Mystical Politics

Rebecca Lesses. Zionist. Lover of cats and tulips. Cayuga Lake. Tanakh. Qur'an. "God is closer to you than your jugular vein."

[argaman01]

I'm having a hard time. I'm feeling sad, because my friend Mary died on Friday morning (May 1, 2026). She was 96 years old and would have been 97 on May 6. I met her through a friend in the early 2000s (the earliest photo I have of her is from 2007, but I'm sure I met her before then). When our mutual friend Rachel died, we became much better friends - we frequently went out to dinner together, we celebrated Hanukkah together, I had her over for Shabbat dinners and for Passover, she belonged to the Ithaca Yacht Club and invited me to go with her to have lunch or dinner and to swim in Lake Cayuga, which is beautiful in the summer.

She was born in 1929 in Vienna, and she remembered when the Nazis took over Austria. Her (non-Jewish) nurse/nanny took her out on the day that Hitler came to the city to boast of his new conquest, and she saw him. Her family fled Austria after the Anschluss (German annexation of Austria) and first went to Italy, and then to Switzerland, where they spent the war years. They came to the US in 1948. One reason she and Rachel were friends was that both of them ended up in Switzerland (they didn't meet there, however) - Rachel's family left Berlin in 1930 and went to Geneva (if I'm recalling correctly).

When Mary came to New York in 1948 she knew no English (although other members had learned some), but she quickly found a job and then in a few months she enrolled in Hunter College. While there she met her husband Gerard. I think they married when she finished Hunter, and they went to the Boston area and lived in Belmont for several years while he was getting his PhD at Harvard. That's where they had their two children.

In 1965 they moved to Ithaca, because her husband was hired by Cornell, and he was one of the people who started the Computer Science Department there. Mary studied German literature at Cornell and finished the coursework for a PhD but decided not to write a thesis. Her husband was an avid sailor but apparently sometimes misjudged the wind on Cayuga Lake and got becalmed late in the afternoon when the wind died down. They joined the Ithaca Yacht Club and I think she was the member in longest-standing. When her husband died in 1995, she remained a member - although at the time women were not permitted to join as individuals (!!), she could still be a member as a widow (the rules got changed at some point later, when a number of women, including Mary, protested).

When I met her she was still working part-time as a travel agent, and she found me tickets to various destinations over the years, including Israel and Estonia. In 2010 I was going to a conference in Tartu, Estonia, and I had no idea how to get there. She arranged for my travel from the US to Israel, then to Latvia for a couple of days, then from there to Tartu for about week, then back to Latvia. I don't quite remember the rest of the itinerary.

She was quite a traveler herself - she'd been to Israel, South Africa (with her husband), all over Europe, Iceland, and maybe to South America. I liked talking to her about all her travels and thinking about places I would like to visit.

She also told me about the fate of her other family members who did not manage to get out of Europe in time, who were murdered by the Nazis. Some fortunately managed quite miraculous escapes, but were not unaffected by their experiences at the hands of the Nazis.

I have a lot of memories of those conversations - I'll try to write more about them.

She had a 90th birthday party at a beautiful restaurant named Danio's on Seneca Lake, and then a 95th birthday party in 2024 at the retirement facility she had bought into but actually never moved into. We talked about how she would celebrate her 100th birthday, but she did not get the chance to do that.

May her memory be for a blessing.

Obituary in the Ithaca Journal -

Mary Salton Obituary - Ithaca Journal

Mary Salton, 96, of Ithaca, NY, died peacefully at Kendal in Ithaca on May 1, 2026. She was born in Vienna, Austria to Elias and Edith (Gold

Mary spoke in April 2023 with students from Cornell Hillel about her experiences growing up in Vienna, her family's escape, and about the fate of other family members who were not able to leave -

Honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mary Salton Shares Experience as a Child in Nazi Europe

The Cornell Daily Sun - Independent Since 1880.

[agam-shel-barvadim]

unfriendly reminder that antisemitism is always the antisemite's fault.

