Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of June 26, 2022
Look on the bright side of things. The pandemic was a boon for hand sanitizer manufacturers and with Roe v. Wade overturned, the makers of Plan B are going to make a killing!
My Authoritarian Rabbi Ruined Judaism for Me
“I am the rabbi. You are the student. It is not your role to question me.”
It was clear to me in that moment that I wasn’t going to get my answer. Either I had accidentally exposed a blind spot in Rabbi Goldstein’s knowledge and he was embarrassed or he was an authoritarian asshole who hated having to adjust his lesson plan for his students. I chose to assume the latter.
The Shabbos Goy
I was a Shabbos goy.
A Jewish Shabbos goy.
Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of December 8, 2019
You know it’s going to be a good day when the first conversation you have with your partner is a disagreement over what time it is.
A (Non-denominational) Recovering Jew Among Them
At church I felt OK. In sat next to Tommy who explained Catholic things to me. Ironically, I felt more comfortable in that Catholic church than I did in any Jewish temple I’d been in in the last 10 years. Maybe it’s because I feel betrayed by the Jewish people. Maybe it’s because I think Zionism is as evil as anti-Semitism. Maybe it’s because the rabbi at the temple where I grew up seems to have next to no concern for his dwindling congregation and the economic slide of his community so long as he keeps collecting his handsome salary—with benefits. I dunno, but I felt OK.
Anxiety is the thing that’s ripped our country apart. It has divided us, caused us to fear and hate those who think and live differently than us, and even caused us to hate those who only slightly disagree with us. It has led to panic and overreaction. And I worry that American Anxiety is only going to exacerbate the social and political divide in this country to the point that there is no coming back.