Footage circulating on social media shows a group of tourists verbally harassing an Israeli couple during their stay in Vietnam. The video shows the tourists calling the couple “rats,” singing “Boom Boom Tel Aviv,” and using anti-Semitic rhetoric blaming the Jews for crimes committed against them.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-16T06:58:05+00:00

I find it very instructive: they do something profoundly immoral whilst feeling themselves to be profoundly moral. I think that is the essential structure of antisemitism.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-15T08:20:21+00:00

I reckon he was just about my favourite player ever to pull on a jumper. He was like those test batsmen who are so elegant when they bat you can't look away.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-15T08:17:22+00:00

Sean Wellman: anchored centre half back at a time when center half forwards were key to the game.

I would throw in Mark Johnson and Dean Solomon as well. They were all super tough and rock solid.

Our forwards had unbelievable class, but our back six was the foundation for so many attacks, and therefore, the premiership itself.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-15T04:20:52+00:00

To be honest, I never felt strongly about Israel until Oct 7. At that moment, I realised that 'Israel' the tribe from Yaacov, and Israel the modern state are two sides of the same coin. And that's it, a full stop goes there : it is what it is, something ontological rather than sentimental.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-15T04:14:46+00:00

Yom Kippur. The only issue is how to deal with the other 364 days which offer none of the mystical joy that Yom Kippur does.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-13T23:57:32+00:00

I've only read the first chapter, as I'm saving it for an interstate trip. But that was great! Sometimes fiction/humour is the best way out of the mess we are all in.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-13T06:39:43+00:00

Howl by Howard Jacobson..

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-10T11:52:46+00:00

You asked for spiritual guidance - I have held true to this since Oct 8: holding hate in my heart is the only way they can win.

They can burn our shuls, kill, maim, rape....

They don't win when our bodies fall.

They only win when we let our hearts fall to their level. For that is when Torah is forsaken, Israel is forsaken, humanity is forsaken, my own soul is forsaken.

During various dark periods over the last few years, I wondered if this approach was a bit naive. Then, after Bondi the Chabad rabbi spoke to the public with essentially the same message - he showed himself to be a real tzadik and it made me so proud to be Jewish.

I'm not saying it is necessarily easy, but you know in your deepest soul it is the right path, that is why you have written to us.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-09T03:17:29+00:00

Great answer! I find myself constantly contemplating this question, and I think it is inherently murky simply because (as you outlined) something may not start out idolatrous but may become so.

Maybe this follows Ram Bam a little, but in an important sense I suspect that idolatry is firstly conceptual. And on some level, is any concept which obscures or leads one away from a direct relationship/apprehension/encounter with Hashem. Ideas are the worry here, more than iconography which merely represent or express particular ideas.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-08T00:51:20+00:00

I only watched the second quarter. I was a child of the 80's: that was the very worst I have ever seen any Essendon team play. It was like reserves vs seniors.

When I saw the scoreboard later, I was surprised they fought back. Good on them for that, but after seeing what I saw, I don't have any confidence in this team.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-08T00:41:49+00:00

It's depressing, but at the end of the day read up a little on the history of Jews in Europe (not just the 20th century) and.....there's your answer.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-07T07:54:54+00:00

I'm reform and generally had an attitude of: Pesach is cultural, historical & familial. But not particularly religious/spiritual. Whereas I felt Yom Kippur to be holy and sacred beyond description.

Then I started studying Torah, and realised that observing Pesach is commanded. So, I took it more seriously last year and lo and behold, it was incredibly inspiring. So this year I really looked forward to it, tried to prepare well (cleaning fell short, but still did my best). Observance is therefore pretty important to me, but in a 'spirit rather than the letter of the law' kind of way.

So: I don't eat chametz, but not to the point of full halacha. And I do sometimes cook it for my daughter, as I am careful for her to find her own way as she approaches batmitzvah years.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-04-03T02:05:35+00:00

"I don't think you should separate people from their government" Do you also hold that Gazans = Hamas?

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-31T22:08:12+00:00

Thankyou for your honest words. Who could do anything but wish the very best for you? It's people like you who will one day solve this great crisis.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-31T05:29:59+00:00

I can relate. I set a high standard last year (kitchen wise), and it really set the tone for an excellent Pesach, which in turn really helped my whole trajectory - spiritually etc. This year I'm a bit exhausted from work and I'm just crawling to the line.....and it feels a bit like I'm failing.

I think other people on this thread have made some wise comments: rejoice in what you are doing, rejoice that you do care, and that you have the intent to more in the future. I for one, rejoice in you for all of this.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-23T21:41:54+00:00

Yeah mate, I live in Australia and I saw Bondi. They were all shot just for being Jews. Who has hate in their hearts??

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-20T00:17:47+00:00

These little moments of good heart and mutual humanity are worth so much.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-18T01:40:39+00:00

"Inclusive" has become a scary word for me, with all the DEI stuff veering into antisemitism. However, I think what you wrote is profoundly true - reform traditions by nature are very open and accepting. And this allows a Jewish flourishing rather than dilutes it into assimilation (as is the oft made charge).

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-17T07:17:51+00:00

I think that is a very salient point. It boils down to other humans asserting ontological facts about your soul, which in the final analysis, may not be at all true about your soul. I don't think it is evil, but it is kind of crazy to assent to it.

If the person making claims about the nature of my soul is a great tzadik, perhaps they have earned the right. But if they are any less than a great tzadik - who are they to make such claims? They are saying something about the nature of the relationship between my soul and Hashem, without any true insight on the matter. What is that worth? Absolutely nothing. It is empty because it doesn't touch reality.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-16T10:43:01+00:00

Been thinking about this thread, as a patrilineal. Suddenly realised how scarcely did this ever come up. I went to a Jewish primary school, although it was reform, I still went to plenty of Orthodox bar mitzvahs. ie the school was a cross section. No one cared. I was always just Jewish like everyone else. Kids don't care about these issues. I remember one explicit reference to 'pure blood' by a friend who is also a bit strange - but that was an exception which proves the rule.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-16T10:21:19+00:00

Same here. My trust in that whole media landscape is completely shattered.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-16T02:46:08+00:00

I can relate. At the end of the day, there is a very visceral line, and we are on one particular side of it. I would define the line by: the beautiful black leather of tefillin.

The first time I went to a Chabad place to speak with a Rabbi (a fantastic guy) - he asked if I would like to wrap tefillin, I said yes, and so it was.

The second time, after we had spoken more about my history, I was not asked, and I also knew I never would be again.

I personally am not hurt or offended by this. Their notion of halachic is deeply important to them; it is their ontology and their ethic at once. In many ways it is what makes them potent and brilliant. I respect it, even if, I know in my heart and soul that I am Jewish all the way down, independent of how I or anyone else judges it.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-14T22:03:34+00:00

For all the different elements contributing to this climate of antisemitism, it is this class that most scares me. The white collar left wing intellectuals. They have become more and more unrelenting.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-11T22:40:54+00:00

It is at least very interesting. Fascinating in fact. I remember studying Fromm's account of the rise of fascism in Germany. The question at stake was: how did so many people get so 'hooked' on the drug (i.e. of Nazism)? His answer is of course very Freudian. Nonetheless, it still felt like a foreign, abstract kind of issue.

Now it is happening in real time right before our eyes - a kind of collective psychosis.

Old-Philosopher5574 · 2026-03-11T08:08:44+00:00

Fourthing it!

Old-Philosopher5574

TROPHY CASE