Thread by @JoshuaCypess

32.01/ Week thirty-two (Feb. 20-26) thread begins here. Week 31 - which was broken into three pieces like Gaul - is linked below:

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1360973726414700544

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1361764472755531776

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1362869520415784960

32.02/ Well put. The key difference is whether they can treat people, any person, as having equal humanity no matter their abilities/background and not as a collection of specific identities.

https://twitter.com/jpbrammer/status/1362489577252950017?s=20

32.03/ The GOP & 'conservatives' seem to lack empathy & an ability to imagine others having a different mindset from their own. They don't care about right vs wrong, only Us v. Them, so they assume we're the same. Their mentality is insulting but revealing

https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/1362773216641642500?s=20

32.04/ Part of my new philosophy to not give bad results the benefit of the doubt because the stakes are too high, I now need to assume she knows the difference but expects her fans to either not know nor care

Note: "Not care" often looks like ignorance

https://twitter.com/TheRealHoarse/status/1362848672392822785?s=20

32.05/ Every year this gets more true.

The 'taxi medallion' system in academia is getting scary, especially when you see how tenure works in actual practice. It's a dystopian lottery system & has the feel of a pyramid scheme.

https://twitter.com/erin_bartram/status/1363249985148514306?s=20

32.06/ As a compassionate person it's weird to me to ever say "well they deserve this horrible thing they voted for" b/c it's a form of collective punishment. I have no idea what they wanted. There are 2 buttons, blue & red, & it's not a personality test.

https://twitter.com/aaronhuertas/status/1362959072916606976

32.07/ So many important pieces of our civic infrastructure failed the test of the #TrumpCrisis & front and center is the NYT. As above, I need to assume malice over 'mistake' & thus conclude that the NYT leadership tacitly support 'conservative' goals

https://twitter.com/tomscocca/status/1363216825211891714?s=20

32.08/ This brings back memories

https://twitter.com/aSouthernPenny/status/1362940716536709127?s=20

32.09/ This is about #WandaVision & many people I follow/read enjoy the show so I'll try to endure it but I have only a small amount of charity & patience for art that's almost purposefully terrible for a while before it's good. I feel it's disrespectful.

https://twitter.com/robalbright11/status/1363340064181354499

32.09b/ Here's a follow-up response by that poster, whose original comment I appreciated TBC, and my two clarifying comments about the show

https://twitter.com/robalbright11/status/1363547365689466884?s=20

&

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1363550353845796864?s=20

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1363550726383886341?s=20

32.10/ Agreed and this holds true for all groups.

That's what the Michael Richards' thing showed me: under stress he said vile things that only come from a legacy of hate. So too, if X person makes you mad, do you treat them as a person or a category?

https://twitter.com/Kate_Kelly_Esq/status/1363218630159269903?s=20

32.11/ Agree 100%

Part of the opposition to UBI is lack of imagination to see what would be possible. I get that. But most of it comes from the Libertarian/Ayn Rand cruelty that demands that human life be earned (in @JuliusGoat's phrasing)

https://twitter.com/kim_siever/status/1362940729530609665?s=20

32.12/ Oh boy, I identify with a lot in this thread

And it's easy to overlook how much pain people are in when it's expressed in unconventional or just quiet ways

As a pastoral counselor I learned to assume trauma exists when certain things occur

https://twitter.com/LuxAlptraum/status/1363484150267797504?s=20

32.13/ Just informed after the fact (b/c of cruddy communication in this crisis) about two very vulnerable friends who got COVID recently but thank God have already recovered (a) a neighbor with both Down Syndrome and autism & (b) a shul elder who got it in the hospital. Scary!

32.14/ So, if I understand rock songs from the 60s correctly, there's a woman named Sloopy,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_On_S…
and another woman named Windy. Not Wendy. Windy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_(Th…

32.15/ Some people I follow are such good allies for Jews, it took me a while before I discovered they weren't actually Jewish. To be clear, the mistake was purely mine (no identity pantomime), it was just that their defense seemed natural. I aspire for that level of allyhood.

32.16/ I see a common denominator among the Lefty types who (a) blame the Democrats for every GOP atrocity & (b) blame Texans for their misery b/c (evidently?) "they voted for it": victim blaming. Which is a cruel mentality; a secular theodicy. And IMO makes the blamer an enabler

32.17/ An upcoming family project is for my kids - who've resorted to impromptu attempts - to come up with a theme song for when I start a comment with "When I was Your Age"

e.g. when I start to talk about rotary phones & why 212 was a coveted area code they can break into song

32.18/ Below is a thread I wrote in 2018 (and reprinted, as it were, in 2020) about #Purim, the #Megillah, understanding #Amalek, and why I put ym"sh (yimach shemo) after DJT's name.

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1237445517828857856?s=20

32.19/ Well, found my 2020/2021 #Purim costume!

https://twitter.com/ddoniolvalcroze/status/1364248090870312964

32.20/ The Friday #Purim with its weird #PurimMeshulash (3 day holiday in Jerusalem) followed by the insane erev-Pesach-Shabbas - so bizarre & difficult it caused a political shakeup that created the Hillel dynasty - by all rights should've been in 2020
torahinmotion.org/discussions-an…

32.21/ This is a very good thread about the toxic masculinity behind the anti-mask nonsense & has given me a lot to think about in my own investigations.

https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1363107314170003460?s=20

32.22/ #TaanitEsther coming up. I hate fast days even more than I hate Amalek which either shows my total lack of - or complete clarity for - a sense of proportion

Also, I'm not a posek. Were I to have the authority, there'd be NO WAY I'd allow this fast during a deadly pandemic

32.23/ I'm able to glean only second-hand that the Newsy Industrial Complex has gone overboard in covering a creepy golfer's car accident. This, if you needed any more proof, shows that newsworthiness is determined by out-of-touch rich men b/c who else cares THAT MUCH about golf?

