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12 Dec, 38 tweets, 15 min read
22.01/ #ShavuaTov & happy 3rd night of #Hanukkah

Week 22, Dec 12-18, thread begins here.

Week 21 was here:
22.02a/ Well Obama wasn't a real American, Biden not a real president and Jill Biden not a real doctor. This is a common gripe by anti-intellectuals & #Literalists who believe physicians own "doctor" when they actually stole it from PhDs

22.02b/ But let's be clear about why she actually deserves to use the title - aside from my own standard argument that I earned the degree - Dr. Biden is currently employed as a professor in a university. It's her job title, ya trolls! It's as valid as calling her "First Lady"
22.02c/ But the reveal is in the first line: calling her "kiddo." She's a grandmother! How dare he call her, or any woman, 'kiddo'

But of course he does. Because it's birtherism for women, and that's always been the game for the Patriarchy

22.03/ When a loathsome person says something you support (e.g. Barr's alleged 'deposed king' comment) I recommend speeding past the "even [villain] agrees with me!" stage & head straight to the "What is [villain] playing at?" conclusion

They're evil. They're strategic. Always.
22.04/ Asked my genius brother @acypess how often #Hanukkah is not on parshat Miketz. His A: "Rosh Hashana is on Shabbat & then Cheshvan has 29 days, leading to a Chasser year. It's not every 20 yrs, but roughly that frequency. Also comes with a 10th of Tevet that's on a Friday"
22.05/ About darn time. It's nuts that teams are named for Native Americans, and don't get me started about what the fans do during the games
22.05b/ Not sure what the new name will be, but I've heard it suggested "The Grovers" and this sounds great. Just like the Buffalo Bills.
22.06/ Poll Q: should I add my titles to my Profile name in solidarity with women academics who are being diminished for using the titles? Doing so would help create an environment of acceptance or is it an empty gesture?
22.07/ So Bill Barr has been fired. I wondered what his exit strategy was going to be - I imagined fleeing to Brazil with suitcases of cash - but I guess he's going to try the Cheney "just following orders" route & getting fired is a whitewash attempt.

22.08/ #BALvCLE game was amazing but at the two minute warning it became bonkers. Game of the year. And ending in a safety in a hook-and-lateral goofup?

All we needed was a scorigami... and looky here
22.09/ Re: Maoz Tzur ("Rock of Ages")

Tired: Singing one verse after lighting on #Hanukkah

Wired: Singing every verse!

Inspired: Singing it during Nirtza at the Seder (b/c it applies to many holidays)

Gunter gleiben glauchen globen: Def Leppard

22.10/ Things traditionally Jewish households have in larger quantities than the general population:

1. dishes
2. candles

other candidates, possibly:
3. aluminum foil (kashrut, shabbas cooking)
4. books (Shabbas; bilingual heritage)
5. board games (Shabbas)
22.11/ Throughout impeachment, the GOP used the word "duly elected" as if it were a comma, & they claimed - in their infinite bad faith - that the country should just wait until Nov. to "impeach" i.e. reject Trump (ym'sh)

It was a con then, as it is now
22.12/ Until now, I didn't know I needed to see this picture (and now I imagine that caterpillar going through 8 donuts; I can model it if Carle needs)

22.13/ My disquiet for the #NYM black uniforms is only matched by my love for the 1986 set, but seeing Piazza's question makes me cognitively recognize that I need to open my heart to the 2000s era symbols & show tolerance to those who love 'em

22.14/ #RoshChodesh Tevet is the inverse of Tzom Gedalyah in mixing significant religious identities of the day.

One is 2 types of happiness (150% of Hallel?) the other 2 types of teshuva for 3 Tishrei (Avinu Malkeinu: zakhreinu or katveinu?)
22.15/ This is such big deal, and so crazy overdue. The idea that in 1969 MLB would accept a bunch a noodle-goof leagues as officially major but not the Negro leagues is typically racist. Thank God things are (slowly) being repaired

nytimes.com/2020/12/16/spo…
22.16/ Whenever we have a snow day (like today! yay) I wake my kids up by playing this commercial as their morning alarm. It's a Nike commercial from five years ago of all these athletes happy for a #SnowDay so they can go outside & frolic
22.16b/ It begins with the radio guys from "Groundhog Day," the song overlay is a modified "Payback" by James Brown. Some of the athletes have retired. The two team captains are now teammates (Gronk & Suh).

The full cast list is here: hot1047.com/who-are-all-th…
22.17/ The old parent cliche of "would you jump of a cliff if your friends did too?" but replace "jump of a cliff" with "not wear a mask" and it doesn't sound so far-fetched now, does it?
22.18a/ We're watching the British Baking Show season 2 and they need to bake a "suet" dessert which got my smicha-sense tingling. Because "suet" is davka "cheilev" - an entirely non-kosher animal fat.

Let me get this straight: is UK cooking a dare?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelev
22.18b/ I can't imagine seeking out forbidden fat to make a wacko dessert! We needed to skip that section, it was so disgusting. But it introduced me to what may be the worst dessert I've ever seen: Spotted Dick.

Not joking.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet
22.18c/ The second word evidently is a word-form of "dough." Gotcha.

It's *steamed* suet, cake batter, and dried fruit - usually raisins.

