Mijal, reading your posts is like reading daily prayers. You inspire and warm me with your heart and passion and love for the Jewish People. You are a modern prophet, who shines beauty and clarity for how as a People -- we can and must survive together -- in the Jewish spirit of never being satisfied to be better.
I'm wondering if what Rachel means by a happy ending is really a greater purpose. Living for a happy ending is not living at all. But living for a greater purpose can fold every one of us into the arms of the Divine, that out of the chaos there is Unity if only we can get our selves out of the way. The prospects feel so remote but the image of carrying tribes on the soldiers of warriors is so powerful.
I think Ben's mother, Sarit, also meant it more literally - giving home to the people of Israel that all their struggles and sacrifices won't be for vain and that there will be happier times.. Even though I agree with you that there are many happy endings..
Ah, but if you and I have a political disagreement, whose words are divisive, yours or mine?
Curiously, much depends on who gets to decide. If someone who agrees with your politics gets to decide, oddly enough it usually is decided that it is my words that are divisive. Whereas if someone who agrees with my politics gets to decide, weirdly enough it is usually decided that your words are the divisive ones—and this decision is on the same facts subject to theoretically the same standard.
If you believe instead in self-restraint, I would like to introduce you to my people, the Jews. I hope you will like us, but I believe you will be disappointed in that particular respect.
Or wait, maybe the divisive voices are those that want to implement a change, any change (other than a change in government, of course). Or maybe it’s the voices of the minority against the majority. Learned and passionate advocates (of the opposition and government respectively) will explain why either standard is wrong. And which of those advocates are right and which are merely divisive? The problem recurses. It’s turtles all the way down.
Yes! This is so thorny. I spent 2 years in a research team dedicated to values pluralism and we kept coming back to some of the questions you raise. I think we resist being naive about the subjective element of deciding which arguments are divisive and at the same time cultivate a culture with greater tolerance for disagreements.
Thank you for your insights, as always. I keep my realistic optimism up taking the long view. Not that "Our story will have a happy ending," but that we will have a happy continuation. This thread--"the path that binds us"--is my inspiration. May we all want to be on that path, together, though only rarely in agreement, except for the commitment to the continuation.
I recently visited the Anne Frank House, and I haven’t been able to stop asking myself: How different are we really today from the Frank family?
They were educated, cultured, connected—living in what they thought was a civilized world. They trusted their neighbors. And yet, they still ended up in hiding, then in Auschwitz.
I hate the idea of the passive Jew—of being herded like cattle again. And after October 7th, even Israel doesn’t feel like the guarantee we once thought it was.
Some of my Jewish friends are buying guns. But surely, some Jews in Europe did that too. So what’s actually different now? What can we do—not just tactically, but psychologically and spiritually—to not repeat that same fate?
What are the tools we still lack? Or the illusions we still haven’t given up?"**
Ruben - so many questions here, existential ones. You're asking the million dollar question which is how to make sure we guarantee Jewish safety. There are of course many answers (and many debates!).. In terms of this essay, I think social cohesion and trust among Jews is perhaps the most important thing we can do to strengthen our chances for survival and flourishing..
Mijal, your weekly d'var Torah is a blessing I anticipate every week. Like so many in our community, I am (what R' Rachel Greengrass here at Beth Am in Miami) calls a Genesis Jew: one who, despite having wandered, heard the call after 10/7. I've enthusiastically re-embraced my heritage, our traditions, deep and evolving observance, and study, in part due to the influence of teachers like you. For more than a year now, your voice, both in print and on the pods, has been a constant beacon and I share it with everyone. We need more people who marry your many facets with boundless love of the Jewish people and story, warts and all (as Noam says;). Baruch HaShem!
Thank you for your perceptive and healing words, and the challenge you propose-accepted! Of course it’s not simple but beginning by listening will help. 🙏❤️
Mijal, reading your posts is like reading daily prayers. You inspire and warm me with your heart and passion and love for the Jewish People. You are a modern prophet, who shines beauty and clarity for how as a People -- we can and must survive together -- in the Jewish spirit of never being satisfied to be better.
