Long-form essays on Judaism, Zionism, halakha, and the present hour.
I am not persuaded that Israeli soldiers are Nazis. There is so much that separates your average soldier from an actual Nazi, just as there is so much that differentiates the Israeli state’s pointless military occupation of the West Bank and patchwork of anti-Palestinian policies, from the mobilization of an entire civilization for the express … Read more
Went down the rabbit hole today researching alllllll the links in the chain from the expulsion from Spain in 1492 to the establishment of the state of #Israel in 1948. I won’t go into all the details in this post – this needs to be a book – but here’s the upshot: This is not … Read more
Can you prove the Creator exists? Here’s a modern update to Rambam’s argument for the existence of God… Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, we make the following eleven claims: 1′. The physical, observable universe has a finite history. 2′. The physical universe is governed by laws (that we can express in math!) that … Read more
As I wind down from preparing for #Passover, I want to share a politically incorrect musing on a recent development in the American culture war. Based on my understanding of gender (which I believe is a social performance, unlike biological sex, which I believe is a non-binary chromosomal fact), I don’t personally subscribe to either … Read more
“Emancipate yourself from mental slaveryNone but ourselves can free our minds” The Creator intervened in biohistory and through the imposition of a higher order, brought the regional empire to its knees and delivered a caste of foreign slaves to liberty. Every norm was challenged, every supposition overturned, every “rule” broken. The idols crumbled, the privileged … Read more
I don’t want to be an alarmist or pretend that I can predict the future. I hope that my concerns will be proven to be unfounded. But I want my family, friends, and neighbors to be prepared for what may be coming. If you’re going to read this – and fair warning, you might not … Read more
Chabad is a diverse, complex, and trans-dimensional organization. I have personally had great experiences with Chabad rabbis and families. I greatly respect their community building and social work, and I find their Torah to be very thought-provoking, even when I disagree with specific claims they may make or conclusions they may reach. (For example, the … Read more
Fun fact: I am allergic to bullies and I detest religious bullies. I also have limited patience for those who evade accountability, especially in the name of winning the American culture war, and so an abusive, religious bully who evades accountability in the name of pwning the libs is basically gonna get the stick and … Read more
I guess I still got #TDS. After much back and forth with ChatGPT, eliminating Eurocentric biases, ensuring it was operating from an updated knowledge base, and requesting elaboration on points raised, I found this to be a helpful taxonomy and summary of the uniquely American variant of fascism. There’s no hope for me, friends. It … Read more
Allahu Akbar. But also: “A strong atheistic explanation has to work without invoking chosenness, providence, metaphysics, or teleology, while still accounting for the extraordinary empirical fact-pattern: a tiny, dispersed, repeatedly targeted ethnocultural group not only survives but regenerates political autonomy, cultural creativity, and demographic continuity over multiple millennia. The best explanation in secular scholarship combines … Read more