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I wrote a series of Deep Space Nine ficlets about space Jews for the Purimgifts exchange this year, which was an interesting experience because a.) it's definitely the most Jewish fic I've written, including the year I wrote Fiddler on the Roof fic and b.) I tend to forget that many people don't necessarily know things like 'who is Queen Vashti' or 'what is a Purimshpil.' Which doesn't really matter, because these fics are unashamedly written for the people who do know those things, and that's fine. But it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Anyway: Space Jews Celebrating Space Purim. I have accidentally given myself a lot of Jewish Star Trek headcanons now. Anyone want to talk to me about Starfleet Academy Hillel?

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I could round up some links about Jewish DS9 headcanons scattered around Tumblr, if you like.

Also, I hold Bashir's favorite holiday is Simchat Torah.

Sure, hit me with 'em! tho I probably won't agree with all of them on account of now I have my own traditions developed in a vacuum. :D

A short list of things I've collected and reblogged: X, X [there's a fair amount of "Siskos in Hanukkah sweaters" art by the same artist, if you want more], X, X, X, and X.

There's this, this found while trying to find something else, the thing I was looking for and a related post, and this fic.

Edited 2016-03-27 18:57 (UTC)

Thank you for the link roundup! Siskos in ugly Hanukkah sweaters are my new favorite thing, MY GOODNESS. *__*

I love everything about this.

(I'm one of those... not-quite-Jewish? Jewish-adjacent? Jewish-ish? people. So I feel awkward identifying or commenting. My father's father (who died of old age before I was born) was Ashkenazi. I was definitely not brought up Jewish in terms of traditions or or languages or observance, and don't have Jewish religious beliefs, but it still matters, you know?)

Thank you!

Oh, man, please don't feel awkward - it absolutely still matters. (Well, I mean, as much as you want it to matter. I know people for whom it doesn't at all, which is cool too, I'm not gonna tell anyone how much it should or shouldn't matter to them. But you know what I mean.)

Thank you. And yeah.

I am not Jewish, but I really enjoyed these.

Thanks -- I'm glad you liked 'em! :)

And that was even without factoring in the latinum he'd raked in after Morn discovered Manischewitz.

HUZZAH.

SOMEONE'S GOTTA LOVE MANISCHEWITZ.

(...I love Manischewitz.)

SOMEONE'S GOTTA LOVE MANISCHEWITZ.

I don't love Manischewitz, but I'm here all day for jokes about it!

(The other two are also quite good. Is Jewish Bashir canonical and I missed when it went by or headcanon?)

(Totally not canonical so far as I know, but hey, there's nothing to say he isn't, either! It's headcanon for my recipient for the exchange I was writing for, so I'm happy to roll with it.)

Totally not canonical so far as I know, but hey, there's nothing to say he isn't, either!

I was almost certain I would have heard if it were canonical, because that is my relationship to Jewish characters in media, but the fact that I have seen maybe ten episodes out of seven seasons inclined me to ask. Anyway, if I'm parsing the sambusak el tawa correctly, I like the idea of him being Iraqi Jewish.

Also, regarding—

"You can't just explain away things that don't make sense by waving your hand and saying a Q did it!"

I can't remember if you have read Phyllis Gotlieb's A Judgment of Dragons (1980), but the argument "a Q did it" is hilarious from the standpoint of that book.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking! We know from canon that he's raised in London as a kid, so probably his family emigrated there a generation or two back.

I have not read A Judgment of Dragons, should I?

I have not read A Judgment of Dragons, should I?

Depends on how you feel about telepathic big cats, trickster energy beings, and a mid-future galactic federation full of all kinds of aliens, most of whom are the protagonists instead of humans. The opening novella is a time travel story from the perspective of some of its characters and a story of the Yiddish supernatural for others. I am sure there are spiky problematic bits scattered throughout, but A Judgment of Dragons (especially "Son of the Morning") was a huge influence on me from about age—eight?—onward and I like most of Gotlieb's other books very much. I wrote up some recommendations once here. Her GalFed stories are some of the most basically Jewish science fiction I have ever read. (So, yes.)

These are delightful and Bashir is such an awkward turtle, at least in the first one. And Rom and Leeta! <3

I am curious though what Trek thing happened that Vulcan Jews exist? (Are they canon?) Also curious if Otara and Purim being similar is simply coincidence or if there is some kind of time-travel/alternate dimension/Q thing involved there as well?

Thank you! :D

They are totally not canon, they are a thing I 100% made up -- partly because of the Jewish stuff that Nimoy took for his portrayal of Spock, and partly just because it made me happy. I don't know what the explanation is for them either (a mystery! or a miracle!) but I have decided they do exist now and nobody can tell me otherwise.

As far as Otara and Purim being similar though, in my head that's just coincidence -- they're not actually all that similar in my head, Saintly Women Winning Over Secular Worldly Leaders is a theme across a couple religions I think, so I didn't think it was that much of a stretch to give Bajor a holiday based on a similar-enough story to get them talking. But if Bashir had done more listening and less mansplaining (sorry Bashir) he probably would have heard about lots more differences!

I sometimes feel weird about my enthusiasm for these because I am not in the least Jewish, but I am *always* here for Space Jews. Those were great!

Also if there are Vulcan Jews there must also be Romulan Jews, stands to reason, and I have wanted someone to tell me things about Romulan Jews for ages.

Please feel free to be as enthusiastic as you would like. :DD I'm glad you liked them!

OF COURSE THERE ARE ALSO ROMULAN JEWS *___* (Though someone else will have to write about them because the little I know about Romulans is even less than what I know about Vulcans.)

(Though someone else will have to write about them because the little I know about Romulans is even less than what I know about Vulcans.)

I feel like they should have kept some of the traditions of ritual sacrifice—I don't feel like the original separatists would have gone in for all that rabbinic logic. Maybe they have temples.

Yes I will talk about Starfleet Academy Hillel of course I am there for that.

Except I kind of feel like there is no Hillel at Starfleet Academy, only Open Hillel. Because Starfleet and particularism do not go well together. Every event at Starfleet Academy Open Hillel is a joint ecumenical effort with every other religious society at Starfleet Academy and they serve the matza right next to the Easter ham, because they were programmed out of the replicator one after the other.

no no man, I disagree, Starfleet Academy Hillel is its own thing precisely BECAUSE of our Vulcan Jewish friends, Hillel made a very impassioned argument in favor of the value of this miraculous interspecies faith collaboration requiring diplomatic nourishment

I like imagining SAH trying to organize a Latke-Hamentaschen debate and being utterly unable to do it because all of the Vulcan Jews agree that logically latkes are superior and why would anyone argue for an illogical position?

Is this spoilery for DS9? I haven't finished the series yet.

The first and second one are not at all spoilery! The third one is spoilery by implication for an overall arc about Ferenginar, though not for anything else.

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