Mr Toyrah the soft toy torah says welcome to my page and have a look around ! 
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I am Jewish and one of my special interests is Judaism ! I like learning about the history, religion, and culture, as well as going to shul (synagogue), davening (praying), and connecting with other Jews.
This Jewish calendar is embedded from HebCal, and shows the secular as well as Hebrew date, the omer counting, candle lighting times, holidays etc. So far I have not figured out how to make it accept a postcode from outside the USA so it is currently set to the times for New York City !
I have autism and sometimes use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate. For me this looks like using an app called LetMeTalk that converts symbols and text to speech. I also use printed out cards to make a routine board that helps keep me on track with what I need to do each day. The ARASAAC website (found under Other Cool Links) has a bunch of symbols related to Judaism which I use on my AAC app as well as my routine board. Below is a sheet of labelled symbols that I printed out, laminated, and made into cards for my routine board.
Here is an example of the printed cards in use. It was a day where I brought a challah I baked in to share at my volunteering shift then went to the library before shabbat. And I wanted to make sure I didn't forget to wear my yarmulke.
I am currently reading The Kosher Kitchen: A Practical Guide by Rabbi Binyomin Forst which explains the halacha surrounding kashrut in a way that is accessible and readable for people without extensive halachic knowledge. Rabbi Forst has also written a book called The Laws of Kashrus which goes much more in-depth into the subject, and The Kosher Kitchen summarises and builds on this previous book.
Some of my favourite Jewish singers are Leonard Cohen, Barbra Streisand, and Uncle Moishy. Uncle Moishy is a Jewish children's educational singer and has been putting out music since the 1970s. My favourite album by him is Mezzuzah which you can listen to here:
I have many Leonard Cohen playlists, but my favourite one is my Leonard Cohen Relaxing playlist. It is a list of his most relaxing songs and I listen to it every night before I go to bed, and now you can too !
I also really like this playlist of shabbat music, it has over 1000 songs on it!
Here are some of the Jewish items I own.
These are my mezuzot. One is on my front door and the other is on my bedroom door. Find out more about mezuzot from different sources here, here, and here.
These are my main shabbat candles. I usually use electric ones rather than lit candles because fire causes me a lot of anxiety. The inscription on the candles reads "לכבוד שבת קודש" in Hebrew, transliterated as "Lichvod shabbat kodesh". This roughly translates to 'In honour of the holy sabbath', but do not quote me on this as my Hebrew is pretty rusty !
These are my other set of electric shabbat candles, in tealight form. They have the same inscription as the tall ones, and I keep these ones in a travel tealight holder that folds into a ball.
This is my travel prayer keyring. I take it with me I go out because I can get anxious and overwhelmed when I am out and it helps ground me and calm me down. The prayer reads: "O lord may your love protect me on my journey and guard me from peril on the way. May I reach my destination in peace and fulfill my mission. May I return to my home with joy and in peace. Amen."
This is one of the kiddush cups I own. When it is not in use it sits on the top of my desk with a number of other Judaica items.
This is my Shema ring. It is very special to me and I wear it all the time. It has the opening line of the Shema embossed on it and it also spins around. It is very comforting to have the Shema text and also the sensory input of the letters and the spinning. The text in Hebrew reads 'שמע ישראל ה אלחינו ה אחד'. The transliteration is 'Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad'. The translation is 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One'. In the original Hebrew the name of God is replaced with the letter 'ה' to avoid writing out one of the names of God.
This is a template I made for crafting your own folding travel prayer card. I didn't draw the art border myself, I found that online years ago and have unfortunately forgotten where. What I did was add the text of the traveller's prayer in Hebrew, transliteration, and English, as well as a picture of my travel prayer keyring, and format all the elements into a design that can be printed, cut, stuck together, folded etc. into a portable travel prayer card.
This calendar was made in Microsoft Greetings Workshop 1997 and shows dates for June 2022/Sivan 5782. Since the above image is a photo of the printed calendar, some of the text doesn't show up quite right, but it is more here for a general idea and for the design. You can open the image in a new tab to get a zoomed in view. The embedded calendar near the top of the page has all the same information in a plainer and interactive format.
Here are some cool Jewish-themed wallpapers that I like. Open them in a new tab to see their original sizes.
I like cooking, which I usually do with help from my support workers ! Jewish foods are some of my favourite things to cook, here are some pictures of things I've made.
Bagels
Challah
Here is my view of streaming the Kabbalat Shabbat service from Temple Beth Israel on my TV, with my electric shabbat candles on top.
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