Feminist rabbi. I like democracy and inclusive education. #ParshaChat
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Learning and task solving strategies aren't the same as immutable abilities; the conflation of the two bothers me a lot because it creates a worldview in which any learning loss is irredeemable and people who face adversity are punished for inevitably suffering its effects.
@reptroycarter.bsky.social and @repjamesclyburn.bsky.social Are joining Michigan Dems in a People’s Town Hall in Lisa McClain’s MI-09, cause, she wont’ show up. If you live in the Lake Orion area and you’re free Fri evening, RSVP and hear from 2 Dems who actually DO care whether you live or die. 4/
Unpopular opinion: I love performative. If it’s making noise in support of our goals, who cares? The more noise the better. Not all of the below stories are performative, but some are. And that’s okay. DAILY DEMS DOING THE WORK, MAKING NOISE, AND FIGHTING BACK Day 218 1/
daily Dems doing the work making noise and fighting back day 218 Performative doesn’t mean bad and we need to stop acting like it does. Our power lies in making noise as does the power of our members of Congress the more noise they make the better. ariellaelm.substack.com/p/daily-dems...
Can anyone recommend a great book on the women’s suffrage movement?
@gillevansx.bsky.social Your name looks familiar — were we connected on another platform at some point?
I think that a lot of people are struggling to cope with the fact that we’re in real life and not in a movie about politics. You only get a montage of transformative moments in a movie made long after the fact.
@peggyflanagan.bsky.social is the current MN LT Gov, and, on Wed, Aug 20, I had the pleasure to speak with her. In her daughters words, the work of an LG is to “go on field trips and help people” and, really, that’s what it boils down to, and being in the Senate isn’t all that different. 1/
I don’t know how to fix this. Because this is pretty much, Word for Word exactly what Ken is doing at the DNC. Like this is his plan this is what he’s been talking about every single time he opens his mouth. I don’t know how to get people to know that democrats.org/news/dnc-and...
DC area folks — this non-partisan rally in solidarity with survivors exploited by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell is happening Wed morning if you want to support.
Thank you for listening. I would love to watch this!
For everyone screaming at Velshi, he or his team did see my full thread. They are interested in discussing further. Please stop calling him out on my behalf. I will let you know if this becomes anything. I really really hope it does.
I’m so tired. I’m so very very tired I put in so much work and yet you still say this shit
Thank you. I really really appreciate this thread and it’s reminding me that I need to get back into the habit of proactively signal boosting people fighting the good fight.
In this piece, you said that you don’t know what happens behind closed doors and you’re not listening to people in Washington, but maybe you need to a bit because the people you named are the same people that everyone already knows. 9/
To amplify all the fighters. Do what you do with the banned book club. Have a segment where you amplify one democrat a week who is doing it right. Choose people no one else is talking about. You have the power to do that. 8/
We have the best chance at saving the world when we praise those doing the work not just the top five that everyone can name off the top of their heads. You have one of the biggest platforms in the world. You could use it to talk about those that no one else is talking about. 7/
I’m tired. I’m tired of posting about this day in and day out and having people who have a lot less than a lot larger audience than me saying the same damn thing. Maybe our Dems aren’t doing everything humanly possible but they are doing a hell of a lot more than you’re giving them credit for. 8/
You could’ve mentioned @jimmcgovernma.bsky.social who is the best ranking member we will ever have on the rules committee. I mean the fact that he found a loophole because the Republicans filed the rule wrong so he was able to have every Democrat ask for unanimous consent. That deserves praise. 7/
You could’ve mentioned @gomez.house.gov who went back to Roybal in downtown LA more than once a week for the last two months till ice let him in and is still going back because he’s not satisfied by what he saw 6/
For instance, you could’ve named @vanhollen.senate.gov who is in Israel as we speak, trying to get them to end the war to stop the famine. And who is the main reason that El Salvador is no longer housing American abductees 5/
You talked about the same names that everyone else talks about. You have a huge platform why can’t you name other people? Why can’t you prove that it’s more than just those people doing the work? 4/
Or the fact that the house Dems were 100% united against the CR and against the big ugly bill and against the rescission package. There are so many different voices in the Democratic Party to get all of them to do the same thing is a huge lift. You know this because you said it in your piece. 5/
You didn’t acknowledge how Jefferies created the rapid response task force and litigation working group and they are doing some incredible work I mean, did you even acknowledge the amicus briefs? Congress doesn’t normally get involved in cases like that. 4/
You also talked about Iowa, but you didn’t talk about the fact Ken Martin sent 30,000 volunteers there. In fact, every time we have won one of these elections, the DNC has been there. Every single one of these local wins the DNC has been there asking the campaign: hoe can we help? 3/
Or how hard the Senators worked to get the worst of the worst out of the big ugly bill and yeah, Schumer played a huge role in making that happen. You didn’t acknowledge how the DNC has organized 138 town halls in Republican district that our democratic lawmakers have hosted 2/
Yeah, I did watch it. For starters you didn’t acknowledge that Wall Street Journal wrote an article about how successful Schumer is with blocking Trump’s judicial nominees. 1/
194: Diversity is a good thing. Being part of a pluralistic democracy is a good thing. Holding ground as American Jews is a good thing, and public school is part of how we do that. It’s not the only way, but it’s a way that we should value.
