In the pulpit it was crucial to be non-partisan (I was always political, b/c halakhah covers every topic). But even out of the pulpit, no signs; e.g. in 2012, despite my support of Obama, I didn't broadcast it.
2/ I never put up signs until I needed to repudiate Trump (ym'sh). As a rabbi & thus a moral leader I had to show my politically conservative community it's possible to be 'civil' & cordial while standing up publicly for what the Torah demanded: anti-racism, compassion, justice
3/ It took a lot of risk. It came with a cost to our social life.
I knew it would be costly, yet that's why bravery is the highest ideal. Courage is risking for a mitzvah. It's what being Jewish is supposed to entail. It's the 'true' in "Torah-true Jew"
4/ But one thing I've learned over the years about bravery: it's a force multiplier. When a leader is brave, followers will be too
You can stand up for them and it strengthens them. They're buoyed by your own sense of self & determination
5/ Without knowing the effect I would have, I used my empathy to reflect that in the same situation I would need leaders to show there's another way.
Moreover, my actions - helping the 20/30% who resisted Trump (ym'sh) - also condemned those who slavishly marched off to fascism
6/ This is one of the hard lessons I believe we need to learn from Lot in Sedom. He's a sullied character; the Torah is explicit about his moral failings. But without his contrast, the depravity of Sedom wouldn't be as clear. He resisted & they hated him for it.
7/ Being Jewish means standing out and saying "yes" to compassion, decency (aka modesty), benevolence but, by necessity & impulse, saying "no" to cruelty, arrogance, & injustice
Our Abrahamic nemesis is Sedom; Mosaic nemesis is Amalek; rabbinic nemesis is Rome. All the same tho
8/ My anti-Trump (ym'sh) stand is designed to provide support for those who need to resist, but also a silent & passive rebuke for those who donned the RedHat.
Based on the rules of 'tochecha' I determined direct rebuke would backfire.
9/ Much of the RedHat program is self-absorbed selfish egotism which keeps them in a cognitive-dissonant cage.
It's mislabeled a sense of 'honor' when it's actually a fragile sense of crushing lack of solid self-esteem. They venerate false prizes; and lies need a system of myth
10/ For any of the cult to do teshuva (repentance), they need to be shown the truth.
I expect them to slowly try to walk back to the right path when the truth is revealed. If they don't? Then they were never salvageable.
195.02/ Happy #Eclipse2024 Day for all who celebrate. Here's an interesting article about the halakhic implications of an eclipse by Rabbi Dov Linzer: blogs.timesofisrael.com/solar-eclipse-…
195.03/ #Eclipse2024 My extended family went to a place of 100% totality and took this picture a few minutes ago. For me its 90% and can't be photographed (which is one reason I said shehechiyanu). Not paskening for anyone else, but for me this is a religious experience.
194.02/ #ChochmatNashim for #Shemini 5784.
@ChochmatNashim
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. #Shmini #HaChodesh drive.google.com/file/d/1bFHTfW…
193.03/ #NachasAlert: Final (so far) tally of times my son leyned Megillah seven times; 3 last night, four times today. Including once for a home-bound Shoah survivor. So proud.
192.02/ So today is #ZayinAdar and Saint Patrick's Day during Ramadan. What could go wrong?
192.03/ There's a resonance in having a fast that commemorates a community sacrifice for soldiers fighting a defensive war against raging antisemites. #TaanitEsther
191.02/ Last #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight of the season. How to top last week, and with a movie my youngest hasn't seen yet? "Fletch (1985)" en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletch_(f…
191.03/ I agree with Prof. Simkovich, re: the Oscar guy.
Also, I see people wrestling to make sense of his convoluted phrasing, but I'm not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to a declaration that inherently refuses to give others the same benefit.
190.02/ #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight continues, 2 weeks left before we change the clocks so climbing to the finale. It's "Raising Arizona (1987)" night! I don't need to explain how great it is, right? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_A…
190.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Vayakhel #Pekudei 5783 (last year; this year it's Vayakhel-Shekalim)
@ChochmatNashim
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah by Orthodox women on the parsha and other weekly Torah. drive.google.com/file/d/1FLeFk2…