Gil The universe is a mysterious place to us but the odds are that it’s teeming with life spread across vast distances; or are we all closer in some ways than 3D perception might suggest? Some man-machine collaborative thoughts on the physics, biology, and psychology of angels and demons, alien minds and star talk… “The Reasonable … Read more
#קול_קורא We have a problem of bochurim who’ve spent too much time in front of a book, and not enough time listening to their elders, or in a soup kitchen – or in a picket line – and it shows They grow up thinking that human, social, civil rights are arcane theoretical abstractions to be … Read more
Fear and suspicion aside, I think it’s safe to say:– the status quo is untenable– two states are unimplementable– an apartheid state is unlikely Now some have mistakenly claimed I’m an idealist 🙂 but if I’m not mistaken, that leaves us with one state, equal citizenship. Of course we’ll have to:– ban fascist parties like … Read more
“. . . I am certain that you will agree that the state of education in this country (as in many others) leaves much to be desired; that the status quo (as reflected in juvenile delinquency, etc.) is far from satisfactory, and, what is worse, has been steadily eroding; and that some determined nation-wide effort … Read more
Thoughts to disturb groupthinking reactionaries on all sides: Human sex is a generally binary biological fact. It’s dependent on the scientific construction of the idea of sex but it’s still a concrete reference to objective phenomena that, depending on your level of analysis, can not necessarily be changed with cosmetic surgery or hormonal treatment. Human … Read more
Belated, but: I’ve been catching references to the “Chapter 9 Project,” which seems to have become linked by some pundits to a modern blood libel, accusations of genocide committed by Jewish Israelis against Palestinians in Gaza. I respect many aspects of the more progressive denominations of Ashkenazi Judaism, but this project and the association that … Read more
Essentially (and intentionally fwiw) we dined at the Purim Meal yesterday, Shushan Purim. Not many cities in the world observe Shushan Purim. Jerusalem is obviously one of those cities. Yet Jerusalemites, following the Jerusalem Talmud and Jerusalem minhag, celebrate the Purim Meal today. So I hereby dub today, Jerusalem Purim
You see, there were still some three hundred lingering members of the plotting movement in the capital, who were so convinced that we were a threat to national security that, even after the second imperial edict permitting us the use of force in defending ourselves and our success in self-defense against mobs whipped up by … Read more
The masks are a new thing. They’re not how our ancestors celebrated the holiday. But they feel appropriate to the mood of the holiday: the truth and the salvation are revealed and concealed, concealed in their revelation and revealed in their concealment. Who we are, who we choose to be for the other, what we … Read more
The thing about self-determination is that it requires that one not lose or abdicate the responsibility to determine one’s self. This means participating in a robustly democratic civil society, not being subject – or subjecting one’s self – to an authoritarian, let alone fascist, party or government. This means that yes, you can recognize a … Read more