Fern Burg

Political junkie, hiker, believer in God, limited government, civil discourse, self-reliance. I Stand with Israel.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@highlyjewish Excellent piece Tanya. Kol hakavod!

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@DennisPrager Thank you for your impactful words, Dennis. I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sorry for our country’s loss. I’m very sorry for his wife and children. I’m shaken and feeling very low. God bless our country. “Because we really need it.”

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@ShaiDavidai I followed 2 of your recommended accounts- the others I was already following. Keep standing up!

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@jpodhoretz I’ll miss this one. Thanks for the review.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@DamariMandy Baruch Hashem. Welcome home Emily💜💜💜

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@DrJabraGhneim @RavSchluss Good work. See the original
Post. He provides her Facebook page. I’m sure you can contact her there.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@charliekirk11 How about you? Press Sec??

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@carolmswain Hard No!

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

This Yom Kippur was a very useful one for me. I thought a lot about the past year and reached some decisions that were meaningful for me. Some were big, some small.

Two small ones of relevance to Twitter:

1. I’m going to converse a bit less with the big wide world and more with Jews and Palestinians. What they think matters infinitely more to my children’s future than the moral entertainment the world uses us for. I’m tired of investing time and thought in outsiders’ feelings about my existence.

2. If you tweet at me that you “ain’t reading all that,” you’ll get blocked. If you tweet at me crazy antisemitism, you’ll get blocked. If I write about religion and you respond with abuse surrounding the war, you’ll get blocked.

It’s already begun, and my Twitter feed is already more interesting and useful for it.

If you don’t want to read me, if you don’t think I can teach you or learn from you, if you can’t speak on topic so you sound off on whatever else crosses your internet-addled mind, that’s all fine. I just don’t want to be an enabler of your anger addiction and poor emotional regulation.

This last one is a surprisingly difficult decision for me. It goes against my basic understanding of what teaching is: Everyone can grow and learn. All things worth saying are worth saying to everyone.

But I’ve become convinced that online abuse is something truly sinister: A waste of time.

Judaism teaches that time is sacred. The Sabbath, wrote Heschel, is the Jewish cathedral. With the exception of one small sacred space in Jerusalem, sanctity is nearly always given to time, not to objects or places. This is an idea that lies at the core of our mental world: You don’t waste time.

Judaism also teaches that your soul is shaped by what it consumes through eye, ear and mouth. This too is a fundamental tenet. If you consume anger from your surroundings, your inner life will become angry. If you listen to lies, you’ll start telling them and seeing them everywhere. It warps your soul and your worldview. Dishonest people assume that everyone else is dishonest too. In a similar vein, if you consume pornography you’ll sacrifice some of your capacity for intimacy. If you eat without intent, you’ll eat badly. And so on.

Guard what your soul consumes, the Sages teach, lest that thing consume you in return.

And so I’m going to try to be more intentional, more curating and careful of what I consume and what I dispense. I’ll mostly fail, of course, especially at the start, but that’s the goal. To focus on the wise, not on the self-important and enraged, on Palestinians and Jews, the actual protagonists of this moment, and not on the emotional addictions of spectators who are not.

Sorry if you find yourself blocked in the near future. Be assured you’re not missing much. Take your revenge on me by reading a good book. That’ll show me.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@havivrettiggur You are a gem, Haviv. Thank you for your exceptional, meaningful insights this past, terrible year. I’ve come to rely on your words of wisdom and the depth of your thinking. G’mar chatima tovah.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@DavidM_Friedman Excellent read. I appreciate how you weave ancient history, Torah and modern realities into the book. I highly recommend!

[Steve Hilton @SteveHiltonx]

This is an absolutely beautiful statement from @MELANIATRUMP

Obviously personal and from the heart. Please read it in full. ❤️ 🇺🇸

[Shai Davidai @ShaiDavidai]

For months, the president of @SUNY_Purchase - a *public* university - has been completely dismissive of the rampant antisemitism on her campus.

Now, she has capitulated to *every* demand of the pro-Hamas mob at her school.

This where Esti Heller comes in.

Esti is the head of the Hillel chapter at the university. Instead of enjoying her senior year, she was forced to be the only adult in the room, fighting antisemitism while the president of the university (@PurchasePreswhose) - whose salary is paid from taxpayers' money - did nothing.

The Jewish students of SUNY Purchase have had enough.

Esti has had enough.

Please take a moment to read her extremely powerful message to the president of her university.

Jewish students are raising their voices.

It is our responsibility to listen and amplify them.

Please share this with the world.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@bariweiss You two are so cute. 😊

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@TimesofIsrael The best news. Baruch Hashem.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@bariweiss @RitchieTorres A poignant, beautiful speech. Thank you for sharing. Thank you @RitchieTorres for your heartfelt support. ♥️🇮🇱

[Eve Barlow @Eve_Barlow]

Today in the Hague, the Jews are on trial again.
“Instead of turning our backs on our accusers because we have nothing to apologize for and no one to apologize to, we swear again that we are here for no reason… [O]nce again we have taken on the role of prisoners on trial: we press our hands to our hearts, with quivering fingers we leaf through old stacks of supporting documents that no one is interested in, and we swear right and left that we do not consume this drink, that never has a drop of it passed our lip's… How much longer will this go on? Tell me, my friends, are you not tired by now of this rigmarole? Isn’t it high time, in response to all of these accusations, rebukes, suspicions, smears, and denunciations – both present and future – to fold our arms over our chests and loudly, clearly, coldly, and calmly put forth the only argument which this public can understand: why don’t you all go to hell?

What kind of people are we that we have to justify ourselves before them? And who are they to demand it of us? What is the point of this whole comedy of putting an entire people on trial when the verdict is known in advance? What is the point of reacting to all of this shrieking and barking with sworn statements, reassurances, and pledges? There is no point, and it should be unthinkable to behave thus. As soon as we rebut one argument, another is born. There are no limits to human spite and stupidity.

Justifications are worth making only at those rare, exceptionally important junctures when there is full certainty that a court really does have equitable intentions and appropriate competence.

But to make apologies into a way of life… that means humiliating ourselves and bringing ourselves down to the level of barking dogs.”

Vladimir Jabotinsky, 1911.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@bariweiss Bari, this was one of the most memorable podcasts I heard from you. The other one was “Bring back my Children”, w/the mother of 2 young sons who were kidnapped -& are now home, thank God- while she was on the phone with them. Your work is so powerful, meaningful. Thank you!

[Lawrence Hajioff @RabbiLawrence]

Sad truth from Douglas Murray.

[Fern Burg @FernBBurg]

@Joe_Roberts01 @GlobalRabbi Same.