Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Literalism
Most recents (11)
088.01/ Week eighty-eight, March 19-25, 2022, thread begins here.
Week 87 below.
I'm making the week number three digits because it's getting close to 100 and I want to avoid the double eight weirdness
Week 87 below.
I'm making the week number three digits because it's getting close to 100 and I want to avoid the double eight weirdness
088.02/ Happy Able To Use The Word Vernal For Once day! #VernalEquinox
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_equ…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_equ…
088.03/ Sadly, I needed to miss my favorite book sale of all time, the Bryn-Mawr "A Gym Filled With Used Books That You Can Purchase By The Box For A Set Price I Am Not Kidding" Wellsley Book Sale because it was on Purim and Shabbos. Shazbot. Next year?
bmandwbooks.com/the-annual-sal…
bmandwbooks.com/the-annual-sal…
75.01/ Week seventy-five, Dec. 18-24, 2021, thread here.
Week 74 below.
Week 74 below.
75.02/ Over Shabbos I read my family the #JortsTheCat story & much fun was had by all. I uploaded a PDF of the story with OCR text from images I found on twitter. The pure pics are (1) images of the cats & (2) a "I can't believe it's not Jorts" joke.
drive.google.com/file/d/15FziVO…
drive.google.com/file/d/15FziVO…
75.03/ Had one of those theodicy-inducing funerals this morning. My neighbor, Sari Shalmon zt'l, passed away too young. Her life was dedicated to acts of kindness, teaching Torah and teaching science, and selfless giving. Very sad, hard loss. .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה rpry.org/about/people/1…
56.01/ Week fifty-six, Aug. 7-13, 2021, thread begins here.
#ChodeshTov everyone! Happy #Elul, the "deep breath before the plunge" (as Gandalf says).
Week 55 thread is below.
#ChodeshTov everyone! Happy #Elul, the "deep breath before the plunge" (as Gandalf says).
Week 55 thread is below.
56.02/ Excellent shibboleth action here from Rabbi Ruttenberg, in a benevolent, non-murdery, way, of course.
56.03/ Honored with #haftara yesterday but it had been so long since I last did one that my eyesight has gotten bad enough that I was juggling a mask, fogged glasses, & the too small print of even a full-size Artscroll. And why did Yeshayahu have to make up so many weird words?!
1/ #ReshetKeshet. I'm trying to combine my sociological work on disability with my rabbinic role by writing a Disability Shulchan Arukh, as it were: how halakha applies to full variation of humanity. BTW, the gemara is full of this but invisible disabilities are overlooked.
2/ So, notes on the mitzvah of hearing the #Megillah, which is a disability nightmare. Shas deals with things like blindness:
sefaria.org/Megillah.24b.7…
And deafness: rabbikaganoff.com/megillas-esthe…
But what about #ADHD? For a mitzvah that requires total concentration?!
sefaria.org/Megillah.24b.7…
And deafness: rabbikaganoff.com/megillas-esthe…
But what about #ADHD? For a mitzvah that requires total concentration?!
3/ Or people with sensory overload issues, like #autism & others, who can be quite uncomfortable in rooms packed to the rafters with people graggin' graggers and noisemakers and full tumult (pardon my Yiddish)
1/ Another #Beshalach thread, sparked by the linked article. What do combat exoskeletons have to do with the parsha? The halakhot of cybernetics on Shabbat, of course.
OK, so that's still pretty unclear. It has to do with the manna.
torahmusings.com/2015/05/combat…
OK, so that's still pretty unclear. It has to do with the manna.
torahmusings.com/2015/05/combat…
2/ Can you do melacha using invisible brain power, basically. Normally, I'd love to delve into how the regnant rabbinic view about gramma (causality) drives me utterly bonkers in its #Literalist mentality, as well as the limited 19th Century view of electricity, but not this week
3/ Cybernetics aka invisible brain power applies to the manna b/c:
"Rav Avraham Walkin ... argued that someone who miraculously cooks through thought or speech violates a biblical prohibition ... [he] proves this from the man (manna) that the Jews ate in the Desert"
cont.
