Joshua Cypess Profile picture
Sep 19, 2021 41 tweets 20 min read Read on X
62.01/ Week sixty-two, Sept. 18-25, 2021, thread begins there.

Week 61 below
62.02/ A custom on #YomKippur is to wear a kittel, an all white garment that has ambivalent symbolism: men wear one under their wedding canopy and they are also buried in it. I mentioned to a physician friend that it can also be seen as "Jewish scrubs."
62.03/ "But life is ironic" is just boss-level shade. I mean, I have my theological differences with the pontiff, but I can imagine we see eye-to-eye about anti-vaxxers.(h.t. @dick_nixon)

62.04/ Prima facie this Dr. Braid is a real hero. Let's see how the battle goes, but power to him.

62.05/ Another reminder that many people you see in memes are real. I gave to the charity as well (Tishrei power) because internet fame usually is all downside, so I'll try to help it be a force for good.

62.06/ I'm seeing ppl have trouble with Yonah's "dag gadol" - literally "big fish" - be anything but a whale. If your suspension of disbelief breaks down over that, as opposed to every other wacky thing in the story, then you're missing the comedic point.
sefaria.org/Jonah.2.1?lang…
62.07/ #NFL style guide, especially for old-timers like me: It's the Oakland Raiders of Las Vegas, San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles, following the custom of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As such, Oakland Raiders & San Diego Chargers are acceptable.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angel…
62.08/ AK is an experienced hand with deciphering Tomlin's highly precise code and she's totally right here: the #Steelers may have lost because of multiple missing defensive pieces but we also can't get 1 yard when we need it. Ugh.

62.09/ My son just said that the "Cleveland baseball team beat the Yankees" (always nice to hear) and this dialogue occurred:
Me: "You mean, the Cleveland Guardians"
Him: "The Cleveland who?"
Me: "Guardians"
Him: "Oh! I thought you said 'Garden Gnomes'"

So now, that's the name.
62.10/ Normally, I've had poor #etrog luck but for whatever reason I got a really great crop of plump & yellow citrons this year. Four: One for each kid, one for me & my wife. #humblebrag #etrogbrag #PlumpAndJuicyCitrons #Sukkot Four boxes each with a larg...
62.12/ OK, we've been waiting for this. Let's get it going. #VaccinateKids
nyti.ms/3tTfwBg
62.13/ Almost every #Steelers loss can be tied to our coaches' reliance on personnel over strategy/scheme, so when there are in-game injuries (esp. to All-Pros) doom is close by. Some in game reactions:

62.14/ My grammar skills are poor but my vocabulary game is sharp & has carried me through decades of higher education. Yet, I recently saw "confute" & thought it was a typo for "refute." Nope, they're synonyms. Where once I was confused now I'm confuted.
wordhippo.com/what-is/the-me…
62.15/ Did a Hirhurim raid before YK and came across a bunch of articles I missed, like this incredible one about J.R.R. Tolkien which has a great story about his schmooze-chavrusa with Cecil Roth when they were air-raid wardens together during WW2:
torahmusings.com/2014/12/tolkie…
62.16/ There are numerous ethical issues I juggle in order to be a fan of the #NFL & #Steelers but - while two wrongs don't make a right - at least I refuse to use F*acebook because of their ridiculous level of destructive evil.

62.17/ These are fun, humorous descriptions of the Jewish holidays (I don't know if there's alt-text, sorry). The second one has taught me a new one: Seharane
archive.jewishagency.org/holidays-and-m…


&
62.18/ This is a very good essay - with equally good citations - about morality & Jewish law. (While I have extensive comments, I need to save that for an article. I will say that "din" and "halakhah" aren't synonymous.)

jewishideas.org/article/what-m…
62.19a/ It was asked in another forum about the rope that was tied to the leg of the Kohen Gadol (KG) to pull his corpse from the Holy of Holies if he died. Apparently it's an urban legend as per: outorah.org/p/5694/
62.19b/ But the Talmud does state that in the Second Temple era the KG had to be replaced every year because wealthy, corrupt pretenders purchased the office and God killed them:
sefaria.org/Yoma.8b.7?ven=…
Cause of death? Being kicked in the face by an angel:
sefaria.org/Yoma.19b.5?ven…
62.20/ This is part of a give & take that leads to an epic thread/rant (below) by Arthur about the facile underpinnings of Social Darwinism (SD); i.e. by SD's own claims for 'fitness,' weak but social organisms crush the 'strong.'
62.21/ Not everyone toxic operates in 'bad faith' which requires a knowing desire to use a system's tools & values as a weapon to undermine the system's foundations.

Many more people are just stubborn & aggressively dense. (I muted CF many moons ago)
62.22/ We've put up the Nitl, uh I mean, Sukkah lights and next go the paper chains. Cooking up a storm and, please God, the weather will remain rainless and clear. #ChagSameach everybody, have a great #Sukkot
62.23/ The halakha in our house is to play Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" every day of the month as a sayyag for mitzvat zecher kaf-aleph to avoid this problem. Besides, because of the chag, observance is pushed to isru chag (today).

62.25/ We voted as a family and unanimously agree that L'David jumps the shark once we stop blowing the shofar for it.

BTW, here's an excellent article about the minhag:
jewishlink.news/features/45418…

And I've been on this for a while
62.26/ After going to Lowe's for #Sukkot prep, I thought of a joke to workshop (har) to connect Lowe's hardware and the Maharal of Prague's famous creation, the golem en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem
Why? The Maharal's name is Judah Loew ben Bezalel aka Rabbi Loew. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Loe…
62.27/ Another to workshop: there's got to be a "lulav ha-gazul" joke in here

62.28/ (a) Eugenics is a red-flag for depraved evil - it calls for a passive or active elimination of a class of people.