Treife fat boiled with raisins?! It's a prank. Gotta be.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_d…
22.19/ Rep. Haaland for Interior is awesome. Two things (1) I was hoping for this a month ago and (2) who knew that the Hill actually got an accurate scoop. Generally they will print any fool rumor, here they got it right


22.20/ These Biden cabinet picks have so far been really good on average. It feels like the NFL Draft, but instead of seeing if the Steelers get a good pass rusher, we get to see who will lead the free world
22.21/ My neighbors used the snow day to great productive effect by making a Snow Maccabee & Snow Dreidel #Hanukkah #dreidel Image
22.22/ The delivery guy (large Costco order) showed me that everything arrived, including the "dog biscuits." I don't own a dog, and it's probable for me to click the wrong button, so I picked the container up: it was animal crackers.

I can understand the confusion, though!
22.23/ Trying to add my randomly strewn utterances over the week to this thread. This is about that great Dr. Fauci video about his #LatkeVsHamentaschen debate performance. What an all-around hero

22.24/ This is brilliant. She's so right, it was a #Hanukkah Miracle to have extra vials of miracle fluid

22.25/ A quick pun about how the crazy Right is calling for martial law and it's parallel back in early 2017 of certain wacky grifters claiming there was super-juridical wishcasting about a 'Marshal of the Supreme Court'
22.26/ I've long compared Trump (ym'sh) to a 1980s B-action-movie supervillain and yet I would never imagine this cliché would come to life: he had an easily guessed password based on his personal obsession/grift.

22.27/ Another person to support the concept that what Russian did to us in 2016 was an act of war. I agree with this totally:
22.28/ Endorse.
22.29/ I really cannot wait for the enormous mountain of evidence of the Trump (ym'sh) crime family's betrayal of our country. But this is as much proof as anything for now
22.30/ Brilliant insight here; that government regulations are "written in blood" - that they've come about because some horrible incident, overweening greed, terrible people doing terrible things.
22.31/ Bingo.

Bad faith, all around, all the time.
22.32/ Candle lighting, only Shabbat, is nigh. So #ShabbatShalom y'all, happy Tevet!

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More from @JoshuaCypess

Joshua Cypess Profile picture
10 Dec
1/ I saw recently the ostensibly "pro-life" position described as "pro forced-birth" & I much prefer that moniker. That's where I am ethically: I'm anti-forced-birth

Morality is about *details* & compassionate lived experience shows me that abortion must be legal.
2/ Ethical rules on a page don't mean anything until they're gamed out in real life. The most fraught questions are when the state (or community) uses force against an individual - to deprive of life, liberty, resources etc., either as punishment or intended consequence of rules
3/ I'm an ethicist with a focus on medical questions. Euphemisms are common, but deadly, in that arena.

e.g. "Rationing medical care" means evaluating an individual's worth & passively declaring a death sentence

(It's happening now as a result of the GOP's COVID diktat)
Read 17 tweets
Joshua Cypess Profile picture
6 Dec
21.01/ Continuing my thread project; week 21: Dec 6-11, 2020

Week 20 here
21.02/ Dad achievement unlocked: my thermostat is so low we need to wear sweaters in the house.

Took years to reach this level, I have so many people to thank, starting with my own father (shlit"a)...
21.03/ This is a great point below.

BTW, for me the only way boys have been 'easier' to raise than girls is that I have more first-hand experience (e.g. put your glasses in your kippah by the bedside to protect from breakage). That's it.
Read 17 tweets
Joshua Cypess Profile picture
30 Nov
20.01/ Nov 30, 2020: Week 20 thread will start here. For those who are looking for previous weeks (narrator: nobody was), here's 19:

18:

17:

and the big one
20.02/ I was this years old when I learned that many families use Thanksgiving as the official "kick off" for Xmas season, and that's why eschewing it (this year) is esp. hard.

I've also heard people say T-giving is the "Holidays" for "Happy Holidays"... ah, no. It's Hanukkah
20.03/ I just donated to the Internet Archive, the world's largest digital library and home of the Wayback Machine. Join me and chip in what you can! archive.org/donate?iax=ctx…
Read 27 tweets
Joshua Cypess Profile picture
25 Nov
1/ Before I forget, I gave a long Dvar Torah/shiur at lunch on Shabbat about the key question in last week's parsha (Toledot): why did Yitzchak want to give Esav a bracha of supremacy?

A key source for my answer is this shiur by Rav Dror Brama

torahmitzion.org/learn/great-tr…
2/ His main point is Yitzchak wanted Esav to avoid the fate of Yishmael. I want to quickly add key support to this idea.

I asked my kids what was the worst day of Yitzchak's life?

My clue/proof is knowing where Y chose to live when we meet him at the end of Chayei Sara.
3/ They suggested the worst day of Yitzchak's life was the Akeidah (the binding of Isaac) or the death of his mother. Good guesses.

I believe the worst day was the expulsion of Yishmael. This was his older brother, almost sent to his death, because of HIM. The guilt was painful.
Read 12 tweets
Joshua Cypess Profile picture
25 Nov
Read 10 tweets
Joshua Cypess Profile picture
22 Nov
19.01/ #ShavuaTov everyone. Big Football day. #Steelers win, Patriots lose, and Ravens not only lose, but their coach demonstrates (again) just how bad a sport he is

19.02/ Tom Joseph's point is crucial. 21 Republicans would be enough, plus the 47 Democrats, to remove Trump (ym'sh). They aren't "worse" than the 30+ GOP who don't reject DJT, the former are cowards the latter are outright fascists
19.03/ What I love so far about Biden's proposed cabinet is that I haven't heard of a single one of them. It's so nice to have professionals back in charge (I'm a lifelong Democrat because I know governing requires expertise)
Read 16 tweets

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