Most of us, as adults, live in a state of spiritual confusion and uncertainty. We rarely get to choose between good and evil but often face a frustrating choice between actions that lead to marginally better or worse consequences. Rewards for good behavior are often ephemeral, and punishment for bad decisions is mostly of our own making.

 

Shamsud-Din Jabbar

 

 

 

Years after its zenith, ISIS has demonstrated remarkable adaptability. As an organization, it may yet grow stronger. After its territorial defeat in 2019, stated U.S. military strategy shifted its focus from counterterrorism in the Middle East toward nation-state adversaries, notably China and Russia. But the underlying conditions that first enabled ISIS’ rise in the region persist: Weak states, unstable governments, large populations of underemployed youth, and religious and ethnic conflicts all continue to create fertile ground for extremism.

Don’t Underestimate the Enduring Power of ISIS

A memorial on Bourbon Street in New Orleans

 

Listen to this article · 7:56 min Learn more

Ds. Stern is a research professor at Boston University and an author of “ISIS: The State of Terror.”

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On New Year’s Day, a confused, disgruntled and indebted veteran drove into a crowd of joyful celebrants in New Orleans, killing 14 and injuring 35 more. The assailant said shortly before the attack that he had joined the Islamic State, the brutal terrorist movement that at one point controlled an area in the Middle East the size of Britain.

In its heyday, ISIS marketed itself as offering what one fighter called a “five-star jihad,” promising recruits a paradoxical mix of religious authenticity and material rewards, from free housing to a glamorous new identity to access to wives. At its height, it was the wealthiest terrorist organization in modern history.

Today, while the ISIS caliphate is gone, the group has cells and affiliates scattered across Africa, Southeast Asia, Afghanistan and Syria. It maintains an active online presence, and is still a threat: With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the authorities are concerned about a potential resurgence by ISIS there, while an offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for a significant attack last year in Russia and is believed to be behind another in Iran.

But the twisted heart of the utopia ISIS was trying to build, and all that it claimed to offer, no longer exists. So why would the group’s extreme ideology — rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims — appeal to a down-on-his-luck American veteran, five years after the caliphate’s fall?

For 20 years, I’ve been studying Western recruits to domestic and transnational terrorist organizations. I’ve interviewed jihadis, white-nationalist terrorists and eco-terrorists to understand their motivations and to prevent future violence. In my view, the appeal of some of the most crucial elements that ISIS offered to vulnerable or confused Western recruits — doctrinal certainty, identity, redemption and revenge — is as strong as ever, and will continue to resonate with people who can find it online.

Most of us, as adults, live in a state of spiritual confusion and uncertainty. We rarely get to choose between good and evil but often face a frustrating choice between actions that lead to marginally better or worse consequences. Rewards for good behavior are often ephemeral, and punishment for bad decisions is mostly of our own making.

To some, ISIS offered a seductive alternative: moral certitude, backed by brutal enforcement. From 2013 to 2019, an estimated 53,000 fighters from 80 countries traveled to ISIS-held territories in Syria and Iraq to be a part of what the group sold as an idealized Islamic state. An estimated 300 individuals from the United States either made their way to ISIS-held territory or tried to. Some foreign fighters became notorious for perpetrating the caliphate’s worst atrocities.

For sympathizers unable to make the journey, ISIS’ chief spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, called for supporters around the world to attack nonbelievers at home. In a September 2014 speech, Mr. al-Adnani said that if you are unable to bomb or shoot the enemy disbeliever, “smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car.” ISIS sympathizers began undertaking such vehicle attacks, including a truck assault in Nice, France, in 2016 that killed 86 people and injured 450. It was followed by many others.

In the last few hours before his suicidal rampage in New Orleans, the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, posted about his plans on Facebook. Perhaps the most telling recording was his confession that he had considered harming his family. “I don’t want you to think I spared you willingly,” he said. But Mr. Jabbar apparently worried that if he hurt only his family, news headlines might not focus on the “war between the believers and disbelievers” that he thought was taking place.

In my work, I have found that self-recruited, lone-actor terrorists are often motivated at least as much by personal grievance as their claimed ideals. In one recent study, many former violent extremists said that underlying social and emotional distress was as strong a factor in their radicalization as intellectual or religious adherence to extremist ideologies. Most reported having a history of mental health problems, such as depression, and suicidal ideation was common.

Obviously, most people experiencing a mental-health crisis do not become lone-actor terrorists. But there is often so much distress in individuals carrying out attacks on their own that it is reasonable, in my view, to think of lone-actor terrorism as a crime of despair.

There is no single pathway into violent extremism, but many of the risk factors I’ve observed in my research seem to apply to Mr. Jabbar. He was a veteran who appeared to be having difficulty adjusting back to civilian life. He had been divorced for the third time. He had run-ins with the law. He may have been deeply distressed over his financial burdens. Revenge against his family — and a world that had disappointed him — appears to have been a significant part of his underlying motivation, with his allegiance to ISIS providing a perverse spiritual gloss.

The persistent appeal of ISIS in America was evident in a disturbing series of alleged plots in the last year alone: the arrest of an Afghan in Oklahoma accused of conspiring to commit an attack on Election Day; the arrest of an Arizona teenager accused of planning an attack on a Pride parade using a remote-controlled drone armed with explosives; the indictment of a Houston man on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS; and the arrest of an Idaho teenager accused of plotting to attack churches on behalf of ISIS. In December, the F.B.I., the National Counterterrorism Center and Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement that pro-ISIS messages were calling for attacks at large holiday gatherings, pointing out the previous use of vehicles to ram victims.

Years after its zenith, ISIS has demonstrated remarkable adaptability. As an organization, it may yet grow stronger. After its territorial defeat in 2019, stated U.S. military strategy shifted its focus from counterterrorism in the Middle East toward nation-state adversaries, notably China and Russia. But the underlying conditions that first enabled ISIS’ rise in the region persist: Weak states, unstable governments, large populations of underemployed youth, and religious and ethnic conflicts all continue to create fertile ground for extremism.

No single solution exists for preventing terrorist attacks. But actions can be taken to reduce their impact, as well as their frequency. For cases like New Orleans, prevention is critical.

Perpetrators of targeted violence often “leak” their intentions ahead of time to family, friends, social media and even to the authorities, creating the opportunity for communities to step in to help people who are at risk. One approach to preventing violence like the attack in New Orleans builds on public-health models that aim to reduce the rates of suicide, domestic violence and drunken driving. For it to prevent terrorist attacks, the authorities have to educate the public about the importance of bystander reporting and “off ramps” from violent radicalization.

