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Yehuda Krohn Profile picture
Yehuda Krohn
@YehudaKrohn
Husband, Father, Student of Jewish Law and Lore, Clinical Psychologist. Commenter on the intersection of Psychology, Religion and Politics.
Sep 24, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Yom Kippur 🧵

Tonight and tomorrow, as you sit in Shul and are stirred by Tefillos that frame our relationship with the Divine as that of a child to a parent..

… please be aware that someone to the right or left of you (or even someone closer to home) may be struggling.

1/3 They may have suffered loss; they may endure illness; they may be hurting in countless other ways.

They may not experience Hashem as a loving parent.

Still, others are have grown up with parents they experienced as absent, indifferent, or abusive.

2/3
Jul 18, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
it is tempting to try and fit the sad saga of Oppenheimer into today’s political discourse. A 🧵

The reality is that Oppy was neither the first nor the foremost opponent to the military use of the bomb.

Leo Szilard, who was in at the ground floor of…

nytimes.com/2023/07/17/opi… America’s research into the feasibility of an atom bomb, holds that distinction.

What most tripped up Oppenheimer was his complicated early relationship with Communists and Communism.

In the Cold War era, with Russia in hot pursuit of our secrets, this was a fatal flaw.
May 14, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Something inspiring I considered over this past Shabbos:

The תוכחה/rebuke we encounter, from the middle toward the end of בחוקותי, is always a hard read, a hard listen.

1/ Despite the undertone of the Ba’al Koreh, despite the rapidity with which it is read, it feels as though a lot of rage is being channeled in our direction.

In the midst of the תוכחה, though, there is a hidden kernel of hope:

2/
Jan 30, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A couple of months ago, back when all the Kanye, Kyrie, and the Jews controversy was swirling about, I had a painful, but revealing conversation with the mostly black staff, at a nursing home I service.

1/ Among other things. we considered how the insularity of our communities - West Rogers Park (mine), Chicago West Side (theirs) - allows stereotypes and tropes, about each other, to flourish.

2/
Jan 29, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Over Shabbos, my wife asked: Why does Hashem command Moshe ״בא אל פרעה״? Shouldn’t it be ״לך אל פרעה״? After all, Moshe is going; not coming.

My search for an answer turned up a רבינו בחיי that knocked my socks off.

1/ He starts with חז׳ל’s observation that, when we approach the מכות in groups of 3, the first 2 involve warnings; the 3rd doesn’t.

Thus דם and צפרדע are preceded by Moshe’s warning Pharaoh. כנים come with no warning.

Many of us already know this, but what follows is amazing!

2/
Oct 31, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
It’s painful to watch this.

IMO, Rav Reisman speaks primarily for the part of the Orthodox community that runs interference for secular-ed-free Chassidic Yeshivas. He engages in the false dichotomy of two Bedford Avenues.

It’s false, because providing a basic secular education does not render a Yeshiva a public school.

Moreover, the struggles of failing neighborhoods aren’t caused by public education.
May 2, 2022 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Given the outrageous and inaccurate statements of the befuddled Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, I’d like to share a thread about Russian foreign ministers, Jews, and Nazis.

1/ Up until 1939, Hitler was strongly opposed to any alliance with Communist Russia. In parallel fashion, the Russian foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov, was focused on cobbling together an agreement between the Soviets and the Western European countries, against Nazi Germany.

2/
Mar 29, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
A brief 🧵on "Gape Culture"

I'm using this term as a way of referring to the manner that we wittingly or unwittingly restrict the movements of Frum women, by placing the onus of men's "Hirhurim"/forbidden thoughts on women.

1/ Gape culture is dynamic, given that restricting women in one domain only renders them more mysterious and alluring, *in the minds of the protected men*, thereby necessitating a second and third wave of restriction, if not outright banishing.


2/
Feb 20, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
A thread about the endangered value of Ehrlechkeit/integrity

This past Shabbos, a prominent Rov, a guest who is part of a parenting initiative, delivered the sermon. Along the way he quoted an even more prominent Rov from Israel.

His topic was the value of a Mitzvah.

1/ His Mashal/parable involved a clever person who paid $50.000 for a new car, on a Friday a little before Shabbos, promptly drove it to a used car lot, and tried to sell it for $20,000.

2/
Jan 9, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Parshas Bo interrupts arguably the most exciting of Jewish narratives with bursts of Halachos - most of which were not immediately relevant.

