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.
- 20 October 2025כ״ח בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Include Women
Dear fellow men, Free advice for you. Whatever your proposal is - Whatever your event is - Whatever your organization is - Whatever your startup is - Whatever your new...
- 18 October 2025כ״ו בתשרי תשפ״וNote
A Dangerous Time to Be a Zionist
Thoughts on the current situation, on this evening after the departure of Shabbath: This is a dangerous time to be a Zionist. On the one hand, Nazi- and Soviet-era anti-Zionism...
- 17 October 2025כ״ה בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
Political Zionism Is Autonomy
Morning meditation on political Zionism: The political component to Zionism is not Jewish sovereignty over the land. According to Jewish tradition, the Creator was, is, and forever will be the...
- 16 October 2025כ״ד בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
Genocide Accusation as Blood Libel
On October 7th, 2023, the Hamas military invaded southern Israel. For an entire day, they systematically murdered every Jewish person they found. Their stated goal was to join with Hezbollah...
- 15 October 2025כ״ג בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
Religion as Foundation
People (especially those from a certain North American country) are obsessed with politics, especially partisan politics. Everything must be explainable by reference to your political ideology or better yet, your...
- 14 October 2025כ״ב בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
The Road Leads to Zion
Yesterday I saw a video of an execution on Facebook. A row of kneeling men, shot in the head from behind. The person who shared the video asserted that the...
- 13 October 2025כ״א בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Last Day of Captivity
Really felt the זה היום עשה ייי נגילה ונשמחה בו vibe during Hallel today Last Hallel of Sukkoth Last day of captivity
- 12 October 2025כ׳ בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
Reckon with the Devastation
This will make some people irrationally mad but: Zionism must reckon with the devastation of Gaza. We've left behind the naive days when we waged war solely and wholly in...
- 11 October 2025י״ט בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Thoughts on Zionism
Random thoughts on Zionism (ok not random they were points missing in someone else's overview of Zionism but they will be random to you): - traditionally Jewish politics put God...
- 11 October 2025י״ט בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
Benevolent Sensitivity
Jewish Religion: A Rough Sketch At the heart of our practices, theories, and forms lies חסידות, a word translated variously as piety, loving-kindness, and mysticism. For reasons that I hope...
- 3 October 2025י״א בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
PSA on Palestine
PSA to both Leftists and Right-Wingers: If all you know about the situation in Palestine is derived from memes and viral posts, and you haven't done any research into the...
- 30 September 2025ח׳ בתשרי תשפ״וPoem
We Are Guilty
All year long we avoid our shadow, we avert our gaze from the many ways in which it falls upon others and robs them of the light... All year long...
- 30 September 2025ח׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
The Ceasefire Plan
The Trump ceasefire plan does not seem substantially different from the Biden ceasefire plan. The timetable for some things is a little faster, for other things a little slower. There...
- 29 September 2025ז׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
American Amnesia
Evening Musing: The American relationship with history is very peculiar. American society insulates itself with a certain willful amnesia, an official disinterest in the critical study of the past. People...
- 29 September 2025ז׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Jewish People as White
The racing of Jewish people as "white" has a lot to do with developments in American racial politics over the course of the 20th century and little to do with...
- 26 September 2025ד׳ בתשרי תשפ״וNote
Comey’s Regret
I wonder if James Comey regrets putting the investigation of Clinton's email server in the national spotlight right before the 2016 election.
- 24 September 2025ב׳ בתשרי תשפ״וEssay
How Many New Years
Whew. Said the prayers. Blew the shophar. Ate the honey. Let my wife rest through the night. I showed up, I did my part, I stood with every single being...
- 22 September 2025כ״ט באלול תשפ״הNote
OCD and the Days of Awe
Due to a mishap in my prescription fulfillment, this Rosh Hashana, I'll be without my OCD medication for the first time since I started taking it. For those who don't...
- 21 September 2025כ״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
Rabbi Yosef Adler z”l
(trigger warning: suicide decades ago) Just found out that Rabbi Yosef Adler z"l of Teaneck has passed on to his world. The mark of a good rabbi, imho, is not...
- 21 September 2025כ״ח באלול תשפ״הNote
One State Invitation
As more and more countries recognize a state with no contiguous territory, no means of self-defense, no independent monetary policy or funding, and no active popular legislature, I would like...