Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ReshetKeshet
Most recents (24)
1/ #ChochmatNashim for #Chukat
I'm making this it's own thread for now because, as is my wont, the list is expanding and it may be useful for other people to just have on its own. This is part of a larger parsha project I've been working on since the dawn of the WWW (1997 or so)
I'm making this it's own thread for now because, as is my wont, the list is expanding and it may be useful for other people to just have on its own. This is part of a larger parsha project I've been working on since the dawn of the WWW (1997 or so)
2/ #ChochmatNashim for #Chukat cont.
OLP
2019 Yardaena Osband blogs.timesofisrael.com/transitions-an…
2021 Dr. Chana Tannenbaum
blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-37-years-t…
Other
2018 Rachel Friedman blogs.timesofisrael.com/mourning-for-m…
2019 Yael Shahar blogs.timesofisrael.com/parashat-hukka…
OLP
2019 Yardaena Osband blogs.timesofisrael.com/transitions-an…
2021 Dr. Chana Tannenbaum
blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-37-years-t…
Other
2018 Rachel Friedman blogs.timesofisrael.com/mourning-for-m…
2019 Yael Shahar blogs.timesofisrael.com/parashat-hukka…
3/ #ChochmatNashim for #Chukat cont.
JOFA, Daphne Lazar Price
2022 blogs.timesofisrael.com/striking-the-r…
2021 blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-future-of-…
Gush
Rabbanit Sharon Rimon
etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/tora…
Dr. Tziporah Lifshitz
etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/tora…
JOFA, Daphne Lazar Price
2022 blogs.timesofisrael.com/striking-the-r…
2021 blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-future-of-…
Gush
Rabbanit Sharon Rimon
etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/tora…
Dr. Tziporah Lifshitz
etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/tora…
1/ #ReshetKeshet #Passover2022
I was asked a question about autistic food sensitivities and #Pesach and I've been able to present the issue to one of my poskim and I want to detail the answer, in basic terms, for public consumption (no pun intended)
I was asked a question about autistic food sensitivities and #Pesach and I've been able to present the issue to one of my poskim and I want to detail the answer, in basic terms, for public consumption (no pun intended)
2/ This is part of my larger project of translating disability issues into halakhic language. IMO there are so many people in needless pain. Yet knowledgeable Orthodox Jews will understand that Jewish law is broad, deep & rich to accommodate any issue.
3/ I am not a posek, I am operating as a "halakhist" - basically a legal scholar with an expertise in medical issues (among others) - and IMO while invisible disabilities lack overt signs, they can be "translated" by seeing the behavior surrounding them.
38/ #ReshetKeshet. From Sept. 5, 2021, a pre-#RoshHashanah thread about asking and giving #forgiveness.
16 Posts.
Starts here:
Thread:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1434568…
16 Posts.
Starts here:
Thread:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1434568…
39/ From March 17, 2022, thread collecting my #Purim thoughts/posts. #ReshetKeshet.
16 Posts.
Original:
Threader:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1504505…
16 Posts.
Original:
Threader:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1504505…
40/ Three threads about the #JOFA scandal & my recommendations for their path towards teshuva. First, the original and then 2 threads responding to criticism. #ReshetKeshet
part 1) 11 Posts.
Original:
Threader:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1513914…
part 1) 11 Posts.
Original:
Threader:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1513914…
58a/ This is part 2 of my thread of threads. Weeks 001 to 0057 is here.
Week 58, Aug. 21-27, 2021, 36 posts:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1429448…
Week 58, Aug. 21-27, 2021, 36 posts:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1429448…
58a.2/ It's been so long, that I forgot my methodology. In addition to the thread, I need to post the first Tweet in the thread (especially if the threaders go kaput)
Week 58, Aug. 21-27, 2021, 36 posts:
Week 58, Aug. 21-27, 2021, 36 posts:
58b/ From Aug 22, a travelogue of our family's Summer Trip to the Hudson River Valley.
32 Posts.
Starts here:
Thread:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1429493…
32 Posts.
Starts here:
Thread:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1429493…
79.01/ Week seventy-nine, January 15-21, 2022, thread here.
Week 78 below.
Week 78 below.
79.02/ Every erev-Shabbas I say 'stay safe' and while that's generally about the pandemic, for my fellow Jews it's also about the onslaught of antisemitism that assaults us since the dominance of unchecked hate on social media which led to the rise of Trump (ym'sh) and others.
79.03/ Motzei Shabbat began with the terror at the #ColleyvilleSynagogue. Thank God the hostages were all saved.
Here's my progression of RTs during the night:
Here's my progression of RTs during the night:
78.01/ Week seventy-eight, January 8-14, 2022, thread here.
Week 77 below.
Week 77 below.
