But wars are good for the economy, right?

"AND" is an important word.

Here's the thing, friends. Antisemitism is rising. Intensely. Frighteningly. In many areas of society where it hasn't had nearly as prominent a footprint for a very long time. And Fighting antisemitism effectively means being in broad coalition with other marginalized groups, not going solo. ->

On Erev May Day in NYC, a minyan of courageous rabbis--and two pastors--got arrested in front of 26 Federal Plaza, the site of tremendous ICE cruelty and harm against our neighbors. These rabbis, along with over 200 Jewish New Yorkers, showed up and lived their Jewish values, demanding ICE Out!

Tonight!! You can RSVP here: forms.gle/xoPrvaY2NdFS...

Just a note that if you're looking for a new shul in NYC, we have an open house coming up this Friday! Would love to meet y'all IRL! (Feel free to DM if you have questions!)

#JewSky / #RabbiSky - a Christian friend asked me for my recommendation of a good Jewish study Bible, with good commentary and essays to help contextualize our way of reading scripture. What's your go-to for Christian readers?

I hate so many things about AI but one of the things I hate most is that they took my em dashes away. Luckily, nobody except me actually reads the sermons I write (they just listen to them) so I can draft them with as many em dashes as I want. (But I still hate AI.)

this is just a warmed over david duke speech from 1990

Trump loved Mamdani until he raised the smallest amount of tax on a few of his ultra rich buddies who don’t even live in the city but keep empty apartments there - literally their taxes will go up like $38,000/year on $350 million apartments - and now Trump says Mamdani is the devil ruining the city

Strikes me that the lifetime of Hampshire might also be seen, retrospectively, as the length of a certain American period.

Hampshire is an incredible institution that has done so much for so many young adults. Devastating is right. Liberal arts matter. Liberal arts education matters. I feel awful for the students, staff, and faculty, and all of their families.

Rick Scott borrowing the Ku Klux Klan’s messaging.

Wrote this this afternoon: Tonight is Yom HaShoah And I look at my toddler across the room Who giggles as he bangs on a toy piano And beams at me With no idea what a genocide is Thank God

Brooklyn, 6:15pm Chabad guy: Excuse me are you Jewish? My husband: Yes CG: Have you wrapped tefilin yet today? H: No thanks not really my thing. CG: It won’t take long H: No thanks man Me: We have them at home. He can use mine. CG: Do you have candles for Shabbat? Shabbat shalom!

The fact that the discourse today is about anything but Trump's words is a reflection of just how broken we already are. There is no world in which a man like this should have the nuclear codes. Every elected official who isn't working to invoke the 25th has abdicated all responsibility.

Last night’s Seder in the Streets with @jfrejnyc.bsky.social was so beautiful. Grateful to those who risked arrest at Palantir and to the hundreds of us who gathered to support them and say that our tradition teaches immigrants are welcome here!

Ever single gentile needs to read each and every one of these. A Jewish woman on Instagram made a post about how matzo is made and why we eat it on Passover. Every reply was violent, vile, and hateful. I need you to understand how even the most innocuous part of Jewish existence is reviled.

Jeff Bezos has $222 billion. If he paid my wealth tax this year, we could fund insulin in America for everyone who needs it plus free school lunch for every kid in Texas—and have plenty of money left over. And Bezos would still have $215 billion dollars to spare.

Went to the pet store for cat food. The sweet employee gave our toddler his very 1st slap bracelet. Which leads me to 2 observations: 1) Christian hegemony thrives even in Brooklyn 2) The 90s are, indeed, back Which basically means that I’m gonna raise my child in the dark version of my childhood

Happy Easter to all who celebrate, Happy Cheap Candy’s Eve to all who don’t

Just to say That if your kitchen is not as clean as you would like Or your matzo balls are not homemade Or your Seder is smaller than you hoped for Or your Seder plans didn’t come together at all Dayenu. It’s enough. More can always happen next year. Chag Sameach!

(also if you haven't subscribed it's free and it'd make me happy!)

Conversion therapy is abuse. I would support classifying it as such and banning the practice outright. I think the abuse classification is important because it’s the first step in being able to hold perpetrators accountable for the pain they inflict on the LGBTQ community.

objectively the funniest critique an american could level at another country

I can hardly call my blog "More than Four Questions" if I don't do an annual post with 4 additional questions for seder, can I? I offer these to help us live fully in two civilizations and to invite us to organize as our ancestors were invited to organize.