Perhaps the lesson is that
1. Halachah is part of the narrative.
2. Narrative is part of Halachah

A thread

1/ 1. Halachah is part of the narrative in two ways.

One: It demonstrates that we were primarily freed from the demeaning servitude of the Egyptians, in order to enter the ennobling service of Hashem.

2/
Dec 29, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Here is the paradox:

Observing the laws of Yichud does help a woman protect herself.

OTOH, the assumption "a woman, simply by observing the laws of Yichud, is fully safe" actually endangers women.

1/ For one, a learned abuser who has incrementally gained the trust of a young woman or girl may "explain" to her why the laws of Yichud do not apply in the dangerous situation he has crafted.

2/
Dec 27, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
The suicide of noted author and alleged abuser, Chaim Walder, evokes many feelings.

Among them are sadness, anger, and fear.

1/ 1. Many of us experienced sadness and demoralization, starting more than a month ago, when the abuse allegations emerged.

2/
Dec 9, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The way many of us have come to value Torah plays into the way we value G’virim.

If it’s all about the biggest Yeshiva, the largest Siyum, the top Bochur, then why not honor the wealthiest G’vir? Moreover, in the spirit of the stonecutter fable, our primary reverence should be reserved for the G’vir. After all, even the Rosh Yeshiva who sits on the Mizrach Vant is beholden to him.
Nov 10, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Yesterday, while visiting Kever Rachel, I was struck by the fervor with which the “regulars” prayed, shouted, screamed: “Prepare and provide our sustenance from Your full, generous hand. May Your people not be obliged to rely on each other or on foreign aid.”

1/ On the one hand, it seemed ironic that so many of these supplicants had apparently chosen a lifestyle that, in fact, obliges them to rely on handouts.

On the other hand, they have better clarity than do I that Parnassah/sustenance ultimately comes from Hashem.

2/
Nov 1, 2021 • 16 tweets • 2 min read
A deep dive through a tricky Toldos text.

1/ Yaakov, disguised as Eisav, approaches his father and says: קום-נא שבא ואכלה מיצידי. The simple translation is “Please get up, sit down and eat from my food.”

The obvious question is “Why does Yaakov ask Yitzchok to rise, only to sit down, immediately afterwards?”

2/
Oct 26, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
@PatrickKingsley seems to frame each interview along lines of disenfranchisement.

Perhaps, this is to be expected in a society that is, at least in theory, based on the partition of peoples that have historically been unable to share power.

1/ Just as Al Aqsa is built upon the ruins of a Jewish temple, so too are some Israeli cities built upon the ruins of Arab cities evacuated, during the war of 1948.

These are uncomfortable realities that ultimately must be faced by both Arabs and Jews.

2/
Oct 12, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
A thread, on the heels of a discussion about the benefits of Shnayim Mikra V’echad Targum:
This insight is inspired by an unexpected translation, made by Onkelos.
1/ At the climax of the Bris Bein Habesorim (the unique, painful covenant between Hashem and Avraham, which describes the Egyptian exile and ultimate return to Israel), a fiery furnace passes between the cuts of meat.
2/
Oct 4, 2021 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
A Parsha thread: At what point does the first person created by Hashem receive a name?

1/ Many would argue that the first person created – Adam Harishon – was referred to as Adam, from the get go.

They would be wrong.

2/
Aug 18, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Once the Yesser Mishtus sat down at the business table, all bets were off.

#LesserKnownGedolim His successor, the Pachos Mishtus, didn’t amount to anything.

#LesserKnownGedolim
Jul 20, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The 5 Stages of watching #MyUnorthodoxLife

Denial: The Orthodoxy @JuliaHaart describes doesn’t exist - certainly not in Monsey.

Anger: She’s a sellout, a narcissist, a horrible parent.

1/ Bargaining: If we create a hashtag emphasizing our own happiness and contentment, we will eclipse Haart’s story.

Depression: My community actually does alienate some of its members; even I, occasionally, feel excluded.

2/
Jul 18, 2021 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
A #TishaBAv thread

Are you in possession of a family heirloom? It could be a piece of jewelry, a candlestick or chalice, an ancient book.

1/ The value of an heirloom extends far beyond its appraisal value. It speaks to your family’s place in history. Heirlooms remind you of legacies. They may even point you toward your destiny.

2/