193: There are ways in which the presence of Jewish kids in public schools is good for the Jewish community. Among other things, it’s good that non-Jewish kids are meeting Jewish kids as children.
It turns out that babies also like music that *isn’t* super annoying!
Before all is said and done, we're going to have to grapple with how Taylor Lorenz managed to do the antivax to fash pipeline all the way to boosting Nazis on Twitter in front of everyone's eyes, and pulled it off in plain sight because she performativly hollered at people about masks a lot.
We've reached the end of the scheduled #ParshaChat, but please feel free to continue the conversation!
That is such a good book. #ParshaChat
Women are capable of taking actions that matter, which means that women are capable of taking actions that matter in *bad* ways too. #ParshaChat
I have found that historical works written more than a few decades ago often have huge glaring holes in their arguments because they forget to account for the existence of women. I still see a lot of that in a lot of places. #ParshaChat
A3: I think there's something important here about seeing women as having moral agency. (Which the text is, unfortunately, much less consistent about when it comes to rights than when it comes to liability/culpability.) #ParshaChat
Q3: What's going on here? Why does this text explicitly include women? #ParshaChat
A2: That's also a really interesting passage from a safety perspective! I think there's something very interesting about the idea that a murder needs to be ritually ackowledged as murder even if there's no possibility of finding and convicting the murderer. #ParshaChat
A2: That's a really good point, especially in the long term! #ParshaChat
I'm really glad your union is showing up for you in this matter. (And that's so true about ableism in education — and also nobody seems to think about disability accommodations for *parents*). #ParshaChat
A2: And it's making me think about the difference between the kind of peace that's made possible through a foundation of justice and rights and so on, vs the kind of false peacefulness that lets people feel righteous about stamping down demands for justice. #ParshaChat
A2: One thing that's difficult for me about this passage is how much it seems to see capital punishment as a necessary part of how we create safety. I don't want the world to work that way. And, at the same time, these verses resonate with me. #ParshaChat
A1: It seems to me that this reduces ambiguity over whether something authoritative has or has not happened. #ParshaChat
A1: This reminds me of how our courts meet in designated places and how we have designated capitols and capitol buildings. #ParshaChat
(You could definitely read this as an ableist stigmatization of blindness, but I think it's actually describing a real phenomenon. Any sort of sensory information is interpreted by our brains as much as it's perceived directly, and bribes damage perception.) #ParshaChat
And this is another thing I appreciate, form a safety perspective: Taking bribes doesn't only affect what you *do*, it affects your perspective to the point that it also prevents you from *seeing* things that you otherwise would have. #ParshaChat bsky.app/profile/ruti...
A2: And justice takes infrastructure and work and resolve. The thing about impartial justice is that it's really hard to *want* to be impartial when faced with a real case. We've all got biases that we *want* to act on. #ParshaChat
A2: One thing that's interesting to me about this text is how it seems to be framing justice not only as morally important, but *also* as necessary for safety. Injustice is dangerous on a number of levels. #ParshaChat
Q2: Looking through the verses, what kinds of things does the text seem to see as dangerous? What kinds of things does the text seem to see as sources of safety? What do you make of this? #ParshaChat
Has school started for you? #ParshaChat
Mazel tov! #ParshaChat
Mazel tov! #ParshaChat
A1: It's almost painful to me how resonant this passage feels to me this week. #ParshaChat
Q1: Today, we'll focus on Deuteronomy 16:18-17:20, which outlines the need for a court system. Looking through the verses, what are your impressions? Does anything surprise you, raise questions, resonate, or stand out as particularly important? #ParshaChat
Deut. 17:20 Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.
Deut. 17:19 Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere YHVH his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws.
Deut. 17:18 ¶ When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll byb the levitical priests.
Deut. 17:16 Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since YHVH has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” Deut. 17:17 And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess.
Deut. 17:15 you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by YHVH your God. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kinsman.
Deut. 17:14 ¶ If, after you have entered the land that YHVH your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,”
Deut. 17:12 Should a man act presumptuously and disregard the priest charged with serving there YHVH your God, or the magistrate, that man shall die. Thus you will sweep out evil from Israel: Deut. 17:13 all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.
Deut. 17:11 You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left.
Deut. 17:10 you shall carry out the verdict that is announced to you from that place that YHVH chose, observing scrupulously all their instructions to you.
