Some professional news: I'm joining @TheAtlantic to write a new newsletter about the potent but often misunderstood forces that shape our world, from social media to religious faith to popular culture. It's called DEEP SHTETL. Sign up to get it here! newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/
@TheAtlantic "Deep Shtetl is the stories behind the stories; the people off the beaten track who don’t appear on all your podcasts; the things & communities we think we understand but don’t. We won't avoid big items but will try to ask different questions about them." newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/61…
@TheAtlantic "We’ll explore what religious traditions can tell us about forgiveness in the social-media age; what Albert Einstein’s intervention in a 1944 Hebrew University controversy can teach us about today’s debates over academic freedom..." newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/61…
@TheAtlantic "...how a fake pundit who fooled the political media in 2008 foreshadowed our online information crisis; and what anti-Semitism shows us about the corrosive effects of conspiracy theories on those societies that embrace them." newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/61…
My favorite thing about Gab is that they changed their web site from gab.ai to gab.com after their own members got paranoid that it was a Jewish front because "gabai" is the traditional Jewish word for a synagogue overseer. tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
You've got this all wrong. If they banned the Gab account, I wouldn't get to have nearly as much fun making fun of them. One of the few joys of this depressing web site.
Powerful pro-vaccination PSA today from Orthodox rabbis in New York: "The ribono shel olam [creator of the world] has given us a precious gift. It's called the covid-19 vaccine." "Unvaccinated people die! They die." "What's the shaylah [question] over here? Are we playing games?"
"When we take the vaccine, we're helping everybody, and that's a double mitzvah."
Some good corona news you may not have heard amid all the noise: An Israeli study found that the 3rd vaccine dose they gave to people over 60 was 86% effected against Delta *infection*. In other words, we can supercharge our societal immunity w/ boosters. reuters.com/business/healt…
Israel's experience (early mass vaccination, followed by recent Delta breakthrough cases) suggests that much of what we're seeing now is just prior vaccine doses wearing off, which can be fixed with another dose. We get a new flu shot every year, could do same for this.
"According to [Israeli] Health Ministry figures, the results are very promising. Third-dose recipients appear to be 2.5 times more protected from infection than those who only received the first two doses of the Pfizer vaccine." timesofisrael.com/a-million-isra…
Before the pandemic, I used to crisscross the country and speak to people interested in understanding and combating anti-Jewish prejudice. But it always felt like fighting a losing battle.
I could only be in so many places at once, and couldn’t possibly address all the communities that sought guidance on this subject. So starting nine months ago, I embarked on an ambitious project to change that. I began scripting and designing a web series about antisemitism.
Today, I’m proud to share the result with you.
The series consists of six videos, each providing straightforward answers to difficult questions about antisemitism that many people have, but are afraid to ask.
Today is Tisha B’av, the Jewish day of mourning which commemorates many past tragedies, beginning with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It’s an occasion with much to teach us, but whose lessons are often misunderstood. I wrote about one of them: yair.substack.com/p/other-people…
"National tragedy, in the traditional Jewish understanding, is not an opportunity to assert our own sense of superiority, but to foster a spirit of self-critique." yair.substack.com/p/other-people…
Proud that this newsletter illustrates the ancient story of Tisha B'av with a painting from 1867 and a Star Wars meme from 2021. We cater to all demographics.
This is kind of amazing. Now that Israel's president Reuven Rivlin is leaving office, Israel's security service released a photo showing how they disguised him so he could walk among the general public. Take a look: