1/ My brother asked why many in the frum community resist medical knowledge - despite the mitzvah to follow doctors & paramount need to preserve health - as seen in their response to COVID.
Even if shuls were closed, many had backyard minyans & even now reject masks/distancing.
2/ Rejection of science is nominally part of the Daas-Toirah type of avoda-zara applied to their health & well-being
Again, it's 100% assur to endanger one's life except to prevent murder, arayot, or avoda zara
That the desire to risk lives is itself avoda zara is [chef's kiss]
3/ Daas-Toirah minim deny science b/c outside facts pierce the bubble of the patriarchal authoritarianism that they need to keep power. For this reason, I'm deeply cynical of religious leadership that suppresses science & freedom
God commands modern Orthodoxy as lichatchila IMO
4/ This worst form of science rejection are the frum anti-vax, & in my rabbinic opinion that's purely assur w/no Jewish patina at all. Just outright passive manslaughter.
However, in COVID's case there were are other understandable factors, like Jewish practice & tradition
5/ Authoritarian Orthodox find firmer ground to deny medicine and science when it contradicts Jewish practice (shul, beis medrish) & tradition (e.g. metzitzah b'peh).
5/ The overlooked factor, and one that I think dominates the frum support for the GOP is that the community leaders are 'conservative' which means supporting authoritarianism but also prioritizing *personal comfort* over self-sacrifice
6/ I'll try to expand this more, but personal comfort (like rejecting masks) is a pillar of modern conservatism. These people hate being told 'no' and that extends to how they understand religion & practice.
They want to tell the Other 'no' but they hate being told no themselves
7/ This is an key object of analysis b/c I believe many conservative religious communities have successfully perverted their traditions - which preach self-sacrifice for higher ideals - into a 'prosperity gospel' deal where personal indulgence is transformed into piety
8/ This should be the baseline way of discussing the authoritarian religious movements in America (see work of #exvangelical scholars like @C_Stroop & the journal @RDispatches) & I see the frum community which rejects masks as following "personal comfort as religious ethic"
9/ If I have time, I'll try to explain how I can stand in front of God and not condemn my religious community for their support for a neo-N*zi fascist like Trump (ym'sh)
Big key: Kol Nidrei is basically about accepting people who've turned to avoda-zara & yet stand next to you
10/ But I have said, since 2016, that while 70-80% of the frum community have failed the test of the #TrumpCrisis, the non-Orthodox community has done a much better job. If we survive this as an American Jewish community, it's due to the mitzvot of the non-Orthodox. Thank you
209.02/ Following the assassination attempt on TFG yesterday - an act I condemn; ballots not bullets - the reaction by news agencies has been unhinged. But I'm singling out The Daily Beast and Politico who are lionizing TFG using very disturbing rhetoric. I've had to unfollow.
209.03/ I'm furious that so many in Congress are playing this dangerous game but I'm reminding myself that (1) the MSM has been fabricating stories & amplifying mythological pro-GOP nonsense for a while now & (2) I trust Biden's abilities to handle this like he did NATO.
208.02/ Demographically, I should be part of the "elite" but the past two weeks showed me that I'm a solid true-blue member of the Democratic "base" because I'm standing by Biden-Harris & have a white-hot rage against the media (& the cowards in my party) trying to take us down.
208.03/ People ask "Why haven't the media learned their lesson from 'But Her Emails?' in 2016"?! But the answer is QED - they did learn their lesson: that with relentless bad-faith attacks they can knock out the Democrat & elect a cash-cow tabloid buffoon. They know & want this.
207.02/ I didn't see the debate because I can't stand listening to Trump (ym'sh). The bizarre meltdown by the MSM calling for Biden to drop out is not only disgusting but reignited the normie-Democrats' blazing anger at the MSM goofs that brought us "But Her Emails" in 2016.
207.03/ Ironically, the drumbeat from the MSM about Biden's age for months - probably starting right after the withdrawal from Afghanistan which ruined their gravy train - prepared the public for how he sounded at the debate. The MSM hit-job backfired.
205.02/ It's important to know: every pawn can become a queen.
205.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Behaalotecha 5783 (last year) @ChochmatNashim
Downloadable PDF with working links of Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. drive.google.com/file/d/14uXvSR…
204.02/ What incredible news! Barukh Hashem, 4 hostages rescued from those monsters.
'Operation Arnon’: How 4 hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in central Gaza
204.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Naso 5783 (last year) @ChochmatNashim.
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. (I'm not sure I can update this well enough for 5784 today) drive.google.com/file/d/1b46N_z…