas evening going? Drinking? Movie theater? Chinese food? Sup son

[tp4tissue]

I know I can't be the only of The Chosen People  )
How's your Christmas evening going? Drinking? Movie theater? Chinese food? Sup son

or pizza

[SpAmRaY]

Bacon?

[Malphas]

Doesn't everyone just do Xmas these days anyway? It hardly counts as religious anymore surely? It's mostly just a repackaging of pre-Christian European winter tradition with a heavy dose of commercialism, rather than anything to do with Jesus.

[noisyturtle]

Bacon?

But of course!

[Puddsy]

I'm Jewish but I still celebrate Christmas

hue hue

[regack]

I'm Jewish but I still celebrate Christmas

hue hue

I had a Menorah for Thanksgivukkah this year, but I'm not Jewish and I didn't eat any Turkey.

[Hak Foo]

Honestly, I've gotten to the point where I treat Christmas as a cultural thing more than a religious one.

I buy gifts for various non-Jewish family members for then though.

[paicrai]

Doesn't everyone just do Xmas these days anyway? It hardly counts as religious anymore surely? It's mostly just a repackaging of pre-Christian European winter tradition with a heavy dose of commercialism, rather than anything to do with Jesus.

[iri]

orangejewce can be reached on the irc channel

[ekw808]

Why is Chinese food the food of choice this time of year?

[bueller]

Why is Chinese food the food of choice this time of year?

A ) Chinese food is awesome
B ) Chinese people don't often celebrate Christmas so they're still open.

[iri]

Why is Chinese food the food of choice this time of year?

A ) lots of MSG
B ) Chinese people don't often celebrate Christmas so they're still open.

[quickcrx702]

There is no reason as a Jew that you can't celebrate Christmas, I'm an atheist that despises religion, and I do it.  Why?  Because Christmas is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian holiday.  December 25th was a day of pagan celebration, until the Roman empire decided to choose a single religion to mind control the population, at which point they kept the same day but changed the label.  Today, it's just a commercialized tradition.  According to scripture, it is not possible that Jesus was born on December 25th, which is why some Christians I've met don't even celebrate Christmas.  The Christmas tree, mistletoe, gift giving, etc. are all from pagan tradition.  I celebrate Christmas because most people that know me are aware that I am an atheist, and I know the topic always comes up about "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you think the bible is a myth?", and I get to explain that Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus. The "reason for the season" was and is still about mind control, whether it is religion or getting people to go out and buy a bunch of crap.  You also get to make your kids happy if you have any, and that is a big gift in itself.

[iri]

Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus

the name

[paicrai]

Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus

the name

it wasn't originally in there fyi

[i3oilermaker]

What's up my hebrews and my shebrews?

[keymaster]

There is no reason as a Jew that you can't celebrate Christmas, I'm an atheist that despises religion, and I do it.  Why?  Because Christmas is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian holiday.  December 25th was a day of pagan celebration, until the Roman empire decided to choose a single religion to mind control the population, at which point they kept the same day but changed the label.  Today, it's just a commercialized tradition.  According to scripture, it is not possible that Jesus was born on December 25th, which is why some Christians I've met don't even celebrate Christmas.  The Christmas tree, mistletoe, gift giving, etc. are all from pagan tradition.  I celebrate Christmas because most people that know me are aware that I am an atheist, and I know the topic always comes up about "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you think the bible is a myth?", and I get to explain that Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus. The "reason for the season" was and is still about mind control, whether it is religion or getting people to go out and buy a bunch of crap.  You also get to make your kids happy if you have any, and that is a big gift in itself.

You do understand Christmas isn't celebrated the same way in other parts of the world, right?

[Malphas]

There is no reason as a Jew that you can't celebrate Christmas, I'm an atheist that despises religion, and I do it.  Why?  Because Christmas is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian holiday.  December 25th was a day of pagan celebration, until the Roman empire decided to choose a single religion to mind control the population, at which point they kept the same day but changed the label.  Today, it's just a commercialized tradition.  According to scripture, it is not possible that Jesus was born on December 25th, which is why some Christians I've met don't even celebrate Christmas.  The Christmas tree, mistletoe, gift giving, etc. are all from pagan tradition.  I celebrate Christmas because most people that know me are aware that I am an atheist, and I know the topic always comes up about "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you think the bible is a myth?", and I get to explain that Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus. The "reason for the season" was and is still about mind control, whether it is religion or getting people to go out and buy a bunch of crap.  You also get to make your kids happy if you have any, and that is a big gift in itself.

