Essays and stories
Longer pieces and stories.
Browse: Thoughts (147) Essays and stories (48) By parsha
Nothing New Under the Sun: The First Language Models
Long before AI, Judaism ran on connected texts, fixed rules for linking them, and ranked authorities. From Shlomo HaMelech's proverbs to the Shulchan Aruch, large language models are nothing new under the sun.
Part Two
and then there is us. The jews. what do we sell? What is our end? Perhaps, the end is yet another beginning.. We have within our tradition – resurrection AND...
Part two
ואז יש אותנו. היהודים. מה אנחנו מוכרים מה הסוף שלנו? אולי, הסוף הוא עוד התחלה.. יש לנו בתוך המסורת שלנו – תחיית המתים וגלגול נשמות!! אותו הדבר?? לא לא בדיוק. יש לנו הרבה...
אני בדעה שאכן,
העץ שנופל ביער משמיע קול ואינו תלוי אם מישהו היה שם לשמוע אותו או לא. זה די אגואיסטי לחשוב שהסאונד קיים רק אם אני (או) מישהו הייתי שם. גם להגיד את זה נראה אגואיסט. מה...
getting into orbit – a tribute to walking around in circles
we don’t actually walk around in a circle – more like an ellipse, and we’re not stuck there forever. We enter in… 1st day, one circuit, 2nd day 1 circuit; each day, 1...
Keeping the mitvot
There is a considerable debate within Judaism about which is "greater" .. Doing mitvot voluntary or because G-d told you. Involved in this is the concepts of free will...
Naviim Isaiah and Jeremiah (very ‘brief’ Summary
Isaiah prophecies are counted as 66 Chapters Jeremiah at 52 Chapters They were given the word of God Itself over many many years, and also had periods of their lives...
Rant
It needs to be repeated (as the Naviim do), that absolutely all the terrible and truly horrible things that happened to us as a nation and will happen are and were ONLY...
Tips and Advice for Olim
Tips / and lessons learned from nearly 16 years of work-life in Israel 1 ) Always be positive in the interview. It sounds obvious, but sometimes it is harder than one...
A 6:50am Thought
“To know”, in Judaism, typically, perhaps the vast majority of time, means (sexual) intimacy. A level of closeness, a bonding between two bodies. Interestingly enough...
Melachim I (I Kings) – Chapter 1 (
4 And the young girl was very beautiful, and she was a warmer to the king, and she ministered to him, but the king did not know her. // Wink, wink. ”to know” Biblically...
Random Thought That Dropped Into My Head
Apparently, people who make fun of religion/ say it is fake, have already pre-determined their views., and stopped asking questions about the text itself… and...
The Book of Kings Aleph (and Questions on It)
1:1 King David was old, advanced in years, and though they covered him with bedclothes, he never felt warm. /// Why not get a fire nearby? 1: 2 His servants said to him...
Thoughts I Share on WhatsApp
Whenever ANY one (US ex-pat or not) in Israel brings up any US President. I ask them: do you understand Congress / Senate? Do you understand popular voting vs the...
Monday, October 03, 2005
The Din is Coming! No, not quite the end of the world. Just that the Entire Universe is being Judge. Rather heavy thought for a Monday eh?
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
The Soul of One Jewish Folk Recycled…and again.. “Just make a decision already! You’re told old to be carrying on in this manner. Get married” the baal habais began as I...
Sketches of Spain
Driving across Texas to Miles Davis, and finding that music the player himself may not fully understand is a way to feel what God is like.
Spring Street to Kingston Avenue
A late-night subway ride home to Crown Heights, searching strangers' faces for eye contact and arguing in my head about the idea of a Jewish soul.
The Eyes of the Rebbe
Living in Crown Heights without being a Lubavitcher, overwhelmed inside 770, and still coming away loving Chabad and knowing I am always welcome at Mincha.
To Kippa or Not to Kippa, That Is the Question
The kippa is never mentioned in the Torah, yet this small piece of cloth came to carry all of my struggle with being seen as a Jew in New York.
The Soul of One Jewish Folk
On the eve of the millennium, borrowing W. E. B. Du Bois's image of the veil to wrestle with the idea of a Jewish soul and with Jewish belief in the Messiah.
One Jewish Folk Circa 1999, I-95
Fired in Atlanta with rent due, I drove twenty hours to New York for a job interview just before Rosh Hashanah, and kept driving back and forth on I-95 until New York became home.
