u/IllEstablishment6691

sorry this a bit of a vent

I'm not sure if my friend is just trying to be an edegelord (hes 15)but he seems to be quite pro-soviet. He has a USSR flag in his room. He talked about admiring Hitler as a leader (we don't know if he means the decisions he makes or how he rose to power because the cult of personality can be an interesting study but when this comes up it gets heated and one of our friends ends the discussion). When I was complaining about my history homework, he said he thinks we need gulags. Some of the things he seems to agree with would heavily target if not myself, someone I know. He's very ingrained in my friend group and i don't have many friends and i don't know if its worth the confrontation or to just see if its a "look at me i'm so edgy" teenage thing

I wouldn't even know how to go about asking. I'm homeschooled and autistic. I don't want to lose my DnD group or my friends.

So, for a bit of context, I lived in an abusive household for the first 14 years of my life. My non-Jewish father (who was the abuser) and a Jewish convert mother, since my father was not Jewish and was quite controlling, I wasn't practicing  for most my life. i now do, since I have severed that relationship and been able to find myself and actually live my life. 

I'm going back to a school I went to for a year and then left because of mental health. From being there last time, I know the school is quite muslim and pro-Palestinian. In fact, some of them would come up to you and ask your opinion on the war, clearly trying to start an argument. I'm quite nerdy and keep to myself, so wasn't exactly popular, so I'm worried when they know I'm Jewish. Since I wear a Magen David, they might try and mess with me, and they are all very young (think people who only get info from TikTok), so if they were to come up to me and ask things like whose side I'm on or am I a Zionist, they wouldn't actually be interested in a conversation bout definitions and actual ways to peace 

Sorry, this is quite rambly, but I'm autistic and useless in social situations, so I would love some advice on just minimizing the amount of antagonization I would get, since I already got a lot when they didn't even know I was Jewish. 

I'm going to start attending a reform synagogue and i don't know what to wear. I am a teenage girl, and it seems the majority of people there are significantly older, so there is some disparity in what we wear. I was just wondering what the general dress code rules are?

I'm on the edge of getting a pair of leather full soles for my practice. If they really do strengthen your feet, I'll probably buy them, but if not, I see few reasons to switch. So what has your experience been with full sole leather?

I really like canvas slippers, which is what I currently have, but with the amount of practice I do, the canvas tears a hole over the big toe decently fast. I know leather is very hard to wear down. Would you say it's worth it to keep canvas for class but have leather for practice? Or should I only use one type? And are leather slippers good ?

I was to put it very lightly not treated well by my father. Our relationship is currently at the stage where i have stopped talking to him, and he occasionally texts. I know we are not meant to put a parent to shame, am i breaking this commandment? Is it forgivable?

So me and my friends were hanging out; none of them are Jewish or religious. I've only recently started practising; they know this. My mum gave me the Magen David she got when she finished her conversion; it's become one of my favourite pieces of jewellery, and I wear it all the time.

I was wearing it while we were hanging out, and I pointed it out because we often talk about our jewellery, and it's my new favourite necklace. There were 2 reactions of my friends that have irked me a bit.

Friend 1 started laughing and then said Saturn is hell and didn't give me more context – a note is we are teenagers, so we aren't the picture of emotional maturity, so go easy on them.

Friend 2 (who's very liberal – we do agree on most things) I think asked, 'Are you Jewish?' I said yes and then she said they aren't very popular right now. My first thought is she might be talking about the rise in anti-Semitism (we live in the UK, and we just had that horrific string of attacks). I asked what she meant; she said 'Israel' and 'what they're doing'. I said, 'Well, that's not the same as being Jewish,' and then it stopped because one of our other friends interrupted.

I'm autistic, so I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into this, but what do you think?

I realised all my favourite directors are men (nothing wrong with that, just diversifying my palate), and as a women who loves film making it'd be nice to have some role models in the field and when I google movies directed by women, the same ones show up, so what are your favourite movies with female directors?

I'm a huge movie fan, so I was wondering what you guys think the best Jewish/Jewish-adjacent movies are and why.

I live in the UK. I've been afraid of flying, but I'm starting to get over that, so my family wants to take a short/shortish flight to make sure. I'd love to go somewhere with some Jewish history or population. What are your recommendations? What have been your favourite places you've been?

does anyone have any suggestions?