You do understand Christmas isn't celebrated the same way in other parts of the world, right?

What do you mean by this exactly? North America is one of the few places where Christmas still has any remnant of a connection with Christianity left - which just highlights quickcrx702's point further. I mean, Christmas is widely celebrated in Asia with its secular/pre-Christian elements taking prominence (evergreen trees, mass shopping sprees, etc.). It's just one big commercial event with most people failing to even realise the religious connection. In parts of Europe people don't even call it "Christmas" and still refer to it as "Yule", the term for when the festival predated any Christianity connection.

[keymaster]

What do you mean by this exactly? North America is one of the few places where Christmas still has any remnant of a connection with Christianity left - which just highlights quickcrx702's point further. I mean, Christmas is widely celebrated in Asia with its secular/pre-Christian elements taking prominence (evergreen trees, mass shopping sprees, etc.). It's just one big commercial event with most people failing to even realise the religious connection. In parts of Europe people don't even call it "Christmas" and still refer to it as "Yule", the term for when the festival predated any Christianity connection.

What I mean is that Christmas is not celebrated the same around the world. Christmas, in the way it is celebrated in North America, is not the same way Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. Orthodox Christians tend to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday rather than the commercialized tradition which exists in the West. There are religious ceremonies and traditions which are still in place today.
Here's a brief look into what I'm talking about. However, Santa Claus and Christmas trees are also a part of the celebration process.

[Malphas]

What do you mean by this exactly? North America is one of the few places where Christmas still has any remnant of a connection with Christianity left - which just highlights quickcrx702's point further. I mean, Christmas is widely celebrated in Asia with its secular/pre-Christian elements taking prominence (evergreen trees, mass shopping sprees, etc.). It's just one big commercial event with most people failing to even realise the religious connection. In parts of Europe people don't even call it "Christmas" and still refer to it as "Yule", the term for when the festival predated any Christianity connection.

What I mean is that Christmas is not celebrated the same around the world. Christmas, in the way it is celebrated in North America, is not the same way Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. Orthodox Christians tend to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday rather than the commercialized tradition which exists in the West. There are religious ceremonies and traditions which are still in place today.
Here's a brief look into what I'm talking about. However, Santa Claus and Christmas trees are also a part of the celebration process.

Yes, but you're wrong (sort of). The way Christmas is celebrated in America is overwhelmingly the way it is celebrated across the rest of the world. If anything, it's even more secular in the rest of the world than it is in the USA. Orthodox churches aren't a country, they're a group of faiths and they exist everywhere - including North America - but the amount of people who are actually devout practitioners is negligible. In fact, the countries where Orthodox Christianity is the de-facto variant (as opposed to Catholicism and Protestantism) are the same countries where religion is least relevant and atheism is the norm (Eastern Europe).

[keymaster]

What do you mean by this exactly? North America is one of the few places where Christmas still has any remnant of a connection with Christianity left - which just highlights quickcrx702's point further. I mean, Christmas is widely celebrated in Asia with its secular/pre-Christian elements taking prominence (evergreen trees, mass shopping sprees, etc.). It's just one big commercial event with most people failing to even realise the religious connection. In parts of Europe people don't even call it "Christmas" and still refer to it as "Yule", the term for when the festival predated any Christianity connection.

What I mean is that Christmas is not celebrated the same around the world. Christmas, in the way it is celebrated in North America, is not the same way Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. Orthodox Christians tend to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday rather than the commercialized tradition which exists in the West. There are religious ceremonies and traditions which are still in place today.
Here's a brief look into what I'm talking about. However, Santa Claus and Christmas trees are also a part of the celebration process.

Yes, but you're wrong (sort of). The way Christmas is celebrated in America is overwhelmingly the way it is celebrated across the rest of the world. If anything, it's even more secular in the rest of the world than it is in the USA. Orthodox churches aren't a country, they're a group of faiths and they exist everywhere - including North America - but the amount of people who are actually devout practitioners is negligible. In fact, the countries where Orthodox Christianity is the de-facto variant (as opposed to Catholicism and Protestantism) are the same countries where religion is least relevant and atheism is the norm (Eastern Europe).

