CAN CONFIRM (See, eg, the classic "Are Porgs Kosher" conversation that emerged thanks to @sirosenbaum.bsky.social )
Rabbi/award-winning author. 🌱Sacred + justice newsletter (100% NAZI-FREE!): LifeIsASacredText.com Newest 📚ON REPENTANCE & REPAIR: MAKING AMENDS IN AN UNAPOLOGETIC WORLD. 💥Collective liberation or bust. she/her
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CAN CONFIRM (See, eg, the classic "Are Porgs Kosher" conversation that emerged thanks to @sirosenbaum.bsky.social )
*cackles*
"Any person can enrich the entire world with their spiritual treasures, if you have the strength to reveal them. You don't have to be a wise or learned person. For there is no way to assess the excessive wealth of your soul, because your soul is the light of God in the world." Rav.Kook
Join us.
A better world is possible. There are roadmaps for our collective liberation. We don't have to be reinventing the wheel during the biggest crises of our own lifetimes, we don't.
(My tone came from how ubiquitous this quote has become as attributed to him when he’s a couple millennia late to that party).
facts Let art be feral
*glowers in mishnah*
(this dude not only didn't know that he wasn't just getting some emptyheaded slate on which to proselytize,, he didn't know I had been admitted to rab school like the day before and was at my JEWSPLAINIEST) (he was SO RELIEVED when my friend showed up)
AMAZING. My own fave was the Jehovah's Witness that found me at BART waiting for a friend when I was tarted up for Purim just before rab school. Me, in corset & glitter: "So God's name doesn't appear in the Book of Esther, but it says in Deuteronomy that God hester panim, hid God's face..."
"Have you heard the good news about Sri Ganapati?"
Going from "You need to believe these things, or at least appear to believe them" to "Questioning everything is not only tolerated but encouraged" has been a big adjustment, and I still have moments of "No, but is this really okay?"
One of the by-products of my Catholic upbringing was the belief that all religions functioned in more or less the same way. Learning about Judaism meant I had to completely re-assess what religion could be. It was a constant stream of "That's allowed?"
HELL MEANS THERE ARE APOLOGIES YOU NEVER GET phew there's a sentence what if we made it our damn work to do the accountability and repair here while we're still in these meatsuits, mothertruckers
Oh, Rami Shapiro wrote exactly ONE of those sentences, the first one. The second, third and fourth is Micah 6:8 and then there's some Rabbi Tarfon from Pirke Avot usually slapped on at the end.
SHIVAM YOU'RE THE GUY WITH COMMUNION WHO CAN'T GET MARRIED RIGHT (Lord, the things people say to me when they find out that I'm a rabbi and assume that rabbis are ... also Catholic priests ? )
OK well show them this damn book
Or you could read the book instead of telling me what's impossible to communicate ?
♥️♥️♥️
One of my American friends lost his damn mind when he (raised *very* fire-and-brimstone) learned that the Danish State Church had concluded that the existence of Satan and Hell were incompatible with a loving God, and would no longer be teaching those doctrines.
I feel like some of y'all could have a field day just doing a case study of the font choices on these books, since so many of the covers here are just BIG TITLE IN BIG FONT ON COVER and there seem to be maybe 4 modalities, tops.
I have a lot of love and compassion for those of you raised with the trauma of those hellfire preachers but my friends, over here, there are thousands of years of theologies, including in your own traditions, that assume other ways of being. I promise.
Do you immediately grok the phrase "cheap grace"? Have you ever been told that unforgiveness will allow the root of bitterness to spring up? Then this book is for you, too.
& the idea that there would be some collective punishment for those who don't have the right theology or some shit? Is the farthest thing from my theology that one could ever get. So. Connect to the Big Bigness in your own way, or don't, but it's still there regardless? Like? Punishment???
And the idea that the world is separated into "belief" and "non-belief"? Yeahhhh that's the least Jewish idea in the world, by the way. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. But Jews can, are, long have been atheists, agnostics, that's a thing. What matters to us is what you DO.