Deut. 17:9 and appear before the levitical priests, or the magistrate in charge at the time, and present your problem. When they have announced to you the verdict in the case,
Deut. 17:8 ¶ If a case is too baffling for you to decide, be it a controversy over homicide, civil law, or assault—matters of dispute in your courts—you shall promptly repair to the place that YHVH your God will have chosen,
Deut. 17:7 Let the hands of the witnesses be the first against him to put him to death, and the hands of the rest of the people thereafter. Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst.
Deut. 17:6 A person shall be put to death only on the testimony of two or morea witnesses; he must not be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.—
Deut. 17:5 you shall take the man or the woman who did that wicked thing out to the public place, and you shall stone them, man or woman, to death.—
Deut. 17:4 and you have been informed or have learned of it, then you shall make a thorough inquiry. If it is true, the fact is established, that abhorrent thing was perpetrated in Israel,
Deut. 17:3 turning to the worship of other gods and bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, something I never commanded—
Deut. 17:2 ¶ If there is found among you, in one of the settlements that YHVH your God is giving you, a man or woman who has affronted YHVH your God and transgressed His covenant—
Deut. 17:1 ¶ You shall not sacrifice to YHVH your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect of a serious kind, for that is abhorrent to YHVH your God.
Deut. 16:21 ¶ You shall not set up a sacred post—any kind of pole beside the altar of YHVH your God that you may make— Deut. 16:22 or erect a stone pillar; for such YHVH your God detests.
Deut. 16:19 You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Deut. 16:20 Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that YHVH your God is giving you.
Deut. 16:18 ¶ You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that YHVH your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.
Deuteronomy 16:18-17:20, for #ParshaChat study of Shoftim: Sefaria: www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.... Verses also threaded below:
A0: Shabbat shalom #ParshaChat. I'm Rabbi Ruti Regan, here to moderate and looking forward to the conversation.
Q0: Introduce yourself! Anything about you, your week, or your interest in #ParshaChat that you'd like to share.
Our current theme for #ParshaChat text study is safety and applying modern theories of safety to the text. If you have questions about #ParshaChat or how to participate, please feel free to @ or DM Rabbi @RutiRegan.bsky.social with questions!
Our brothers the whole house of Israel, who are in distress and captivity who wander over sea and over land -- may God have mercy on them, and bring them from distress to comfort, from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption, now, swiftly, and soon. And let us say: Amen.
A prayer for the hostages: אַחֵינוּ כָּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הַנְּתוּנִים בַּצָּרָה וּבַשִּׁבְיָה עוֹמְדִים בֵּין בַּיָּם וּבֵין בַּיַּבָּשָׁה הַמָּקוֹם יְרַחֵם עֲלֵיהֶם וְיוֹצִיאֵם מִצָּרָה לִרְוָחָה וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה מִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה הָשָׁתָא בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן #ParshaChat
Welcome to #ParshaChat, a Jewish space for discussion of the weekly Torah reading (and sometimes other things!) This week we are studying: Shoftim Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9 www.hebcal.com/sedrot/shoft...
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
🧪⚒️ Geologists, start your… …search for the embarrassingly large number of minerals you don’t recognise on Mindat.org ! #MinCup25
Trump knew RFK Jr. would be a disastrous pick to lead health care in America, and he nominated him anyway. Trump made this mistake, and now he must fire RFK Jr. immediately.
I’ve been memeing as a way to try to convince my brain to start writing again. So maybe in the medium term?
I do find it somewhat hilarious that the people who are the most intense about the Rambam also tend to be the most intense in railing against ‘assimilation’.
I also largely stay out of disputation Bluesky.
Shout out to all the health/policy reporters trying to stay on top of what's going on at the CDC. I hope you're caffeinated.
Yeah Rambam as simplified by Chabad is *especially* not the last word on Jewish theology.
Let’s all vote in the midterms so that Congress can actually do something about this.
Kennedy is unfit—period. He’s the one who should be fired. His dangerous illegalities require Congressional intervention. Bipartisan investigation is a first step—aiming for full accountability.
Four months ago I called on RFK to resign or be fired. I will keep making that call every single day as he continues to decimate our nation’s public health institutions.
Putting extreme ideologues in charge of our safety has consequences. The result is leaders who treat your safety as a secondary concern. Advancing their worldview comes first. That’s what we’re seeing at the CDC & it’s going to decimate our ability to fight disease.
That said, the Rambam is not the end all and be all of Jewish approaches to theology.
There is also a kind of Jewish atheism where people believe that believing in God would be a chillul Hashem.
If you have ADHD or ASD, you don’t have to lie because that’s on the list.
Criticizing Israel’s specific actions isn’t antizionism though, it’s just criticism.
FWIW, primary immunodeficiencies and use of immunosuppressive medications are also on the list, and there’s a specific Covid vaccine schedule for people who are immunocompromised: www.cdc.gov/covid/hcp/va...
By following the recommended guidelines in this handbook, you and your community can create a safer playground environment for all children and contribute to the reduction of playground-related deaths and injuries. Find it here: www.cpsc.gov/Playground-H...