Since I come from a country in which Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion, I can tell you that you're wrong. Also, I did not claim that the "American way" isn't what is most prevalent (it is), but that it's not the way Christmas is celebrated in many other countries.

>Orthodoxy is the largest single religious faith in Greece (95%) and in Eastern Europe, including Moldova (93%), Georgia (89%), Romania (87%),[48] Belarus (85%), Serbia (84%),[49] Bulgaria (83%), Cyprus (80%), Ukraine (80%),[50] Russia (75%),[51] Montenegro (74%),[52] and Macedonia (65%).

Whether or not the total number of adherents on a global scale is negligible or not is irrelevant. What is relevant and what matters is that in many of these countries, Christmas is welcomed and treated with much more religious sentiment than in the West. By pooling all Christians together as if they celebrate Christmas as a consumer holiday is wrong and ignorant.

[Malphas]

I'm not pooling all Christians together and saying they celebrate Christmas as a secular, commercial holiday. There are devout Catholics and Protestants to whom the religious aspect of Christmas is still relevant, but they're a small minority, and the same is true of Orthodox Christians. There's an obvious difference between devout practitioners of any religion (a small minority) and people that self-identify as Orthodox/Protestant/Catholic/whatever for cultural reasons for whom holidays such as Christmas have very little religious significance (the majority).

There was a Gallup poll on this topic, where people were asked "is religion an important aspect of your life", as opposed to more loaded questions over whether people identify as atheist/agnostic or religion (which if conflated with the fact many people identify with a religion for cultural reasons, even when they don't actually follow or believe in the religion itself). Countries like Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, etc. - former USSR countries - were generally all around the 60% mark, of participants who responded no, that religion was not an important aspect of their life - which was my point.

Getting back to what my original point was here, I don't feel your personal experience of Christmas really has any bearing on the trend as a whole. Perhaps Christmas still has some religious significance to a proportion of the population in the Balkans, but that hardly negates the fact that in the vast majority of the world - particularly Western Europe, North America, Asia - Christmas has ever decreasing religious significance - which is what you were originally trying to contend.

[sth]

oh it's the "let's talk about paganism and various forms of christianity in the jewish thread" thread

[Malphas]

How's the surly contrarian schtick working out for you, sth?

[sth]

How's the surly contrarian schtick working out for you, sth?

i don't know what you mean, i'm not talking about religions that aren't in the topic title

question: what are the guidelines for the free trip? do you have to prove membership with a synagogue or some other "active" practice of judaism?

[noisyturtle]

How's the surly contrarian schtick working out for you, sth?

i don't know what you mean, i'm not talking about religions that aren't in the topic title

question: what are the guidelines for the free trip? do you have to prove membership with a synagogue or some other "active" practice of judaism?

Just because someone doesn't practice or believe in Judaism doesn't make them any less of a Jew. It's as much of an identity and culture as it is a religion. I'm Atheist, yet still identify myself as Jewish because my family is culturally, this duality doesn't apply to many other religions/peoples.

[Malphas]

It actually does apply to other religions unfortunately. Sectarianism between Protestants and Catholics is still a big deal here in Scotland (and obviously moreso in Northern Ireland) despite the fact virtually no-one under the age of 70 is remotely religious in the UK anymore. It's entirely cultural.

[quickcrx702]

oh it's the "let's talk about paganism and various forms of christianity in the jewish thread" thread

ROFL.  My bad.  I just wanted to remind the OP that it's okay to celebrate Christmas if you are not a Christian.  It wasn't my intent to bash religion, I could have gone much further to do that, rather I was making the point that December 25th has no relation to Jesus, and that the associated traditions are not biblical in origin so they are okay too.  I'm an atheist that loves Christmas, and think everyone should celebrate it, no matter what religion they are.  It's fun for the whole family!

[bueller]

Why is Chinese food the food of choice this time of year?

A ) lots of MSG
B ) Chinese people don't often celebrate Christmas so they're still open.