My book is VERY EXPLICITLY written for readers of any & no religious POV. I believe with complete faith that the interpersonal dimensions of Maimonides' Laws of Repentance can be used by *anyone*, Jewish or not, atheist, agnostic, etc, to take responsibility, do repair work, create healing.
Here's my curated list of books for the season of introspection, accountability, repentance, repair and transformation. Get into the zone with these powerful reflections on Doing The Work, from within and beyond the Jewish tradition.
Speedily and in our days, please God
So exciting that I was one of three (3) women that they included in this roundup of books to prepare you for this season. An amazing diversity of white Ashkenazim, here. Really-- honored to be included, but my FRIENDS. (I've got another High Holy Day book list in the skeet below this.)
Get your copy here!
I mean, if you know Pharisees and you know the gospels, it's pretty obvious. He talks like one, and they relate to him like he's one. bsky.app/profile/ther...
Thanks for this lovely invitation!
The deans off without so much as a slap on the wrist within weeks, even if it wasn’t public yet? This is a man doing bad and justifying it to himself.
How about in the author’s context in which he had been told for the third time in as many months to read a book on accountability by someone who was telling him he was actively harming people, the last time of which was as she was leaving his denomination? How about knowing that he was going to let
Wh00t!!
I’ve been on ghost for a while, and here’s the thread to help others get off fuckstack as well:
Life is a Sacred Text brings liberation-forward nourishment for readers of any - and no - spiritual bent. Sacred myth + historical scholarship (& more!) can show us how to grow; to care better in community; & to learn timeless, essential lessons about facing down Empire & winning. Join us ❤️🌱
Imagine if Tiresome felt he could afford to recant his transphobia, homeless-bashing? Imagine if he thought he could say he was wrong, apologize for the harm he did, and talk about how he was going to repair that damage? (Shout out to @theradr.bsky.social, FFS read her books if you haven't.) (4/)
wrat.com/2024/09/09/p... Plus these white dude musicians never got that he was better than he was I don’t think— it was Harrison’s son who wanted him there —
anywhere there is power there are assholes my friend
Now I want the Prince Vault to release all the covers he did fucking around his PP studios like that because Prince covering Freefallin would have been something to behold in any case, maybe explain the thing
"I couldn't see what the big deal was about Prince until he deigned to play White Boy Music and I understood that he could smoke the fuck out of any genre he wanted and that maybe the problem was me"
He used a pocket dimension to store it until he could hand it off to Oprah
3) really?? Huh. Because damn, your note about all the angry boomers is so spot on
jinx bsky.app/profile/ther...
Dhani Harrison's obvious delight and zero ego about the whole thing is my second favorite part of this. "Wait... what?! OMG.. guys, did you see that..??" *Tom Petty, relieved AF that he has sunglasses on * "You GUYS!!!"
Wonder if there was any context to how badly his org was fucking up said investigation, if his org was harming victim-survivors in the process, whether an alum of his Gender & Power committee had finally called him on it & asked him to read her book on accountability no fewer than 3 times
Tbt a year ago when he head of Conservative Judaism, WHILE his org was investigating abuses by rab school deans vs 40+ students, wrote this in the month of accountability: "When we have regrets about earlier choices, that recognition of our fallibility should inspire kindness towards... ourselves."
Perhaps the greatest musical fuck you in the history of the industry
Mamdani at the @nywfp.bsky.social float at the West Indian Day Parade!
Protesting at the Haymarket Memorial on Labor Day feels very correct.
If you’ve ever compared unvaccinated kids to vaccinated kids, you’ve seen the former are more likely to die.
IF ONLY
Also from a disabled guests or a “sometimes disabilities show up suddenly and don’t go away” pov I just — 👀 👀 👀 Well, I guess if you can afford to have those magic flying trapeze swings transformed into some fucking elevators I guess
Don’t be mean
You catch the Captain America spaceship lighting on the ceiling?
The city museum is the BEST but this creeps me out personally
But there’s a glow room that - has walls in it ! ! 1 !
You were hoping someone would get hurt unnecessarily?
🫥
No no Steve Martin / Martin Short / Selena Gomez themed
“Silly me, I left it in the glow room”
“a” ?