[hillsofspices]

Progressive Jews sound alarm over bill cementing Orthodox control of Western Wall

Diaspora leaders warn criminalizing non-Orthodox prayer at the Wall will exclude many from Judaism's holiest site, violate World Zionist Org

[necrosonatica]

that australian children's author writing an essay about how the victims of the Bondi massacre deserved to die because they were Chabad, which according to him is a "Zionist, Jewish Supremacist" organisation, (and not just like. a religious organisation of Jews practicing their religion and culture, and you'll be surprised to hear, that Eretz Yisrael is a part of that culture) is a foul man. Talking about how Jews "don't face oppression" in the diaspora, and then going on about how much anti-Asian racism he faces because of his surname (which to be clear, is bad. But the problem is that he goes "guys believe me people are so racist to me, but don't listen to Jews when they tell you people are racist to them because they are lying fascists") Its a fucking joke.

Every time someone excuses attacks like these for some reason or another it manufactures consent for killing Jews. Every time you say "oh, well they were the bad ones, so its fine" you're taking a step down a slippery slope and one day you're going to make a wrong step and lose your footing and never will be able to get back up.

If "bad" Jews are fair game, then any Jew is fair game, because I can guarantee you that Jew haters, whether they be left or right on the political spectrum, will be able to come up with a justification and you will all just eat it up like its "resistance" and not a continuation of one of the oldest bigotries on Earth. Genuinely, fuck you.

[xclowniex]

I find it genuinely vile that I've witnessed multiple times, my local pro Palestine group repost on their Instagram about Australia going "oh so it's fine when neo Nazis do it but its bad when we do it" (in reference to certain protests)

Like dawg, why are you so keen on doing something neo nazis are doing???

The first time I came across this phenomenon, was a few months back when neo nazis were in the streets of Australia protesting near a synagogue with antisemitic phrases on banners. And the post my local group here in NZ reposted was people complaining that Nazis were allowed to protests near places of worship but they weren't. Which was stupid because after the Australian pro Palestine group was pinged for protesting near places of worship (synagogues specifically), they managed to get the law repealed. The reason why nazis are allowed to protests near a place of worship is because you allowed them to.

And the most recent example was a post complaining about how nazis are allowed to shout antisemitic slurs but they can no longer say "globalize the intifada" as its been deemed a call for violence.

Which just isn't true. 15 neo nazis, including Thomas Sewell, were arrested for a neo nazi rally in Melbourne earlier this year.

Also! The reason why the focus is currently on the pro Palestine movement is because of the recent massacre. If neo nazis shot up a jewish event and killed 15 people, i would expect the focus to be on them.

The priority should be stopping all forms of antisemitism from all sides of the political spectrum. I don't think neo nazis should be entirely sidelined as its only a matter of time before they try to massacre jews. At the same time, the most recent group to kill jews should also have a little more focus in the aftermath of a still extremely recent massacre.

[majesticcorn2000]

i am tired and i needed to let my feelings out

i wish i made this up. i genuinely hate how some of you talk about the shoah here

[thatjewishteen]

in case anyone needed a reminder

[nonbinaryjudean]

man. the fact that at the bondi beach massacre there were people who had survived the nova massacre and people who had survived the invasion of ukraine. regina spektor getting harassed by a protester while playing a show and saying she just wants her kids to be able to grow up in one country, to not have to be refugees for the same reason she was (being a jew). they just hunt us down wherever we are. i feel so much anger towards "antizionist" jews. how the fuck can you see this happen to your own people and still feel the need to assert that you are One Of The Good Ones. just fucking stop.

[girlactionfigure]

mich3e_taketwo

Franz Kafka’s sister, Ottla Kafka, walked into the gas chambers at Auschwitz holding children’s hands—because she refused to let them die alone. In 1943, Ottla was caring for traumatized Jewish children in Theresienstadt—orphans who screamed at the sight of showers, already knowing what awaited them. When the Nazis announced the children would be deported to Auschwitz, Ottla volunteered to accompany them. She didn’t have to. She knew exactly what it meant. On October 7, 1943, Ottla boarded the transport with those children. Upon arrival, they were sent directly to the gas chambers. She was 51 years old. We don’t know the children’s names. We don’t know what she whispered as she held their hands. What we do know is this: she chose to be there. In a system built to erase humanity, Ottla Kafka insisted on love until the very end. That’s not just Holocaust history. That’s what courage looks like. That’s what love looks like—when there’s nothing left but love. 🕯️ 

[argaman01]

I did not know that Kafka's sister Ottla (1892-1943) died at the hands of the Nazis in Auschwitz. Kafka had three sisters - Ottilie (the youngest), Gabriele (1889-1942), and Valerie (1890-1942), and all were murdered by the Nazis (Gabriele and Valerie at Chelmno).