32.24/ Timely and respectful thread from last week about the importance of #ZayinAdar, the day we honor the #ChevraKadisha. I could (and should) explore & expand the subject b/c it's a crucial window into Jewish Medical Culture, but you can start here:

https://twitter.com/yosgold/status/1362571732394115073?s=03

32.25/ Ben-Ghiat is an important source. And she highlights what could be a good empirical test to use: seeing which people change their mannerisms, intonation etc and who they change them to.

https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1363243958269317123?s=20

32.26/ One of these days I'll have to write up the curious cultural phenomenon of having flavor dyads: salt & pepper, vanilla & chocolate, mustard & ketchup, tea & coffee, coke & sprite. Usually one major flavor we all accept (salt) and a nearly random second choice.

32.27/ Got up at 4:40am to eat before #TaanitEsther. There's no way, in practical terms, an entire army was fasting during a pitched city battle. Sorry. And of course there's this:

32.28/ This is a #PurimMeshulash, and one reason we can't read the #Megillah on Shabbat is because the poor know that we're commanded to give generously to whomever requests (it's true!) on Purim & since we can't give money on Shabbat, we move the reading.
yeshiva.co/midrash/46624

32.29a/ #PurimSameach!

I need to brag for a moment. To prepare for "Pandemic Purim 2: 2 Purim 2 Pandemic", my 14yo son learned to chant the #Megillah in a few weeks so he could read for our block/friends on their enclosed deck (it was freezing!) & my parents via zoom

32.29b/ THEN, he went to an assisted-living bldg. to read for some older people in need AND THEN, THERE'S MORE, he went to one of our shuls and did their later night reading (also outdoors). He reads IMHO beautifully & flawlessly and in 30 minutes.

This is "nachas."

32.29c/ Photo proof, here we are in the first #megillah reading. I'm the gabbai in the black hat (which is normal, not a costume) and my exclusive #Purim tie.

32.30/ Publicizing the #Purim "Best Haman-boo contest" from Rabbi Bernstein here

https://twitter.com/aryehlou/status/1365139933925621760?s=20

My entry (gif of the Mordechai style hero, Shaun the Sheep)

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1365150641652432896?s=20

32.31/ A thread about my Torah threads which will be labeled with my Rabbi Name, the Reshet Keshet and what that means.

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1365316727647698945?s=20

32.32/ A thread with my halakhic advice (sorry, not a true posek) for understanding #ADHD and hearing the #Megillah, which doubles as general advice for all mitzvot. And, as usual, what helps those with disabilities actually helps even those without

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1365335606012837900?s=20

32.33/ In honor of tzahalah & sameicha, and to recognize the joy and liberation of #Purim, I found out that all four of my kids grandparents have gotten both of their vaccine shots (the last one just today!). Literal life-saving. Thank God! What an incredible relief.

32.34/ This is honestly the best #PurimTorah I can imagine, the Golden Idol at #AvodahZarah convention (aka CP*C). These past few years have gotten so overt that you need willful blinders to truth to ignore it (h/t @NumbersMuncher)

Also, see this

https://twitter.com/snopes/status/1365355226274942976?s=20

32.35/ Follow-up of my son's mitzvah-missions (cf 32.29) here's this morning at the shul (competing with the setting up the days' carnival)

As I taught the family at the seudah, he's blessed with great ability, but I can praise him for what he does with whatever God gave him/us,

32.36/ At our #Purim #seudah we enjoyed two of the gifts we received from #shalachmanot (which IMO is one of the better ways of integrating the mitzvot): a pop-top can of my favorite wine (Bartenura Moscato) & a bottle of Heineken for "Shushan ha-Beer-ah"

32.37/ Yes. This is good.

https://twitter.com/SortaBad/status/1365069793817104385?s=20

32.38/ Excellent dvar Torah here. @tashakaminsky has been on fire with these interpretations on the #Megillah and I encourage her to put them together as a whole.

https://twitter.com/tashakaminsky/status/1364754030719811594?s=20

32.39/ There's truth in this point; in general, we read a lot of news commentary - contemporary and historical - as expressing civil sounding aggressive envy

https://twitter.com/agraybee/status/1364567366621925377?s=20

32.40/ #ReshetKeshet #Tetzaveh No time to put the whole shiur up, but the main clothing of all kohanim is the 'ketonet' and I connect that to 2 other times this article is used (1) Yosef's coat of many colors & (2) what God made for Adam & Eve

32.41/ Quick #ReshetKeshet for #Purim: the battle on Adar 13 is pure self-defense. Nobody would've died if the brutes didn't attack their neighbors - despite edicts saying they would be met with violence! Yet they were dead-set on murder. Does this brazen defiance sound familiar?

32.42/ May the joy of #Adar continue, more people get vaccinated, and we can end our time of terror and sickness.

#PurimSameach everyone and #ShabbatShalom.

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