Welcome to Gaia! ::

Don't think I ever caught that one. At least not in whole.

I remember thinking mermaids probably weren't so cool after seeing that disgusting fish tail poking out of the bath tube. That's about it.

Most people would be amazed by the speed by which topics on this guild change from saying grace at a dinner table to Mermaid movies involving semi-famous people such as Cher.

I should post there more often.

Somewhere in the writers forum, you will find posts by me in regards to stories I was writings or critiques I gave to other writers.

Most of my critics are the following...

"Ok, YET ANOTHER Story about Vampires"

or

"Ok, YET ANOTHER Story that takes place in Japan"

then I would rant on setting and storyline and originality.

BTW, the last story I wrote was about a zombie apocalypse that occurred in the dark ages which was one of the factors that made pagan Europe become Christianized.

It's the creative writing section. I used to C&C many moons ago, trying to establish the next generation of writers to think and not imitate. Every other story was vampire or Japanese.

I may go back if it's changed.

I'm all for Westerns. wink

Okay, I need to add my two bits here, since I was raised in a very culturly diverse family (I am Sephardic from a mix of things, and my moms side of the family is mainly Catholic {Irish, and French-Canadian} and Shaman {that is the Inuit part}), I was brought up in Sephardic, Ashkanaz, and Chabad ways, and I research a crap load into this stuff.

1. Born Jews don't need to fully worry about keeping the laws since we are not converts, but should still try his/her best to keep. Converts have to worry no matter what, since if a Convert makes a tiny little mistake and a rabbi finds out, then that person is no longer a Jew. Now of course there are circumstances where there are exceptions to this.

2. Catholic, and Christianity are two seperate religions. Catholic is actually the religion that came right after Joshua (Yeshua) and they still kept pretty much all the laws of Judaism at that time (sadly the Catholics of today are no where close to those of back than, except certain few branches); which in truth is because Joshua preached Judaism, and keeping all 613 laws. HE DID NOT PREACH HIS OWN RELIGION! It was the 4 disiples (Paul, Mathew. Mark, and Luke), that changed many things. But Luke kept much of the Jeiwsh faith unlike the others. The other 9 of his disiples each emphasized certain aspects of Judaism more than others. Example, Judas (who was forced to betray him. Something that followers of Christ do not get. if Judas did not do so, his family would have been murdered. And in Judaism the family is one of the core hearts. He was in truth being a good Jew in that aspect.) emphasized repentance, and forgiveness. Peter the Mikveh (it was not Paul who was big on Mikveh. Mikveh is Baptism, which in Judaism serves many purposes. Not just baptizing a convert into Judaism. Baptists so have their history wrong on that one, and are super Anti-Jew and fairly racist. I should know. I was stupid enough to date one.). Christianity came 250 years after Joshua died (as I said before Catholic came a few years after), and pretty much doesn't give a damn about the laws of Hashem and it's people (Islam though, in truth, is so much closer to Judaism and many of the their laws and prayers are verbatim the same.), do not believe in thr trinity, and has over 2000 branches that are nothing alike to each other. Their are certain branches of Christianity that actually come from Catholic, that believe in the trinity, keep kosher, and keep all of the holidays. They are Seventh day Adventists, Assemblies of God, Church of God, The Makuya, and so forth. Also Catholic and the original churches that came up along side it before the rise of Christianity are very friendly to Jews in truth, and do not like Christians that much. In truth people that say they follow the teachings of Josh, are supposed to keep kosher, and so forth. Josh did not actually say that he will take away everybodys sins. He said he will take away the sins of those in the area at the time. And there is extremely strong evidence that his death was faked. And also in truth the main reason he had those abilities that made him seem god like is because he was a very pious person and broke the wheel of reincarnation (Jews do believe in reincarnation, and what Buddhists call Nirvana. In truth, Josh was the first Buddha if you want to get technical.). But if a person doesn't break the wheel and they cannot reincarnate it is a punishment because then they are stuck in the part of Olam Haba that in english is called Limbo. Jews do believe in Hell, but it's not like the hell Josh talked about. Ours is more like purgatory, and is called Gehonim (I know I spelled that wrong.). And all of that is part of Heaven.

3. Saying hrist the lord Amen, is a mega insult to Hashem. Reason being is because of the fact that Hashem came first, and that he is your rock, your lord, your king, your queen, your ruler. And really even a Christian should not call Joshua their lord, since if he is the son of Hashem, then they should pray first to the father and then the son. Not the other way around. And plus many forget to mention poor Logos, Joshuas bro. Who do you think is the holy spirit in the holy Trinity.

4. The truth is that glass after many years does take on the flavor which is why after 8 years the glass must be changed unless otherwise said. And way back then, the clay was not really inforced, and not even talked about since glass was so expensive. So many Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews used only 4 sets of clay dishes, or only 2 sets (one for every day eating, and one for passover). They just washed them alot, and put a glaze on them made from molten sand (glass is after this stage of melting sand) when the dish was made. In toays world though it is different unless you live in certain countries such as Tunisia, and Morocco (MOROQUAI RULE! WHOOT!).