Franz Kafka died in 1924 from tuberculosis.

[schraubd]

Collaborating With the Trump Administration's Xenophobia Was Worse Than a Crime ....

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from the statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who reportedly remarked after Napoleon's execution of the Duke of Enghien "It was worse than a crime, it was a blunder!" It is useful any time someone takes an action whose obvious moral bankruptcy is somehow eclipsed by its naked strategic idiocy. For example, few can forget the ADL's fulsome praise when the Trump administration unlawfully seized pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Kahlil and tried to place him in a lawless pit. In terms of values, it was transparently appalling. And yet, as pure, cold-hearted tactical thinking, it was somehow even worse. At a time where antisemitism is at a historic ascendence, the ADL's bold strategic pivot is to cut itself off from its historic allies, abandon its longstanding principles, and proudly declare it's every man for themselves. Can anyone guess why that might not be a winning play for a minority community representing less than 3% of the American population? The underlying assumption, incredibly, seems to be that the Trump administration will be a reliable and steadfast force against antisemitism (remember: Jonathan Greenblatt fundamentally trusts Donald Trump). Anyone with a pulse could have told you this was a sucker's bet, but somehow the American Jewish community's premier advocacy org went all in on it. And lo and behold: as explicit right-wing antisemitism continues its rise to dominate mainstream conservative institutions, the brief period where the Trump administration even pretends to care about "fighting antisemitism" is snapping shut in favor of stepping up the xenophobic racism even further. The latest development here is the decision to place travel sanctions on several European-based media monitors combatting hate and misinformation, many of whom cut their teeth fighting antisemitism in cyberspace. Indeed, one of the targets, Imran Ahmed (who actually is an American permanent resident), was most well known for trying to flag instances of left-wing antisemitism. Ironically enough, his lawyers are comparing his case to that of Kahlil -- both unified by the Trump administration targeting immigrants for arbitrary arrest, detention, and deportation on the basis of their speech. In their complaint, Mr. Ahmed’s lawyers likened his case to those of other foreign nationals who have been targeted, such as Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident whom the Trump administration has sought to deport over his pro-Palestinian comments and activism that the administration equated with “antisemitic hate.” For his part, Mr. Ahmed has said his organization was founded to look into the growth of antisemitism on the political left. He was among the activists who spoke about how to combat online antisemitism at a 2020 State Department conference during the first Trump administration.  Who could have predicted that an administration dedicated to empowering racists and bigots of all stripes would use its claimed powers of arbitrary arrest and detention to help racists and bigots? (Everyone. Everyone could).  And while there is some irony in Ahmed tying his case to Kahlil, the comparison between the two is an apt one. If nothing else it demonstrates that the bedrock motivator for the Trump administration is clearly and obviously not "fighting antisemitism" (or even a highly stipulated and partial "antisemitism" found only among the political left). The unifying thread is a desire to terrorize immigrants and create an open space for racism and White nationalism to spread. There was a brief window where the administration found "antisemitism" a useful fig leaf for its fascism, but that period is most certainly closed, and anyone who was gullible enough to believe it genuine in the first place should have the dignity to hide in shame forever. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/dH2M0ZU

[argaman01]

Absolutely correct!

[notaplaceofhonour]

some fundamental context you need to understand when assessing competing claims in the Israel/Palestine conflict is that it is the common view in Palestinian society that any and all Jewish history in Ancient Israel & Judah is entirely fabricated “Zionist propaganda”—up to and including the very idea that the Jewish Temple ever existed, or that the Jewish Patriarchs (Abraham and Isaac and Jacob) or any of the Jewish prophets were Jewish at all.

this is the source of the belief that Jews do not have any ties to the land. a flat out denial that anything in Jewish holy texts is truly Jewish—that, in “fact”, they were Muslim—and Jews have fabricated their entire history.

