Jihadi Jew

Why the selfies? As you have no doubt noticed, I am not particularly handsome. I am not a brilliant photographer. I am not a celebrity. Not a star. No one special in the great scheme of thi...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2020/08/why-selfies.html

So I am a religious fanatic?   The great Chassidic master, Rebbe Nachman said: `Don’t be a fanatic. Serving God is not fanaticism. Those who run after worldly goods are the true fanati...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2020/07/so-am-i-religious-fanatic.html

We believe that God is a absolute simple unity without parts or likeness of any kind We believe that God has communicated to man through prophets We believe that we relate to God, even to kno...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2017/12/what-we-have-in-common-short-list-of.html

An ancient Jewish hermeneutical principle teaches that the “mashal” is not like the “nimshal”  an analogy never completely matches that which is being analogized.  The semanticist A...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-kkk-isis-analogy.html

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-prayer-for-righteous-indignation.html

There I was at the seder table at Passover looking just like the Zayde in the picture book. Long beard, white robe.  I looked at the book and saw what Zayde was proclaiming with such great g...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2015/04/zayde-raises-his-voice-to-tell-new-story.html

 Many have wondered, "How can I possibly earn the coveted Jihadi Jew 'Hater of the Day' Award?" Here are a few simple guidelines for being a a more effective, and even award-winning hater. T...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-haters-handbook.html

LOVE AND HATE BREAK BOUNDARIES.     - Midrash Rabbah 55:8 Hate breaks the boundaries of the ordinary. It empowers us to do the impossible. Hate will make us do remarkable things. Hat...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/11/love-and-hate-break-boundaries-do-you.html

The moment a terror attack happens in Israel, the comments start to come. “So do you STILL think there is someone to talk to?”  “Still believe in ‘peace’ do you?”  “Do you fin...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/11/yes-i-still.html

My naive idea is that God created man with the unique gift of language, a means that should and can replace bashing each other over the head as a means of intra-species communication. On both s...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/07/brainstorming-naive-crazy-and-dangerous.html

On both Twitter and Facebook I shared a piece by Shira Lipkin on her struggle to reconcile her attachment to Judaism and the Jewish people with her distaste and disgust for the violence she now...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-lonely-man-of-questions.html

My daughter Sara posted this on Facebook before shabbat (the sabbath). I share it as a quiet voice of personal struggle for sanity in an insane world of competing perspectives reduced to hashta...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/07/my-daughter-sara-posted-this-on.html

May Hashem/ Allah (swt) grace us all with purified hearts to serve Him in truth! It is with sadness and resignation that I will not be reading any more posts or contributing to any more posts...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-prayerful-goodbye-to-social-media-war.html

A Quaker can be a pacifist on the basis of his religion. Maybe a Christian can too “Turn the other cheek.”  Jews and Muslims can not be.  It is quite clear that our scriptural and legal...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/07/is-there-room-for-pacifism-in-judaism.html

I join with the entirety of the Jewish people and with our many friends in mourning the senseless murders of  Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaer.  It is only right that we mourn fo...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-mourning-for-three-young-men-and-for.html

Just how are you supposed to respond when someone acts hatefully in the name of the religion you love? I have no idea. The rise of ISIS and the recent outburst of sectarian violence and th...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/06/giving-our-muslims-friends-break.html

Both Jewish and Islamic spirituality link our understanding of the human spirit to our understanding of the human body.  Great thinkers like Maimonides and Imam al Ghazzali speak of diseases...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/06/thoughts-on-moral-equivalency-apples.html

It always amazes me what we don’t know about each other, what we don’t really want to know about each other and the tragedy that creates when in critical moments we are left unable to empat...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2014/06/taking-path-to-empathy-killing-inner.html

Please write one brief paragraph entitled "WHAT I MOST WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT MY RELIGION IS..." Please make your comments as personal and heartfelt as possible. At the end of the paragraph ple...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-i-most-want-you-to-know-about-my.html

At this time of year, from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av, a period of the three weeks known as “Between the straits” “ observant Jews decrease their happiness and observe a partial ...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-should-muslims-care-about-three.html

The festival of Shavuot is the celebration of the “giving” of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. As many commentators have pointed out there is no giving without the ability to receive and so Shavuot ...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2012/05/shavuot-teacher-torah.html

A friend of mine is in a graduate program in school administration. I say friend and I mean “friend.” There are people who are colleagues and there are people who you feel a connection of ...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2012/02/reflection-on-teaching.html

Hijabi for a Day by Sara Weissman WHY HIJAB? From the businessman’s suit to a goth’s band T-shirt, we all know that clothes are more than cloth. What we choose to wear is a sign of wh...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2012/01/hijabi-for-day.html

Over the last few months I have taken a challenge on myself to fast from complaining for Shabbat. (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown). I have not always been entirely successful but even the e...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-kvetching-challenge.html

Lunar lesson 1: We have no light of our own. At our best, we reflect the light of our Creator. At our worst, we conceal it almost completely. Lunar lesson 2: The service of G-d depends on lot...

http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-lunar-lessons-in-honor-of-new-moon.html