Essays, notes, poems, and prayers
Writing
Most of this started as a Facebook post and got a second life here. Every piece carries its date in two calendars.
- 22 October 2025ל׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Falling Upon One’s Face
"Falling upon one's face" in supplication and confession after the standing prayer/guided meditation is an essential part of the ancient Jewish way of prayer Bring the body into the moment...
- 21 October 2025כ״ט בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Is Prayer Broken
Is prayer broken? Do you find the act of praying meaningful, or even coherent? Do you connect to the text of prayer? Does the melody of prayer resonate with you?...
- 20 October 2025כ״ח בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Include Women
Dear fellow men, Free advice for you. Whatever your proposal is - Whatever your event is - Whatever your organization is - Whatever your startup is - Whatever your new...
- 18 October 2025כ״ו בתשרי תשפ״וNote
A Dangerous Time to Be a Zionist
Thoughts on the current situation, on this evening after the departure of Shabbath: This is a dangerous time to be a Zionist. On the one hand, Nazi- and Soviet-era anti-Zionism...
- 13 October 2025כ״א בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Last Day of Captivity
Really felt the זה היום עשה ייי נגילה ונשמחה בו vibe during Hallel today Last Hallel of Sukkoth Last day of captivity
- 11 October 2025י״ט בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Thoughts on Zionism
Random thoughts on Zionism (ok not random they were points missing in someone else's overview of Zionism but they will be random to you): - traditionally Jewish politics put God...
- 30 September 2025ח׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
The Ceasefire Plan
The Trump ceasefire plan does not seem substantially different from the Biden ceasefire plan. The timetable for some things is a little faster, for other things a little slower. There...
- 29 September 2025ז׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
American Amnesia
Evening Musing: The American relationship with history is very peculiar. American society insulates itself with a certain willful amnesia, an official disinterest in the critical study of the past. People...
- 29 September 2025ז׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Jewish People as White
The racing of Jewish people as "white" has a lot to do with developments in American racial politics over the course of the 20th century and little to do with...
- 26 September 2025ד׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Comey’s Regret
I wonder if James Comey regrets putting the investigation of Clinton's email server in the national spotlight right before the 2016 election.
- 22 September 2025כ״ט באלול תשפ״הNote
OCD and the Days of Awe
Due to a mishap in my prescription fulfillment, this Rosh Hashana, I'll be without my OCD medication for the first time since I started taking it. For those who don't...
- 21 September 2025כ״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
Rabbi Yosef Adler z”l
(trigger warning: suicide decades ago) Just found out that Rabbi Yosef Adler z"l of Teaneck has passed on to his world. The mark of a good rabbi, imho, is not...
- 21 September 2025כ״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
One State Invitation
As more and more countries recognize a state with no contiguous territory, no means of self-defense, no independent monetary policy or funding, and no active popular legislature, I would like...
- 17 September 2025כ״ד באלול תשפ״הNote
The Zionism I Believe In
The Zionism that I believe in - that I study, that I pray, that I live - does not envision for the holy people of Israel a life by the...
- 14 September 2025כ״א באלול תשפ״הNote
Sophists and Philosophers
In a world where we have Gedolé haTorah and Talmidé Hakhamim, we don't need to make saints of master debaters (sophists), we need to collectively relearn how to think from...
- 11 September 2025י״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
On Charlie Kirk
I wasn't planning on writing multiple posts about this man's murder, but Jewish individuals I know are more outraged by me calling Charlie Kirk a supporter of fascism, trafficker in...
- 11 September 2025י״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
Radicalized by an Algorithm
It's interesting how the FB algorithm incites outrage and sows division. It won't show the right-wing people I know any of my poems, essays, or posts they might align with,...
- 11 September 2025י״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
Wicked Should Repent, Not Die
Apparently a supporter of fascism who trafficked in inflammatory antisemitic conspiracy theories, on the one hand, and was a staunch defender of one of the worst Israeli prime ministers in...
- 10 September 2025י״ז באלול תשפ״הNote
Armenian Genocide Statistics
TIL the statistic that 60-65% of the Armenian population was killed in the Armenian genocide. 1.5 million people out of a population numbering a few hundred thousand larger than Gaza's...
- 8 September 2025ט״ו באלול תשפ״הNote
Vengeance Is the Lord’s
Surely open firing on bus passengers will free Palestine 🙄 Vengeance is the Lord's. I want law and order, with all violent gangs arrested and tried.