The Tale of Two Masks

Since 2020, the Western world has been on a covered-face fetish. The pandemic made the N95 mask an indispensable artifact of the coronavirus—more important an accessory than the iPhone. We came to accept that protecting our respiratory systems meant forfeiting our facial identities. Soon faces were masked for infections of a different sort. Viruses migrated […]

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The Divine Us – A Poem for Sukkot

These are the parts of the Lulav and Etrogwe have held in our hands since we firstwandered the desert – LulavHow impressive you are, our spine, straight and bold.Pain, heat, softness, even tickling – every one of ourphysical feelings travels your distance. HadasYou are our eyes through which we see allthat there is to see. […]

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America’s Almost-Seal, the Sukkah

A sukkah was nearly selected as the symbol of America. On July 4, 1776, the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the United States. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were chosen for the task.  Franklin, amidst the early brainstorming sessions, […]

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World War III Will Be Short on Good Guys

When, and if, World War III commences between Islamists and the tattered remnants of Western democracy, America is now on notice of a dwindling list of allies to fight alongside it. This past week was a pitiful reminder of the back-stabbing spinelessness that now governs once-great countries. France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Portugal […]

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