It's slightly cut in the video, but in the cd version you can hear the rav doing the full kabalot ol malchut shomayim. Personally I think it's beautiful and a sign Israel is heading to the right direction. I know the tznius standards are not to your liking, but it is the twenty first century and religion will evolve, and we have a fossilized version of it for now.
As opposed to you who hate it and are a buzzkill lacking aura and end up being a Fuentes stan desperately grubbing shekels off antisemites who like hearing a frum Jew criticize his own culture for dopamine hits.
I enjoy your scholarly articles. But your cultural hate of ethnic Middle Eastern Judaism makes me wonder why you just don't convert to Catholicism.
Ethnic Middle Eastern Judaism is probably not the best thing ever, but it's a bit moot because it doesn't exist anymore. And it's Zionism that is responsible.
Yeah, OK, probably the difference here comes down to your complete absence of any aesthetic standards whatsoever, combined with your self-admitted breezy lack of concern for idolatry.
I’ve said this before, but you should really do an article about why you believe in Judaism. It seems that whatever your version of Judaism is would be impossible to implement widely, and your belief in it mainly brings you Tzaros. I, being in general an apikores (social orthodox), can at least enjoy the nice parts of Tel Aviv when I visit israel and ignore the stuff that bothers me.
Ok but you would be less bothered by the idolatry stuff, and the fact that israel has a less-than-inspiring form of Judaism. It would be aesthetically bothersome (as it is for me), but not literally something you think they should die for doing. I still think an article on why you believe in Judaism would provide good background for some of your other articles. It doesn’t have to be some 20 page bentham’s bulldog anthropic argument bullshit, just whatever reason you have.
Ok thank you. I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but why does being the first monotheistic religion have any impact on Judaism’s claim to truth? Maybe Avraham just figured out anthropics first and got everything else wrong. If you don’t wanna answer that’s fine, then I’ll stop bothering you about this, you’re not a modox yeshiva rebbe.
Well, I think idolatry is objectively wrong given the premise of monotheism, so a lot of Judaism follows automatically. You also have to worship God one way or another. So, if I decided that no covenant had occured, I would stop keeping kosher and shatnez, but I would still observe much of Jewish law, and I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping kosher etc if Judaism is false. I also think that the persistence of the Jewish people is a moderately strong argument for choseness.
Understood, thank you! In the end I think a lot of individual religious practice stuff comes down to psychological makeup, which I doubt you would deny, considering your analysis of mass Israeli religious delusion.
I think if I will ever want to write a theatrical play, it would be about you two guys.
A mix of Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich, post-modernism like Confederacy of Dunces, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Waiting for Godot with diaologues about the meaning of life and death, honor and dishonor, a place of a man in a world, genocides interspersed with calling each other gay.
Yes indeed as a Russian Antisemite and NS militant for 20 years I think your blog is one of the best unbiased sources on Israeli culture! It's amazing to see how much Israeli culture has degenerated over the years. We went from Gurionite "Socialdemocracy" to whatever the hell this is!
I had this ridiculous little debate reductio ad populum with Baruch Hasofer the kind of “but the people did/didn’t vote for him” argument about how Austrian Catholicism and Bavarian Capitalism were the real spinal cord of Hitler. Because yes, Hitler was basically an Austrian who inherited Prussian discipline without Prussia itself. So let’s be careful with Zionism and the Stadtbild of Israel as a whole, ha. That Stadtbild has nothing to do with Judaism; it’s something else entirely. And what did he reply? “But the Bavarians didn’t vote for Hitler in mass, and that I don’t like Austrians 😊(which is true)” Which is textbook argumentum ad populum: Wagner, Nuremberg, the sacred land of German Destiny. The Bavarian peasant didn’t vote for Hitler because he smelled the “socialist” in National Socialism; o b v i o u s l y 👀 . But that’s precisely what made the movement FUTURISTIC (anti-progressism) and never, never, neeeeever reactionary. The Nazis didn’t want a return to the Holy Empire or Prussia; they wanted to build an industrial super-myth: Großdeutschland, the Austrian dream, not Bismarck’s bureaucratic Little Prussia of balance-of-power politics.