If you are a Jew and you are horrified by the Knesset's new law allowing Palestinian prisoners to be hanged, good. I really don't know what else to say except to look unflinchingly at what's happening in the West Bank. Pesach is in two days. What kind of Jerusalem do you want a year from now?

This whole thread. Relevant for HP for sure but also for so many other things. The number of things I said out of ignorance when I was younger that would make me gasp now.... In my experience it is always worth trying to call people in first before assuming that hate is driving their actions.

So this is the day that I was supposed to do the big Passover clean and shop. So of course I caught my toddler’s cold bad and am going to be spending most of today half asleep on the couch while my partner wrangles the kiddo Pesach was not meant for parents of littles with jobs

Marches in isolation are far from enough. And today’s No Kings marchers felt really special. Marchers in NYC took over 2 full avenues for blocks and blocks. The mood was joyful and inclusive and hopeful. I hope this fuels additional activism for a lot of people. Shavua tov ❤️

Over eight million Americans took to the streets today, which makes No Kings 3 the biggest single day of protest in the history of our country. #NoKings

I don't believe that the #nokings march, in isolation, will fix anything. And I absolutely believe that it is an essential piece of a puzzle of resistance, and we are getting closer and closer to that 3.5% participation rate. If it's in your Shabbat practice, I hope to see you in NYC tomorrow!

Assassinations of people for political disagreements are absolutely unacceptable and I am very glad this was stopped.

Deploying ICE at airports is to normalize their transition from being a special operation targeting immigrants to being an entity that polices all. This is the production of the American Gestapo, one institution at a time.

On a crowded train next to a seemingly observant man studying Talmud on his iPad. This is one of the (countless) things I love about nyc. I wish I was brave enough to strike up a convo, Reconstructionist Jew to Orthodox Jew. I bet we’d disagree about a lot, but how interesting talk could be.

The things about Harry Potter, folks, is that for many Millennials (myself included) it *is* nostalgic. It *is* an important part of our coming of age. And it is essential not to support it in any way because the author is dedicating her substantial wealth to destroying trans lives.

Every time I post about endometriosis and dare to make it, gender inclusive, I always get a lot of comments from people angry that I didn’t just say “women” And every time, I think about how Rowling has enough money to cure endometriosis forever. But she doesn’t actually give a fuck about women.

A 6 year old whose baby naming I did (and whose parents I met the summer after I started rabbinical school) came to our Hebrew school candy seder today. If you want to know what makes this work worth it, stuff like this tops the list. (And yes I do literally mean a candy Seder)

I'm receiving reports from airports all over the country about ICE sightings. I'll be sharing updates here as I get them. ⬇️

Caboose. Scroll up (it's not far) to read how this is important.

It's been a week since the attack on Temple Israel. I haven't said anything about it publicly yet. So: A lot of people I love who've been good at steering clear of antisemitism are tiptoeing over the edge. AND A lot of people I love who've been good at nuance are starting to slip. 👉

Basically feminism for the past 250 years has been a struggle to establish that women are people endowed with certain inalienable rights, and among those rights are life, liberty, and bodily autonomy.

shoutout to millennial profs who protested the iraq war and now have to teach through this one. existing is exhausting sometimes.

Headed back from an exhausting and largely rejuvenating conference with Reconstructing Judaism. There is so much heartbreak in the Jewish world right now. But there’s also delight. We can’t lose that. The conference organizers making my baby a name tag was 😅. Note his congregational affiliation

Except that the survey polled "connected Jews" aka "fewer intermarried Jews, more Jews who are affiliated with denominations and more Jews who have lived in Israel than demographic data would suggest is representative of U.S Jewry overall." In other words, this survey wasn't of most American Jews.

Our liberation as Jews is tied up with the liberation of ALL people around the world.

The number of small businesses closing in my neighborhood due to intense rent hikes is such a shanda. These mom and pops that have been around for decades are being replaced with Sweetgreens and Chipotles or by vacant storefronts because nobody can afford to pay anymore 😢

And so comes the return of the Boston Tea Party, latte style (I’ll take mine with almond mild and one shot of vanilla, please)

Honestly there unique trappings and traditions but most religious outlooks come down to 1 of 2 approaches: - we do this because it helps us be more special Or - we do this because it helps us be more human If you’re part of a religious group, make sure it’s the second kind.