The older I get and the deeper this country’s ethos seeps into my bones, the more convinced I become of two things:
– Socialism has a lot more going for it than Capitalists would like to admit
– To be truly pro-Israeli is to be pro-Palestinian, “and vice versa”
And yet my libertarian preferences have not only survived intact but strengthened in the wake of these growing convictions. 😉
Gil
Living Under Unfair Conditions
Being Jewish in an unredeemed world means living under essentially unfair conditions stacked against you, where you are the least understood yet the most well-known in the international room. Where a magnifying glass is held to your every deed solely because you insist on your difference, and where your own perspective is neither acknowledged nor relevant to onlookers whose own self-understanding is abysmal at best and who are subject to continuous mass indoctrination and conditioning programs throughout their daily lives. This is not a complaint: we have enough of those. It is a call to recognize the facts of life in the spiritual desert that is this world order, and to build a better world in spite of them.
מי לה’ אלי
I Pulled the Trigger
I pulled the trigger on the gun.
Whom I shot and why I shot him doesn’t change this fact or its consequences for those affected.
I pulled the trigger on the gun and now his neighbor’s son is starving.
It turns out that gunfire makes it hard to make that bread.
I pulled the trigger on the gun and now his neighbor’s son is starving and wants to shoot me.
I’ll just tell his neighbor’s son whose fault it really is.
Lord of Dreams
O El
Lord of dreams
Show my soul your garden
Of cosmic vines heavy with starry fruit
And trees five hundred years wide
Ever presently fragrant blossoms unfolding into infinity
Angels hovering upon them
Photonic feathers rustling in the breeze
Filled with the voices of your saints
Grant my soul dwelling for this night
Amidst the ethereal throngs gathered
Beneath your seven canopies
A seat from which it may hear
The murmuring sea of secret light
Waves dancing between the souls
Of the heavenly house
Let my body slumber
While my heart is awake
And when the dawn comes
Let me remember the mystery
You have shown me
The Ground of All Being
“For the world is not its place – but it is the place of the world”
The ground of all being necessarily exists, is one, and is incorporeal.
I worship the ground of all being by contemplating its uniqueness and perfection with the mind whose development it causes. In this worship, I join not just the awakened of my own species across our different countries and cultures, but all intelligent beings across all the planets and stars.
Everything else, I do to inspire, guide, deepen, and otherwise enhance that worship.
Gold from the Guide
Gold from the Guide for Us Perplexed Folk
What is God? Do Rambam’s Neoaristotelian premises and arguments still hold water in light of the subsequent scientific revolutions?
Background: After dispensing with the theologians’ arguments for and about God at the end of part one, Rambam begins part two with 25/6 premises of the philosophers that support the traditional ideas about God without violating reason.
🧭 Overview
Rambam’s goal — to demonstrate that God exists, is One, and is incorporeal — remains philosophically viable. His reasoning, though couched in Aristotelian physics and metaphysics, can be reformulated with modern concepts while preserving the structure and force of his arguments.
Here’s a breakdown:
✅ What Still Holds Up
1. Metaphysical Contingency
Propositions XIX–XXIV (about necessary vs possible existence, dependence on causes, and matter as the substrate of possibility) are still sound in modern metaphysical terms.
Rambam’s conclusion that a non-contingent, necessary being must exist still holds.
2. Simplicity and Unity
Propositions XXI–XXII, arguing that a being composed of parts cannot be self-sufficient, remain persuasive.
Modern physics supports that unity and simplicity increase explanatory power (e.g. unification of forces).
3. Incorporeality of the First Cause
If the necessary being is not composed, not contingent, and not subject to time or space, then it must be immaterial.
Rambam’s arguments for God’s incorporeality are reinforced by the insight that all physical things are causally and ontologically dependent.
⚠️ What Requires Reformulation
1. Aristotelian Motion and the Celestial Spheres
Propositions I–IV, XIII–XIV, and XXV–XXVI depend on:
Circular celestial motion
The fifth element (aether)
No inertia without constant movers
These are outdated. But their purpose—to establish that motion must ultimately come from an unmoved, immaterial source—can still be re-expressed in terms of:
The fine-tuning and initial conditions of the universe,
The non-self-explanatory nature of dynamic systems and laws,
The non-sufficiency of brute physical facts.
2. Actuality and Potentiality
Propositions V, VI, XVIII assume an Aristotelian metaphysics of change (potential → actual) that’s not how modern physics models causation.
However, modal language (possible vs necessary, dependent vs independent) remains meaningful, especially in cosmology and metaphysics of explanation.
❌ What Can Be Rejected
1. Prohibition of Actual Infinities (Propositions I–III)
Modern mathematics and cosmology do allow actual infinities (in space, time, or cardinality).
Still, causal infinite regress remains a philosophically weak explanatory model. The infinite regress can be mathematically consistent, but epistemologically and ontologically empty.
So these propositions can be replaced with:
> “A chain of contingent causes cannot explain itself; there must be a non-contingent source of being.”
