Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 14m

And sometimes up close, with likewise occasionally hilarious results (e.g., Jacob Obermeyer having to leave Baghdad after pissing off that same R. Yosef Haim badly enough that his cherem was read in every shul in the city)

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 24m

(Nor is this self-conception a unique Jewish invention. For one example, the Romani people are similarly dispersed, and individual communities have their own subgroup names and local customs. But they, like us, continue to view themselves as one people with a unifying ethnic culture.)

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 33m

You believe that historically, Jewish communities were both isolated from each other and well-integrated into their local, non-Jewish communities. Neither of those are true. The move toward assimilation (viewing ourselves as citizens first, Jews second) is modern--it's not much older than Zionism.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 33m

Those Iraqi Jews maintained close ties with other Jewish communities, and many of them later dispersed to other Jewish communities during times of especially high persecution. Rabbis from other communities came to Iraq to teach and learn in yeshivot there, and Iraqi rabbis moved around, too.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 33m

Iraqi Jews are notable for the fact that their community was utterly destroyed around 1400, during the Mongol conquest. The Iraqi Jewish community that existed during Ottoman rule was made up almost entirely of Jews with no pre-existing Iraqi roots moving there from other areas generations later.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 33m

Iraqi Jews spoke their own distinct ethnolect, Judeo-Arabic, and also studied Hebrew, which was used extensively by Jewish communities in different countries to communicate with each other. They were restricted in where they could live and required to wear clothing marking them as outsiders.

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Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 1d

Frog and Toad looked into a mirror.

“We look brave,” said Frog.

“Yes, but are we?” asked Toad.

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Curt Hogg @cyrthogg.bsky.social · 1h

Brewers pitching in this series has allowed 11 runs in the 4 first innings of this series. Across the other 26 innings? 2 runs.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 1h

I met my wife, so yes, very much so.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 1h

Oof.

Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 2h

This, in the 11th inning:

CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 2h

Absolutely brutal way for the Phillies to lose, Dodgers win the series

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The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · May 17

Men’s pants: Your waist is 30 inches, therefore you are a size 30.

Women’s pants: Your waist is bad inches, you have wide hips, a small butt, short legs, a long torso, a prehensile tail, and we don’t like your face. Therefore you are a size whatever the fuck we want, but only at this store.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 2h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 2h

Also true for US domestic policy, honestly.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 8h

Stephen Miller is murdering Venezuelans and Colombians in cold blood bc he believes it helps his propaganda campaign to paint Latinos as dangerous.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Stephen Miller views the air strikes as an opportunity to paint immigrants as a dangerous menace, according to one of the White House officials.

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 4h

Confused by the reaction some are having. My understanding is that in any realistic postwar plan the US would always have deployed some number of soldiers for logistical support, the Biden-Blinken plan envisioned the appointment of a US general as head of oversight of the multinational Arab force.

NBC News @nbcnews.com · 4h

BREAKING: U.S. military will send 200 troops to Israel to support security and aid flow into Gaza, but will not enter the enclave, U.S. officials say.

U.S. said to be prepping to send 200 troops to Israel for Gaza support

The troops will stay in Israel, where they will support logistics, transportation, engineering and planning, two U.S. officials said.

nbcnews.to

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Vishanti @missdiedra.bsky.social · 5h

IfNotNow is an *explicitly* nonviolent Jewish org. When we begged the mainstream Jewish community to stand w/us against the far-right, they largely threw us to the wolves because we didn't support Israel enough. Now this. Will they stand up for us, or look the other way until it's too late?

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 7h

Admin cracking down on Soros, Indivisible, ActBlue, & Jewish peace groups is incredible projection in light of federal contractor El*n M*sk spending more on politics in 2024 than anybody in human history and all the big money corruption of 2025

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

www.reuters.com

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 8h

There's nothing at all wrong with being Palestinian, and using "Palestinian" in this way is deeply racist against Palestinians, but it is also antisemitic, because it defines Jewishness as something that can be granted and removed for political reasons.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"

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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 6h

#BREAKING A federal judge say she will grant "in part" a request by the state of Illinois for a temporary restraining order against the deployment of National Guard troops into the state.

U.S. District Judge April Perry is still ruling and has not outlined the details of her order.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 6h

Perry: "I'm going to issue an oral ruling."

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 8h

Karl Lueger, the antisemitic mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1910, was once asked how he could give virulently antisemitic speeches to supporters during the day and then dine with Jewish friends at night. He allegedly responded, "I decide who is a Jew."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"

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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 15h

A woman who was shot multiple times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did not ram them with her car and had her weapon stored in her purse at the time of the incident, according to her lawyer, contradicting accounts by the Department of Homeland Security.

www.reuters.com/world/us/bod...

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 12h

The class was Stage Direction, so we had to direct two long scenes and turn in a detailed, director's binder breakdown of our blocking, with thorough explanations of why/how *each individual movement* furthered theme, conflict, or characterization. Good luck getting AI to do that for you.

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Saralegal @saralegal.bsky.social · 13h

Nearly all of the grade in my most intense college class was based on two big projects with both a practical and a written component. Both times, the night before the written part was due, our class held a group all-nighter in the computer lab to finish. Stressful? Yes. Weirdly fun? Absolutely.

Dane 🔜 NYCC AA L-34 @monkeyminion.com · 1d

I wrote a 15 page report on heraldic symbolism in medieval armor and weapon design for my art history class the night before it was due (8am class). Made up 90% of it (only found one book for reference) and got an A. GenAI could fucking never.

wrote 20 pages on Faulkner's The Bear four hours before final papers were due on trucker pills and coffee and cigarettes and got an A, fuck you.
You people couldn't hang with real slackers.
finn
wokeupchic • 4d
It's fuck Al till your homework due in 25 minutes

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Alon (they/them) @alonlevy.bsky.social · 17h

Chaim Peri told another Nir Oz hostage, who was released in the first ceasefire, that a general hostage deal would take two years, because "it's Bibi and we're leftists." He was subsequently murdered last year and never saw his prediction come true to within days.

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Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 1d

Good news today, but @diplomatofnight.com puts it into context with concise clarity.

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