Honestly, once you see that structure understanding critical history and theo-politics… the post-Kahanist “theory” of BH falls apart in its own Substantialism: mysticism+paperwork= Zionism’s vertebrae in messianic pathos, halakhic modernity as Stadtbild, some kind of redemption… as far as I know, and honestly, I don’t think I need more. And perhaps I am partially-to-completely wrong and IdKare.
-----
Until skirts are longer and rifles cleaner, no Greater Israel (Breslev). And this lady, paradoxically “moving” the Stadtbild as libido, reduces the halakhic apparatus to RUINS 😭, lol.
The right ran israel most of the last 40 years as it went from being an economic basketcase to not so bad. The left were only successful to run israel before when they had a monopoly on power and were propped up by untold billions of dollars from abroad. The corona reaction was not a uniquely right wing intellectual thing. I can’t imagine where you get that from.
Where I get it from is that I follow the major far right social media accounts, and therefore I know that more than a month before any mainstream figures did so, these accounts were advocating the replication of Chinese-style lockdown measures. They did so because it was a based and edgy way of attacking both cosmpolitan liberalism and belief in civil rights, and free market normie conservatism at the same time. But most of all, they never thought it would really happen, s it was a cost-free way of promoting authoritarianism, until it did. I will admit that I was taken in too. The fact that you are unaware of all this demonstrates that you make better use of your time than myself, which is much to your credit, but you should, nevertheless, defer to people who know more about this than you.
The relationship between the Right in this country and economic reform is quite complicated. The government of Begin was an unmitigated disaster with the highest inflation in the history of the country and high unemployment at the same time. The Rabin government passed many neoliberal reforms (as, indeed, did left wing governments in many countries during the same period). The association between free market reforms and the Right is 99% a product of Netanyahu personally. In the last 10 years, however, Netanyahu has, for a mixture of reasons, mostly jettissoned this aspect of this politics, and the short-lived Bennett government (widely, if not wholly accurately, described in Israel as Left Wing) was more pro free market. Today, the free market wing of the Likud is a minority in retreat, and will almost certainly leave or be expelled completely once Netanyahu is replaced. At this point, the Right will adopt a mild (we hope!) form of Chavezism as its economic policy.
As regular readers of this blog know, it is a pro-Bibi blog, in fact the *most* pro Bibi blog.
>They did so because it was a based and edgy way of attacking both cosmpolitan liberalism and belief in civil rights, and free market normie conservatism at the same time. But most of all, they never thought it would really happen
Where are you getting that from? I still think that a drastic initial reaction was good, and even the one we got was better than nothing. Measures were extended far to long once we knew more about the virus, with justifications that didnt even consider the possiblity of *not* exterminating it, but thats not a contradiction.
I dont have evidence either way whether the people you have in mind though like me, or like you expect - it seems they mostly stopped talking about that early part because their rightoid audience has since gotten mad about all measures.
I think the most important insight that the Dissident Right made in its early years was that democracies behave in regular, somewhat predictable ways, as a consequence of the strucutures in which decisions are made. So saying 'in response to a new virus we know little about, we should step in quickly with big suppression measures, and then when more information comes in we should re-evaulate' is like saying 'we should throw African Americans a bone to make up for the slavery and segregation thing, and then draw a line under it and move on'. What I take from the whole episode is that low-IQ reflexive libertarianism is the only rational form of political engagement that doesn't involve regime change.
Thats probably mostly right (though I wonder what a reelected Trump would have done). Just, past a certain level of radicalism, you basically have to be delusional to mean the things you say as "political engagement", so I mostly dont read it that way.
Going back, you think they *caused* western policy? I dont think so, but that would make it a fair point too.
I think it's plausible, but it all hinges on how much closely certain people in San Francisco read and socialise with Neo-Reactionaries, and it will be a while, if ever, before they tell.
1) if you don’t qualify what you mean by far right it’s it’s impossible to argue because it’s not possible know if you are correct 2) similarly, if you don’t say what accounts they were, we can’t know if it’s you’re being accurate 3) as well, one would have to also show that left-wing accounts didn’t advocate such things 4) one would also have to know if the motive is described to these accounts are correct and can be proven 5) that the economy in Israel wasn’t in crisis before begin is just mistaken, that inflation crisis happened of course, but doesn’t mean positive things did not happen after 6) the idea that the inflation didn’t fall before rabin is also mistaken, curve is undeniable 7) the trend for the rising Israel. GDP can be shown to have started before rabin as well 8) ) there have been continued liberal - in the proper sense of the word - reforms under rabin does not meant that efforts started with him
I don't think what happened in Sdei Teiman was very unusual for a nation in the middle of a war against a shitty enemy, and it seems that there was no keisteing in this case, just beating someone with a pipe so his ribs broke. However, the subsequent riot with government MKs, is not really something you can explain to people. The point was to send a message that IDF soldiers will not be prosecuted for anything, and the point was made successfully.