The New Orleans attack serves as a grim reminder that the ISIS digital caliphate is still able to transform personal crises into public tragedy. The alarming reality is that many other people remain vulnerable to similar paths of radicalization.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/opinion/isis-new-orleans-attack.html

 

Israel Suffered Over 18,000 Terror Attacks in 2024, New Government Report Says

Israeli forces stand near the scene of a shooting attack in Jaffa, Israel, Oct. 1, 2024

Israel endured over 18,000 terrorist attacks last year in which nearly 150 people were killed as the Jewish state faced an onslaught of terrorism from seven fronts in the Middle East, according to a new Israeli government report.

The National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday released its annual “Summary Report on Terrorism Against Israel” for 2024. The report gathers information and data from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Police, the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), and the emergency and rescue authorities.

In total, there were 18,665 terrorist attacks in Israel last year in which 134 people were murdered and another 1,277 were injured. A summary of the report noted that Israel “was attacked from seven fronts: Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, and from within Israel.”

MORE: https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/01/09/israel-suffered-over-18000-terror-attacks-2024-new-government-report-says/

 

Bnei Torah continues to lead an uncompromising battle against the drafting of Haredi men, including those not learning in yeshiva. Bnei Torah also has a daily mouthpiece called Hapeles, or Leveler in English, which advances the party’s political agenda — namely, not serving the country.

 

Till death do them part: After top rabbi dies, power struggle blazes at elite Haredi yeshiva

 

The split at Ponevezh Yeshiva runs so deep that it delayed the head rabbi’s funeral last month, but when it comes to the army, the question is not ‘if’ but ‘how’ to evade the draft

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Rabbi Asher Deutsch teaches a class in Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnai Brak 

 

A sacrilegious tug-of-war over the body of a brilliant Talmud scholar and firebrand as he was being brought to rest has unleashed a new bout of violence in a decades-old power struggle at Ponevezh Yeshiva, where young men belonging to the intellectual elite of the Haredi community are educated.

Divisive in his lifetime, the head rabbi of Ponevezh, Rabbi Asher Deutsch, was no less so in his death.

On December 16, Deutsch’s body awaited burial at his apartment at Rabbi Wasserman Street 5 in Bnei Brak, a short walk from Ponevezh Yeshiva. Ponevezh is the Haredi equivalent of an Ivy League university where Deutsch taught since 1988.

Meanwhile, two warring yeshiva factions bickered over where to bury his remains.

Deutsch’s detractors, aligned with Rabbi Eliezer Kahaneman, the 77-year-old grandson of Ponevezh’s founder — and who has property rights over most of Ponevezh’s assets, including the Ponevezh Cemetery — opposed allowing Deutsch’s burial anywhere in the cemetery, let alone in the VIP section.

Deutsch’s supporters, led by 77-year-old Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz, who is married to Kahaneman’s sister, insisted that Deutsch’s body be buried in the section of Ponevezh Cemetery reserved for the yeshiva’s most illustrious rabbis.

A secular former judge was called in to mediate.

Retired Jerusalem District Court judge David Cheshin, who was born into a well-connected Haredi family and speaks Yiddish but left religious observance after IDF service, has been serving as mediator in a myriad of conflicts between the two brothers-in-law for three years.

Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz, left, and Rabbi Asher Deutsch in an undated photo. (Givat Hayeshiva)

As the recitation of Psalms by tens of thousands of Deutsch’s students, followers and admirers through a vast PA system dragged on, Cheshin called an impromptu Zoom meeting that brought together representatives of the Deutsch family and representatives of Kahaneman and Markovitz in an attempt to reach a compromise that would enable Deutsch’s body to be laid to rest in a dignified manner.

The hatchet was not buried

After over two hours of back-and-forth, Cheshin finally got the sides to agree that Deutsch would be buried in Ponevezh Cemetery, but not in the coveted “Tet” section, but rather in the neighboring “Yud” section.

But even after Cheshin’s ruling and Deutsch’s subsequent burial, the sides remained split over whether or not Deutsch ended up buried in the plot agreed upon in Cheshin’s arbitration decision.

Kahaneman’s camp said in an affidavit written on December 25 that Deutsch’s followers buried him in the Tet section in a stolen plot in direct violation of the agreement.

Students cry over the casket of Rabbi Asher Deutsch, head rabbi of Ponevezh Yeshiva, in Bnai Brak, December 16, 2024

Markovitz’s camp responded in an affidavit on January 2 that it was Kahaneman who attempted to renege on the arbitration agreement and that Deutsch was buried as stipulated in Cheshin’s ruling.

The bickering escalated during Deutsch’s shiva — the seven days of ritual mourning following burial.

Yeshiva students from Markovitz’s camp hurled metal lecterns at Kahaneman, his son Yosef and members of the Kahaneman camp and used a fire hose to disrupt a Torah lesson, according to Kahaneman’s affidavit, which said that rabbis and students needed medical treatment.

Both sides accused the other of brandishing pepper spray and tear gas during the altercations.

An aide to Markovitz who asked to remain anonymous blamed Yosef Kahaneman for provoking the violence by bragging that Deutsch would soon be disinterred from the “stolen” grave.

The aide condemned the violence, which he said hurt Markovitz’s cause, adding those responsible, if found, would be expelled from Ponevezh.

A former Ponevezh student aligned with Kahaneman who is familiar with the recent turmoil and asked to remain anonymous, denied that Yosef Kahaneman threatened to disinter Deutsch.

Rabbi Asher Deutsch teaches a class in Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnai Brak

 

Brothers in (not bearing) arms

The newest ignominious chapter in Ponevezh’s long-running power struggle takes place against the backdrop of an unprecedented public outcry over sweeping exemptions from mandatory military service for some 66,000 military-age yeshiva men — some 4,000 of whom at Ponevezh — as the manpower-strapped IDF fights a multi-front war that is the longest in Israel’s history.

Both sides of Ponevezh’s conflict are aware of how media coverage hurts their public image and are particularly concerned about the negative impact on their fundraising efforts, which is a major source of the yeshiva’s budget.

But spokesmen from both sides, convinced of the rightness of their respectful causes, talked not of contrition, but of the proper framing of the conflict so that the worthiest side — their own — is given fair media coverage.

Illustrative: Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz addresses students at Ponevezh Yeshiva

 

“It’s really bad timing for Rabbi Deutsch to pass away and have this ugly fight come to the public’s attention now,” admitted a spokesman for Kahaneman’s camp. “But what choice did Rabbi Kahaneman have? Should he have given in and let Rabbi Deutsch be buried next to the Rabbi of Ponevezh [Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman] or next to Rabbi David Povarsky in the place reserved for his son, the present dean, Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky?”