5. A Jew whether convert or not, can eat none kosher if it is to save a life, for health, to respect others, and so forth. And we must actually say a prayer over it if we did enjoy it since Hashem still made it (the raw materials that is). And there is such a prayer, but it is extremely obscure (which is why this is rarely brought up). This is something that everybody for some reason never remembers and never brings up. But at the same time, the others should respect you, and try to have at least soemthing kosher/vegan for you to eat. Thats why Jews have a very easy time living with Hindus. Also it's just much more easy to use plastic. Which is want many religious Jews now a days. It's also cheaper.

6. Many of the prayers in the Jewish world that we have are many times tied to an event that happened in a Jewish community. Ethiopian Jews (none-Ethiopian Falasha (Falasha is the name given to Black Jews. They are not Sephardic or Mizrachi in truth. Yet they follow many of the same customs.), still say the extra prayers of Ethiopian Falasha), have prayers that other Jewish communities do not have. But some of these prayers have found way into other ethnic Jewish praying tradition, since they can apply to everybody. Another example are the prayers that are said over the Shabbat candles was originaly an Ashkanaz prayer but by the 1300's was said by all Jewish women who learned of it. Other is that Chinese Jewish (Seenee Yehudi) and Arab Jews (Yehudi Aravim) have specific prayers also. By the way 3% of the Chinese population is Jewish, and 15% is of Jewish descent. For more info on that conatact me, and I can send you info on it, and why the Rabbinical Council will not accept them even though they are Jews, and keep the laws.

7. Sephardic, and Mizrachi do in todays world classify themselves mostly with Orthodox. This is because it is easier to do this.

8. Mazuac, if your grandparents are on your mothers side, then you are a Jew. And even then, you should learn about your heritage, who you are, what we have given to the world, and so forth. You should not be ignorant on these things. Plus it will do your Saba, and Safta good to see that you are interested in learning about your Jewish heritage.

9. Women are allowed to do many things that men cannot do in Judaism. This is because women can give birth, came before men (Adam was made after Lilith who was his first wife. Lilith raped Adam which is why she was made into the queen and mother of all demons. Then Eve was made), we all begin as women in the womb, and women in truth are made to be more powerful than men in many aspects. Example, no where in the Torah does it say that women cannot be Lesbians. Seriously there is not one law that says that. But a man cannot be gay, unless, he is truly, and totaly gay. If the man is bi, he must be with women. Bring this up with any Rabbi and they are stumped for the most part. Since Hashem created him that way, and that is his function (to be natures birth control). " And Hashem saw all that he created and what he shall create in the future, and said that it is all good and great." - Genesis. "And he the Rock; His creations and all works are perfect!" - Moshe

10. There is nothing wrong with respecting/ paying respects to another religion and it's god as long as you acknowledge that Hashem is the ultimate creator, and that all others are under him/her/it. The followers of Hinduism believe very much the same somewhat. "It does not matter what god you follow. It does not matter if you follow I Krishna, or another God, for we all belong to the great creator. Even the Great Brahma is part of this creator and under this creator, since we are all one side of the great one and part of the universe."

11. One of the real reasons we are not allowed to eat pork, besides the anatomy of it, and how people raise it is because, the chemical makeup of pork is 99.5% the same as human. So yes it is as if you are eating a human.

12. Christians and Catholics are supposed to respect us, and follow our ways when we are with them. It says so in their bible. But like many Muslims (the Quran is actually super pro-Jewish and pro-Israel in truth.) they do not follow that law.

13. Learn about the Samiritan Jews and the Kairite Jews.

14. The laws of Judaism, are supposed to be flexible to the era of which a Jew lives in, in truth. Judaism, is supposed to be easy. Not hard. Halaka is very flexible, and metaphorical and interpretive. Example; on Shabbat we are supposed to do no work, and relax correct? Well the fact is that, that can be taken in many ways. If a Jew makes breakfast, reads the paper, and watches cartoons and is relaxed and did no work, he/she is keeping Shabbat completely. And also, using things such as electric stoves, microwaves and so forth are allowed as long as fire is not created, since they do not in truth create fire. And a Jew cannot directly create fire or order someone to do so. And the fact is that orthodox Jews do work on Shabbat without realizing it. All the preparing, the washing, the cleaning, and so forth is work. Also if you want to get super technical, we are always breaking the Shabbat since work is the use of energy by physics terms.

15. Judaism and science mix very well.

16. We don't have to follow the rules that rabbis have created at all, since we are not allowed to add or take away from the laws Hashem has given us. the laws the rabbis create are in truth merely suggestions that we can choose to follow.

For anything else, just hit me up or add me.