Gil “I wouldn’t say academic or traditional scholarship on kabbala would support the claim that it’s a combination of neo-platonism and gnosticism; those count among its many influences, but just as the bible’s akkadian, egyptian, and canaanite influences are plentiful without making the bible a simple combination of (just) those influences, neo-platonism and gnosticism contributed much … Read more
Loose lips sink ships so I’m not publicly going to go into detail on my iss lest Iranian govt passes the intel along to the Houthis, but today’s non-interception was problematic from several angles. Really drives home how much we depend on Hashem for our protection. A missile-defense system is just a vessel, and does … Read more
The return to the land of our ancestors. So much of human history is bound up in disputes over land. Your land, my land, his land, (rarely) her land. The territorial imperative indeed runs deep in mammals, especially primates; sometimes we seem no better than gangs of monkeys fighting each other over dwindling patches of … Read more
The siren started and my soul awoke. I prayed for rahamim, divine compassion. For the nation and for the souls of those who gave their lives for our future. I prayed that in their merit and in the merit of their good deeds, sacrifices, and ultimate sanctification of the idea of the God of life … Read more
Antisemitism is so triggering. And when it pervades a social climate it becomes suffocating. Cuts off oxygen to the soul. People start defending the indefensible. Breathe, my friends. Learn. Study. Pray. Together. Then respond with righteousness. And Come Home.
Confession: I am so fcking intolerant of intolerance. I understand it, I sympathize with its causes, I don’t sit in judgment of those whom it infects. I get it. But I don’t tolerate it. I am viscerally resistant to it. I even react harshly to it, when I see evidence of it running deep in … Read more
Attention New York synagogues and Jewish schools, museums, and community centers: You can not feign outrage over accusations of genocide and then eagerly platform and fawn over an Israeli parliamentarian who has repeatedly called for genocide. Defending his mob of fans’ thuggish and racist behavior because you “understand the context” is really a self-own in … Read more
Seduce me.Betray me.Attack me.Raze me.Deport me.Forget me.Hate me. Still I rise. Control me.Colonize me.Crucify me.Conquer me.Convert me.Blame me.Burn me. Still I Rise. Play me for my willing riches.Mark me for the spear and sword.Suspect me for your spreading plague.Conjure me as your darkest demon.Accuse me of your midnight crimes.Condemn me in your halls of power.Cleanse … Read more
Never AgainIs always NowThe eternal moment afterThe gates of hell openedReady to devour bodies and soulsThe moment of arrestedTimeAntipode of historyTo the dawn in Eden But within the darknessOf the moment born at AuschwitzLies the seed of another momentThe eternal “To Life”The eternal uprisingAgainst the Other SideAgainst the blasphemous machinery of deathFueled by rhetorical hate … Read more
Introduction: The Crisis and the Calling We live in a moment of profound civilizational crisis. The ideological frameworks that shaped the modern world—nationalism, capitalism, statism, and religious orthodoxy—are unraveling. Where nationalism without a higher calling devolves into chauvinism, capitalism detached from covenant yields exploitation and ecological collapse. And where religious structures forget their moral center, … Read more