Open Letter

Dear _____,  I am glad you are okay.  Finding out the people who hurt us were hurt, can be liberating. In a very real sense, they had no choice.  That any humanity and character or personality remained to survivors [of the Holocaust] after being subjected to such inhumanity is a mystery of grace. Many survivors ended up committing suicide, which seems counter-intuitive at first until you think about it, and then it makes perfect sense.  I still can't really forgive my parents for what they deprived me of, even though I understand that, in the words of Yeshua, "they did not know what they did". Maybe it is God I really blame unconsciously, or myself.  There are probably many more other books on the children of Holocaust survivors, including studies;  the one I posted to you is just the one I happened to read and the one that amazed me because I could identify so strongly with the accounts. My father is not Jewish,  though I did find Jewish relatives at ...

Apology - This American Life This podcast ranges from hilarious to bone-crushingly sad...one of the best pieces of journalism and writing i have ever experienced. Sedaris, adultery, public confession, and the fact that doctors get sued less when they ACKNOWLEDGE AND APOLOGIZE FOR THEIR MISTAKES. (We already knew that). 1. Coppo di Marcovaldo, Detail of Hell  2. Judas Iscariot, Sascha Schneider  3. Judas' Remorse, Almeida Junior  4. Judas Hanging Himself and his Soul Taken to Hell by a Demon, Notre Dame des Fontaines 

"The symbol of the heart of the world is a complicated one; it may be said at once to represent the shekinah , the true zaddik (who is the heart of his generation), and the soul of every individual who longs for God. No matter which of these levels of meaning is emphasized, however, the passage reveals the emotional content of faith as Nahman sees it. An overwhelming sense of wounded passion, expressed in undying yearnings for an intimacy that cannot come to be, lies at the core of his religious life. Here Nahman again reminds us of his Western contemporaries, the Romantic poets; love's desires overflow in him as in them, but the object of those longings will ever elude him. In this vision of the heart of the world we see the emotional side of Nahman's penchant for paradoxical thinking. The path of simple faith seems so clear: if your heart yearns for God as does this heart for the spring, what keeps you from Him? The call of simple love-faith tells you to draw ever neare...

Excerpt from "Tormented Master, The Life and Spiritual Quest of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav"  By Arthur Green  pp. 118- 119  "The Kabbalistic authors, building upon these rabbinic speculations, went much further in elaborating the figure of Moses as the prototypical unique leader of a generation. According to the rabbis, all souls ever to be born into the world were already present in the soul of Adam. This notion, shared by the Aggadic authors and the early church, became central to Christianity in connection with the idea of original sin. Although little emphasis was placed upon it in early Judaism, the idea was rediscovered by the Kabbalists, who gave it a place of preëminence. Particularly in the Lurianic system, where the myth of the Fall is so central, the rootedness of all souls in Adam is strongly emphasized.  But equally crucial to the Kabbalistic myth is the belief that all the souls of Israel were to be found in the soul of  Moses . Just...

There is such a striking (seeming) disconnect between religious mystical expression, often in erotic terms, and law- based piety or halakah. I would go as far as to say it represents a paradox. Perhaps this paradox is necessary. Piety taken to excess is darkness and sterilility and only leads away from Hashem. On the other hand, using sin as a means of closeness to Hashem (Mitzvah ha-ba'ah ba-Averah) is also extremely problematic. My argument against piety is that it leads to fruits which, on the whole, are more evil and insidious than the fruits of misguided over-indulence. Over-indulgence leads rather quickly directly to either repentance or physical death (in AA we say we have to "grow up or die"). When you eat too much ice cream you get a belly ache. Piety, however, often leads to spiritual death or paralysis. Piety is conducive to the worst sins of the religious: judgement of others, self-righteousness, unkindness, shunning,  hypocrisy, persecution, extremism, suprem...

#𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 (𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌a𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭ᴏ 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌a𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐚c𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐙𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, ᴄᴏɴsᴇʀᴠᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ "ᴄʜʀɪsᴛɪᴀɴs" (ᴘʜᴀʀɪsᴇᴇs),  𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 #𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲/𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒. Yᴇsʜᴜᴀ/Masʜɪᴀᴄʜ/ʜᴀsʜᴇᴍ ᴅᴇᴍᴀɴᴅs ᴛᴏᴛᴀʟ sᴜʀʀᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: ᴏғ ᴘɪᴇᴛʏ, ʟᴀᴡ, ᴘᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄs, ɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ, ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ, ʀᴀᴄᴇ, ᴀʟʟ ᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ, ᴘᴀʀᴛɪsᴀɴsʜɪᴘ, ᴘʀɪᴅᴇ, ʀᴇʟɪɢɪᴏɴ, sᴇʟғ-ʀɪɢʜᴛᴇᴏᴜsɴᴇss, ᴅɪɢɴɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴊᴜᴅɢᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ. Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴠᴜʀᴀʜ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴄʜᴇsᴇᴅ, ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴇʀsᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇ ᴠᴜʟɴᴇʀʙʟᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛɪᴇs ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴇsʜᴜᴀ ᴡᴀs ᴘᴇʀsᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɢᴏᴅ. ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴ ɪɴ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇss. #Fᴀsᴄɪsᴍ #AʟᴇxJᴇғғʀᴇʏPʀᴇᴛᴛɪ #Ren...