“It wouldn’t have ended at that. We have 30 years of experience with them. They [Markovitz’s camp] are a problematic bunch who seek out conflict and strife and violence. We can’t give in to them every time,” he said. “Rabbi Kahaneman tried to prevent them from setting precedents in the cemetery so there won’t be fights all the time there too.”

Meanwhile, a Markovitz spokesman said that his camp was battling for the integrity of the yeshiva.

“We are fighting to protect the continuity of Ponevezh Yeshiva as envisioned by its founder [Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman],” said the Markovitz spokesman. “Rabbi Markovitz was the faithful servant of Ponevezh’s former deans Rabbi Elazar Shach, and Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky and its spiritual advisors. He is the torchbearer of their legacy and he is the worthiest to lead Ponevezh.”

Exterior of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnai Brak

 

A separate peace?

A tense truce now reigns at “Yeshiva Hill,” the name used for the complex of offices, study halls and dormitories where 2,500 unmarried young men aged 18 and up and another 1,500 married men spend as many as 18 hours a day learning Talmud.

During a recent visit to Ponevezh, The Times of Israel saw hundreds of young men enthusiastically debating the intricacies of ancient rabbinic arguments and the myriad commentaries on these debates in Ponevezh’s main study hall, which is adorned by a large and ancient gilded Ark inscribed with the verse from the book of Ezra “To exalt the house of God.”

Ponevezh Yeshiva students dance at the end of the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv

The hall is split down the middle by an imaginary boundary. Markvotiz’s faithful, known in the Haredi world as “m’chablim,” or terrorists, sit to the left of the Ark, Kahaneman’s followers, called “sonim,” or haters, sit to the right.

M’chablim and sonim also have separate dormitories.

There is little if any day-to-day interaction between the m’chablim and the sonim. Ponevezh has effectively split into two distinct institutes of learning under the same roof using the same buildings.

M’chablim and sonim said they were educated from a young age to identify with their respective camps. Over the course of more than two generations of conflict, the warring sides have set up separate elementary schools, as well as yeshivas for those not accepted to the flagship Ponevezh. There are also separate educational institutions for the females of the respective camps.

Today, said the students, who asked to remain anonymous, there is little if any intermarriage between the sides in order to avoid unnecessary family conflicts — except for “30-year-old bachelors that are desperate to marry.”

Asked to describe their ideological differences, a group of sonim said they had a more tolerant attitude to secular Israeli society while the m’chablim were more extreme.

 Haredi men clash with police during the funeral of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, head of the Ponevezh Yeshiva and spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party, in Bnei Brak

“They don’t even show up at the IDF induction office to ask for a deferral, while we do,” said one of the students. “They take part in demonstrations against the draft, while we don’t demonstrate, and when secular female tourists visit Ponevezh, the m’chablim scream at them ‘shiksa’ [a pejorative for a non-Jewish woman]. They are more aggressive, but except for a few guys on the fringe they are not violent.”

Meanwhile, members of the m’chablim took pride in the fact that they had no political representation in the Knesset. They said that members of the group did not vote in recent elections.

In the eyes of the m’chablim, Degel HaTorah, a party with seats in the Knesset that represents non-Hassidic, Lithuanian ultra-Orthodoxy, is not zealous enough in its defense of yeshiva students’ right to exemption from military service.

“The Degel representatives that were sent to the Knesset are under too much pressure to compromise, they can’t really fight for maintaining the status quo providing Haredim with exemption from military service, so it’s better not to be there,” said a member of the m’chablim.

Ponevezh Yeshiva head Rabbi Asher Deutsch, right, and Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz

Deutsch was a rare combination of erudite scholar and teacher intimately familiar with the vast corpus of Talmud and a charismatic political leader with the moral authority to mobilize tens of thousands.

As a teacher at Ponevezh, Deutsch was known for his intricate Talmudic lessons geared toward Ponevezh’s advanced students during which he would lose track of time and would have to be reminded by students to conclude.

Deutsch was also a pragmatic political leader who co-founded with the late Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach the Bnei Torah political party, also known as the Jerusalem Faction, which split the non-Hassidic Orthodox community and ran in a number of municipal elections.

Bnei Torah continues to lead an uncompromising battle against the drafting of Haredi men, including those not learning in yeshiva. Bnei Torah also has a daily mouthpiece called Hapeles, or Leveler in English, which advances the party’s political agenda — namely, not serving the country.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/till-death-do-them-part-after-top-rabbi-dies-power-struggle-blazes-at-elite-haredi-yeshiva/

Time To Put This Guy Away Permanently! Rabbi Yosef stated because a gay man is serving as Knesset speaker, the government lacks "Siyata Dishmaya" (divine assistance)

 

Rabbi Yosef claims gay Knesset speaker blocking ultra-Orthodox draft law

 

The spiritual leader of Shas attributes the government's failure to pass ultra-Orthodox military exemptions to Amir Ohana's role as Knesset speaker, while his office denies he made such statements.

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

Former Chief Rabbi and spiritual leader of Shas, Yitzhak Yosef, has claimed that the reason the government is failing to pass the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption law is that Knesset speaker MK Amir Ohana is an openly gay man, Army Radio reported on Monday.

According to Army Radio, Rabbi Yosef stated because a gay man is serving as Knesset speaker, the government lacks "Siyata Dishmaya" (divine assistance)

He reportedly expressed this sentiment multiple times.

"The Rabbi does not comment on such matters where silence is preferable,” The office of the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef responded in a statement.

“Any publication on this matter is based on falsehood."

Ohana became the first openly gay man to be appointed minister in the Knesset in 2019, when he served as Justice Minister, and is currently the first gay Knesset speaker.

Ohana has yet to respond to the report. 

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-836378?

The IDF has previously told Katz that it can handle drafting 100% of those turning 18 within a year and a half. This past year, some 70,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible for military service.

First 50 ultra-Orthodox soldiers drafted to IDF’s new Haredi brigade

 

Military hails ‘significant milestone,’ says another 100 older Haredi men join Hasmonean Brigade’s first reservist company

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Ultra-Orthodox soldiers draft to the IDF's new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, January 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The first 50 ultra-Orthodox soldiers were drafted for regular service in the Israel Defense Forces’ new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, the military said on Sunday.

The establishment of the brigade comes as part of the efforts in the IDF to expand the draft of ultra-Orthodox men, as it faces personnel shortages caused by the ongoing war.

The IDF has been opening new units, as well as considering building a separate induction center, for Haredi troops, to meet the army’s needs of at least 10,000 additional troops per year.

The dispute about the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue, having failed to achieve a resolution.