(b) I've studied anti-vax for years & it's crucial to understand that it's inherently eugenicist: a core goal of anti-vax parents is to avoid/eliminate autism
62.29/ I'm starting to think that the "true" in "true crime" means the same thing as the "reality" in "reality television."
62.30/ A quick note of a larger piece I need to write: "laziness" does exist as a moral problem despite its ableist history. Dt. 29:18 describes what amounts to the "free rider" fallacy which IMO is what Tanakh derides as laziness.
plato.stanford.edu/entries/free-r…
sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.29…
62.31/ #Literalist thinking - which expresses itself in solipsism, egoism, and a total devotion to Dunning-Kruger - kills.

62.32/ A combo of life experience & learning the halakha well (what level of "dry" = passul) taught me this lesson years ago.

I think people fight vainly to keep them dry for the same mystical goofiness as being anti-microscopic crumbs on Pesach.
62.33/ In the spirit of "dan l'kaf zechut" I must assume that Mount Sinai is just being very makpid on sleeping in the #sukkah.

62.34/ Totally agree.

It reminds me of something I learned from my mentor, Prof. Peter Brown, about how to learn history from legal codes: when a law bans an act it doesn't mean it used to be acceptable, possibly it formerly was unfathomable or obvious.
62.36/ Brilliant! Not just in itself, but because of the deeper way of understanding a well-crafted narrative. If the heroes go through a portal, the other end should logically treat them as mind-blowing threats
62.37/ The data is stunningly obvious. But it's not about facts.

"Doing my own research" is part of the same code as "law and order." It's a racist, authoritarian, and aggressively selfish; e.g. "no CRT in schools" is code for "I'm so racist I spew bile"
62.38/ Score one for the Guardian.

Alt-text: "Johnny Depp says 'no one safe' from cancel culture as he accepts lifetime achievement award."

Depp has left a trail of intimate partner abuse, among other actions. He's upset he's being held accountable.
62.39/ Re: Dark & gritty superhero stories, specifically a murderous Superman. I totally agree that these stories are not just uninteresting but "evil hero" is a "villain." Misanthropic fiction can miss me #ThankYouVeryMuch.
62.40/ Somehow, it's Shabbos soon. Have a safe and simcha-filled Shabbat Chol ha-Moed everyone! #ShabbatShalom and #MoadimLeSimcha!

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More from @JoshuaCypess

Sep 29
220.01/ Week two-hundred and twenty, September 28-October 2, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 219 below.
220.02/ Thank God, today my family was able to receive our #BivalentBooster shot, for COVID19 and the flu. I'm so grateful to live in a country which has easy and plentiful access to life-saving medicine.

220.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #RoshHashana 2023 5784 (LAST YEAR). @ChochmatNashim.
PDF with working links to Divrei Torah from Orthodox women scholars (24 pages). Also see the retweet for a relevant PDF from last week.

drive.google.com/file/d/1lwuTy9…
Read 8 tweets
Sep 22
219.01/ Week two-hundred and nineteen, September 21-27, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 218 below (I misnumbered some last week; that's going to cause trouble).
219.02/ Absolutely! This is just science. #LGM
219b.03/ I'm labeling the posts in this week "219b" because I messed up last week and started numbering things 219 instead of 218 and I'll be darned if I pay Moosk for an edit button. Not sure if I'll remember to do this all week or recall what I was doing when I return to these.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 17
218.01/ Week two-hundred and eighteen, September 14-20, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 217 below.
218.02/ #ChochmatNashim for #KiTavo 5783 (LAST YEAR) @ChochmatNashim.

Downloadable PDF with working links of Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. 12 pages.
drive.google.com/file/d/1zjmFJj…
219.03/ It's stuff like this that makes almost any wild idea about the capabilities of technology seem plausible. The good guys just did SOMETHING to make beepers remotely blow up. That's not something I could even imagine existing and yet here we are.
Read 10 tweets
Sep 13
217.01/ Week two-hundred and seventeen, September 7-13, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 216 below
217.02/ Due to a combination of having a maddening schedule over the past few weeks and having Twitter owned and run horribly by the Divorced Incel King, it's been very hard to write anything.
217.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #KiTetze 5783 (last year)
@ChochmatNashim.

Downloadable PDF with Divrei Torah from Orthodox women scholars on the weekly parsha and other topics of the day. 15 Pages. No time to do a new one this year before Shabbas.
drive.google.com/file/d/1NucT9p…
Read 4 tweets
Aug 11
213.01/ Week two-hundred and thirteen, August 10-16, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 212 below.
213.02/ Henceforth, I am calling the Times "USA Today for Rich People" and when asked why, I will cite @wychstreet and this decision.

213.03/ Resending this #ChochmatNashim for #TishaBeAv (and #Devarim) for this year.
Read 9 tweets
Aug 4
212.01/ Week two-hundred and twelve, August 3-9, 2024, thread begins here.

Week 211 below.
212.02/ #ChochmatNashim for #Devarim and #TishaBeAv 5783 (LAST YEAR). @ChochmatNashim

Downloadable pdf with working links of Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. 22 pages.
drive.google.com/file/d/1TH6ApN…
212.03/ This is an excellent, spot-on, thread. I've said a lot of this stuff for years.

[I'm a life-long Democrat born in Pittsburgh & raised in small towns (Binghamton), rural areas (Ithaca), and the South (Memphis). Walz is a familiar archetype to me.]
Read 35 tweets

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