Shaul Magid

The following quotes are taking from a collection of the journals and letters of Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jewish mystic who recorded her life in depth, in the months leading up to her deportation to a transit camp, then to a death camp where she was murdered by the Nazis.  Her writings reveal how she viewed her fate; the fate of Jews collectively; her ideas of love and hate, and most importantly, how she prepared herself mentally and spiritually for the ordeal she knew was to come. I take her writings as a guide in today's parallel universe of global chaos, the rise of fascism, and extreme barbarity. Her body may have been killed, but her voice wasn't stilled; her spirit not defeated.  "More arrests, more terror, concentration camps, the arbitrary dragging off of fathers, sisters, brothers.  We seek the meaning of life, wondering whether any meaning can be left.  But that is something each one of us much settle with himself and with God.  And perhaps life has its ...

  Brief Interviews with Hideous Men David Foster Wallace.  B.I. #20 12-96  New Haven, CT  [story within a story: man picks up a "hippie chick" and when she shares with him a story of how she saved herself from dying at the hands of a psychotic killer through vulnerability and not defenses, he is transformed. 1. narrator's relationship to the hippie chick 2. hippie chick's relationship to her psychotic attacker. Many parallels and comparisons are drawn and made.] "...she was going to become just another grisly discovery for some amateur botanist a few day hence unless she could focus her way into the sort of profound soul connection that would make it difficult for the fellow to murder her...I just decided to presume that focus  was her obscure denomination's euphemism for prayer." "And that this was my first hint of sadness or melancholy, as I listened with increasing attention to the anecdote, that the qualities I found myself admiring in her narra...

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Well I finished reading Code Name Madeleine and it brought up a mixture of reactions: part admiration/inspiration and part envy, (not that I would ever necessarily make her choices in my own life), and part reservation. I discussed it with someone who was taking the position of explaining Noor's choice to sacrifice herself as being the most authentic expression of who she was and of everything she believed. Here is my response to that:  <<In fact I do see what you say about Noor. My reservations doubtless have more to do with where I am on my path than with how far along she was on hers. In a sense she lived the perfect life, the life of a martyr who got to "die young" and as a beautiful, pure human being, although she paid a terrible price in suffering to achieve that status. Since that boat has long since sailed for myself, (😂), some part of me refuses to identify with her sacrifice; doubtless the same part which has given up on the idea of transcende...

The Bibi Files

I am a "childless cat lady", 60. White female. My father was a refugee from Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. My mother was from a small town in Louisiana and taught High School American History. I was raised with a classic secular humanistic background. My father grew up during WW2& the Holocaust. He didn't want us to be typical spoiled "American brats" and inculcated us with awareness of man's inhumanity to man. I studied the Holocaust on my own, almost compulsively, off and on for my entire life. My parents were alcoholic and narcissistic...I found I identified with the children of Holocaust survivors. Their accounts of how their parents manifested the symptoms of trauma were the closest thing I'd read to how my parents behaved. I am a recovering alcoholic and now practice recovery in a 12 Step group called Adult Children of Alcoholics. I am deeply hostile to religion because of how friendly it is with authoritarianism. I took a lot...

Dear _____,  Thank you for writing ________. It is a brilliant book. I am only on p. 281, so if I am anticipating anything you cover beyond that page, I apologize.  I too always yearned for what I thought was "authentic" community, although it wasn't just about religion for me. After many decades, I decided that G-d didn't want me to "lose" myself in something bigger the way I always wanted to. Maybe it is a case described by Leonard Cohen thusly:  "yes you, who must leave everything, that you cannot control." I found it extremely difficult to accept the narrowness, deliberate ignorance, intolerance & bigotry I found in every. single. conservative or traditional religious community I tried be be a part of, and there were many. I NEVER FOUND AN EXCEPTION. Not once. As recently as last year I tried to become involved at our local Chabad. I agree w you that identity or religious practice shouldn't be reduced to a commodity. Yet I was engaging ...