to support their campaign of terrorizing and chasing Palestinians off their land)
And he predicts much of how the last two weeks would unfold:
“A wave of terror is what Bibi needs in order to give the appearance of an extreme emergency, which would necessitate firming a+
nationalist government with him at the helm encompassing all the right wing parties... He won’t light the match-that’s what the men of Lehava (Kahanists who Bibi helped get in the Knesset- EZS) will do. But he’ll give the matches to them. He wants a crisis. Jerusalem would be+
preferable- because that’s the place around which he can mobilize more solidarity and agreement among the right wing factions and the ‘national camp.’”
(Note: The last point exactly expresses Hamas’s strategy as well)
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The Purim story is driven by an act of resistance: Mordecai’s refusal to bow to the authoritarian vizier Haman.
This simple defiance infuriates Haman, leading to the genocidal decree.
But it’s unclear why Mordecai refused to bow to Haman as this would seemingly have been standard protocol given Haman’s status. Two complementary explanations are:
OK, if you're Shabbat-observant (& perhaps even if you're not), here's a take on this week's Torah portion (the story of the first Shabbat) that's guaranteed to put a big smile on your face!
<THREAD n=25>
OK, here's a description of a biblical moment that's notoriously challenging to understand. When the people discovered the flaky, frost-like substance on the ground, they were bewildered.
They turned to one another and said:
"Mān hu"
What does this mean?
"Hu" is straightforward: "it is" or "is it"
The problem is "mān."
It doesn't mean anything. It eventually becomes the name for this mysterious food. But at this point in the story, it means nothing. It's not a word!
Here's a quick sociological take on why it's an understandable mistake for well-meaning people to be uncomfortable with "Jew," & why this is not inconsistent with the idea that one should not call someone "Black"
Race is ultimately an act of social violence, a caste system foisted on people in order to dominate those at the bottom. @Isabelwilkerson's essay (haven't read the book yet, alas) captures this as well as anything I've read by sociologists & others:
My dad’s approach was to consider all the people involved- Jews, Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, French, etc as human beings & to try to understand how ordinary people could end up perpetuating such inhumanity & to grapple with the impossible dilemmas the victims faced.
Growing up when this was one of my dad’s interests & in the Orthodox (& broader) Jewish community, both in the US & (for long visits of various kinds) in Israel, exposed me to many survivors & to leading Holocaust scholars & scholarship. All incredible gifts from my dad (& mom)
Want to talk with your dean/chair about how we can be in-person in the fall?
Here are my rules of engagement:
1. I need to hear your assumptions about how public bathrooms (& spaces more generally; but bathrooms are key) would be used. If you haven’t thought about this, you’re not serious.
2. I need to hear your assumptions about whether there would be hybrid (some students online & some inperson) classes. If you haven’t thought this through with pros & cons (research on the topic, anyone?!), you’re not serious.