Hi, Anya here.  Since goynif has a significant following and has been very visible, I feel like this question deserves an answer.  It’s not a pleasant one, but it is an honest one.  I pull no punches.  

The reasons for goynif’s inactivity are complicated, but it ultimately boils down to the fact that there aren’t really enough people as moderators who are active and invested in the account, so it’s mostly fallen to me, and has largely fallwn to me for years.  I’m chronically ill and have been having significant health crises since the autumn, and my choices right now are either continue to pass my PhD classes and do freelance work so that I can continue to put a roof over my family’s heads, or focus on activism work for free like goynif.  This is the problem of much social justice work: it asks marginalised people to donate their time and energy for free in order to educate privileged people, and in that donation, marginalised people lose time and energy they could put towards earning necessary money to stay afloat.  As a disabled person, that problem multiplies tenfold.  Not only do I lose time and energy to goynif, to dealing with submissions, dealing with hate mail, doing research and finding materials for the blog, that is also time and energy that will cost me a fair bit in recovery, as fatigue and pain complicate anything I do.  Thus far, I’ve focused on my degree and paying work, for what I hope are obvious reasons -- I can’t do anything if I can’t pay rent and the internet bill.  Beyond that, my condition is degenerative.  There is nothing I can do to stop it.  So I have to ration my time and energy carefully.  When offered the chance to do either self-care or emotionally draining activism work, I admit I choose self-care over the effort goynif requires.  That’s on me, and while my choices have not been good for goynif, they are what I need to do for myself.

That being said: if there are Jews interested in stepping up and actively moderating this blog, who are willing to do the research, make posts, deal with submissions, look for content, etc, I would be incredibly happy to have the help.  Running this blog is emotionally exhausting, especially around Jewish holidays and whenever conflicts between Israel and Palestine intensify, or whenever another goyische celebrity sports a Hebrew tattoo or gets into Kabbalah.  We have in the past received a large amount of hate mail, and that also takes time and energy to deal with, beyond it being often disturbing.  I have been doing it largely by myself for years.  Calls for other moderators have seen some new volunteers, but the activity level remains low for whatever reason, and I’m unable to pass the hat to someone else.  Consequently, submissions have also dropped off, and the lion’s share of what’s in our inbox is either hate mail or people shouting about how awful we are that we think the use of Jewish ritual objects and Jewish identity by goyim for their own ends is inappropriate.  

The bottom line is that this blog is a lot of work.  It requires a commitment of time and energy to keep up a regular posting schedule, one I’m unable to make, especially not as a volunteer.  If anyone wants to put in the time and labour, I’m happy to have them on board.  If someone wants to pay for goynif to keep running, I’d be delighted to have that, too.  But until that time, until there’s either more help or money to allow me to priority goynif over my paying graduate work and freelancing, this blog will update sporadically at best, whenever I have the time and energy to do so.

As a general rule, we don’t translate Hebrew tattoos for people.

It’s invariably ~sexy and exotic~, likely because most people have no idea what the hell it actually is, or don’t care.  But that’s the goyische way.  Who cares if something is culturally significant if it’s cool and they want it?  I think that’s a tag we’re going to start tracking and paying attention to -- thanks for bringing it up.

The appropriation of Polish goyim of their Jewish past is notable and awful, frankly.  I saw it when I was in Kraków in the early 2000s.  The Jewish ghetto wasn’t in the city, it was across the river where it was more easily liquidated without disturbing the city at large and it hadn’t survived the war, but the set for Schindler’s List had been built in Kraków proper, and the set had been preserved.  So it was the stand-in for the Jewish past that the goyim had destroyed, and it was aimed purely at the tourism market.  The “kosher style” restaurants were dreadful, and totally bastardised the cuisine.  It was an eye-opener -- and it also spoke to the power of the romanticised view of the shtetl, both on Jews and goyim, because really, Kraków’s “Jewish tours” are Disney-fied visions of the past.  It’s Ashkenaziland, and it has as much in common with actual history as a Disney film does.  Considering the brutal way Poles reacted when their Jewish neighbours who had survived the Shoah came home, this eager embrace of Jewish tourist money is even more disgusting, frankly. -Anya