Some have already plead guilty. But the specific accusations of sodomy relayed int he media appear false and, if I'm not mistaken, weren't even part of any formal charges made.
The riot was successful in disincentivising further arrests. Any idiot can go on Tik Tok and find dispositive evidence of hundreds of IDF soldiers committing war crimes in Gaza that they themselves upload. Up till now, the IDF turned a blind eye to about 90% of this stuff, but now it's 99%.
Thanks for the answer. I dislike people who begin never-ending arguments on my own 'Stack, so I won't do that here, but I will say this if you don't mind. (If you do, just remove my comment!)
I cannot get away with saying that to Americans, even conservatives/realists. We did prosecute the Abu Ghraib wrongdoers. Laws, not men, you know?
And I know what the point was. My point is that a lot of US taxpayers are saying, "You want to be that way? Fine, but not on my dime."
Baruch HaSofer is fine with that. He thinks that Israel can not only survive but thrive away from the "GAE." I beg to differ. But that's just me. How about you? If you think that Israel can survive without American support, I'd love to hear your reasoning, because I do respect your cognitive abilities.
I think a rebellion against American dominance would probably go very haywire, that we have no right to expect Divine assistance if we were to do so, and that, if we do go for it, the point of principle we pick shouldn't be abuse of detainees or indiscriminate killing of enemy civilians.
"As the Rambam says, she’s not allowed to study the law in the first place, and there’s good reason for that, but whatever." Are you against women learning torah in general or you were specifically harping on this person. if you are against it, why?
I'm moderately against it. I don't think women should study talmud, but I don't think most men should study talmud and I don't subscribe to Maimonides' Islamic-influenced anthropology. But I just stuck it in because I thought it was funny.
1. Learning talmud at any kind of meaningful level requires an IQ of at least 115.
2. To learn talmud properly you need to invest a lot of time picking up background knowledge and vocabulary, which most people don't have time for. This can be solved, as it is by Charedim, by just learning nothing else, but this isn't good either, not even for talmudic scholarship itself.
3. I would estimate that among Ashkenazi Jews about 40% of males have both the intelligence and apitude for sitting still and memorising that is required. Among women probably more like 15%.
4. There's a certain type of woman who learns gemara and then insists on talking about it in this mental way, and it makes you want to run headfirst out of a window and this must be avoided at all costs.
5. With that said, the following academics have made important contributions that I have benefitted from immensely: Shulamit Elitzur, Ruth Langer, Alyssa Gray, Vered Noam.
You will probably love Eyal Golans Hachanasas Sefer Torah.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=buiJMlo8Zuc&t=7476&si=ADW7IGa_RaZtu5c1
It's slightly cut in the video, but in the cd version you can hear the rav doing the full kabalot ol malchut shomayim. Personally I think it's beautiful and a sign Israel is heading to the right direction. I know the tznius standards are not to your liking, but it is the twenty first century and religion will evolve, and we have a fossilized version of it for now.
As opposed to you who hate it and are a buzzkill lacking aura and end up being a Fuentes stan desperately grubbing shekels off antisemites who like hearing a frum Jew criticize his own culture for dopamine hits.
I enjoy your scholarly articles. But your cultural hate of ethnic Middle Eastern Judaism makes me wonder why you just don't convert to Catholicism.
Ethnic Middle Eastern Judaism is probably not the best thing ever, but it's a bit moot because it doesn't exist anymore. And it's Zionism that is responsible.
Zionism improved it. Every country needs its American Civic Religion
Yeah, OK, probably the difference here comes down to your complete absence of any aesthetic standards whatsoever, combined with your self-admitted breezy lack of concern for idolatry.
And at least I have respect for my culture and don't make shekels off making antisemites feel good about themselves
You probably make anti-semites feel justified in their opinions.
"self-admitted breezy lack of concern for idolatry."
Yeah, I dont think every stupid little thing is idolatry.