Hahaha I just looked at your signature

[quickcrx702]

There is no reason as a Jew that you can't celebrate Christmas, I'm an atheist that despises religion, and I do it.  Why?  Because Christmas is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian holiday.  December 25th was a day of pagan celebration, until the Roman empire decided to choose a single religion to mind control the population, at which point they kept the same day but changed the label.  Today, it's just a commercialized tradition.  According to scripture, it is not possible that Jesus was born on December 25th, which is why some Christians I've met don't even celebrate Christmas.  The Christmas tree, mistletoe, gift giving, etc. are all from pagan tradition.  I celebrate Christmas because most people that know me are aware that I am an atheist, and I know the topic always comes up about "Why do you celebrate Christmas if you think the bible is a myth?", and I get to explain that Christmas has nothing, and never has had anything, to do with Jesus. The "reason for the season" was and is still about mind control, whether it is religion or getting people to go out and buy a bunch of crap.  You also get to make your kids happy if you have any, and that is a big gift in itself.

You do understand Christmas isn't celebrated the same way in other parts of the world, right?

You do understand that I am making a point that everyone, regardless of religion, should celebrate Christmas, right?  I was just outlining that being a Christian isn't important to celebrate, and that the traditions won't make you some sort of accidental Christian.

[Grimey]

Hit up the Kosher deli on Christmas day on the way home from the in laws, that kind of counts???  Also I like going to the mentioned deli as everyone has a beard and I like to assume my beard likes the company of other beards.

[kmiller8]

My favorite jewish rapper.

[demik]

this is now a wheelchair jimmy thread

[kmiller8]

Here's another good song.

[demik]

Mr. Terry Cloth himself

[kmiller8]

Check out this fresh new single

[demik]

about as close as wheelchair jimmy has gotten to being a thug

[kmiller8]

Here he is rapping alongside my second favorite rapper

[demik]

started from the bottom

[kmiller8]

I mean, just listen to his voice, It's so beautiful.

[demik]

[kmiller8]

Another collab with Lil Wayne.

[iri]

this post is to confirm that keymaster is right in his point

[noisyturtle]

why do all these ****ing videos play at the same time when I open this thread? just bombarded by terrible rap layered over one another, ****

[quickcrx702]

why do all these ****ing videos play at the same time when I open this thread? just bombarded by terrible rap layered over one another, ****

Too bad Pac died, or this **** never would have happened.  Kids these days...

[noisyturtle]

why do all these ****ing videos play at the same time when I open this thread? just bombarded by terrible rap layered over one another, ****

Too bad Pac died, or this **** never would have happened.  Kids these days...

Modern rap died around the mid '00s right around the advent of auto-tune, and apparently the ability to write lyrics worth a damn. Other then a few underground artists, 90% of rap and hip hop now is pure unadulterated trash.

[quickcrx702]

why do all these ****ing videos play at the same time when I open this thread? just bombarded by terrible rap layered over one another, ****

Too bad Pac died, or this **** never would have happened.  Kids these days...

Modern rap died around the mid '00s right around the advent of auto-tune, and apparently the ability to write lyrics worth a damn. Other then a few underground artists, 90% of rap and hip hop now is pure unadulterated trash.

I can't take someone seriously if they are claiming to be hard core wearing skinny jeans, rhinestones, etc.  If I want to listen to something hard core, I'll break out my Brotha Lynch, Celly Cell, C-Bo, Yukmouth, Kurupt, E-40, and of course Pac.  Then you got Twista, Tech n9ne, Wu - Tang, and all of the other dope, non west coast rappers.


This is what a real hardcore rapper sounds like for all you kids born in the 90s or later.

Since I saw a "I got 5 on it" shirt, here's the yay area all star mix of everyone's favorite song to blaze to back in the day:

EDIT: I thought about auto starting these videos to drown out some of that crap previously posted, but I didn't want to be a **** to people with slow computers or limited bandwidth.

[paicrai]

My favorite jewish rapper.

Drake was never at the bottom. He was more like being featured on TV and making a lot of money (at least compared to others his age) from saying a bunch of stuff other people wrote for him, and generally living a middle class life at worst.

[IPT]

FU kmiller for having the videos all load at once.
****ing destroying my work computer, slowed to a crawl as I was figuring out wtf was lagging my computer to death.