Why Greens Don’t Worry About Their Own Impacts on Mother Earth
When an indigenous tribe living in the shadow of a volcano is worried about an eruption, they might decide to throw a virgin child into the fiery maw. A price has to be paid to the god, to ensure that there are no extraordinary natural events that disrupt the life of the villagers. Indeed, this…
The Significance of Horns
Why does the tabernacle have horns? There are numerous references to horns, both in the construction and in the use of the altars (both the copper and the gold), e.g. Make its horns on the four corners, the horns to be of one piece with it; and overlay it with copper. and You shall make…
Cloaking Our Animal Natures
G-d observes that “man’s inclinations are toward evil.” And it is true that, in a state of nature (as seen in the Flood generation), man becomes the Alpha Predator, defining Right as Might. Those who are powerful revel in their animalistic urges: rage, lust, the desire to show dominance over those less powerful. The Torah…
The Quiet Desperation of a Pointless Life
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation…. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.” – Thoreau I think Thoreau was onto something. Look at the misery of the Left and the Woke. They lead lives that are miserable, in no small part…
Why A Calf, Specifically?
At the heart of paganism is confusing correlation with causality: the human mind is taught from a young age to see that what follows from something is likely because of that thing. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc may be a logical fallacy, but it is also how every human child learns. And so are developed…
How Do we Know what “Work” is Forbidden on Sabbath?
Every faith that relies on the Torah has some form of Sabbath Day – a day of rest. But the way in which the Sabbath is honored varies a great deal, not least because of what seems to be a very flexible definition of “work.” Most people who say they observe a day of rest…
KitKat Appeasement
I know a man who keeps KitKats handy. When he approaches someone else, he pulls out the two-stick chocolate, opens the wrapping, and offers the other person one of the sticks. The technique works wonders, as indeed it should. Tokens matter. First impressions matter. And showing consideration is always a great way to start a…
Invisibility? Inadvisable
When I was a kid, I used to ask people which superpower they would choose, between being able to fly, telekinesis, or invisibility. I found it was a great conversation starter, and the answers invariably gave some insight into the person answering the question. What startled me was the number of people who immediately chose…
Spices and Heaven: Torah Puns
One of the insurmountable challenges of working with translations is that various plays on words – alliteration, rhymes, onomatopoeia and puns – are necessarily cast aside for the sake of simple clarity. For example, the Torah speaks of spices for the tabernacle. The word is besamim. Besamim, which appears only three times in the Torah,…
Why Do We Need The Tabernacle?
In the Torah, G-d is not found in nature, in anything He creates outside of mankind. So properly connecting with G-d is not achieved by communing with nature – the G-d of the Torah did not place any of His divinity in the natural world. But G-d clearly does want to meaningfully connect with humanity.…
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