The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists any effort to draft young men, who have in the past been granted exemptions from serving. The issue has come to a head, in light of recent High Court rulings demanding an end to blanket exemptions, and public pressure has risen, due to the manpower shortages caused by the long ongoing war.

The 50 soldiers drafted on Sunday were set to be part of the Hasmonean Brigade’s first regular company. Meanwhile, another 100 older Haredi men were being drafted into the brigade’s first reserve company.

 

Ultra-Orthodox soldiers draft to the IDF’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, January 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The reserve company was set to be made up of people who have already completed the so-called Shlav Bet (Stage B) track, in which older people are put through two weeks of basic training before being sent to serve in noncombat roles. The reservists will undergo an additional six-month combat training period before being sent to the Hasmonean Brigade’s reserve company, according to the IDF.

Additional soldiers are expected to be drafted in the coming month, and will join those who began their training on Sunday.

The IDF said the recruitment of the 150 soldiers was a “significant milestone” in establishing the Hasmonean Brigade and “the process of expanding [the number of] members of the ultra-Orthodox community in IDF service, especially in light of the operational needs arising from the needs of the war.”

Maj. Gen. David Zini, the head of the IDF’s Training Command, greets an ultra-Orthodox soldier drafting to the IDF’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, January 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Ahead of the draft, the IDF said it carried out a “wide-ranging preparation process,” including recruiting staff for the brigade, renovating an old training base — the Tebetz Camp in the Jordan Valley —  and “adapting it to the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle.”

According to a report by the Israel Hayom daily, soldiers serving in the new brigade will be permitted to wear “Sabbath clothes” on Saturdays, when not on duty, instead of military uniforms, and will be required to attend prayers and a mandatory hour of Torah study daily.

The troops will also be required to have phones that are “kosher” — devices on which social media and most other apps are blocked.

The first commander of the Haredi brigade is Col. Avinoam Emunah, an Orthodox senior officer. Maj. Gen. David Zini, the head of the IDF’s Training Command and General Staff Corps, is the “project manager” of the drafting of Haredi soldiers.

Col. Avinoam Emunah speaks to ultra-Orthodox soldiers drafting to the IDF’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, January 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Also on Sunday, the IDF said additional members of the ultra-Orthodox community were drafted to other units for Haredi troops.

The existing IDF units for Haredi soldiers include the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, the Tomer Company in the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion, the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, and the Nevatim Airbase’s ground defense unit, as well as numerous other non-combat roles.

Last month, the IDF established a first-ever Israeli Air Force technicians unit for young men of the ultra-Orthodox community, allowing them to maintain their religious lifestyle while serving in the army.

A landmark High Court ruling in June said there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service.

In November, the IDF said it was sending out 7,000 draft orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community after the first phase of a plan to draft Haredi soldiers was largely unsuccessful. The IDF had sent out 3,000 draft orders in the first stage over the summer, but just 230 showed up at induction centers.

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized.

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis protest against mandatory military service, outside IDF Recruitment Center in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024.

Israelis who do serve, however, say the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a sentiment that has intensified since the October 7 onslaught and the ensuing war, in which more than 825 soldiers have been killed and some 300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.

Last week, during a meeting with military officials on the efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox men, Defense Minister Israel Katz said a new outline for a Haredi draft law was being formulated and would soon be brought to the Knesset to advance a legislative process.

Also in the meeting, Katz said his target was to reach at least 50 percent of Haredi men turning 18 each year to draft to the military within seven years.

The IDF has previously told Katz that it can handle drafting 100% of those turning 18 within a year and a half.

This past year, some 70,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible for military service.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/first-50-ultra-orthodox-soldiers-drafted-to-idfs-new-haredi-brigade/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2025-01-06&utm_medium=email

Asked if this kind of (Christian) threat gives her anxiety about the place of Jews in the United States, she said, “Firstly, I’m Jewish. There’s always anxiety. So, fair question.”

Puritans in America

In the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and other colonies, Puritans set up new governments with the same source of power - religious authority. These governments claimed that their right to rule was granted to them by the Christian God, and therefore they had absolute power to punish people for their thoughts, beliefs, words, actions, and even their bad luck. People were humiliated, shunned out of town, fined, beaten, mutilated, tortured, and killed. These acts of punishment weren’t for violating civil laws, but interpretations of divine laws.

 

Democracy

Most people believe their god is flawless. If a government claims to derive its authority from a flawless God, then any decision made by the head of state must also be flawless. Therefore, the power of that government is unlimited....  

The Constitution

Thomas Jefferson, in his letter to the Danbury Baptists reiterates that:

religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State..

 

 

According to current estimates, approximately 0.2% of the world's population is Jewish. This means that out of the global population, only a small fraction identifies as Jewish

 

The Jewish woman leading the fight against American Christian nationalism

 

Since 2018, Rachel Laser, the first Jew to lead Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has worked with Christian allies to keep religion from influencing US laws

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JTA — For decades, Americans United for Separation of Church and State called its adversaries “religious extremists.” Today, the group has a more specific target: fighting Christian nationalism.

The decision to sharpen the language was made by Rachel Laser, the group’s president for the last six years. A Jew and the first member of a religious minority to lead Americans United since its founding in 1947, Laser wanted the group to be more clear-eyed about what she sees as a growing threat to religious pluralism in the United States: the belief that American laws should favor Christian values over those of other religions.

But it was not an easy decision for her to make.

“On some deep level, I worry about alienating Christians, as many Jews do,” Laser wrote last year in the group’s magazine. “When you are part of a mere 2% of the population, it can feel perilous to risk fostering adversity with 65% of the population.”

That anxiety about the optics of her leadership surfaced even before she took the job. During her interview, Laser recounted to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, she asked the board outright: “Why aren’t you hiring Christian clergy?”

Americans United had always been led by pastors, but Barry Lynn, who served as the organization’s previous leader, from 1992 to 2018, said he welcomes a departure. If there were any concerns about having a Jew lead a fight against Christian nationalism, Laser has proven it’s possible to do so, he said.

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, speaks in front of the US Supreme Court with Rep. Jamie Raskin

“I’ve thought about that a lot, but I just don’t think it’s a burden or a problem because she works very collaboratively with board members who are themselves Christians and she works in coalitions,” Lynn said. “She understands the depths of the danger that Christian nationalism presents to both Christianity and to religious minorities.”

Laser, 55, is married to intellectual property lawyer Mark Davies. They have three children and the family belongs to Adas Israel, a Conservative congregation in Washington, DC. She began her journey in Chicago, where she grew up with Jewish activist parents who didn’t prioritize religious life. But when she followed a friend to Sunday school, she encountered Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, a progressive Reform Jewish leader who was deeply involved in civil rights and other social justice causes.

