Open Letter

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 ...

1.     𝙰𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜  𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 2.     𝙲𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚜, 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍. 3.     𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚊 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎   𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚘...

The arrival of your newsletter and Mass just now has occasioned many thoughts. If you have time, please grant me your grace once more.  Perhaps on account of the horrendous events going on in the world, my dreams have been compensatorily positive. I dreamed a few days ago of my "Chasidic Ideal", in this case a mature Hasidic widower, whom I was betrothed to marry. He was pious, and I wanted very much to please him and be acceptable to him. But he was a mensch, kind and generous and forbearing to be cruel or judgmental. My ideal of the Moshiach is the combination of authentic piety with the radical love exhibited by Yeshua. This ideal seems impossible to find, except in dreams. As I said, I believe this dream could have two possible meanings: one, to remind me of the good of Judaism when all I can think about these days is the scourge of Jewish nationalism, which is not the same thing at all, and even opposite. Secondly, it could be calling me to rekindle my love...

"I have not said what I have gradually come to think-- that the salvation of Judaism is not the national idea at all...May we not dream nobler dreams than political independence? For, after all, political independence is only a means to an end, not an end in itself...To be merely one among the nations-- that is not...so satisfactory an ideal. The restoration to Palestine, or the acquisition of a national center, may be a political solution but it is not a spiritual idea. We must abandon it... our dispersal has saved Judaism, and it may yet save the world. For I prefer the dream that we are divinely inspired to bless it, wind-sown seeds to fertilize its waste places. To be a nation without a fatherland, yet with a mother-tongue, Hebrew-- there is the spiritual originality, the miracle of history. Such has been the real kingdom of Israel in the past-- we have been 'sons of the Law'...a kingdom not of space...but a great spiritual Republic, as devoid of material form as Israe...

I heard this reading in mass today, and everything reminded me of End Times prophecies found in the Book of Revelation, which came from the first Book of Maccabees and various Old Testament prophecies no doubt (especially Daniel).  Then I remembered the writings of a mystic Russian philosopher named Solovyov, Vladimir  Sergeyevich. He is famous among conservative Catholics for a short story about the Anti-Christ. There are many things in common between the Maccabees, the Book of Revelation, and the Solovyov story. Among them are, the Desecration of the Jewish Temple (the Abomination of Desolation), the call for One World Religion, and an Anti-Christ (which in the Maccabees book would be a role played by Antiochus.)  The main idea that reactionary conservatives tend to grab hold of in these apocalyptic works is that the Anti-Christ will appear as a Being of Light. Reactionary conservatives love that Solovyov indicates that the Anti-Chris...

Can Judaism Survive a Messianic Dictatorship in Israel? What will happen to Judaism if Israeli democracy is destroyed by supremacist zealots Aerial view of Hawara village, following the February rampage there of Jews who were avenging an earlier terror attack.Credit: Ilia Yefimovich/DPA Yuval Noah Harari Jul 13, 2023 10:38 pm IDT Following Jews around the world will shortly commemorate Tisha B’Av, the fast day marking the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians and of the Second Temple by the Romans. Can Judaism survive the destruction of the Third Temple – the prosperous Israeli democracy – this time by the Jews themselves? And what would such destruction look like? Two weeks ago I went to Beit Shemesh, a predominantly religious city, to take part in a pro-democracy rally. Hundreds of people participated: religious and secular, women and men, straight people and LGBTQ people, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, and everyone in between. Opposite us, there was a counter-rally of governmen...