44.02/ So many people I assumed were motivated by greed (for money, abstract resources) and/or power are actually driven by ego. This discovery required a major retooling of my understanding of moral philosophy
e.g. during the #TrumpCrisis people risked their lives just for ego
44.08/ It's exhausting to see a question about whether you should exist debated in public. Not only because (a) there's a vast number of people who would be happy if you *didn't* exist, but (b) even more "reasonable" - even liberal! - folk who think the debate is acceptable.
44.09/ Like clockwork: Israel in the news -> open antisemitic attacks.
Most likely these are N*zis using PAL flags as a cover, yet I beg my fellow liberals to see this and take more care to avoid slurs that add hate & impugn blood libel. Words can kill!
44.15a/ Dr. Blackstock's point is good & this is yet another case where technical solutions are well known & the problem is persuading and/or changing the power structure to implement the policies they claim to uphold.
44.15b/ Basically, while it's fashionable to emphasize STEM training, time and again I see that technical knowledge is inert without the people skills taught in "soft" fields.
44.20/ This is a heckuva thread by the estimable @JewishWonk, providing a view of how the luster of Medinat Yisrael is perceived through a Jewish Russian-American's eyes.
44.21/ Jacob #DeGrom, the Mets ace, was doing a rehab stint this week and faced a low-A baseball team and the results were like Bambi vs. Godzilla. But they were good sports about it.
44.24/ Yeah, "pro-life" is a filthy euphemism for those who can't control their desire to dominate others: for women, it's forced-birth, for prisoners, it's torture & death
44.25/ Sadly I've seen this dynamic in people in many disempowered groups (including the ones I'm in). It's often very clear to me who will become a tyrant if they were on top of the pyramid (see: T*RFs, the dirtb*g Left)
44.28/ Indeed. In fact Jewish history is often a long series of stories of my people being much more afraid of our neighbors than from the top of the pyramid (which may explain a communal impulse to support whoever is in charge of the polity)
44.29/ It's been a weird week (Shavuot made this feel like three weeks in one, or Beha'alotekha). But we have a cease fire, thank God. #ShabbatShalom y'all.
196.03/ #NachasAlert: My son has a big article (pages 4-6) in this week's Torah journal from his high school #Metzora-#HaGadol. Enjoy! drive.google.com/file/d/1uNKU5O…
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.