Drinking some wine after a goy who is probably an atheist lifted the bottle after opening. ❌
Visiting dead men on their birthday to beseech them for material wealth and emotional support. ✔️
The core concern of the first is social influence, which is a powerful force. Praying at graves is an ancient practice. “משה עמוד בתפלה בעדנו״
I don’t think the tznius standards will (or even should) devolve to the point seen in the video.
I also don’t think that نَ نَح نَحمَ نَحمَن مِؤمَن (I’m 95% sure I saw that IRL in Tel Aviv once) is “ethnic middle eastern Judaism”
You definitely did. I took a picture of one such sticker there
I’ve said this before, but you should really do an article about why you believe in Judaism. It seems that whatever your version of Judaism is would be impossible to implement widely, and your belief in it mainly brings you Tzaros. I, being in general an apikores (social orthodox), can at least enjoy the nice parts of Tel Aviv when I visit israel and ignore the stuff that bothers me.
If I was an atheist, I wouldn't enjoy Tel Aviv any more than I do now.
Ok but you would be less bothered by the idolatry stuff, and the fact that israel has a less-than-inspiring form of Judaism. It would be aesthetically bothersome (as it is for me), but not literally something you think they should die for doing. I still think an article on why you believe in Judaism would provide good background for some of your other articles. It doesn’t have to be some 20 page bentham’s bulldog anthropic argument bullshit, just whatever reason you have.
I hear. I think the best aplogetic for Judaism is that:
1) There's a wide array of different arguments that point to monotheism being true.
2) Judaism is the first documented religion to propagate monotheism. (Zoroastrianism is not monotheistic).
3) Until the rise of Islam, the thing that distinguished Judaism from other religions was primarily its stricter monotheism.
4) Islam sucks.
Ok thank you. I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but why does being the first monotheistic religion have any impact on Judaism’s claim to truth? Maybe Avraham just figured out anthropics first and got everything else wrong. If you don’t wanna answer that’s fine, then I’ll stop bothering you about this, you’re not a modox yeshiva rebbe.
Well, I think idolatry is objectively wrong given the premise of monotheism, so a lot of Judaism follows automatically. You also have to worship God one way or another. So, if I decided that no covenant had occured, I would stop keeping kosher and shatnez, but I would still observe much of Jewish law, and I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping kosher etc if Judaism is false. I also think that the persistence of the Jewish people is a moderately strong argument for choseness.
Understood, thank you! In the end I think a lot of individual religious practice stuff comes down to psychological makeup, which I doubt you would deny, considering your analysis of mass Israeli religious delusion.
I think if I will ever want to write a theatrical play, it would be about you two guys.
A mix of Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich, post-modernism like Confederacy of Dunces, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Waiting for Godot with diaologues about the meaning of life and death, honor and dishonor, a place of a man in a world, genocides interspersed with calling each other gay.
but when we actually do things you go all greta on us and declaim “How Dare You” in a most bitchy voice
and no one wants that
so be happy
Yes indeed as a Russian Antisemite and NS militant for 20 years I think your blog is one of the best unbiased sources on Israeli culture! It's amazing to see how much Israeli culture has degenerated over the years. We went from Gurionite "Socialdemocracy" to whatever the hell this is!
I had this ridiculous little debate reductio ad populum with Baruch Hasofer the kind of “but the people did/didn’t vote for him” argument about how Austrian Catholicism and Bavarian Capitalism were the real spinal cord of Hitler. Because yes, Hitler was basically an Austrian who inherited Prussian discipline without Prussia itself. So let’s be careful with Zionism and the Stadtbild of Israel as a whole, ha. That Stadtbild has nothing to do with Judaism; it’s something else entirely. And what did he reply? “But the Bavarians didn’t vote for Hitler in mass, and that I don’t like Austrians 😊(which is true)” Which is textbook argumentum ad populum: Wagner, Nuremberg, the sacred land of German Destiny. The Bavarian peasant didn’t vote for Hitler because he smelled the “socialist” in National Socialism; o b v i o u s l y 👀 . But that’s precisely what made the movement FUTURISTIC (anti-progressism) and never, never, neeeeever reactionary. The Nazis didn’t want a return to the Holy Empire or Prussia; they wanted to build an industrial super-myth: Großdeutschland, the Austrian dream, not Bismarck’s bureaucratic Little Prussia of balance-of-power politics.