[iswearbyalltheflowers]

(x, x)

[argaman01]

What is the name of the book that these pages are taken from?

[afurioushawk]

[presidentkamala]

Yeah this is such a classic play - what did we say right after the election? If you are the kind of self-identifying "leftist" above who posted their way through the election attacking vulnerable dem seats and encouraging people not to vote: The immediate about face from scorning anyone vaguely closer to center than you, hounding and bullying libs (AND OTHER LEFTISTS MIGHT I ADD) for not toeing whatever the line of the microsecond was and then all of a sudden: oh the fascism arrived! We need to build bridges! Mutual aid! I'm scared! I'm vulnerable! How dare dems/libs/black people/women/gay people (???? Somehow) be so callous in this time of blatant authoritarianism!!

Well you see you sold us out. That's how we dare. You sold us out and sold us for parts and now, with this clown in office, you're mad that the opposition machine isnt working like you want it to. I will ALWAYS extend the hand of friendship to anyone who wants to defeat trump and fascism in this country but after all that exultation that we couldn't do it without you, you may begin to realize that you can't do it without us, either. And there are far, far more people serious about our political participation in this country than you think. And there are generations' worth of people who have taken on this challenge before. And we will do it again. And we will know exactly where you stand, because you proved it already. The reckoning you keep waiting for, that you keep publicly asking for, is done. As far as Im concerned the scales have been weighed. You've been found wanting.

The total cowardice, the perfidy and folly, of your actions have proven that your first priority will ALWAYS be to hurt what is closest and most vulnerable, and THEN to cry that nothing is being done to help. Fucking save it. Keep it! I'll wait for you to independently realize that the rule of law and multicultural democracy and being responsible fucking stewards of this country are the most important and precious gifts that we've been given. I hope you realize the enormity of what you so easily gave up and tried to destroy us for.

[zaprowsdower27]

fun fact

more children have died as a result of Trump killing USAID in the last eight months alone than people overall have died in the Gaza war in the last two years

and where Biden was pushing for Israel to restrain its military activity, Trump is pushing for ethnic cleansing and for Gaza to be made into a resort

I will never not be absolutely livid over the "Genocide Joe"/"Holocaust Harris" bullshit that was fucking everywhere and absolutely contributed to the lack of enthusiasm that lost us the election and got us into this mess

Anybody who said that bullshit, anybody who cheerfully let that "don't bother voting, bothsame" bullshit slide, this is all on you.

[mariacallous]

A Strange Time to Be Trans

In this particular culture war, some self-described skeptics look less like truth-tellers than merchants of doubt.

The “transgender tipping point,” in the words of Time magazine, supposedly came in 2014, when trans adults living proudly public lives began showing up regularly on mainstream screens. Such figures are still around—one is even in Congress. And yet, we seem to be tipping the other way. Laws regulating which bathrooms trans people can use are back. The Trump administration is kicking us out of the military. And in United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court okayed state bans on gender-affirming care for trans minors.

Sometimes I think a lot of people want us to disappear. Others will tolerate us without acceptance: If you must be trans, you can have basic rights, but don’t encourage it, and for God’s sake don’t flaunt it. And yet, we’re still here, and still visible, especially among the young. UCLA’s Williams Institute estimated in 2022 that 1.6 million Americans 13 or older identified as trans: 14 per 1,000 kids ages 13 to 17 and 13 per 1,000 for young adults ages 18 to 24, compared with about five in 1,000 for adults 25 to 64. In a survey last year, Gallup found that 1.3 percent of adults identify as trans. Some writers see in such numbers a fad, or a bubble. Others see gender-affirming care, as recommended by mainstream medical associations in many countries, as the best way to the most fulfilling adulthood, and the least painful teenage experience.

To trans adults like me, some self-described skeptics look less like truth-tellers than like merchants of doubt: The debate around trans issues feels analogous to the ones around climate change, or vaccines. When you’re not winning an argument, you say nobody should act without further study, or demand unattainable certainties. It’s tough for people who’ve taken a position—doctors who speak out against trans-affirming care, or parents who feel sure they’re raising a girl—to change their beliefs. Those who do shift their views often do so not by comparing numbers, but by asking why they believe what they believe, what they want, and what other people can show them firsthand. Clouds and vaccines can’t talk. But trans people can.

