If Antiochus was my Rebbe (and such a thing is thoroughly impossible) he’d tell me how beautiful Judaism is. Antiochus looks at his men, at his enemies, at his deities, and sees a sublime order. Each of them is part of a story, which is another way of saying they each want something that they […]
I Won’t Know What Pittsburgh Means
Sometimes, when I’m bored, I imagine something truly preposterous—a man of space and time. Such a man would not see the world the way we do. I like to think he’d divide things neatly into cubic meters, or perhaps (with a nod to the issue of establishing an absolute frame of reference for such a […]
If the universe is created by G-d with human beings in mind, why is there so much of it?
If really you doubt the midrashic tortoise or the slaying banquet, feel free to take, my host, mezuzah from post, and let my friends come pouring in. If really you’re safe without the wrapped gauntlet or your plaited mail, then blunt black corners, let your threads flail, and come dance with us. If you fear […]
We are afraid He did it in six days. We are too trifling to be created in anything less than an eternity. Cats, fine, His. But Twitter? Never, never, in all His majesty and His meaning could He do such a thing. He deserves a stern reprimand once all our plans have wound down and […]
The 3rd member of a Sukkot series. Member the 1st. Member the 2nd. “Every single thing one sees or hears is an instruction for his conduct in the service of G-d. This is the idea of avoda, service: to comprehend and discern in all things a way in which to serve G-d.” -The Holy Baal […]
Every argument, every compromise, every concession to pragmatism, every demarcation and limit and definition driven into the ground seeking solid bedrock for anchoring the chains, they make me sick. There are only two places I can actually live, sub-rational nihilism and faith. Subrational nihilism, the power of it — this is the good stuff. Let […]
Objective Reality Is For Meeting G-d
“Facts don’t care about your feelings,” some Jews say. I do wonder, though. If facts don’t care about your feelings, why is Rosh Hashana called the “day of the beginning of your action”? In many other words: Once upon a time, centuries ago, few would have recognized a real facts/feelings distinction, if “facts” mean shared […]
Elul. Twenty grinning bosses frocked and leering come to tame you with horns of Gabriel blowing incantations you first heard fall like silver neutron hatchets from your mother’s mouth to pin your heart to the cracked timbers of your cage. They know naught of the power you peel from the night hidden from all eyes. […]
Why History’s Greatest Philosopher Lived in Liadi
I am only a beginner student of philosophy, so when I say the Alter Rebbe is the greatest thinker to ever live, it has nothing of the authority of Yitro, who chose G-d after worshipping all idols on the face of the earth. Really, I am giving a considered opinion that may be wrong but […]