And we’re back!
Housekeeping notes: Next Monday, paid subscribers will get September’s ET Read Home, a monthly reading list of books to read now.
Also for paid subscribers: I’m starting to think about what paid-only features to offer next year, in 2024. If you have any opinions on this—if you like the monthly questionnaire but not the reading list, for example, or if you think I should keep both, or if you’d rather something entirely new—please do feel free to let me know either in the comments or via email.
And anyone else should feel free to email (polite, constructive) feedback, too.
Also, since I bothered you with this during voting: Bad Jews was voted Hey Alma’s best Jewish non-fiction book of the year (of 5783). If you voted, thank you! And if you still haven’t read Bad Jews, you should read Bad Jews.
And now onto news, views, and Jews.
THE NEWS
For Slate, I wrote about the cognitive dissonance of being on “X” because I am a freelance journalist who writes on, among other things, antisemitism, which the owner of the site is arguably making worse.
Dalibor Rohac has an essay on why he’s more concerned about the upcoming election in Slovakia than the one in Poland.
This profile of Amy Winehouse and her legacy made me cry.
This report on how Columbia University protected a doctor who was accused of sexually assaulting patients for two decades is incredibly disturbing.
The G20 summit was in India this past weekend. The resulting declaration did not condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine.
I am starting what I am calling the Days of Dekal-awe project. On each of the Days of Awe, I will watch one episode of Dekalog. I’ll report back!
MY VIEWS ON…
…Elul and repentance!
The Jewish month of Elul is wrapping up. The year 5784 will be here soon. And so I have been reflecting and, as this time of year calls for, repenting.
Years ago, when I was much younger than I am now but not so young that there was no social media, I would put up a blanket, “I’m so sorry if I hurt you” post. That seems kind of funny to me now. It’s so clearly not an apology! I wasn’t even aware of who the audience of these posts was supposed to be!
Anyway I stopped doing that and now try to do more pointed repentance. This year, I reached out even when it felt kind of awkward. Like to a friend to whom I said something well-intentioned-but-came-out-wrong. Or to people for complaining and feeling sorry for myself aloud all the time (quite a few people got this one). Or for being self-centered in another person’s time of need. And so on.
I think it’s important to say that I wasn’t just using this as an excuse to beat myself up. The point is to really think about times when you weren’t as careful with other people as you should have been, and to think about why that was, and to say sorry, and then—and this part is important—to try to do better.
I know that I wasn’t all bad in 5783. I went through some stuff. I handled it as best I could. And I know that a lot of it will still be there in 5784, and that I won’t be perfect in the new year. But I’ll try to do a little better. And when I don’t, I’ll say sorry, and I’ll mean it. And then I’ll try again.
AND SOME STUFF ABOUT JEWS
Elon Musk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are reportedly planning to meet up because of course they are.
This is a book review but it doubles as an interesting article on Jews in postwar Czechoslovakia.
I thought this piece on a new YIVO exhibit on how Yiddish became foreign in Israel was great.
The New York Times has a piece on American Jews protesting for Israeli democracy (here and in Israel).
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism, launched an Instagram page.
From the Times of Israel: “Over 20 Jewish groups from the United States and Spanish-speaking countries are calling on Spain’s linguistic authority to drop two antisemitic definitions from its official dictionary. The 300-year-old Madrid-based Academy, or RAE, oversees the evolution of Spanish through its Dictionary of the Spanish Language. In the entry for the word ‘Jew,’ the fifth definition listed translates to a ‘greedy or usurious’ person.”
The Orthodox Union has decided that an Israeli brand of lab-grown meat is kosher, but not pareve.
That’s it for now! Hope to see you back here soon.
-ET