78.02/ #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight, John Woo's "Paycheck"
Why? (1) Underrated sci-fi action mystery, (2) we saw Mission:Impossible 2 wks ago and it's sequel is by Jon Woo... but it's terrible while this movie is great and almost the same genre
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_…
Why? (1) Underrated sci-fi action mystery, (2) we saw Mission:Impossible 2 wks ago and it's sequel is by Jon Woo... but it's terrible while this movie is great and almost the same genre
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_…
78.03/ Only silver lining to a Cowboys win: a scorigami!
77.01/ Week seventy-seven, Jan. 1-7, 2022, thread here.
Week 76 below.
Week 76 below.
77.02/ #HappyNewYear everyone. We're having a socially distanced party, just the nuclear family, at home. Happy to survive a year of the pandemic.
77.03/ #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight continues. Saved my favorite movie for a party night:
Jake and Elwood... The Blues Brothers.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues…
Jake and Elwood... The Blues Brothers.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues…
1/ Some #Vayeitzei thoughts. First, Prof. Nahum Sarna translates the "sulam" (usually translated as "ladder") as "steps" likely of a Ziggurat, a human-made 'mountain' which in Mesopotamian culture simulated the mountains where gods lived (e.g. Olympus).
balashon.com/2006/07/haslam…
balashon.com/2006/07/haslam…
2/ Sulam cont: Here's an entry for the one at Ur, which a city identified with Abraham
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the…
This means, yes, that the "sulam" was a stairway to heaven. Hey, sometimes words have two meanings.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the…
This means, yes, that the "sulam" was a stairway to heaven. Hey, sometimes words have two meanings.
3/ Second: Possibly the most important, overlooked, character in the Chumash is Leah.
She's mother of half 6 of the 12 tribes, step-mother to 2 more, and the only daughter. Her children are the kings (Yehudah), priests (Levi) and scholars (Yisacchar).
She's mother of half 6 of the 12 tribes, step-mother to 2 more, and the only daughter. Her children are the kings (Yehudah), priests (Levi) and scholars (Yisacchar).
69.01/ Week sixty-nine, Nov. 6-12, 2021, thread begins here.
Week 68 below.
Week 68 below.
69.02/ Barukh Dayan ha-Emet. Feuerstein was a baal-chesed and tzadik.
nytimes.com/2021/11/05/bus…
nytimes.com/2021/11/05/bus…
69.03/ #HappyBirthday to all who celebrate!
68.01/ Week sixty-eight, Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2021, thread begins here.
Week 67 below
Week 67 below
68.03/ #Dune is an incredibly flawed book that's nonetheless fascinating. Also, as a kid I thought the (pseudo) Arabic was Hebrew. e.g. "Kwisatz Haderach" which I eventually recognized from Midrash (from last week's parsha! God "shortened Eliezer's way"):
sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genes…
sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genes…
1/ Nearly every Shabbat & Yom Tov since I left the pulpit I've prepared a drasha & shiur that I know I won't be able to deliver. I've described that for many artists the need to produce the art overwhelms an actual audience. The art compels them.
2/ I define art broadly to encompass every creative faculty that arises from the multiple intelligences, talents & perceptions in human capability. We know singers or painters are artists, but so is a teacher or philosopher. IMO society doesn't define an art, humanity does.
3/ Not everyone who has artistic talent or drive or vocation needs to have a feeling of compulsion. My chiddush (intellectual innovation) is to say everyone with that need to create has the soul of an artist whether they are recognized or not.
1/ Since the beginning of the #TrumpCrisis, I've had ever increasingly difficult #YomKippur davening because of the burden I feel to act as a 'sanegor' (defender) for my community and for the Jewish world at large.
(This is in addition to the vast ways I need to improve myself)
(This is in addition to the vast ways I need to improve myself)
2/ I'm not a gadol, a posek, or anything close to a tzadik. But after seeing so many rebbeim & gedolim openly support Trump (ym'sh), erase women from Jewish life, and encourage anti-vax shtuyot, I considered the tenuous possibility that I would need to act as a communal sanegor.
3/ With the established leadership descending into avoda-zara (DJT), shefichat-damim (COVID denial) & arayot (dehumanizing women), I needed to step up - out of safek-nefashot - and use all of my halakhic, rhetorical & philosophical ability to devise kappara for the Am Kadosh.
1/ My son, new freshman at his high school, got the cover article in the weekly Torah journal, which was an awesome piece of nachas over #RoshHashanah
A few comments I feel I should make (and download available at this BE"H static link):
parshasheets.com/newsletter/bko…
A few comments I feel I should make (and download available at this BE"H static link):
parshasheets.com/newsletter/bko…
2/ I did not help him directly in any way. Despite my eager offer to discuss and/or proofread, he successfully shielded himself from my relentless, avid desire to help him with a D'var Torah.
I say this because (1) it's a really good piece & (2) all the language is his.