I’m one. I lived out a closeted transgender childhood in the 1970s and adolescence in the ’80s, when transition wasn’t remotely an option. I felt grindingly frustrated by my own body, and my male social role, almost all the time. And I got lucky. I remember grade school as a sustained misery that kind adults tried to remedy, enlivened by two close male friends, assorted special interests (minerals, chemistry), and stacks of comic books. My teen years brought dramatic improvements: I found teachers who supported my reading and writing. I made friends with girls who trusted me with their secrets, even if I could not trust them with mine. I threw myself into televised quiz competitions (sometimes my team even won). In college, I learned how to put on a radio show (one way to feel heard while nobody sees your body). And I found supportive professors, and a path to one, then another, great job. Then, in my 40s, I realized I’d always feel disembodied, unsatisfied, not quite real, if I kept on trying to live as a man. I wore dresses and lipstick on special occasions; I talked, and wrote, about how I felt, without getting doctors involved. Then, one day, my spouse remarked that I’d be happier if I could just live as a woman. Everything suddenly seemed to come together for me: I felt like a crystal dropped in a supersaturated solution. I made an appointment for hormones that same day. Eight years on, I know I made the right choice.

Quick digression: During the Second World War, the Pentagon had to decide where to put armor on Air Force planes. Military brass expected to fortify airplanes’ wings, because most of the planes they saw had been struck there. Then the mathematician Abraham Wald explained why they should armor the engines instead: The generals had counted only the planes that came back. That’s called survivorship bias. If Wald hadn’t countered it, the Allied forces could have lost a lot more planes.

In Wald’s terms, I’m one of the planes that came back. I’m the best case you can find, or something close to it, for growing up trans without trans-affirming care. You might think that I, and trans adults like me, are a good case for making kids wait to transition: I had to wait, and I turned out okay. But that’s survivorship bias. Other kids who grew up with my gender, without my advantages, probably resigned themselves to their assigned gender role and their frustrating fate; there’s no way to count them in retrospect. And I know that if I could have lived as a girl—if I’d had access to gender-affirming care in grade school, in middle school, in high school—I would have made more friends, and learned more sooner, and avoided countless hours rereading the fiction of James Tiptree Jr., wondering why its unease around bodies and gender and its themes of self-annihilation spoke so strongly to me.

It’s possible that adults like me, as well as the internet, by providing non-gloomy examples, encourage some teens to see themselves as trans who would otherwise just go on living cis lives. You can’t prove a negative. But you can seek parallels. Consider the risks involved in coming out as a gay teen in 1965 versus 1985, or in 2025. No wonder we see more gay teens now than I did back then.

Wary parents might answer that cis gay kids do not ask to alter their bodies. Nor, generally, do trans, maybe-trans, or gender-nonconforming children in grade school, where care means social transition: names, pronouns, clothes, a safe place to use the bathroom. Acceptance for social transition—hence for kids who want time to figure things out—might even slow down demands for endocrinology, by showing that you can be a girl, a boy, neither, or both, even if you don’t get doctors’ help right away. Several new works of young-adult fiction showcase exactly that kind of acceptance among teens and tweens.

That said, with puberty, things change. Going through the wrong one hurts—and not just in the way that puberty is terribly awkward for pretty much everyone. It turns what could be exploration and self-discovery into concealment and needless sadness. Gender-affirming medical intervention, for teens, almost always means puberty blockers (the same drugs used for cis kids’ precocious puberty) or hormones. Less frequently, it might mean surgical intervention. But more breast and chest surgeries (including reduction and augmentation) are performed on cisgender girls, and on cisgender guys with gynecomastia, than on trans minors; bottom surgery on minors happens very rarely. Youth who choose gender transition report, overwhelmingly, that they’re satisfied; the Kaiser Family Foundation dismisses as misinformation claims about high rates of regret.

