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.
- 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...
- 14 September 2025כ״א באלול תשפ״הEssay
I Have Listened to You
One of the people who objected to my desecration of a murdered man's memory assumed that I was not interested in "listening without trying to make a counter-argument." Since he...
- 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.
- 5 September 2025י״ב באלול תשפ״הNote
Reading Life Talmudically
"A person can read their own life talmudically as such. Hawa amina: “I thought I would be this kind of person.” Qushya: Life challenged that assumption. Teruṣ: I adapted, reinterpreted....
- 4 September 2025י״א באלול תשפ״הNote
Jewish Is Modern
"To be Jewish is to be modern, and vice versa." - R. José Faur z"l Understood correctly, Jewish ideas are at the forefront of human development and are produced by...
- 3 September 2025י׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
What Is Light
Light. What is light? Illumination of things. What is illumination? The alleviation of darkness. What is darkness? Absence. Absence of what? Light.
- 2 September 2025ט׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
Statement on the Discourse of Genocide
Statement on the Tiktok Discourse of Genocide in Gaza The Mt. Zion Bureau of Public Affairs affirms the responsibility of every sovereign state, including Israel, to conduct military operations in...
- 31 August 2025ז׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
Devastation of Gaza
The devastation of Gaza can still shock and pain me, as a thinking and feeling human being and as a religious Zionist, and pose a collective challenge to Israeli society...
- 31 August 2025ז׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
The Z Word Podcast
NGL I kinda want to have open, honest, soulful conversations with people about Zionism in today's world and the shared future of Palestinians and Israelis, and record them and release...
- 30 August 2025ו׳ באלול תשפ״הPoem
Daughter of Many Worlds
Welcome, my dear Daughter of many worlds Dropped into this thin plane Of cells and stardust Across invisible bands Beneath the rainbow Form made flesh Revelation of the obsidian light...
- 27 August 2025ג׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
Sketch of the Amida
A rough sketch of the 'amida: Through systematically developing a concept of the Creator and making that concept real through the act of dialogic address to the Creator, we bring...
- 25 August 2025א׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
No Precept Is Small
The merit to fulfill even a small precept (מצווה) is truly great, because no divine precept is truly small. 😀
- 25 August 2025א׳ באלול תשפ״הNote
Forbidden War
I would like to suggest a new halakhic category of war. We are familiar with: - Mandatory war (מלחמת מצווה) - with the aim of clear self-defense (still applicable) or...
- 24 August 2025ל׳ באב תשפ״הNote
Fetishizing Exile
Everyone's entitled to their personal opinion but people who fetishize exile do not and can not represent the Jewish nation, in any serious context. Whether in the faculty of Harvard,...
- 24 August 2025ל׳ באב תשפ״הNote
Preaching to Progressives
It occurred to me why I may prefer preaching to progressives more than conservatives. Progressives generally don't view tradition as obliging or a source of authority. Convincing them of the...