David, this means so much to me. Thank you so much! We are, indeed, a beautiful people ❤
I'm wondering if what Rachel means by a happy ending is really a greater purpose. Living for a happy ending is not living at all. But living for a greater purpose can fold every one of us into the arms of the Divine, that out of the chaos there is Unity if only we can get our selves out of the way. The prospects feel so remote but the image of carrying tribes on the soldiers of warriors is so powerful.
I think Ben's mother, Sarit, also meant it more literally - giving home to the people of Israel that all their struggles and sacrifices won't be for vain and that there will be happier times.. Even though I agree with you that there are many happy endings..
Ah I understand that better now.
Ah, but if you and I have a political disagreement, whose words are divisive, yours or mine?
Curiously, much depends on who gets to decide. If someone who agrees with your politics gets to decide, oddly enough it usually is decided that it is my words that are divisive. Whereas if someone who agrees with my politics gets to decide, weirdly enough it is usually decided that your words are the divisive ones—and this decision is on the same facts subject to theoretically the same standard.
If you believe instead in self-restraint, I would like to introduce you to my people, the Jews. I hope you will like us, but I believe you will be disappointed in that particular respect.
Or wait, maybe the divisive voices are those that want to implement a change, any change (other than a change in government, of course). Or maybe it’s the voices of the minority against the majority. Learned and passionate advocates (of the opposition and government respectively) will explain why either standard is wrong. And which of those advocates are right and which are merely divisive? The problem recurses. It’s turtles all the way down.
Yes! This is so thorny. I spent 2 years in a research team dedicated to values pluralism and we kept coming back to some of the questions you raise. I think we resist being naive about the subjective element of deciding which arguments are divisive and at the same time cultivate a culture with greater tolerance for disagreements.
Isaiah Berlin to me is spot on here: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/10/23/message-21st-century/
💙✡️👥
Thank you for your insights, as always. I keep my realistic optimism up taking the long view. Not that "Our story will have a happy ending," but that we will have a happy continuation. This thread--"the path that binds us"--is my inspiration. May we all want to be on that path, together, though only rarely in agreement, except for the commitment to the continuation.
Amen! I think the commitment to the shared path is honestly the most important thing we can cultivate.
Shared paths, indeed! Sometimes there may be mountains between paths, but we know that the others are over there, heading in the same direction.
I recently visited the Anne Frank House, and I haven’t been able to stop asking myself: How different are we really today from the Frank family?
They were educated, cultured, connected—living in what they thought was a civilized world. They trusted their neighbors. And yet, they still ended up in hiding, then in Auschwitz.
I hate the idea of the passive Jew—of being herded like cattle again. And after October 7th, even Israel doesn’t feel like the guarantee we once thought it was.
Some of my Jewish friends are buying guns. But surely, some Jews in Europe did that too. So what’s actually different now? What can we do—not just tactically, but psychologically and spiritually—to not repeat that same fate?
What are the tools we still lack? Or the illusions we still haven’t given up?"**
Ruben - so many questions here, existential ones. You're asking the million dollar question which is how to make sure we guarantee Jewish safety. There are of course many answers (and many debates!).. In terms of this essay, I think social cohesion and trust among Jews is perhaps the most important thing we can do to strengthen our chances for survival and flourishing..
Thanks for this 🙏🏻
Very wise thoughts.
Mijal, your weekly d'var Torah is a blessing I anticipate every week. Like so many in our community, I am (what R' Rachel Greengrass here at Beth Am in Miami) calls a Genesis Jew: one who, despite having wandered, heard the call after 10/7. I've enthusiastically re-embraced my heritage, our traditions, deep and evolving observance, and study, in part due to the influence of teachers like you. For more than a year now, your voice, both in print and on the pods, has been a constant beacon and I share it with everyone. We need more people who marry your many facets with boundless love of the Jewish people and story, warts and all (as Noam says;). Baruch HaShem!
Thank you for your perceptive and healing words, and the challenge you propose-accepted! Of course it’s not simple but beginning by listening will help. 🙏❤️