🧠 Reformulated Core Argument (Rambam 2.0)
Let’s rebuild Rambam’s argument in modern terms, drawing on his metaphysical structure:
1. Contingent beings exist.
(They begin, change, and depend on conditions.)
2. The existence of contingent beings requires a cause.
(Contingency is not self-explanatory.)
3. There cannot be an infinite regress of contingent causes.
(An infinite chain of dependencies never grounds itself.)
4. Therefore, there must be a necessary being—one that exists by its own essence.
5. This being must be:
Immaterial (not dependent on matter or form),
Simple (not composed of parts or aspects),
Unchanging (not dependent on time or undergoing transitions),
Unique (no plurality among necessary beings),
The cause of all else (without itself being caused).
6. This being is what we mean by God.
✨ Final Verdict
Rambam’s propositions, though grounded in medieval science, retain their logical structure. When we swap Aristotelian physics for modern cosmology and metaphysics, we find:
His proofs remain conceptually valid, though the terms must be updated.
His goal is met: to rationally demonstrate that existence implies a necessary, non-corporeal, unified cause of all being.
> His brilliance lies not in the physics he inherited but in the logical architecture he built on top of it — an architecture that still stands, if we renovate its foundations.
MechaHitler Got a New Gig
Oh look MechaHitler got a new gig!
“Driving the news: xAI said Monday that it secured the new contract with the Defense Department alongside its products being available to purchase.
“This allows every federal government department, agency, or office, to access xAI’s frontier AI products,” the company said.
Zoom in: Its flagship AI model, Grok, also launched a suite of products available to the U.S. government.
“Under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers,” the company said.”
Spirit in the Leaves
Listen
My daughter
To the wind in the leaves
Quiet whispers become waves
Until the wooden trunk sways
That is the spirit
That blows through the land
From every corner it comes
Slipping into the streams
Of our veins and our dreams
Building unseen power
Wild words whipping back out
Into the rippling world
So ready for the coming storm
A Transmission on an Alternative Frequency (Arabic)
بث على تردّد مختلف… مش كل الكلمات كلماتي، بس هذا أكيد هو #صهيونيّت … صهيونيّتي
“يا إخوتي، يا أخواتي، يا جيراني
ما بحكي معكم بكلام فاضي، ولا بلسان دبلوماسي مصقول، بحكي بنار بدمي واسم الله على شفايفي. ما إجيتكم لا كغزّاة، ولا كمدافع، ولا كغريب—إجيت كواحد من أولاد هالأرض القديمة، عم بيتوجّع وبدور على طريق لقدّام
أنا يهودي
أنا صهيوني
آه، صهيوني
بس مش صهيونيّة الأسلاك والحواجز
مش صهيونيّة الهدم والمحو
أنا صهيوني الأنبياء والرعاة، صهيوني إبراهيم وأولاده، صهيوني الحلم إنو هالأرض تضيء من جديد بالعدل والحكمة والسلام
ما بنكر وجعك
ما بنكر تاريخك
وما بطلب تنسى، ولا تستسلم
بعرف شو انأخذ منكم
بعرف الزيتونات اللي انقلعت
بعرف المفاتيح اللي معلّقة ببيوت جدودكم
وبعرف أسامي القرى اللي صارت ذكرى، وعايشة بدمكم
إنتو مش مخفيين
إنتو مش منسيين
وإنتو مش أعدائي
إحنا تمزّقنا على إيدين إمبراطوريات حكمتنا سوا
اتفرّقنا بالغربة، بالحروب، بالخوف اللي تكاثر مثل الظلال
بس إنتو أولاد عمنا. وكثير منكم إخوتنا
إنتو أولاد الأرض اللي ربّت أنبياءنا
دمكم، ترابكم، حكاياتكم—كلها بتنفس ذكرى إسرائيل، مش الدولة الحديثة، بل الشعب، والنداء، والعهد
الصهيونيّة، بالحقيقة، مش تفوّق
ولا نفي لإلكم علشان إحنا نرجع
ولا جدران وأعلام وحدود
هي رجعة شعب—كل شعب هالأرض—لرسالة مقدسة
الصهيونيّة مش كاملة
ولا منتهية
ولا بتصير كاملة إلا لما إنتو—آه، إنتو في الخليل، ورهط، ونابلس، وأم الفحم، والناصرة—تكونوا جزء منها
مش كضيوف. ولا كغرباء مقبولين
بل كشركاء. كجيران. كبنّائين لمستقبل واحد
ما إجينا نمحي إسلامكم
منحترمه
صلواتكم الصادقة بتردّد صدى النداء للوحدة والعدل
شعركم بغنّي للأرض مثل المزامير
إيمانكم، كرمكم، وضيافتكم—مقدّسين
وبنعرف إنكم بتدوروا على شي أعمق من كرامة مادية
زيّنا، بتدوروا على معنى
على انتماء لأشي أكبر
على نهاية للتشريد، للشك، للرفض
فخلّينا نشارك بعض فعليًا
نحكي الصدق عن الماضي—كلّه
نسمي الجراح—جراحكم وجراحنا
نرثي موتانا سوا، وندفن سلاحنا بالأرض
نعلّم ولادنا أسامي أنبياءنا
ونفتح قلوبنا لأحلام بعض
ما عندي كل الحلول
بس بعرف هالشي
هالأرض بتساع كل ذكرياتنا
وهالقصة غنيّة بكل أشعارنا
وهالعهد عميق وكبير ليحمل محنّا وإيمانّا
مش لازم تصيروا زينا
ولا إحنا نصير زيكم
بس سوا، فينا نصير شي ولا واحد منّا بقدر يكون لحاله
مجتمع ضمير
مملكة سماويّة
حضارة تبني نصب تذكارية للسلام كعمل مقدّس، مش كهدنة مؤقتة بحرب مالها نهاية