Honestly, once you see that structure understanding critical history and theo-politics… the post-Kahanist “theory” of BH falls apart in its own Substantialism: mysticism+paperwork= Zionism’s vertebrae in messianic pathos, halakhic modernity as Stadtbild, some kind of redemption… as far as I know, and honestly, I don’t think I need more. And perhaps I am partially-to-completely wrong and IdKare.
-----
Until skirts are longer and rifles cleaner, no Greater Israel (Breslev). And this lady, paradoxically “moving” the Stadtbild as libido, reduces the halakhic apparatus to RUINS 😭, lol.
Thanks for bringing that video of the girl singing that beautiful song. After watching it, I went to YouTube music and kept that song on repeat.
It's a banger
What's a "medina-cuck"?
Someone who cucks for the medinah. A derogatory term used by Anglo-Kahanists for normie-Kookists, though IIRC it's as often as not used ironically.
Still the most interesting substack exchange
The right ran israel most of the last 40 years as it went from being an economic basketcase to not so bad. The left were only successful to run israel before when they had a monopoly on power and were propped up by untold billions of dollars from abroad. The corona reaction was not a uniquely right wing intellectual thing. I can’t imagine where you get that from.
Where I get it from is that I follow the major far right social media accounts, and therefore I know that more than a month before any mainstream figures did so, these accounts were advocating the replication of Chinese-style lockdown measures. They did so because it was a based and edgy way of attacking both cosmpolitan liberalism and belief in civil rights, and free market normie conservatism at the same time. But most of all, they never thought it would really happen, s it was a cost-free way of promoting authoritarianism, until it did. I will admit that I was taken in too. The fact that you are unaware of all this demonstrates that you make better use of your time than myself, which is much to your credit, but you should, nevertheless, defer to people who know more about this than you.
The relationship between the Right in this country and economic reform is quite complicated. The government of Begin was an unmitigated disaster with the highest inflation in the history of the country and high unemployment at the same time. The Rabin government passed many neoliberal reforms (as, indeed, did left wing governments in many countries during the same period). The association between free market reforms and the Right is 99% a product of Netanyahu personally. In the last 10 years, however, Netanyahu has, for a mixture of reasons, mostly jettissoned this aspect of this politics, and the short-lived Bennett government (widely, if not wholly accurately, described in Israel as Left Wing) was more pro free market. Today, the free market wing of the Likud is a minority in retreat, and will almost certainly leave or be expelled completely once Netanyahu is replaced. At this point, the Right will adopt a mild (we hope!) form of Chavezism as its economic policy.
As regular readers of this blog know, it is a pro-Bibi blog, in fact the *most* pro Bibi blog.
>They did so because it was a based and edgy way of attacking both cosmpolitan liberalism and belief in civil rights, and free market normie conservatism at the same time. But most of all, they never thought it would really happen
Where are you getting that from? I still think that a drastic initial reaction was good, and even the one we got was better than nothing. Measures were extended far to long once we knew more about the virus, with justifications that didnt even consider the possiblity of *not* exterminating it, but thats not a contradiction.
I dont have evidence either way whether the people you have in mind though like me, or like you expect - it seems they mostly stopped talking about that early part because their rightoid audience has since gotten mad about all measures.
I think the most important insight that the Dissident Right made in its early years was that democracies behave in regular, somewhat predictable ways, as a consequence of the strucutures in which decisions are made. So saying 'in response to a new virus we know little about, we should step in quickly with big suppression measures, and then when more information comes in we should re-evaulate' is like saying 'we should throw African Americans a bone to make up for the slavery and segregation thing, and then draw a line under it and move on'. What I take from the whole episode is that low-IQ reflexive libertarianism is the only rational form of political engagement that doesn't involve regime change.
Thats probably mostly right (though I wonder what a reelected Trump would have done). Just, past a certain level of radicalism, you basically have to be delusional to mean the things you say as "political engagement", so I mostly dont read it that way.
Going back, you think they *caused* western policy? I dont think so, but that would make it a fair point too.
I think it's plausible, but it all hinges on how much closely certain people in San Francisco read and socialise with Neo-Reactionaries, and it will be a while, if ever, before they tell.