"Rav Avraham Walkin ... argued that someone who miraculously cooks through thought or speech violates a biblical prohibition ... [he] proves this from the man (manna) that the Jews ate in the Desert"
cont.
1/ Many people remark that we wouldn't have survived 4 more years of Trump (ym'sh) - and I agree - but this was a 40 year project of destroying the democratic form of US gov., starting with Reagan, and accelerated from Gingrich.
DJT was to almost the final hammer blow.
DJT was to almost the final hammer blow.
2/ Both Roosevelts changed the function of the government from preserving the entrenched power to an instrument to help people survive & thrive
TR was a Progressive, tore down the monopolies, established public health etc. When he left the party, the GOP became what it is today
TR was a Progressive, tore down the monopolies, established public health etc. When he left the party, the GOP became what it is today
3/ Wilson took up TR's platform (TR helped by splitting the 1912 vote) and when the GOP won in 1920, they actively tried to undermine the entire new project of what America would do for its citizens.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Unit…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Unit…
26.01/ Week twenty-six, Jan. 9-15, 2021, begins here.
Last week's thread is here:
Last week's thread is here:
26.02/ Maggie H reports: "I asked for comment from the WH on the chants to hang Mike Pence. 'We strongly condemn all calls to violence, including those against any member of this administration,' said Judd Deere, a WH spokesman" & I love this response:
26.03/ Dr. Perry is right on the money here:
1/ My kids know my pet-peeves and, thank God, are compassionate people who won't bring things up just to see me angry (outside of the standard parent-child education process). I describe these triggers as 'big red shiny buttons' based on ancient literature:
2/ My wife & I are both trained teachers, a rabbi & a rebbetzin both with MAs from Yeshiva University and PhDs in humanities/history, who care deeply about how to raise educated & ethical Modern Orthodox kids.
Which means, there are a lot of big red buttons to press.
Which means, there are a lot of big red buttons to press.
3/ This comes up over Shabbat meals when they repeat divrei Torah they learned in school; but they aren't trying to get me to blow up, rather they're often disturbed by what they hear.
I've pledged to myself that I won't dispute their teachers unless 1 of 2 rules are violated:
I've pledged to myself that I won't dispute their teachers unless 1 of 2 rules are violated:
1/ This is going to be a perpetual thread for my investigations into #Literalism, literal-thinking, and the bad decision making aspects built into many humans
2/ While my main point about #Literalism is that it's neurological and seems to be a main cause for Dunning-Kruger, there's a second element I'm beginning to see as equally problematic: the psychological avoidance of changing one's mind in the face of new evidence
3/ This is stubbornness, of course, a personality trait that I've hated ever since I was in single digits. Stubbornness is basically aggressive selfishness plus willful ignorance.
I'm seeing much of that in how many people refuse to admit they're wrong or to amend their views
I'm seeing much of that in how many people refuse to admit they're wrong or to amend their views
Sure, "polls aren't votes", but 15 pts down means Trump's (ym"sh) vulnerable, dries up fundraising, allows GOP electeds to contradict him publicly, allows reporters to treat him normally & not as the magician of 2016 who commands a cult of violent kooks.
See:
To combat the complacency that the polling imbalance could bring, I suggest telling fellow anti-Trumpites that no matter how much DJT is down in November, when you vote, it will feel as good as punching him in the face with all of your strength
#VoteBlueToSaveAmerica
#VoteBlueToSaveAmerica
MINI-THREAD: #Biblical #Chronology, the #Seder #Olam, and the #LXX.
TITLE: Too long in #Lockdown.
SUB-TITLE: ...although at least I now have multiple ways to calculate how long I’ve been here...
TITLE: Too long in #Lockdown.
SUB-TITLE: ...although at least I now have multiple ways to calculate how long I’ve been here...
I’m presently working my way through the Seder Olam--a 2nd cent. AD (or so I’m told) Rabbinic text which deals with the chronology of Scripture.
I highly recommend it.
Below is an interesting phenomen I’ve observed.
I highly recommend it.
Below is an interesting phenomen I’ve observed.
The author (Rabbi Yose) likes to ‘back out’ (i.e., infer) absent numbers from long-term measurements of time.
Or at least that’s how it looks to me.
Or at least that’s how it looks to me.