Jewish Folk Thoughts
Journal entries on the Unity of G-d, and on the tension in Deuteronomy between the Bible's universal message and its promise of the Land to one people.
Run, Run, Run, But Where, Where, Where
Drawn to a shomer Shabbat life and repelled by it at the same time, asking who has the right to say what another person's soul needs.
All Hale-Bopp and Other Cosmic Thoughts
A spring of dates that went nowhere, a play about a Kindertransport child who forgot she was Jewish, and a decision to make a public commitment to Torah Judaism.
A Journey Into the Night
Why Jews remember leaving Egypt every day, and what Egypt, the Sea, the desert and the golden calf teach about the long journey of spiritual growth.
Jewish Camp, OU Style
A weekend at an outreach learning program in Monsey, feeling processed rather than welcomed, and deciding that a yeshiva would strip me of me.
Wasted Land
A birthday journey by train and bus through Alabama to Florida, a letter to a friend about secular and religious readings of the Bible, and a prayer beside a dying grandfather.
The Soul of One Jewish Folk, Circa 1996
Journal entries from finishing college during the Atlanta Olympics, heading to Israel, and a birthday spent in transit wondering what following Torah would change.
Background on One Jewish Folk
A letter from a sister in Israel I barely knew, a philosophy class where I argued that evil is a faulty perception, and a paper on what Judaism says about death.
Going Cold Turkey (Glatt, of Course)
Giving up non-kosher food is like quitting cigarettes, except nobody cheers you on, and the only reason to do it is your soul.
Movement Colors My Mind
A prose poem from a long road trip, sitting still like a rock in a river while signs, colors and half-caught thoughts rush past.
Purim Revisited
The story of the Holocaust told in the sing-song style of a Purim megillah reading, ending with survivors who call their survival luck, a Purim.
The Further Development of One Jewish Folk
A short journal entry weighing a full-time job against a year of learning in Israel, with money running out.
The Land of Nod
A short tongue-in-cheek Western about Gabe, a milk-drinking bounty hunter who rides into Nod to bring its owner to justice for killing his brother.
The Soul of One Jewish Folk, Recycled... and Again
A dream of standing at a crowded holy river in India, ready to plunge in with the pilgrims, while a Jewish song rises from somewhere far away.
The Yid on Campus
Freshman year at a college with a large Jewish population, running out of the Mourner's Kaddish, being mocked on Yom Kippur, and the first chapter of Genesis in a science class.
a few items and a tzfat story
Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 10:44 PM Subject: a few items and a tzfat story hard to believe what can happen in a little more than 1 month. my grandfather’s yirtzeit, fell...
Cracks in the foundation
Date: Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 10:16 AM Subject: Cracks in the foundation Here is a purim joke. Its funny because it is true. So an israeli gets his car stuck in the snow. He...
End of Achari mot and kodoshiim
From: Daniel Rosenthal Date: Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 10:16 AM Subject: End of Achari mot and kodoshiim The two parshas have a great deal of overlap and similar...
I am just saying..
Date: Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 11:53 AM Subject: I am just saying.. G-d spoke to the evilest people in the Bible. Lavan, according to the Hagada was WORSE than Pharaoh....
Mishna revisted
Date: Fri, Nov 15, 2013 at 8:13 AM Subject: Mishna revisted do you think it is possible – and would be of value to anyone – if there was attempt to have the mishnayot...
more from tzfat
it turns out that my seemingly abstract dislike for graves has a basis in at least one person’s halachic works. None other than Rambam! Whew. I was nervous that I was...
Oh the Bible… it sure is interesting!
Subject: Oh the Bible… it sure is interesting! if we as human beings could just follow a few of the following passages from the Bible – think what the society would be...
Shabbot in Amshinov, by Daniel Rosenthal
Date: Sun, Dec 1, 2013 at 2:21 PM Subject: Shabbot in Amshinov, by Daniel Rosenthal this is one of those emails that you won’t read. It will be long. It will be a bit...
Tuesday with the dead people.
Date: Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 9:28 PM Subject: Tuesday with the dead people. It was a sunny day, Tuesday. I had a vacation due to the fact that my work requires me to call...
Unsettled mind of protagonist and antagonist
Date: Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 11:07 PM Subject: Unsettled mind of protagonist and antagonist everything boils down to two. We can’t see One. We experience the fragments...