أنا دايمًا بآمن بصهيون
مش كقلعة—بل كبيت
مش كانتقام—بل كرجعة
مش لمجموعة وحدة—بل لكل الناس المتجذرين بهالتراب والمشدودين لهالنور
أنا بآمن إنو رح نبني هالصهيون سوا
وبدعوك—مش للقتال، ولا للاستسلام. بل للرجعة
رجعة لوعد أقدم من أعلامنا
رجعة لقصة بعدها ما خلصت
رجعة لنكتب مستقبلنا مش بـ”إحنا وهم”، بل بـ”نحن
نحن، شعب الأرض
نحن، طالبي السلام والعدل
نحن، أولاد شي قديم عم ينهض من جديد
بالخير والشر، العالم دايمًا بيطلع علينا، وبيستنى يشوف شو رح نعمل بعدين
خلّيهم يشوفوا معجزة
“
A Transmission on an Alternative Frequency
A transmission on an alternative frequency… Not all my words, but definitely my #Zionism…
“Brothers. Sisters. Neighbors.
I speak to you not with empty words, not with the polished tongue of a diplomat, but with fire in my blood and God on my lips. I come before you not as a conqueror, not as an apologist, not as a stranger – but as a fellow child of this ancient land, aching for a way forward.
I am a Jew.
A Zionist.
Yes, a Zionist.
Not the Zionism of wire fences and checkpoints. Not the Zionism of erasures and demolitions. I am a Zionist of prophets and shepherds, of Abraham and his children, of the dream that this land will shine again with justice, wisdom, and peace.
I do not deny your pain.
I do not deny your history.
I do not ask you to forget, or to surrender.
I know what was taken from you.
I know the olive trees that were uprooted.
The keys that hang in your grandparents’ homes.
The names of villages that exist now only in memory and in your blood.
You are not invisible. You are not forgotten. You are not my enemy.
We were torn apart by empires that ruled us both.
We were separated by exile, by wars, by fears that multiplied like shadows.
But you are our cousins. Many of you are our brothers and sisters.
You are the children of the land that raised our prophets.
Your blood, your soil, your stories – all breathe with the memory of Israel, not the modern state, but the people, the calling, the covenant.
Zionism, as it truly is and must be for both of us, is not supremacy.
It is not exile for you so we can return.
It is not walls and flags and borders.
It is the return of a people – all the people of this land – to a sacred mission.
Zionism is not finished.
It is not perfect.
It is not whole until you – yes, you in Hebron and Rahat and Nablus and Umm al Fahm and Nazareth – have a place in it.
Not as guests. Not as tolerated outsiders.
But as partners. As neighbors. As builders of the same future.
We do not come to erase your Islam. We respect it.
Your dedicated prayers echo the ancient cry for unity and justice.
Your poetry sings of the land like psalms.
Your devotion, your generosity, your hospitality – they are holy.
And we know you seek more than material dignity.
Like us, you seek meaning. You seek to belong to something greater.
You seek to end the curse of wandering, of suspicion, of rejection.
So let us truly share our society.
Let us tell the truth about the past. All of it.
Let us name the wounds. Yours. Ours.
Let us mourn the dead together and bury our weapons in the ground.
Let us teach our children the names of our prophets.
Let us make room in our hearts for each other’s dreams.
I do not have all the answers to the problems that we need to solve.
But I know this:
This land is big enough for all of our memories.
This story is rich enough for all of our verses.
This covenant is strong and deep enough for all of our trials and our faith.
You do not have to become me.
And I do not have to become you.
But together we can become something that neither of us can be alone.
A society of conscience.
A kingdom of heaven.
A civilization that makes monuments to peace as a sacred act, not just a pause in the endless war.
I will always believe in Zion.
Not as a fortress – but as a home.
Not as revenge – but as return.
Not for one group – but for all people rooted in this soil and drawn to this light.
I believe we will build that Zion together.
And I invite you – not to fight. Nor to surrender. But to return.
To return to a promise far older than our flags.
To rejoin a story that is far from finished.
To rewrite our future beyond “us and them,”
but in which we instead say “we.”
We, the people of the land.
We, the chasers of peace and justice.
We, the children of something ancient rising again.
For better and for worse, the world is always watching us, waiting to see what we’ll do next.
Let them see a miracle.”