“I was a very curious kid, and he encouraged me to ask questions,” Laser said, fighting back tears as she recalled Wolf, who passed away in 2008. “The more questions I asked, the more he appreciated me. That’s why I value being Jewish.”

Laser (her name is pronounced LAZZ-er) carried those values into a career focused on public service. After earning a law degree, she held senior roles in organizations advocating for reproductive rights, including as the deputy director of the Religious Action Center.

“She’s a knowledgeable Jew who cares deeply about Jewish concerns,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, who led the Religious Action Center during Laser’s time there. “She fit very comfortably into the view that social justice was a central part of what it means to be a Jew.”

He said he hired her because she was already a proven bridge builder, and it was important for the organization to work across political and ideological lines in Washington. It’s a skill that would be critical when Americans United tapped her in 2018, tasking her with adapting the group for a polarized era.

She took the helm during the second year of Donald Trump’s first presidency, as debates over religion in public life were intensifying. Laser commissioned research to gauge public attitudes and test Americans United’s messaging.

The results were mixed. “Religious extremism” resonated with most audiences, but “Christian nationalism” was less familiar — and even sounded positive to some people.

“We didn’t want people to think we were insulting Christianity or patriotism,” Laser said, so she decided against emphasizing the term.

Then came the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.

Laser saw the insurrection as a wake-up call. In the rioters’ biblical rhetoric and religious rituals, she recognized Christian nationalism as a potent and underappreciated threat. She soon hired Andrew Seidel, a prominent critic of Christian nationalism. On his first day as the new vice president of strategic communications at Americans United, Seidel testified before Congress about the role of Christian nationalism in the Capitol insurrection.

Americans United began using the term regularly, aiming to educate the public while highlighting church-state separation as a critical countermeasure.

Violent rioters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington, January 6, 2021.

“The antidote to Christian nationalism is church-state separation,” Laser said in an interview. “It’s the kryptonite that prevents Christian nationalists from codifying their views into our laws.”

Under Laser’s leadership, Americans United has taken high-profile legal actions, such as suing Oklahoma over its proposed religious charter school and representing a Tennessee Jewish couple rejected by an adoption agency due to their faith. The group also helped raise awareness earlier this year about Project 2025, a detailed conservative proposal for Trump’s second term from the Heritage Foundation.

Donors have responded to these efforts. In 2023, the organization reported $17.9 million in revenue — almost triple what it was raising before Laser took over.

But Laser’s tenure hasn’t been without controversy. The organization’s employee union and some former board members have accused her of fostering a toxic work environment and prioritizing publicity over policy and legal work. After commissioning an outside investigation of the organization’s work culture, the board said Laser has its full support.

Laser’s efforts to counter Christian nationalism reflect broader tensions in American society. While religious affiliation is declining, Trump’s political alliance with the Christian right has energized a vocal minority.

“I love you, Christians,” he said on the campaign trail. “In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” And the vast majority of them did vote for him.

Since the election, Trump has put together for his next administration a slate of deputies that reflects his strong political alliance with the Christian right, from his nominee for White House budget director Russell Vought to his preferred candidate for defense secretary, Pete Hesgeth.

But while giving Republicans a resounding victory, American voters also rejected many of the specific policies promoted by conservative Christians. In seven states, including four won by Trump, voters approved measures to protect abortion rights. All three state proposals to allow public funding to flow to private and religious schools were defeated. Laser calls these outcomes a rejection of Christian nationalism and a continued endorsement of the principle of church-state separation.

In saying that a solid majority of Americans agree with her worldview, Laser relies on surveys like those from the Public Religion Research Institute.

“We find that by a margin of about two to one, most Americans reject Christian nationalism,” said PRRI’s president, Robert Jones.

He said he’s confident in the results because the statements the surveys test against are ”fairly unambiguous.”

“They’re things like, ‘US law should be based on the Bible,’ ‘To be truly American, you must be Christian’ and ‘Christians should take dominion over all areas of American society,’” he said.

As the term “Christian nationalism” has come into play in recent years, Jones’s group has been studying how people respond not only to the underlying attitudes, but also to the term itself.

“We are finding people who qualify as Christian nationalists based on our criteria have a positive view of the term, and people who are rejecting that worldview have a negative view of the term,” Jones said. “So it’s not just a term used by one side to smear the other.”

The phenomena can be seen in the strong sales of a 2022 book called “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” by conservative political theorist Stephen Wolfe, and in prominent politicians, like US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Josh Hawley, who have embraced the moniker.

But even as one term has become more common, the question of what language to use is far from settled. Advocates on either side of the debate over the place of religion in public life make various choices for strategic or other reasons.

Sorting through the rhetoric has required substantial attention from Ruth Braunstein, a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. That’s because earlier this year, she was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to map out the individuals and groups fighting Christian nationalism.

Many of the 100 groups added to the list so far don’t use the term Christian nationalism.

“Some, for example, talk about defending or promoting pluralistic democracy,” Braunstein said. “Others talk about creating a more inclusive vision of American identity.”

A growing bunch, including Americans United, do. And for Braunstein, it was easy to figure out how Laser’s group fit into her project.

“They have a high profile, historical gravitas and respect, and the resources to be able to provide support to other organizations,” she said. “So I think of them as an important node in this broad network.”

A few weeks ago, Laser went on CNN to be briefly interviewed about her opposition to plans in Oklahoma and Texas to bring Christianity into the classroom. She didn’t mention anything about her identity. She simply delivered Americans United talking points: Parents, not politicians, should decide when and if children are exposed to religion; state mandates sully rather than enhance religion; mixing church and state goes against the country’s founding ideals.

But one viewer who contacted CNN to complain about Laser’s statements discovered through Google, or correctly assumed, that Laser is a Jew. He made her identity the center of a lengthy tirade, which he ended with a broad threat.

“When Jews go into the public square to attack Christianity, then we have a problem,” the angry viewer wrote. “Stop abusing the people that treat you kindly because, eventually, the patience will run out.”

Rachel Laser, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Asked if this kind of threat gives her anxiety about the place of Jews in the United States, she said, “Firstly, I’m Jewish. There’s always anxiety. So, fair question.”

But then she went on to emphasize that she’s never felt alone in her activism. She’s always surrounded by Christian allies.

As soon as she took the helm, for example, she set up a faith advisory for Americans United and packed it with pastors (as well as other faith leaders). When her group files lawsuits against policies it opposes, it always includes Christian plaintiffs.

“It’s more important to make it clear that Christians are leaders in this cause,” she said. “In any case, however, I don’t plan to go anywhere. This country has given so much to Jews and I feel gratitude for that. I want to ensure that my kids and my kids’ kids can enjoy and be proud of the same America.”

