Israel

The state, the society, the war, the present hour.

What Zionism Is

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Zionism is simply defined as the collective aspiration of the Judaean people to return to Zion.

That aspiration – expressed for many centuries in prayer, ritual, law, literature, mysticism ,activism, immigrations, and eventually the contemporary project of modern state building – is shared by nearly the entire Jewish nation to some degree or another. From Jerusalem to Ethiopia to Yemen to Persia to India to Russia to Ukraine to Germany to Italy to Spain to France to England to Morocco to Brasil to Argentina to the USA.

It has directly led to the emergence of a deeply flawed but thriving democratic society – very much a work in the early stages of progress, but no less a concrete manifestation of that aspiration, held by millions of people worldwide.

There is a lot to criticize in what has been said and done in the name of Zionism, ranging from state policies to fringe criminal gangs and everything in between.

But to declare your opposition to Zionism as a whole – to think that you have the power to negate that global aspiration – is as delusional as it is audacious.

Like trying to fight a force of nature.

Or of history.

An Invitation to Zohran Mamdani

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On behalf of Zion, I would like to extend a warm invitation to Zohran Mamdani to come visit this beautiful Land that such diverse people all call home.

We can tour the historical and political sites of the country with Jewish and Islamic tour guides, meet with Israeli and Palestinian communal leaders, and discuss hard questions together over Shabbath meals.

Mr Mamdani, come see the complex reality of our situation with your own eyes. Come hear with your own ears our stories of war and our dreams of Zion, coming to life beyond the colonizers’ framing

Learn what it means for us to put down the gun and share society, and learn how you can help make that vision real.

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Social media makes the world small: If you know someone who knows someone…. Let’s make it happen.

Hebrew Book Week

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Her: “Our sale is one book for 80, two for 150…”
Me: “I just have this one book.”
Her (flips through catalogue): “Ok that will be 80 sheqels!”
Me: “But it says 68 on the back…”
Her: “Uh…” (confers with colleague) “…ok 70 sheqels.”
Me:
Her:
Me: “This book is on sale, right?”
Her: “Yes!”
Me: “Shouldn’t it cost less than the normal price, not more?”
Her:
Me:
Her: “Ok 60 sheqels.”

Sold. I may not be much of a negotiator but I’m not paying MORE than the sticker price during Hebrew Book Week. 😂

Happy studies y’all!

Morning Questions

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Morning Questions

I’m sitting on the bus wondering:

Did the combined Israeli-American strikes (particularly on Fordow) decimate Khameini’s nuclear program?

Or is it still intact?

Were these decisive moves or political posturing?

How many times will we go through this dance?

Your Best Friend Israel Ever Had

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Allow me to parse this for you.

POTUS is ambivalent on Iran. His real issue was with Obama. He had been listening to the isolationists in MAGA telling him to stay out of Iran, but then saw the Israeli attack “winning” and wanted some of the attention for himself. “No nukes for Iran!” is an easy slogan to get behind, and POTUS thinks in slogans.

So after publicly dithering for a few days, he unilaterally decided to drop 420,000 pounds of explosives on Iranian nuclear sites and then declare a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, to both sides’ surprise on both counts.

Bibi quickly fell in line with POTUS. Khameini said he would but then fired missiles anyway.

Now POTUS still has his cake after eating it too: He got his part in the “win” and thrilled the Evangelicals AND he can appease the isolationists by disengaging from the war and even criticizing Israel’s continued response to Khameini’s attacks.

This is your America First president.

This is your Best Friend Israel ever had.

This is your Hero.

Believe in Shared Society

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Never stop believing in the possibility of a shared society.

So many people are caught in emotional echo chambers and have rationalized their disillusionment with the possibility of a shared society with different kinds of poorly thought-out dogmas.

Don’t fall for it.

The possibility is always there for us to realize.

Public Bunkers Need Signal

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How much would it cost to outfit public bunkers with signal repeaters?

Because this whole “wait for a signal from homefront command in a place with no signal” thing is a little wonky…

On the Fordow Strike

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Reportedly, the Fordow mountain nuclear enrichment site has been hit with 12 bunker buster bombs, each weighing 15 tons. It may be too early to tell, but by all indications Khameini’s nuclear program has been essentially closed.

That is the good part of the story.

The bad:

– POTUS authorized this action without seeking let alone receiving any kind of Congressional approval, as is required by the US Constitution to preserve the balance of power in the US government (and specifically, to make sure it is really the people’s will to go war). This action is the latest in an unimaginably long line of offenses against the US Constitution committed by POTUS and it does not bode well for the special relationship between the USA and Israel. Israel needs an ally governed by a sane, competent leader who respects the US Constitution as the source document that truly made America great.

– Bibi is showing no signs of ending the war now that the Iranian nuclear program has been closed. Ever since October 7, Bibi has used and abused the public’s trust in the Israeli government’s commitment to our security, to create a seemingly endless wartime scenario – the only scenario in which his fragile coalition of corrupt populists tenuously continues to exist, investigations and elections are continuously postponed for “after the war,” and he himself stays out of jail. Furthermore, while the reasons for action in both Gaza and Iran may be justified – Hamas needs to be neutralized, the ayatollah can not get nukes – we sit in our bomb shelters and bunkers without any guarantees or confidence that the actions themselves are carried out in a strategic, effective, or moral manner.

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War is primitive sht that goes back millions of years in our history as a species. I appreciate the necessity of sometimes needing to kill before being killed, in this primitive world in which we choose to live, but I do not celebrate it.

I pray for peace, for myself, my family, my community, my city, my nation, my region, my species, all sentient beings.

May we all continue evolving towards the stars.

May none of us need to go back into a bomb shelter today.

When Somebody Tells You Who They Are

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It amazes me that there are people who consider Israel the aggressor against Iran in this or any war.

The missile barrages did not start with the IAF’s bombing of nuclear and military sites, which itself did not occur in a vacuum.

The “pushy” “aggressive” Jew is a stereotype created by people who are uncomfortable with our noncompliance, our self-assertion, our unwillingness to accept the fate others have in store for us.

Now we have an air force and those same kinds of people are outraged that we have the temerity to take Khameini’s death threats at face value and accept the evidence of our eyes and ears.

“When somebody tells you who they are, believe them the first time” – Maya Angelou

Hypersonic Missiles Overhead

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I’m sitting in the stairwell with window rattling booms and thunderous rumbles overhead, chatting with ChatGPT about these hypersonic missiles that Khomeini is firing at me, and the whole concept of shooting and intercepting missiles beyond the atmosphere is fascinating.