As a writer, here is my advice: Research.  Research, research, research.  Read as much about Nazism, Nazi culture, and the pressure for Jews to convert to Christianity in early 20th century Germany in order to really get in his head.  Make your Nazi main character a complicated person who has to deal with the fact that he has done terrible things in support of an ideology that dehumanises him.  Don’t excuse awful choices as being mind control.  They’re still choices.  Don’t give him a magical way out of consequences because he turns out to be Jewish.  Make the discovery of his Jewishness discordant, troubling, something he struggles with.  Don’t let everyone accept and forgive him.  In other words: don’t let his heritage be his excuse that lets him off the hook for choosing to be a Nazi in the first place.  That’s how you avoid the problem.  You make the consequences be proportional to the choices, and you make those consequences actually play out, not get wrapped up with a tidy bow of “well, I didn’t know how wrong it was, but now I do, so it’s okay that I actively participated in genocide.”  Give everything that happens its weight and due.  Never, ever let your character off the hook for his choices.  And then have multiple people read it, edit it, give you feedback, and listen to their critiques.  Don’t just let people who like you and like the concept work on it.  Do the hard stuff and listen to the feedback that challenges you.  It will be a much better project for it. -Anya

It frequently can be, depending on when and how you wear it.  Calling it a tichel certainly is.  Interacting with other people and not correcting them when they call it a tichel or presume you are Jewish can be.  There are a wealth of Catholic styles of headcoverings, going back to the medieval period.  You don’t need to wear hijab or tichel to cover your hair in a Catholic fashion -- Canon Law hardly demands a tichel, doesn’t demand that all hair be covered, and gives you far more leeway than tznius does for Jewish women.  So before you ask us if tichel-style headcoverings are appropriative for a Catholic, ask yourself why Catholic styles like mantillas and chapel veils aren’t enough for you, and why you’re willing to entertain styles like tichel and hijab that are not your cultural norms in pursuit of something beyond Catholic teaching?

Going to Israel to study when you have an Israeli passport, regardless of how you identify, isn’t cultural appropriation.  Neither is learning Hebrew to get along in Israel, anymore than emigrating to Israel is appropriative.  You’re fine.  (And yes, there are tons of Russian speakers, less so than in the 80s and 90s, but still a bunch!  Still, basic Hebrew is handy.)  

It depends.  If you were raised Jewish, liberal congregations will consider you Jewish.  More conservative/orthodox ones will not.  How you identify is a different story.  As always, if you want to be recognised as Jewish by a local religious community, start with your local rabbinic authority for advice about how to proceed.

This one always depends.  What do you want to do with Yiddish?  Do you want to learn about it for it’s own sake?  Do you want to read Yiddish literature?  There is a difference between learning a language because you’re interested in it and learning it to use it for converting the people who speak it, for example.  Some Christian “missionaries” learn Yiddish to try to convert Orthodox Jews.  That’s a wildly inappropriate thing, obviously.  But academic study of Yiddish isn’t.  If you do study Yiddish, consider giving back to the Jewish community through programs invested in preserving or translating Yiddish documents, for example.  Use your powers for good, in other words.

As always, two Jews, three opinions.  But academic study of Yiddish for its own sake does not strike me as appropriation.  Consider your motives and goals carefully, however, and be aware of your privilege as a goy to know Yiddish -- you won’t be treated harshly by other goyim for knowing it, etc.  Awareness and education here, for yourself and for other goyim, are key.

I don’t think so.  But being aware of the origins of superhero comics and the reasons why American Jewish writers developed characters like Superman with his hidden identity and his super powers as a response to the profoundly antisemitic world they lived in is critical for people who want to understand the genre as a whole, however.

One, I’m Latina.  I am not the White Man.  Sorry to burst your bubble.  African-Americans suffer the brunt of American racism.  That is true.  That does not negate the existence of other oppressions, including antisemitism.  And it does not absolve non-Jews of their ability to be antisemitic simply because they also are a member of an oppressed class.  That’s basic intersectionality.  If you’re wanting me to valorise your oppression above all others and play Oppression Olympics with you, I’m sorry, but the medal podium is closed.  This is a blog dealing with Jewish issues and focuses on anti-appropriation.  By its very nature, it focuses on Jewish issues.  Period.

Goy is not a slur.  Goy is a Hebrew word.  It means nation.  It is the Hebrew version of the English word Gentile.  It has been used in this way since before the Roman occupation of Israel.  It has 2000 years of history in our language and in our community that you as an outside do not get to police or define for us.  Jews have the right to use our language to talk about ourselves and about the people who have historically oppress us and continue to oppress us.  You don’t have to like it.  But it isn’t changing because you demand it – especially not in a Jewish space.

I see someone can’t be bothered to read anything before spewing the outrage.  Jews of colour exist.  Jews are not “essentially white.”  Goy is the Hebrew word for “nation.”  It means not Jewish.  That’s it.  As for “highly privileged,” I suppose it is a privilege to be the targets of hate crimes!  African-Americans, while suffering from an incredible amount of racism, are not immune from antisemitism if they aren’t Jewish when they fail to understand the multiple oppressions Jews face.  You’ve provided a stunning example of how that happens.  Good job.  Next time, try reading the FAQ before shooting from the hip.