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-jewish-woman-leading-the-fight-against-american-christian-nationalism/?

Breaking The Back Of The Pathetic & Corrupt Haredi Ideology On The Mitzva To Serve In Time Of War When There Is An Existential Threat To The Jewish Nation...

  "I wish, with God’s help, that there will be ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the IDF’s elite units like the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. I have great faith in God, and that’s what drove me to enlist—to help heal the rift within the nation."

דברים כ׳:א׳-ט׳

(א) כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֨א לַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֗יךָ וְֽרָאִ֜יתָ ס֤וּס וָרֶ֙כֶב֙ עַ֚ם רַ֣ב מִמְּךָ֔ לֹ֥א תִירָ֖א מֵהֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ הַמַּֽעַלְךָ֖ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (ב) וְהָיָ֕ה כְּקָֽרָבְכֶ֖ם אֶל־הַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה וְנִגַּ֥שׁ הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְדִבֶּ֥ר אֶל־הָעָֽם׃ (ג) וְאָמַ֤ר אֲלֵהֶם֙ שְׁמַ֣ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אַתֶּ֨ם קְרֵבִ֥ים הַיּ֛וֹם לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם אַל־יֵרַ֣ךְ לְבַבְכֶ֗ם אַל־תִּֽירְא֧וּ וְאַֽל־תַּחְפְּז֛וּ וְאַל־תַּֽעַרְצ֖וּ מִפְּנֵיהֶֽם׃ (ד) כִּ֚י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם הַהֹלֵ֖ךְ עִמָּכֶ֑ם לְהִלָּחֵ֥ם לָכֶ֛ם עִם־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֖ם לְהוֹשִׁ֥יעַ אֶתְכֶֽם׃

 

First recruits enlist in new IDF haredi combat brigade

 

Moses spoke to the militia, saying, “Let troops be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak יהוה’s vengeance on Midian. You shall dispatch on the campaign a thousand from every one of the tribes of Israel.” So a thousand from each tribe were furnished from the divisions of Israel, twelve thousand picked for the campaign. Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign…

Numbers 31:2-9

 

In the Tanach, Joshua led the Israelites to battle against 31 kings and conquered their lands for seven years after Moses' death:

 

Battle of Jericho

 

Joshua led the Israelites in battle against the city of Jericho, a great fortress city. The Israelites marched around the city seven times, blowing trumpets, until the walls came down. There were no Jewish casualties. 

 

Joshua led the Israelites to capture other towns in the north and south, bringing most of Palestine under Israelite control.

 

Joshua was a military leader, a devoted Torah student, and a pragmatic leader. He was also the second link in the chain of Torah transmission, receiving it from Moses and passing it on to the "Judges"

 

The brigade aims to enable haredi soldiers to serve in combat roles while fully preserving their religious lifestyle and identity.

 

First recruits for the IDF Hashmonaim brigade arrive at the Tel Aviv recruitment office. January 5, 2025.

First recruits were drafted into the new IDF infantry "Hashmonaim" brigade at the Tel Hashomer recruiting office on Sunday.

The brigade aims to enable haredi soldiers to serve in combat roles while fully preserving their religious lifestyle and identity.

The establishment of such a brigade is another step in integrating the ultra-Orthodox community into military service.

The IDF hopes that the brigade will expand and become an integral part of the combat unit landscape, as approximately 3,000 fighters are expected to enlist in the coming years.

Among the new recruits was Moishy Weiner from Yehud, who chose to postpone his service until he could join the new brigade.

"I want to enlist and contribute like everyone else, but it’s important to me that it’s in a place that suits me, where I can feel at home," Weiner said. 

"We understand that this is just the beginning and that it's an important step for all of us. There are concerns about basic training—it's natural—but the desire is strong. We want to make history through action," he added.

"We are excited and looking forward to the new framework," Nathan Adler from Lod noted. "There is a lot of uncertainty and many questions, but I’m already eager for my first operational mission."

'War influenced me'

"The war influenced me; that's why I chose to enlist," he continued. 

"During this time, I saw more friends enlisting and contributing. I told myself that giving three years of my life won’t negatively impact me," he stated, further affirming, "I know there’s a lot of talk about the brigade, and I hope we live up to expectations. I wish, with God’s help, that there will be ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the IDF’s elite units like the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. I have great faith in God, and that’s what drove me to enlist—to help heal the rift within the nation."

---

---

Elroi Dalal, a newly enlisted soldier in the brigade, stated, "We’re taking everything with a grain of salt, but I truly want this to succeed. It’s not something to be taken for granted that we now have a framework that allows us to maintain our identity while serving in a combat role."

Elroi's father, who accompanied him on enlistment day, shared, " Today we are embarking on a new journey. There is a great sense of excitement, as well as hope that the brigade will continue to grow and serve as a meaningful framework for the years to come." 

 

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-836153?

There Should Be An Immediate Meeting Of The Agudath Israel Over Shnitzel mit Latkes, To Decide What Kappitel Tehillim To Say For "Acheinu"!

 

"You coYou could  it in the way Rav Elya Brudny’s voice cracked as he said the word “achim”, the love, emotion and heart with which he spoke of the brotherhood that is Agudas Yisroel: he spoke about the bond between all Yidden, crying at the plight of families devastated by war in Eretz Yisroel, fallen soldiers, injured soldiers, newly bereaved parents, wife and children….Hashem yishmor!

 Rav Yosef Frankel, who discussed the fact that every Yid carries the situation in artzeinu hakedoshah on their hearts at all times, you could feel the sense of achrayus and connection.

 

The Kol Koreis and emails calling for tefillos, signed by the members of the Moetzes Gedolei Torah, have been coming all year, but seeing their anguish and distress up close is a reminder of how personal it is: this year, the convention was one long tefillas rabbim as well."

 

 

The Chairman's Take - One Agenda

Shlomo Werdiger 

From:news@agudah.org

 

 

Amid multi-front war: IDF sees 891 soldiers killed, 38 suicides over 2 years

 

Some 558 soldiers died in 2023 and 363 in 2024.

IDF soldiers in northern Gaza Strip conducting operation in the area of the Indonesian Hospital, where a Hamas launch site was located.

 IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT

 

The IDF said on Thursday that 891 soldiers have died during the war years 2023-2024, including a jump in suicides to 38 during that period.

Five hundred fifty-eight soldiers died in 2023 and 363 in 2024. Of those, 512 were killed in fighting and operations, three in local terror attacks, 10 from natural health problems, and 17 from suicide.

