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.
- 23 September 2024כ׳ באלול תשפ״דNote
Don’t You Want to Know?
If we are charged with the obligation to know that the Creator exists - not just to prefer it rationally as the most likely and/or most elegant of competing explanations...
- 20 September 2024י״ז באלול תשפ״דNote
Explaining Zionism to a Friend in Bethlehem
A late night conversation with a FB friend from Bethlehem turned to Zionism. “I don’t know much about Zionism,” he said. “Could you explain it to me? I hear some...
- 10 September 2024ז׳ באלול תשפ״דNote
Thinking About It Backwards
"I was thinking about it backwards. Assuming causation where there was just correlation (or maybe reverse causation). Clearly I deserve to have some bad things happen - I'm far from...
- 4 September 2024א׳ באלול תשפ״דNote
Treat Racists Like Addicts
Controversial take: If Leftists treated racists the way they say addicts should be treated, instead of the way Right-wingers treat heretics, then actual progress could be made in the USA.
- 2 September 2024כ״ט באב תשפ״דNote
Life Here is an Open Miracle
Can't trust the prime minister? Can't trust the government? Can't trust the army generals? אנחנו מאמינים בני מאמינים שאין לנו על מי להישען אלא על אבינו שבשמיים Life here is...
- 24 August 2024כ׳ באב תשפ״דNote
A Response to Accusations of Fighting a Colonialist War
"...to a large extent the impact of the war, including displacement of Gazans, is due to its urban nature and Hamas's choice to embed among civilians. It's true that going...
- 9 July 2024ג׳ בתמוז תשפ״דNote
Some Controversial Opinions
A controversial opinion: As long as I can call this country Yisrael in Hebrew, I don't mind if you call it Falastin in Arabic. Who cares what we call it...
- 27 June 2024כ״א בסיוון תשפ״דNote
What Zionism is About
Zionism is not about building an ethno-state. Bené Yisrael include all ethnicities from all continents except Antarctica. What ties us all together is a covenant of justice, solidarity, and holiness....
- 7 June 2024א׳ בסיוון תשפ״דNote
Rambam and Women
The Mishne Torah overall reflects Rambam's relatively objective interpretation of Talmudic law. Where he records his own opinion, he makes it clear; and even the nuances of his application of...
- 23 May 2024ט״ו באייר תשפ״דNote
Diplomacy Gone Bad: A Response and a Rant
This damned war is continuing not because of diplomatic cover and arms for Israel but for Hamas. It would be over in a day if Hamas was not still being...
- 20 May 2024י״ב באייר תשפ״דNote
The Butcher of Tehran
Ebrahim Raisolsadati (Raisi) שם רשעים ירקב was known as "the Butcher of Tehran" for his tenure on the government's prosecutorial committee, in which he was responsible for the deaths of...
- 17 May 2024ט׳ באייר תשפ״דNote
“Controversial” Thoughts on Public Spiritual Health
I'm raced as White by American cultural standards. My rabbi is raced as Black. In reality, that pesky intruder into social fantasies, neither of us is either White or Black....
- 15 May 2024ז׳ באייר תשפ״דNote
A Response to the Day of Catastrophe
I'm sorry your grandparents lost their house. Their orchard. Their field. I'm sorry if it was my grandparents who drove them out, I'm sorry if they fled, willingly or unwillingly,...
- 14 May 2024ו׳ באייר תשפ״דNote
“The Beginning of the Sprouting of Our Liberation”
What do we call this state, when we pray for its survival? Even when I was anti-Zionist, the words still caught my ear and made me think: ראשית צמיחת גאולתנו...
- 10 May 2024ב׳ באייר תשפ״דNote
A Controversial Thought on the Jewish Present
Diaspora Judaism is an anachronistic extension of the experience of exile, and lacking both a stable national existence (let alone the social institutions of a nation) and a coherent collective...
- 28 April 2024כ׳ בניסן תשפ״דNote
The Enemy
This should go without saying but given what I'm seeing shared these days (to be fair, after six months of warfare, psychological and actual, and antisemitism erupting worldwide, but nonetheless):...
- 21 April 2024י״ג בניסן תשפ״דNote
How to Learn the Mishne Torah
Unconventional advice: For beginners looking to learn Mishne Torah in order to understand how to practically observe the law, reading the book straight through from the beginning can be a...
- 21 April 2024י״ג בניסן תשפ״דNote
Zionism and the Hebrew Bible
Morning thoughts on Zionism and the Hebrew Bible: The European Zionists of the 19th century did not invent Zionism. They merely took the banner of Zion that the prophets had...
- 15 April 2024ז׳ בניסן תשפ״דNote
“Recalling the Covenant”: Biblical Stats
I thankfully was able to obtain a copy of R Moshe Shamah's "Recalling the Covenant," which includes his commentary on the biblical censuses as well as an appendix on biblical...
- 11 April 2024ג׳ בניסן תשפ״דNote
Two Possible Answers
How did the physical constants of the universe become fine-tuned to support stable and ordered complexity in the universe? How did the first DNA replicators form and allow the diversity...