1) if you don’t qualify what you mean by far right it’s it’s impossible to argue because it’s not possible know if you are correct 2) similarly, if you don’t say what accounts they were, we can’t know if it’s you’re being accurate 3) as well, one would have to also show that left-wing accounts didn’t advocate such things 4) one would also have to know if the motive is described to these accounts are correct and can be proven 5) that the economy in Israel wasn’t in crisis before begin is just mistaken, that inflation crisis happened of course, but doesn’t mean positive things did not happen after 6) the idea that the inflation didn’t fall before rabin is also mistaken, curve is undeniable 7) the trend for the rising Israel. GDP can be shown to have started before rabin as well 8) ) there have been continued liberal - in the proper sense of the word - reforms under rabin does not meant that efforts started with him
Guys like Cernovich, also Yarvin. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/anti-lockdown-imposters-173507159.html In fact, Yarvin still thinks he was mostly right: https://x.com/curtis_yarvin/status/1975426443027841331
Good link. I also recall people I respect a lot more including Gregory Cochran, Nick Land and WrathofGnon.
Twas a tower of babel moment, got everyone left and right, who thought life was figured out.
Serious question: how do I explain Sde Teman ("keistering") to Mamdani voters here in NYC?
I'm a freefag so feel free to ignore me. But if anyone else can help, I'd appreciate it.
I don't think what happened in Sdei Teiman was very unusual for a nation in the middle of a war against a shitty enemy, and it seems that there was no keisteing in this case, just beating someone with a pipe so his ribs broke. However, the subsequent riot with government MKs, is not really something you can explain to people. The point was to send a message that IDF soldiers will not be prosecuted for anything, and the point was made successfully.
I think there's an ongoing case against the perpetrators, no?
Some have already plead guilty. But the specific accusations of sodomy relayed int he media appear false and, if I'm not mistaken, weren't even part of any formal charges made.
So in what sense was the riot successful?
The riot was successful in disincentivising further arrests. Any idiot can go on Tik Tok and find dispositive evidence of hundreds of IDF soldiers committing war crimes in Gaza that they themselves upload. Up till now, the IDF turned a blind eye to about 90% of this stuff, but now it's 99%.
I see. Thanks.
Thanks for the answer. I dislike people who begin never-ending arguments on my own 'Stack, so I won't do that here, but I will say this if you don't mind. (If you do, just remove my comment!)
I cannot get away with saying that to Americans, even conservatives/realists. We did prosecute the Abu Ghraib wrongdoers. Laws, not men, you know?
And I know what the point was. My point is that a lot of US taxpayers are saying, "You want to be that way? Fine, but not on my dime."
Baruch HaSofer is fine with that. He thinks that Israel can not only survive but thrive away from the "GAE." I beg to differ. But that's just me. How about you? If you think that Israel can survive without American support, I'd love to hear your reasoning, because I do respect your cognitive abilities.
I think a rebellion against American dominance would probably go very haywire, that we have no right to expect Divine assistance if we were to do so, and that, if we do go for it, the point of principle we pick shouldn't be abuse of detainees or indiscriminate killing of enemy civilians.
"As the Rambam says, she’s not allowed to study the law in the first place, and there’s good reason for that, but whatever." Are you against women learning torah in general or you were specifically harping on this person. if you are against it, why?
I'm moderately against it. I don't think women should study talmud, but I don't think most men should study talmud and I don't subscribe to Maimonides' Islamic-influenced anthropology. But I just stuck it in because I thought it was funny.
2 more 'why's:
1. You are moderately against it, why? (bc of chazal's restrictions? bc it's unnecessary? ideas about intelligence?)
2. You also think this should extend to most men as well, why?
1. Learning talmud at any kind of meaningful level requires an IQ of at least 115.
2. To learn talmud properly you need to invest a lot of time picking up background knowledge and vocabulary, which most people don't have time for. This can be solved, as it is by Charedim, by just learning nothing else, but this isn't good either, not even for talmudic scholarship itself.
3. I would estimate that among Ashkenazi Jews about 40% of males have both the intelligence and apitude for sitting still and memorising that is required. Among women probably more like 15%.
4. There's a certain type of woman who learns gemara and then insists on talking about it in this mental way, and it makes you want to run headfirst out of a window and this must be avoided at all costs.
5. With that said, the following academics have made important contributions that I have benefitted from immensely: Shulamit Elitzur, Ruth Langer, Alyssa Gray, Vered Noam.