I say this because (1) it's a really good piece & (2) all the language is his.
3/ However, as a gift to me, he did say that he learned "tautological" from our many conversations (yes!) and from my meta-perspective, I see he followed the advice I give to all my homiletics students based on my decades of speeches, articles, classes & other media.
61.01/ Week sixty-one, Sept. 11-17, 2021, thread begins here.
Week 60 below
Week 60 below
61.02/ I am a fan of the professional sport of American Football and, as a child of Pittsburgh, a particular avid supporter of the #Steelers. I apologize ahead of time for some intemperate comments that may be made during the season which could be non-sequitur for non-NFLers.
61.03/ From last night at the #Mets-Yankees game, a scandal that Fox's cameras lingered on that hateful flag. Ironically it symbolizes the way 9-11 was perverted by corrupt bad-actors from day one.
1/ #ReshetKeshet
Before #RoshHashanah there's a common practice to utter a blanket request for forgiveness. E.g. "To everyone I know or encountered please forgive me. OK bye!"
You're correct in thinking that this depersonalized superficial "apology" is hollow & thus ineffective.
Before #RoshHashanah there's a common practice to utter a blanket request for forgiveness. E.g. "To everyone I know or encountered please forgive me. OK bye!"
You're correct in thinking that this depersonalized superficial "apology" is hollow & thus ineffective.
2/ How can I forgive someone if they don't know what they did to me? Doesn't admit real guilt, express regret, detail how they will work towards restitution, or describe how they will fix their mentality/behavior to avoid hurting me in the future.
3/ However, #RoshHashanah is a dangerous time of year. Tradition understands the stakes are the highest possible. It's an annual review before the King of Kings, arbiter of justice, and we treat it like the final exam worth 100% of our grade.
1/ Jude's warning about the "one good man" (in this case, about the NBer trainwreck, see inside) is something I worry about as well: when a cause's fate can rise or fall with the virtue or sins of one single person.
2/ This can be an inevitable consequence of ethical heroics. Jewish law (IMO) emphasizes the severity of Chillul Hashem for this reason: Jews are commanded to act as representatives for God on Earth. Our individual behavior can destroy the entire mission.
3/ Yet an iconoclastic mission will often require salient, brave individuals. How to avoid the problem of Chillul Hashem and the pitfalls of Jude's "One Good Man"?
Same answer: Don't be alone. Don't be "one."
Same answer: Don't be alone. Don't be "one."
58.01/ Week fifty-eight, Aug. 21-27, 2021, thread begins here.
Week 57 thread below.
Week 57 thread below.
58.02/ This article, sporting footnote numbers in superscript without any accompanying - um, ya know, actual - notes, has big "lazily plagiarized from Wikipedia" vibes to it.
jewishpress.com/judaism/halach…
jewishpress.com/judaism/halach…
58.03/ OTOH, this is an absolutely crucial piece in the Jewish Press by Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman, explaining and expanding on the ruling of Harav Hershel Schachter, that getting the COVID vaccine is halakhically required. Demanded.
jewishpress.com/judaism/halach…
jewishpress.com/judaism/halach…
1/ I try to teach my kids leadership lessons from my observed, taught, & lived experience. E.g. (1) 90% of leadership praxis is communication (yet too often unpracticed, with disastrous results) (2) vision is as necessary as operations but without one you're either blind or lame.
2/ (3) Vision is strategy, operations are tactics, but both are neutralized without logistics, (4) ultimately, a leader needs to put the welfare of the group above themselves; it should be the reason they consent to the imagine oneself capable of making decisions for others.
3/ #4 is about self-sacrifice and without that, leadership becomes exploitative. (5) In order to determine all elements - strategy, tactics, vision, and consent of the governed - you need a system of error checking.
1/ Quick thread about today's #DafYomi TB Sukkah 32.
First, a story where Rabbi Akiva, who can be a big know-it-all in front of his teachers, gets put in his place trying to build a sukkah on a moving ship. Even if it had to be by Rabban Gamliel.
sefaria.org/Sukkah.23a.3?l…
First, a story where Rabbi Akiva, who can be a big know-it-all in front of his teachers, gets put in his place trying to build a sukkah on a moving ship. Even if it had to be by Rabban Gamliel.
sefaria.org/Sukkah.23a.3?l…
2/ Next is what I refer to as a "Skipper Sugya." Skipper is my alter-ego from one of my favorite movies ever, The Penguins of Madagascar. In one scene, he barks out an order with his customary bravado "not [to fire] until we see the white of his eyes"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguins_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguins_…
3/ His second-in-command, Kowalski, protests that the leopard seals attacking them have "they're mostly pupil, very little white, almost none"
Skipper: "they got to have a little bit of white, right?"
K: "None whatsoever!"
S: "What if they look really far to the left?"
Skipper: "they got to have a little bit of white, right?"
