#dafyomi (6a-b) Thought for the day.

When is the shechina with us? When we are with the community.
But how can one be "with the community" when studying on one's own? Torah study, in Jewish terms, even when done alone is a communal exercise. Through the text one connects with the Jews who carried these sacred texts with them through 2000 years of exile. To study talmud is not really to engage with a text but to engage with one's people through the text. The text lives only in as much as it represents the living soul of the people who invest in it.
An easily missed part of this daf tells us that the merit one receives from going to a wedding comes from the words one speaks to those celebrating. Through words, that are part of the ongoing conversation of our people, we redeem ourselves and the world.

Daf Yomi (5a-b) Thought for the day

"אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית האסורים"

"The one who is shackled cannot free themselves from their prison".

A long time before twelve step programs, Our sages were aware that the first step towards releasing ourselves from that which shackles us is to admit that we alone cannot conquer our demons that imprison us.

Whether it is the power of Community or Family, Friends or a Higher Power - the nature of humanity is that we are neither dependent nor independent, but interdependent. I need my fellow, and one day they will need me too. Today I am the freed prisoner, tomorrow the redeemer. May I never be the jailer.

#DafYomi (4a-b) Thought for the day

Learning to say "I don't know" isn't just about not getting caught trying to fake it 'til you make it. It's about humility, self awareness and most of all being willing to make space for partnership, alliance, learning from others. We are discussing the "Shema" and we are obsessively trying to work out exactly when it can be said. But it can only enter the heart when we put our ego aside. Only when we are capable of admitting that we are not all knowing, can we truly "hear" the calling to proclaim the oneness of G?d.

#Dafyomi (3a-b) Thought for the day.

Salvation cannot come by us mourning in the ruins of the past. We must carry on the journey wherever it will take us.
Anyone who has ever done miluim knows that night shifts can be boring, and listening out for odd noises can be a great distracting game. But there is also something about being awake in the middle of the night (with little to do) which can make one lose track of time and place and even a sense of self sometimes.

?נפש. וינפש. מתי הנפש מתעורר - עם הגוף שלנו בבוקר? או כשהגוף ישן

#Dafyomi (2a-b) Thought for the day

The daf finishes,
"בין השמשות כהרף עין זה נכנס וזה יוצא ואי אפשר לעמוד עליו".
The critical moment (or any moment) is actually very literally intangible - it can't be caught, or touched - "אי אפשר לעמוד עליו". In searching for meaning we must recognise that if we try too hard to nail something down, hold it to a particular place or time, it will slip from our fingers. Why do we ask at the beginning of the mishnah from what time can we say Shema in the evening? To teach us that any time can be THE time, it is different for the poor man, the Cohen, the people, etc. Find YOUR time. Grasp YOUR moment. Because, in the blink of an eye, it has gone.

Let's get rid of antiSemitism

Something I wrote three years ago (at least) but never published - obviously parts of which borrowed from some Facebook conversation I was having.

Now, I know what many of you are thinking - well of course I agree with that. We all want to get rid of antiSemitism - you're not saying anything new there. The question should surely be: HOW?

Right?

Wrong.

I am not suggesting we fight a "Campaign Against Anti-Semitism". I think, in fact, I might be saying the opposite.

I would like us to stop using the term antiSemitism. It has become so confused, so intangible, so meaningless that it is less useful to use it than not to use it. What do I mean? Let me explain.

Anti Semitism is / was a scientific (anti-scientific) racist movement of the late 19th and early 20th century that posited that Jews were a race and that believed that "the races" were in competition over the earth's resources and that Jews would do anything to destroy the other races upon whom they fed as parasites. Now - I understand that the meanings of words often change over time. I understand that people will use words in a way that the originator of such a word would not necessarily have understood - all this, I understand. BUT.... the word must then be useful for it to continue to be used - my claim would be that antiSemitism is virtually never useful, and that other terms could be more so. I am wary of labelling anything antiSemitic, since I am not sure what the point of doing so is. Discourse around antiSemitism has become inherently political.

AntiSemitism was the first racism. Let's just use racism. 

Why do we care about what we care about? Or rather - why do I?

The combined female population of Alabama and Georgia is about 4.5 million. The female population of Iran is around 45 million. Roe vs Wade came to the US in 1973. Similar legislation was passed in Iran in 1978. Why do so many of my feminist friends care about the women of Alabama and Georgia but none seem to care about those of Iran? (Americans exempt from this criticism).

On the other hand:

We have just witnessed gay marriage in a (Legally autonomous part of) China (Taiwan). And at the same time, we know that China is herding up millions of Uyghur muslims in concentration camps. Why have seen no-one mention both?

On a similar vein of dealing with complexity and nuance: Why do my zionist friends think that Israel cannot be both an ok-ish place for gay people to live (despite disgracefully not recognising/forbidding gay marriage) and a terrible oppressor of human rights (of Palestinians) at the same time? (LGBTQ folk exempt from this criticism).

In other words - when did we stop caring about values, about responsibilities, about Justice about Human rights and started caring only about political positions? And perhaps more worryingly - why am I using we in this sentence and not I? When did I start pretending that this is not just as true of me?