Ok but hear me out, what if we taxed the fuck out of really rich people
i could play mad libs for like a year and never come up with half the headlines i see in any random week www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
… why is the expectation of increased scrutiny not limited to speech & actions, *even beyond the limits of their job* bc public service?? We can absolutely pay attention to how she treats service workers or kids at the park, but why do you get to be the arbiter of whether her clothes are cosplay?
(As far as I know— obviously I’m NOT the expert on the Reformation!! Just clarifying what Daas Torah is)
I thought that was the taking of indulgences? And that was more about being able to interpret the words on the page without mediation, not “Who needs to actually learn about stem cells / COVID vaccines/ fracking / etc to have an opinion about this”
Special shoutout to the rabbi who wrote up the Torah I shared on the bus when a bunch of us got arrested under his own name (& who’s now a dickhead abt the genocide, surprise) & the ex who visited me ONE day when I was at Pardes & who I found yrs later claimed the whole summer on their resume
I’m so sorry and this kind of shit has totally happened to me and I HATE IT
🤣☠️🤣 Ah ya like Daas Torah, that not at all fucked idea that’s basically: “as a holy rabbinic vessel I have access to all wisdom & can rule on shit way outside my knowledge base” & I’m SURE there’s no equivalent in the fundie versions of other religions MEBBE WE COULD TRY TRUSTING EXPERTS INSTEAD?!
So if you sign up for public service bc you care about the country & wanna make things better, I should be able to call you fat & stupid looking & ugly? I should be able to tell you that the choices you make that you think make you feel beautiful are shameful?
So a progressive woman in Hollywood whose politics are exactly like yours but whose physical appearance is basically just like Noem’s because of the culture there— mock, or no? When do you stop mocking? When in the power-gaining process does that stop being ok? Or even when you’re on top it’s fine?
I see you did not read and think about the whole entire thread, then.
I’m on with 5! Whoo.
What’s your best streaming service rec?
why do you think i want to see his face
(Abe notwithstanding. Tony Shalhoub gets all the passes. Every last one.)
THEY'RE CALLED CRAFTS ISAAC
*snerk* Listen, Timmy is Jewish. I got 99 problems (with his face on screen) but that ..
I know Maisel was trying to be funny and over the top but the Jewy bits were played by people who didn't know how to embody them so it was a costume.
And as strongly as I feel about this, if there were ever a Rebbe movie, Chabadniks would be PISSED if a non-Jew were in that role. And though I'm generally not as mad about some Yid casting - prosthetic noses notwithstanding, FUCK THEM --what often happens is caricature, not nuance. See: Maisel.
As much as I think that's likely to be the case, I cannot condone it and simultaneously demand that Maybe Happy Ending consider finding an Asian actor somewhere in all of New York or that people stop casting cis actors to play trans characters or etc. Also, I'm not Chabad, so my vote counts less.
just saying that power exists and that we all live within contexts
1950s or so
There are many reasons I refuse to watch that movie.
You are well aware that that's not what I mean, but nice try at pretending that power is not a thing and we all live entirely without context!
THEIR BEARDS EVEN GREY THE SAME WAY
the creation of the world
in other news I know this is an issue bc Nick Offerman is not a Yid (yeah, I genuinely believe in authentic rep in casting) but uh if they were ever gonna do a movie about the Rebbe (they'd fuck it up if they were, I know) (I'm just SAYING, look)
sorry did I just learn that an early 18th c. Geez mss w/ stunning pics of angels went for $300 while a "$10 bill given directly by the Rebbe" is auctioned with a highest bid *so far* of $850?? yes yes I know what some people think about the dude who died in 1994 I remain full of my own thoughts
ooh!
YES THEY COULDA
I'm not, but noted!
ugh, sorry. They have five of mine.
My kids are, it's never been my thing. I've seen a handful of the movies, either ones of particular interest (Black Panther, Wonder Woman) or eg if I'm watching with the kids(who're tween/teens)
read the article
I so adore the genre of "here a punk song about a philosophical book / foreign film / poem that I enjoyed." Ya nerds. ❤️ (these are my people, let us be clear.)
Thank you @theradr.bsky.social + here's a direct link to the signup page: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au... #writersky