K: "None whatsoever!"
S: "What if they look really far to the left?"
1/ #ReshetKeshet
I had intended to write a lot more this week, especially about #DafYomi because some of my favorite topics are being covered, so I want to at least say something quick today about Sukkah 14b & "emergency halakhah":
sefaria.org/Sukkah.14b.9?l…
I had intended to write a lot more this week, especially about #DafYomi because some of my favorite topics are being covered, so I want to at least say something quick today about Sukkah 14b & "emergency halakhah":
sefaria.org/Sukkah.14b.9?l…
2/ During the height of the pandemic, especially before Pesach, many rabbis needed to issue extreme leniencies. I've been asked why we don't allow these lenient positions all the time.
If it's permitted once, why not all the time? If it's fundamentally wrong, why allow it now?
If it's permitted once, why not all the time? If it's fundamentally wrong, why allow it now?
3/ Today's daf has the rabbis saying to Rebbe Yehudah: "How can you bring proof from emergency times?" meaning that this type of ruling is automatically presumed to be contingent & conditional to specific, desperate circumstances. sefaria.org/Sukkah.14b.9?l…
1/ A thread for #9Av 5781. #ReshetKeshet
I've noticed, now having three b'nai mitzvah kids, that nobody gives a kinot book as a gift. Can't blame them, of course. We have a necessary ideology that 9Av can change to a holiday very soon, so why gift a book?
I've noticed, now having three b'nai mitzvah kids, that nobody gives a kinot book as a gift. Can't blame them, of course. We have a necessary ideology that 9Av can change to a holiday very soon, so why gift a book?
2/ I like Rabbi Dr. @NatanSlifkin's nuance to what "sinat chinam" - normally translated as "baseless hatred" - means. It's hatred that brings no gain; it's hurting yourself in order to hurt your perceived enemy more.
Sounds familiar in our day, no?
rationalistjudaism.com/2021/07/sinat-…
Sounds familiar in our day, no?
rationalistjudaism.com/2021/07/sinat-…
3a/ OTOH, this story by Dinah Paritzky is horrifying. Not only is it cruel & abusive, not only can the lesson be taught in less violent means, it's the wrong lesson! The impulse to concentrate on the physical building is #Literalist, as is the cruel act.
rationalistjudaism.com/2015/07/relati…
rationalistjudaism.com/2015/07/relati…
1/ Today was a big milestone day. My oldest had his first driving lesson, something that was put on hold for the pandemic (these poor kids growing up in this strained world), but a bigger step was that I was able to go maskless to shul.
2/ As of today, my whole nuclear family has had our full course of the vaccine (#PfizerFamilyForTheWin) and my area doesn't have community spread, so it was safe (enough) to go maskless.
I had planned to do this in order to demonstrate an object lesson.
I had planned to do this in order to demonstrate an object lesson.
3/ I have no idea if people actually look at me for guidance. But being frum, & kal v'chomer a rabbi, means that all of my behavior should be an object lesson.
Even more: I'm a sociologist of health, which means I need to teach/act out lessons about medical halakha.
Even more: I'm a sociologist of health, which means I need to teach/act out lessons about medical halakha.
50.01/ Week fifty, June 26-July 2 2021, begins here.
#TzomKal, easy fast, for #ShivaAsarBTammuz
Week 49 below
#TzomKal, easy fast, for #ShivaAsarBTammuz
Week 49 below
50.02/ File this under "horrifying but not surprising." @AdamSerwer has been doing great work and I look forward - in a clinical, grin & bear it way - to reading his book.
@AdamSerwer 50.03/ Barukh Dayan ha-Emet. My shul just informed us that Rabbi Reuven Bulka z'l has passed away. Rabbi Dr. Bulka was a psychotherapist & shul rabbi who exemplified a life dedicated to his community and to Torah u-Madda. May his memory be for a blessing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuven_Bu…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuven_Bu…
1/ Erev Shabbat #Balak, esp. when the fast of #Tammuz is on Sunday, carries a special memory for me and this pandemic year(s) makes me feel especially nostalgic, so here goes.
In 2018 my wife was given a grant to do research in Europe which allowed us to plan a summer trip.
In 2018 my wife was given a grant to do research in Europe which allowed us to plan a summer trip.
2/ She spent the first week in Germany and then I joined her in England for a second week with the kids. Just in time, in turns out, for a historic heat wave. World travelers know that American air conditioning is unheard of in Europe. They're proud of it!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brit…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brit…
3/ My old yeshiva friend, Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, invited me to give a guest sermon at the Finchley Synagogue (aka Kinloss). That night was the 17th of Tammuz (and UK time to begin the fast was around 1am!)
kinloss.org.uk/rabbi-jeremy-l…
&
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finchley_…
kinloss.org.uk/rabbi-jeremy-l…
&
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finchley_…
