Published in Strange Wonder·PinnedMember-onlyThe Three Fiercest MantrasMany people wonder what the most powerful mantras are. This is a natural question, and I am going to tell you. I should warn you that these mantras are for those who truly desire power, peace and freedom, and not for those who merely seek a passing wind of improvement…Life Mantras2 min readLife Mantras2 min read
Mar 3Member-onlyPurim, Spring Subversions, And Siding Against HamanPurim. The holiday I kind of love, and feel kind of uncomfortable about. But mostly love. Let’s get into it. Purim ostensibly celebrates the Jews turning the tables on their genocidal pursuers in ancient Persia. Things are looking bad when a fortunately placed heroine- Esther- is able to exert influence…Judaism3 min readJudaism3 min read
Jan 27Member-only10 Spiritual Gems From The Father of Modern Fantasy LiteratureWhat could be cooler than having mentored Lewis Carrol? How about C.S. Lewis calling you his “master”? Being friends with Mark Twain and Walt Whitman? Being amajor inspiration to J.R.R Tolkien? All of this is true of a little known Scottish mystic, poet and writer named George MacDonald (1824–1905). MacDonald…Literature5 min readLiterature5 min read
Dec 27, 2022Member-onlyJacob and the Angel of The OtherSeveral weeks ago I taught on the Torah portion where Yaa’kov (Jacob) wrestles with a mysterious figure in the night-time, and I though I’d share what I taught here, a meditation on forgiveness, reconciliation, and trauma as the year ends. Several weeks ago Jews read the weekly Torah portion “Vayeitze,”…Judaism9 min readJudaism9 min read
Nov 29, 2022What Is Happening In Israel?In the last month, according to Combatants For Peace, there were over 100 attacks by Jewish settlers in the occupied territories against Palestinians — and these attacks occurred in just over 10 days. These settlers, who are rarely brought to account by the Israeli state, and in fact receive support…4 min read4 min read
Nov 29, 2022Member-onlyPalestine between Israel and IsraelWhat happened between the exile of the Jews and the Zionist return? “Palestine” is a very old name for the region that more or less maps onto what Jews called Eretz Yisrael, one that goes back to 12 century BCE Egyptian inscriptions which call the area Paleset. …5 min read5 min read
Nov 29, 2022Member-onlyWar In The Hebrew BibleBoth warfare and the rhetoric of war were brutal in the ancient Near East. Yet as Christian theologian Preston Sprinkle points out in his excellent book on violence in the Bible, Fight, “Israel was less violent (than surrounding cultures) and had a stripped down- almost absurd- warfare policy.” In the…7 min read7 min read
Nov 29, 2022Member-onlyIs The Israeli State A Rejection of Judaism?This is an article I have wanted to write for a long time. The massive tension between the current Zionist Israeli state and traditional Jewish ethics and belief is not a new thing: it dates back to the very start of the Zionist movement in the 1890s and the early…12 min read12 min read
Nov 29, 2022Member-onlyEarly Zionism and The Settling of PalestineThe Holy Land Before Zionism Jews lost all power in our homeland in 136 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt was crushed by the Roman Empire. By then it had been some time since Jews had ruled the region the Hebrew Bible says was promised to us by God. The…21 min read21 min read
Aug 10, 2022Member-onlyMaking Chelm Great AgainA Satire Note: In Ashkenazi Jewish folklore, Chelm functions as an imaginary town of fools. The following piece, which I wrote in February of 2017 after Trump’s election, continues in that tradition. …Satire8 min readSatire8 min read
