rutiregan.bsky.social
Feminist rabbi. I like democracy and inclusive education. #ParshaChat
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I mean, that too, but I'm more thinking about how LGBTQ+ people have had that text thrown at us so much and how it can lead to experiencing the whole Torah as presumptively hostile. So I'm reminding myself that I want to write about the things I hold sacred and how I hold them sacred.
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That too.
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And likewise if you’re marginalized in a way that might make certain things higher risk for you — find out from people who *actually know what they’re talking about* when it comes to the specific risks you’re dealing with.
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If something seems risky to you, talk to people who share your values and know what they’re talking about when it comes to *local* conditions in your community.
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Some protests are higher risk than others. If you’re considering going to a protest that you think might be putting you at serious physical or legal risk, it’s important not to rely on contextless memes on social media to keep you safe.
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But also because the kind of protests that organizations get permits for are in significant part about visibility.
Being able to do things like livestream and take pictures helps with that kind of visibility!
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There are also good reasons to bring phones to protests!
I always bring mine, in part for the same reasons I usually bring my phone most places.
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There are good reasons that organizations sponsoring rallies with permits often ask people to register.
Among other things, it helps them build an email/phone list of people to contact about follow-up actions.
That’s a good thing.
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Also: What’s supposed to be accomplished by making people terrified to take the absolutely minuscule risks involved in bringing a phone to a permitted rally?
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Also: Protests are *supposed* to be visible, and I really don’t trust the intentions of people who advocate for drastically reducing their visibility by discouraging people from taking pictures.
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Advocacy for what became the Affordable Care Act loomed really large in that election too.
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I will not be hosting tiresome antisemitic arguments about whether this is antisemitism.
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I suppose my childish assumption that it was named after obnoxious boasting by jerks was not too far off.
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I grew up in NC and as a kid I always assumed it was called that because people were bragging about it or something.
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Don’t want to get too specific but happy to DM if you’re curious. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m calling out this conference in particular because it’s kind of pervasive.
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A2: That's an interesting thought. Say more about how you're seeing a parallel? #ParshaChat
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A2: I could see how the Levites offering a sin offering in this way might make offering one more socially acceptable when people have reason to? (Although maybe not, and probably not consistently. But maybe a little, and incremental safety improvements matter.) #ParshaChat
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A2: At the same time, I think there's something really valuable in possibly-higher-status people modeling certain kinds of safety behavior, especially when it comes to things that might be somewhat stigmatized. #ParshaChat
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Would love to hear more of how you're thinking about this. #ParshaChat
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Moses in the rock seeing God's glory but not God's face seems like God showing sincere concern for Moses' safety and a desire to get as close as possible safely. #ParshaChat
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Nadav and Avihu, in particular, seems more like a tragic accident than like a punishment.
And...
#ParshaChat
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I think there are kinds of danger depicted in the Torah that very much *do* look like that kind of abusiveness (and especially later on in Hosea), but I don't think *all* the dangerousness is depicted that way.
#ParshaChat
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I feel like... some approaches to "worship" are just too much pressure, and possibly too much pressure for God as well. #ParshaChat
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Because if God is made of perfect pure pureness, that raises theodicy questions that just... don't seem to me to have any morally tenable answers. And that abstract kind of philosophical theology is *one* strain of Jewish tradition, not the only one, you know? #ParshaChat
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Yes — I think that within the Torah's narrative, God is not depicted as having the power to change that.
I think one way we could interpret this is that safe proximity to people requires a LOT of intense concentration and that maintaining that perfectly all the time isn't possible.
#ParshaChat
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And just generally speaking, I find the idea of a God who learns a lot more compelling than the idea of a God who is made of philosophy and abstract pure good pureness, you know? #ParshaChat
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There's something that seems compelling to me about the possibility that God also needs multiple layers of safety and that there's an ongoing process of figuring out what they are. #ParshaChat
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And how there's *all kinds* of safety advice for parents and for other caregivers that assumes that everyone needs multiple layers of safety and that just deciding to be a good person isn't enough.
And...
#ParshaChat
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And now I'm thinking about how, in both hospitals I've given birth in, parents are routinely given the advice that if you're feeling overwhelmed and upset past a certain point, the safest thing to do is put your baby in their crib and walk away until you've calmed down. #ParshaChat
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But I suppose you could argue that this is why we no longer have those kinds of sanctuaries and intense physical proximity to God — maybe it turns out that it's just inherently unsafe and that there are better approaches? #ParshaChat
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I feel like there are ways in which children can count on parents not to hurt them, and ways in which they can't. Keeping children safe is *hard*, and it's very easy to make a mistake. #ParshaChat
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A2: Any system that depends on people proactively self-disclosing embarrassing things in a very public way runs a serious risk of those things not being disclosed. #ParshaChat
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I think anything powerful is dangerous, TBH. #ParshaChat
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A0: Yeah, I'm sure I'll be reeling even more after Shabbat. #ParshaChat
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A1: I also think this makes the most sense if we read it not as God punishing people for breaking rules, but as there literally being things that have to be done correctly in order to contain dangerous divine energy so it doesn't break out and hurt them. #ParshaChat
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A1: We've seen warnings elsewhere about the critical importance of not contaminating the sanctuary, so that seems very plausible to me. #ParshaChat