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.
- 19 November 2024י״ח בחשוון תשפ״הPoem
Two Mirrors
Come at me bro I'm armed with two mirrors One is simply glass Offering you but a reflection Of the face you make for this world Captured in this moment...
- 18 November 2024י״ז בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Zion in Year 6000
The city-state of Zion, in the year of our world 6000. A space and a time. The transformation of our space and our time. A rendezvous, if you will. A...
- 18 November 2024י״ז בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Right-Wing and Left-Wing
I am the most right-wing person I know. On some issues. I'm also the most left-wing person I know. On some issues. There are even some issues - a select...
- 16 November 2024ט״ו בחשוון תשפ״הNote
The Worst Motivational Ethos in History?
A prominent Palestinian activist referred to "nihilistic Jihadi ideology" and described it as "the worst motivational ethos in history." I find that to be a bold claim. I'd like to...
- 14 November 2024י״ג בחשוון תשפ״הNote
The Akedah Was Not a Test
Controversial opinion: None of the "tests" the Creator gave Abraham abinu were pass/fail. Including the last "test." The directive given to him was phrased ambiguously, communicating only generally that he...
- 12 November 2024י״א בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Most People Aren’t Liberals or Conservatives
There are very few true liberals or conservatives. There are mostly just anxious people on a poor information diet, trying to hold on to what they can in a world...
- 12 November 2024י״א בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Conserve and Progress
Conserve. Remember the ancestors. Keep the customs. Follow the laws. Be grateful for what has worked so well for the past millenia. But Progress. Remember the dream of a better...
- 10 November 2024ט׳ בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Am I Bound by Yesterday’s Choices?
Reminder to myself: Am I bound by the choices of any previous moment? The outcomes of my choices catch up with me and take their toll - but if I...
- 10 November 2024ט׳ בחשוון תשפ״הNote
What Evil Looks Like
Very few people know what evil looks like. They think evil comes with horns, tail, and pitchfork. Relatively few people choose evil because it is evil. Most people who choose...
- 9 November 2024ח׳ בחשוון תשפ״הPoem
My One Problem
My one problem Is that I am really two An enormously cunning animal bound tight by space and time A tiny reflection of the infinite mind unbound by any thing...
- 9 November 2024ח׳ בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Four Assorted Thoughts
Assorted thoughts: 1) Abraham abinu and Sara immenu had to become immigrants before being brought into a covenant with the Creator. Moshe rabbenu had to become a foreigner in a...
- 3 November 2024ב׳ בחשוון תשפ״הNote
Zionism Started with Herzl?
Today's reading from Yirmiyahu... Zion. Today's recital from the psalms of Dawid.... Zion. Today's selection from the Pele Yoéts... Resettling the Land. Is it just me or did none of...
- 30 October 2024כ״ח בתשרי תשפ״הNote
How I Changed the Robot’s Mind on Women in the Minyan
Counting Women: A Brief Chat with a Robot ...where the chat started: "Classical sources generally limit the minyan, the quorum required for certain communal religious obligations, to men. The foundational...
- 24 October 2024כ״ב בתשרי תשפ״הNote
Israel’s ‘Warmongering’
"Israel's warmongering" [sic] 🤢🙄🫠 Otherwise educated, intelligent, moral individuals really out here claiming that Israel is the aggressor. On the Hebrew anniversary of Hamas's invasion no less.
- 24 October 2024כ״ב בתשרי תשפ״הNote
I Never Said Yizkor. Until This Year.
Yizkor is a memorial prayer for the departed that the hassidé Ashkenaz established as a reaction to the brutal losses suffered by the Ashkenazic communities during the crusades. It's not...
- 23 October 2024כ״א בתשרי תשפ״הNote
We Will Dance Again
אין מספקין ואין מרקדין וכו' But shuffling in a circle singing songs and saying prayers seem alright 😀 We Will Dance Again (at הקפות שניות)
- 17 October 2024ט״ו בתשרי תשפ״הNote
Sinwar Died Like a Rat
Well now. The murderer whose life was saved not once but twice by Israeli doctors - and who nevertheless then went on to risk the entire population of Gaza in...
- 11 October 2024ט׳ בתשרי תשפ״הNote
A Modern Lexicon for Yom haKippurim
A modern lexicon for Yom haKippurim: Sanctity is distinction Purity is clarity Atonement is rehabilitation Repentance is reconsideration Prayer is self-assessment Charity is giving Forgiveness is letting go
- 8 October 2024ו׳ בתשרי תשפ״הNote
Last Year We Were a Mess
A meditation and a prayer. Last year, we were truly a mess on Yom haKippurim. Publicly fighting over how and where to sit during services, with acrimony and venom and...
- 6 October 2024ד׳ בתשרי תשפ״הNote
After the Holiday Dinner
Imagine having a holiday dinner with your family and enjoying a cup of coffee in the autumn night air afterwards and going to sleep with grateful thoughts of how blessed...