Of the 363, 295 were killed in fighting and operations, 11 by local terror attacks, 13 from natural health problems, and 21 from suicides.

Over 5,500 soldiers have been wounded during the war.

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Eliran Mizrahi's funeral at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem 

 

Of the 17 suicides in 2023, nine were mandatory service soldiers, four were officers, and nine were reservists.

Of the 21 suicides in 2024, seven were mandatory service soldiers, two were officers, and 12 were reservists.

In 2022, there were only 14 suicides, and none of them were reservists.

In 2013, 2018, and 2020, the suicide numbers were in single digits. The highest number of suicides in the last 24 years was in 2005, with 36.

The IDF said that all suicides were a problem and that the reservist army had spiked considerably in size because of the war but that it was throwing increased resources at addressing the problem for all soldiers and, especially reservists.

However, the negative trend created a hole in IDF arguments that it has done enough in mental health areas to help soldiers, without even getting into debates about how the IDF is handling post-traumatic stress disorder on a broader scale.

---

Majority of soldiers killed in Gaza

Of the 891 deaths, 390 were mostly in Gaza in 2024, 329 were in 2023, including October 7, and others were in Lebanon, in the North, and in the West Bank.

In terms of total losses, the 1948-1949 War of Independence was still the worst, with over 6,000 Israeli deaths, including around 4,000 soldiers.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War is still second, with a loss of around 2,650 soldiers. However, if the current war continues, it could potentially eventually pass this number given that 1,200, mostly civilians, were killed on October 7, 2023.

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Six hundred fifty-seven soldiers were killed during the First Lebanon War in 1982 and in the immediate years following.

In more recent years, the previous high in deaths of soldiers was in 2002, with 235.

Next, the IDF said that there were nine road accident deaths in 2023 and 20 in 2024.

The IDF said it is working on improving in that area but did not give much in terms of specifics.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-835808?

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A Few Thoughts About the New Year

Sam Harris Jan 1

READ IN APP

The following is an edited transcript from the Making Sense podcast:

Well, another year has elapsed, and 2025 is upon us. If you’re over a certain age, every year now appears absurdly futuristic. (How young do you have to be for 2025 to not look like the chyron at the start of a science fiction movie?)

As I look back over the year, and look ahead to what may be coming, it’s hard to escape the sense that we are witnessing more than the usual degree of change and chaos. Liberal democracies are under threat globally. The conflict between Israel and her neighbors continues, and there is the looming prospect of a proper war with Iran. There was the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and uncertainty about what comes next. The war in Ukraine continues to rage, and there is simmering hostility between the US and China. Unlike most other periods in memory, if someone came from the future and said, “Don’t you realize that World War III started months ago?”—that would seem, if not plausible, at least possible.

And in this context, it remains hard to believe that we’re returning Donald Trump to the White House. There are just so many reasons why this seems like a bad idea. To name only one: He is the sort of president who thinks that Pete Hegseth should run our Department of Defense. The list of Hegseth’s disqualifying sins is so long and miscellaneous that it is hard to perceive his nomination as anything other than a terrible mistake—that is, until one recalls that Trump put forward Matt Gaetz to run the Department of Justice. Happily, Gaetz is suffering the fate of so many who come within range of Trump’s enthusiasm—humiliation and oblivion (that is, until he resurfaces selling gold-plated rifles or starts a podcast with Andrew Tate). These nominations really do seem like some sort of troll or act of vandalism—both Gaetz and Hegseth could be easily cast as villains in a Batman movie. Less obscene, but perhaps even more dangerous, we have the prospect of Tulsi Gabbard serving as Director of National Intelligence. Her well-documented patience, if not fondness, for the Assad regime isn’t aging very well. Listen to her describe her meeting with Assad on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where she directly responds to all the criticism she received for speaking so diplomatically about Assad. The level of naivete and frank delusion on display—given who we knew Assad to be at that point—is just astounding.

When the world could really use a shining city on a hill—that is, a healthy, liberal democracy capable of leading, not merely by force, but by example—we have decided to return a man to the presidency who refers to his fellow citizens (Democrats who didn’t vote for him) as “vermin” and “scum.” We can’t pretend that this is normal. And it has been, frankly, nauseating to see the parade of business leaders—many of whom despise Trump and his effect on our politics—race to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the man’s ring (and much else). It’s tempting to ask these captains of industry, all of whom are rich beyond imagining, “What’s the point of having fuck-you money if you never say fuck you?” This was an opportunity to say, “We’re rich enough, and our companies will be fine. This is still a country of laws, and if the President targets us in any way, our lawyers will be ready, and real journalists will be eager to tell the story.”

I’m not betting that everything Trump does in his second term will be bad—and I’m certainly hoping for the best. But all these billionaires should understand that normalizing Trump and Trumpism by purchasing million-dollar tables at the Inauguration isn’t without risk of embarrassment. Just take a moment to reflect on how this will look if any of the darker possibilities of a second Trump term are realized.

Or just give another thought to January 6^th. It’s only decent to notice that no one is worried about what will happen on that date this year. We won’t see Kamala Harris or Joe Biden inspire a mob to attack the Capitol. How refreshing! Everyone who is now sanewashing Trump and Trumpism should at least acknowledge the difference here. And it’s worth reflecting on how much worse January 6^th 2021 could have been, and how Trump played no role at all in preventing the worst possible outcomes.

If you are someone who thinks that the significance of January 6th has been exaggerated, what do you think would have happened if the people who were chanting “Hang Mike Pence” had gotten their hands on him? Do you actually think that people who had travelled halfway across the country at the summons of the President, and just spent the previous hours stabbing police officers in the face with flag poles—and who had successfully breeched the Capitol as a result of this violence—and who were now, by their own account, hunting for the Vice President and other leaders in Congress—do you really believe that these people would have suddenly turned docile and shown themselves merely eager to chat if they had found their quarry cowering under a desk? What about the people carrying zip ties, did they just want to talk to Nancy Pelosi? Do you really not understand that what appears merely ridiculous in failure was likely to have been horrific in success? Spend some time reading about the French Revolution, or any other circumstance where the crowd actually gets its hands on the people it is hunting. Perfectly normal human beings regularly behave like monsters when they join a mob.

It may seem strange to re-litigate an event from four years ago, but it reveals the danger of treating Trump like a normal president. I really think we escaped tragedy on that day as narrowly as Trump escaped assassination in 2024. How strange would it be to normalize that? The fact that Trump is still alive doesn’t make the attempts on his life any less real, or disturbing, or significant of ongoing danger to him. Just imagine if I said that the attempts on Trump’s life didn’t need to be taken seriously—they’ve been blown way out of proportion—because the guy was barely scratched. I know people who have been injured far worse in their own kitchens! Would that make any sense? No. And yet no one who is busy laundering Trump’s reputation seems to understand the obvious parallel to January 6th.

