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.
- 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...
- 12 June 2025ט״ז בסיוון תשפ״הNote
On Superstition
If someone is superstitious Telling them they're bad for being superstitious Will not make them less superstitious Teaching them - dare i say, inspiring them - to reason, trust, be...
- 12 June 2025ט״ז בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Rambamist Elitism
Why do Rambamists write so many posts about how other Jewish people are basically idolators? What does this actually accomplish? Is it possible that to whatever extent Rambam may have...
- 9 June 2025י״ג בסיוון תשפ״הPoem
Shadows on the Cave
Many sleepers Have called me the enemy Of the nightmares they create Sleep walking through the streets Sleep talking of This and That Tribes and Sins Good and Evil You're...
- 9 June 2025י״ג בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Cyber Dust
Some antisemitic dude came to my profile overnight and laugh reacted to like twenty of my latest posts. My brother in Moses, why so obsessed? 🧐 The passive aggression is...
- 8 June 2025י״ב בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Erasing Indigenous History
Erasing thousands of years of indigenous history, especially when it's not at all necessary in order to support the human and civil rights of Palestinians or the integrity of their...
- 8 June 2025י״ב בסיוון תשפ״הNote
American Antisemitism: Right and Left
I'm less interested in faulting the American Left as a general movement for the increase in attacks against American Jews than I am in understanding the government's timeline for targeting...
- 8 June 2025י״ב בסיוון תשפ״הNote
Liberation as Historical Fact
Most blessings conclude in a participle - describing the Creator as the One who does things. The subsequent blessing after the Shema concludes with a perfect verb - describing the...