Cis parents of trans kids often get warned about suicide, just as straight parents of gay kids got warned years ago. A better discussion would be whether parents want their kid to be sad, or withdrawn, or feel locked into a numb life, when they could learn how to flourish and find joy instead. Teen suicide is hard to study: Reporting is poor, and there aren’t many. We can, though, examine suicidal feelings, depression, self-harm. Studies exist on all these subjects. And despite disputes over data quality, most of them tend to agree that gender-affirming care works at improving mental health in dysphoric teens. Better yet, we can study—and encourage—acceptance, fulfillment, and joy. Most trans kids who hate their body, as I did, will not take their life. They might think about it, though, as I did. And they might undergo years of needless sadness, loneliness, and fear because they’ve been told, in 2025, to wait, and wait, and wait some more, for help they can already see.

[jewish-vents]

Pro Pal leftie: Isn't it weird that Israel has universal healthcare (something that every developed nation has aside from the United States)? Isn't it weird how we're giving them money (strictly as military aid), which they probably use to fund their healthcare system (which is actually financed by a specific tax)? It's almost like (((they))) are preventing us from having it by bleeding us dry!

Also Pro Pal leftie: Why are so many right wing conspiracy-loving nazis attracted to our cause?

.

[fdelopera]

The horseshoe is a circle jerk.

[argaman01]

I got into precisely this argument with an idiotic pro-Palestinian person over on Threads. Brain-dead.

[federal-reserve-bonds-dog]

Three Jewish children were expelled from a private school in Virginia in March after their parents complained about the unaddressed antisemitic bullying their 11-year-old daughter experienced at school.

The school had allowed anti-Semitism to take root in her class—in, for example, this picture of a social studies class project depicting the attributes of a “strong historical leader” with the face of Hitler

The parents of the 11-year-old said their daughter had endured months of “severe and relentless” antisemitic harassment that had gone unresolved by school officials at The Nysmith School for the Gifted.

The school also canceled its annual tradition of hosting a Holocaust survivor to speak about antisemitism, citing concerns about escalating tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Some students at Nysmith School taunted the 11-year-old for being “Israeli” and referred to Jewish people as “baby killers,” adding that they deserved to die because of the events of the Israel-Hamas war. The bullies told the 11-year-old that “everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you.”

They also made fun of her for the death of her uncle, saying they were glad he “died in the October 7th attack,” despite the fact that he had died years prior.

A few weeks later, Kenneth Nysmith, the headmaster of the school, emailed the parents that all three of their children — a son in second grade and two daughters in sixth grade — were expelled, effective immediately.

Private Virginia School Expels Victim of Antisemitic Bullying, Two Siblings

Three Jewish kids were expelled from a Herndon school after their parents complained about the antisemitic bullying their daughter endured.

Washington, D.C. (July 1, 2025) - Today, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Dillon PLLC filed a complaint on behalf

[fellahimedia]

Standing Together the "why dont we hold hands and get along group" has active IOF soldiers in their leadership. Is standing together short for standing together for genocide? No wonder this groups palestinian participants keep leaving. This is not even soft zionism this group is just zionist and had the audacity to call palestinian criticisms rooted in purity politics

[argaman01]

The "anti-normalization" crowd hates it when Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel stand together for a shared society, against the occupation, against the Israeli assault on the people of Gaza, and engage in real practical help for Gazans (before the effing Israeli government broke the ceasefire in March and prevented any aid from getting in). The purity leftists who do not live in Israel or Palestine would prefer that Jews and Palestinians just keep hating each other rather than working together.

[federal-reserve-bonds-dog]

Hamas supporters broke into the office of a Jewish physics professor at the University of Melbourne and scrawled the Hamas red target🔻symbol on his door because he hosted a joint PhD program with an Israeli university looking at bird migration patterns

Student protesters face expulsion from University of Melbourne over pro-Palestine office occupation

Exclusive: Pro-Palestine activists who were part of a group who occupied the office of an academic intend to appeal decisions

[argaman01]

A really appalling case of antisemitism in Australia.

[leonardo-nierman]

When the Usual Suspects claim that their only problems are with Zionists, they count on people not pressing them about why the vast majority of the victims of two years of documented stochastic terrorism are diaspora Jews. But of course, the phrasing allows them to wink and nudge their friends, because maintaining a paper-thin farce of plausible-deniability is more acceptable than saying they are super into racist violence.