How would Trump and Trumpism seem if a couple of Senators had been beaten to death or hurled out of windows on that day? How would Trump’s continuous lying about the election having been stolen seem? Again, ask yourself, what would have happened if the mob had gotten hold of Nancy Pelosi or Mike Pence? It’s no credit to Trump that this didn’t happen. He knew that the people he had turned loose on the Capitol were calling for Pelosi and Pence to be killed—for hours, he knew this, and he just sat on his hands. Whether he actually said that Pence deserved to be hanged, as Cassady Hutchinson testified, will surely be doubted by Trump’s defenders. But what cannot be doubted is that he declined to lift a finger to defend his vice president, or any other member of Congress, for hours. He just watched the violence on television and refused to do anything useful. Of course, he has done nothing but defend the rioters ever since and has promised to pardon them. And he still claims that he won the 2020 election.

This is the person who will be president of the United States in a few weeks. This is the person you are honoring with your million-dollar tables at the Inauguration. He is capable of making your efforts to normalize him more than a little embarrassing.

Anyway, stepping out of politics and looking ahead to the new year, I think it’s worth reflecting on why we are tempted to reflect at all at the end of each year. What is it about the calendar change that matters?

We may as well ask the question that lurks behind every New Year’s resolution: What is a good life?

Or, put another way: What makes life good? Or, with a slightly different emphasis: What is life good for?

Of course, there are many answers—or parts of answers. Love and friendship. Creative work and enjoying the creativity of others. Learning—that is, growing in our understanding of some sliver of reality. Or learning new skills—doing things that are hard or beautiful, or are just fun. And, of course, there is pleasure, of all kinds. If your life is full of laughter, sunsets, sex, ice cream, and rewarding work—you’re probably not miserable. Though you might be—amazingly, you might still be miserable. Of course, there is also compassion. There is so much suffering in the world. Relieving some portion of it is one of the good things we get to do here.

However, there is a deeper answer to the question of what makes life good, and one can be led to it if one interrogates any of the answers already given. What makes love and friendship, or creativity, or learning, or fun, or laughter, or compassion good? And how are they different from all the things that seem to make life less than good—hatred, terror, boredom, despair, envy, resentment, contempt…

There is a deeper answer that is more philosophical, or spiritual—and, therefore, tends to be unhelpfully bound up with religion. When I talk about this, I tend to talk about meditation. And while it is a helpful starting point, and even a necessary one, it is also misleading. Meditation sounds like a practice—it is something you do, something you add to your life. In the beginning, it certainly seems this way. Did you meditate today? “No, I forgot.” Or, “Yes, for 10 minutes, right before lunch.” But meditation isn’t something you do—it is something you cease to do. It is just non-distraction. It is the freedom to notice what is already here. When you meditate, you’re not changing anything about yourself—which itself is a profound change in attitude. In real meditation, you are recognizing the condition in which all apparent changes occur—the very nature of your mind.

So the question about a good life becomes, what is there to notice, right now, that matters? What is available to your powers of attention in this moment that is important, or even sacred? (Again, the language one reaches for begins to have religious connotations.) There is a freedom to be found here in recognizing what it’s like to be you—what life is actually like in each moment, rather than what you think it’s like, or hope it’s like, or fear it’s like. Meditation is simply noticing what is real, as a matter of experience, now and always—but always, and only, now.

If you are alone in a room, what is in that room with you? What are you, really, as a matter of experience? And where are you? And where is the room? Are you in it, or is it—in some sense that is philosophically and scientifically interesting—in you?

Every religion will tell you that there is something you have to believe at this point—there is something to profess, if only in the privacy of your mind—some set of propositions that must be added to your solitude to redeem it and make it sacred. But this is demonstrably untrue. You can believe all sorts of things, but belief is not enough. Ideas are not enough. Thought is not enough to make solitude and silence matter. In fact, thought is the very thing that makes the privacy of our minds often feel like a prison.

What is life good for when you are alone with your thoughts? And aren’t you always alone with your thoughts? Even when you are out in the world with other people, there is a veil of opinion, judgment, prejudice, and pointless chatter that comes between you and everyone and everything. Don’t you see how every experience, no matter how pleasurable or intense, gets distorted by your mental efforts to grasp it, secure it, prolong it, rehearse it, narrate it, compare it, or change it?

I’m not saying that thoughts aren’t useful, or even necessary. They obviously are. And their character matters, because we spend most of our time lost in them. If we spent most of our time dreaming, our dreams would determine the quality of our lives—so they, too, would matter. And the truth is, dreams are nothing other than very vivid thoughts—and ordinary thoughts are dreams, of a kind.

Meditation is nothing other than the act of waking up properly, if only for moments at a time. That’s why we called the app “Waking Up”—it’s more than just an analogy. There really is something dreamlike about our default state of thinking every moment of the day. I haven’t talked about this topic much on the podcast of late, because it’s my whole focus over at Waking Up. If you want to know more about meditation, and why I think it’s important—and why much of what people think they know about it is mistaken—you can find all of that at in the Waking Up app.

As for New Year’s resolutions, I have one this year that I hope will cover more or less every aspect of my life. It’s not a concrete resolution, exactly—it’s more like a new conceptual frame that I will try to place around everything. I’m going to try to live this year as though I knew it would be my last. I’m perfectly healthy, as far as I know. And I don’t mean to be morbid. But I think it is very powerful to put the finiteness of life at the very center of one’s thoughts, more or less all of the time. The question, “Would I do this if I knew I only had a year to live?” is quite clarifying of one’s priorities. It might seem like too stringent a filter—it would seem to prevent any long-term planning, for instance. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I have kids, and I obviously care about their future. And I care about the future of society generally. There are many things I might do that could, at least in part, be motivated by a time horizon that stretches beyond 2025. For my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to work with this thought: “Would I do this, would I pay attention to this, would I care about this, if I knew that 2025 would be my last year of life?”

Would I watch a bad movie? Probably not. Would I watch a bad movie with my girls? Absolutely.

This year, I’m going to do my best to live in a way that would be impossible to regret. I know I can’t control everything. Almost everything that will happen in the world, and much that happens in my life, will be outside my control. But I can pay attention. I can cease to be preoccupied with things that don’t really matter. I can let my hopes and my fears vanish—I can notice that they are always in the act of vanishing. And I can increasingly enjoy life as it is in the present. Perhaps you’ll join me.

Wishing you all much happiness in the New Year…