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.
- 10 July 2025י״ד בתמוז תשפ״הNote
ICE Budget
ICE budget is now over $145 billion On par with the Russian defense budget (at war) of $145.9 billion Almost as big as the entire US defense budget of $150...
- 7 July 2025י״א בתמוז תשפ״הNote
Maps and Geography
Is it just me or are random map and geography pages obsessed with the Jewish people and Israel? I'm not particularly complaining, since they don't seem to be antisemitic and...
- 7 July 2025י״א בתמוז תשפ״הNote
I Prefer to Call Myself a Jew
“My language is [American English]. My culture, my attainments are [North Eastern American]. I considered myself [American] intellectually, until I noticed the growth of anti-Semitic prejudice in [the United States]....
- 5 July 2025ט׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
Divine Communication as Relational Autobiography
And so - the summarization of my discussion with ChatGPT on the tension between and intersection of metaphysics and semiotics in divine communication... "Divine Communication as Relational Autobiography in Translation:...
- 5 July 2025ט׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
Rereading Golden Doves
Rereading Golden Doves after almost twenty years, to see what I understand better and what ideas I still find persuasive. It's a trip. Every page has an insight or claim...
- 1 July 2025ה׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
Endless Jam Session
I always have music playing in my head, never actual songs but riffs and solos and harmonies and b-sides, endless variations of the music that I've heard mixing with the...
- 29 June 2025ג׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
Arabic Is Central
Arabic is central to my Judaism. Without it, the Sepharadi legal scholars (from whose waters I drink) would not have had such complete access to the cultural corpus of Geonic...
- 28 June 2025ב׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
What Zionism Is
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,...
- 27 June 2025א׳ בתמוז תשפ״הNote
An Invitation to Zohran Mamdani
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...
- 26 June 2025ל׳ בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Hebrew Book Week
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...
- 25 June 2025כ״ט בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Morning Questions
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...
- 24 June 2025כ״ח בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Your Best Friend Israel Ever Had
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...
- 23 June 2025כ״ז בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Believe in Shared Society
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...
- 23 June 2025כ״ז בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Public Bunkers Need Signal
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...
- 22 June 2025כ״ו בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Egotistical Autocrats
If there's anything we learn from the megilla of Esther it's that egotistical autocrats make poor leaders/allies but good instruments of divine providence. Stay Frosty Friends 😎
- 22 June 2025כ״ו בסיוון תשפ״הNote
MAGA Discomfort with Complexity
It's interesting how MAGAs are so uncomfortable with complexity. And so hung up on showing gratitude to Dear Leader, whether warranted or not. 🧐
- 22 June 2025כ״ו בסיוון תשפ״הNote
On the Fordow Strike
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...
- 20 June 2025כ״ד בסיוון תשפ״הNote
When Somebody Tells You Who They Are
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...
- 20 June 2025כ״ד בסיוון תשפ״הNote
So Frum
I'm so frum that whenever an ayatollah fires a hypersonic missile barrage, I put on my shoes left foot first
- 15 June 2025י״ט בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Hypersonic Missiles Overhead
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...